Sunday, Jun. 09, 2002

Experiments aimed at cheating cheatgrass, reducing wildfires

By Steven Link Special to the Herald

Wildfires have become a common phenomenon in the West, threatening human life and property every summer.

They also are gradually reducing the native plant diversity and destroying habitat needed for wildlife.

The U.S. Department of Interior recognized this growing threat and implemented the Joint Fire Science Program to find solutions.

I and colleagues in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently launched an effort to reduce fuel for wildfires in the Mid-Columbia shrub-steppe.

In large part, the reason for frequent fires in the shrub-steppe is cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum). This annual grass is particularly competitive in disturbed soil and is abundant wherever grazing has been severe.

This depressing ecological feedback loop allows cheatgrass to expand its territory further, even in relatively undisturbed soils.

It's possible to beat cheatgrass. Species that can compete with cheatgrass exist, and effective revegetation techniques are available.

However, little progress has been made in this battle because of fiscal restraints on land management agencies. Our three-year experiment is aimed at finding the cheapest way to beat cheatgrass and develop management protocols that will interrupt the cheatgrass-fire feedback loop.

We started with 102 experimental plots covering 7 acres on the Columbia National Wildlife Refuge near Othello this spring.

Species composition and cover have been measured in each plot before any treatments were applied. This will allow us to determine changes caused by our test treatments.

While documenting species in the plots, I was impressed by the number of larkspur plants. Our native larkspur (Delphinium nuttalianum) has bright blue flowers and is attractive. Unfortunately, it is poisonous.

We also will determine the relationship between the fine fuel cover of cheatgrass and the risk of a sustainable fire. In other words, when have we won?

This part of our tests will be done by conducting a series of small, well-controlled test burns on the Saddle Mountain National Wildlife Refuge, where there are varying combinations of cheatgrass and Sandberg's bluegrass.

The goal of all this research is to develop a fuel management protocol that will reduce the risk of wildfire on the Columbia National Wildlife Refuge and elsewhere at minimal cost.

The fire risk information will allow managers to balance costs of fuel reduction with fire risks posed by varying plant communities. A shrub-steppe ecosystem dominated by native plant species should result in a return to near-historical low fire frequencies.

* Steven Link is a member of the Biology faculty at the Washington State University Tri-Cities Branch Campus. He can be reached at 509-372-7526 or by e-mail at slink@tricity.wsu.edu.

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