Washington Hunter
Well-known member
Published Sunday, April 23rd, 2006
By Anna King, Herald staff writer
This year's wet spring has Hanford Reach officials and firefighters across Eastern Washington preparing for a busy summer.
On a tour of the Hanford Reach National Monument on Thursday, Steve Link, a professor of botany at Washington State University Tri-Cities, pointed out tall stands of cheat grass that will be sun-cured and tinder-dry by May.
Stopping the tour for a moment, Link examined a particularly emerald patch of the invasive grass under the canopy of a high-voltage tower.
He calls the easily ignited grass "the killer of beauty."
"It destroys our natural ecosystems," Link said.
The grass probably moved in when the ground was disturbed to install the tower, he explained.
Link recently published a new study examining the relationship between hot-burning fires and cheat grass.
He concluded that to stop large fires from sweeping the western United States, cheat grass must be killed and replaced with native grasses and shrubs on the more than 100 million acres that cheat grass infests in the United States.
He said cheat chokes out native species that are more fire resistant.
"Bunch grass is in bunches and there is dirt between it," he said. "See the cheat grass along the roadway? That's a continual mat of fuel."
Link said cheat grass grows so close to-gether a fire can start quickly and spread fast.
The Hanford Reach is particularly susceptible.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials estimate 45,000 of the Reach's 195,000 acres are at high risk for fires because of cheat grass.
Since 2000, about 50 fires have burned more than 95,000 acres of prime shrub steppe habitat on the Reach.
The most vulnerable places are along roadways where cheat grass thrives and human activity sparks many fires. Cigarette butts, fireworks, car accidents and lightning have set off major Reach fires in the past.
Link found the most effective way of killing the annual grass was to apply a pre-emergent herbicide that kills cheat seeds. Then managers should plant native bunch grass, he said.
Restoring native plants to the Mid-Columbia can cost about $300 to $400 an acre, but would mean areas would burn less frequently and less hot, he said. In areas where cheat has taken over, fires burn about every five years. In areas with native vegetation, smaller fires burn about once every 75 years.
Cheat came to America in loads of wheat seed in the late 1800s, Link said.
Mike Gregg, a biologist for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said cheat grass also is bad for native animals and birds that depend on shrub steppe habitat.
Sage grouse, butterflies, beetles and other insects all need the native grasses and sagebrush.
"Grouse do not eat grass," Gregg said.
Greg Hughes, project manager for the Reach, said his employees have just finished training to prepare for a busy fire season.
The agency will have about 30 firefighters and one small plane to help beat back flames on the Reach this summer. Hughes said his staff tries to stop fires quickly before they become large.
It's a difficult task on remote federal lands, but restoring native plants before fires start may help, he said.
The agency already has spent about $10 million to rehabilitate Reach lands scorched by fires.
"We can keep reacting to more frequent and higher intensity fires and rehab after the fact," he said. "Or we can put some healthy shrub steppe initiatives together."
By Anna King, Herald staff writer
This year's wet spring has Hanford Reach officials and firefighters across Eastern Washington preparing for a busy summer.
On a tour of the Hanford Reach National Monument on Thursday, Steve Link, a professor of botany at Washington State University Tri-Cities, pointed out tall stands of cheat grass that will be sun-cured and tinder-dry by May.
Stopping the tour for a moment, Link examined a particularly emerald patch of the invasive grass under the canopy of a high-voltage tower.
He calls the easily ignited grass "the killer of beauty."
"It destroys our natural ecosystems," Link said.
The grass probably moved in when the ground was disturbed to install the tower, he explained.
Link recently published a new study examining the relationship between hot-burning fires and cheat grass.
He concluded that to stop large fires from sweeping the western United States, cheat grass must be killed and replaced with native grasses and shrubs on the more than 100 million acres that cheat grass infests in the United States.
He said cheat chokes out native species that are more fire resistant.
"Bunch grass is in bunches and there is dirt between it," he said. "See the cheat grass along the roadway? That's a continual mat of fuel."
Link said cheat grass grows so close to-gether a fire can start quickly and spread fast.
The Hanford Reach is particularly susceptible.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials estimate 45,000 of the Reach's 195,000 acres are at high risk for fires because of cheat grass.
Since 2000, about 50 fires have burned more than 95,000 acres of prime shrub steppe habitat on the Reach.
The most vulnerable places are along roadways where cheat grass thrives and human activity sparks many fires. Cigarette butts, fireworks, car accidents and lightning have set off major Reach fires in the past.
Link found the most effective way of killing the annual grass was to apply a pre-emergent herbicide that kills cheat seeds. Then managers should plant native bunch grass, he said.
Restoring native plants to the Mid-Columbia can cost about $300 to $400 an acre, but would mean areas would burn less frequently and less hot, he said. In areas where cheat has taken over, fires burn about every five years. In areas with native vegetation, smaller fires burn about once every 75 years.
Cheat came to America in loads of wheat seed in the late 1800s, Link said.
Mike Gregg, a biologist for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said cheat grass also is bad for native animals and birds that depend on shrub steppe habitat.
Sage grouse, butterflies, beetles and other insects all need the native grasses and sagebrush.
"Grouse do not eat grass," Gregg said.
Greg Hughes, project manager for the Reach, said his employees have just finished training to prepare for a busy fire season.
The agency will have about 30 firefighters and one small plane to help beat back flames on the Reach this summer. Hughes said his staff tries to stop fires quickly before they become large.
It's a difficult task on remote federal lands, but restoring native plants before fires start may help, he said.
The agency already has spent about $10 million to rehabilitate Reach lands scorched by fires.
"We can keep reacting to more frequent and higher intensity fires and rehab after the fact," he said. "Or we can put some healthy shrub steppe initiatives together."
