By Kathryn Roundy
As fires race across the state, endangering homes and lives, few realize the key role cheatgrass plays in the scene.
“People know about fire, but they don”t understand that [some] fires start with cheatgrass,” said Susan Meyer, research ecologist with the Forest Service.
A native of Asia, cheatgrass is now the most common plant in the Intermountain West. It is an annual grass that spreads rapidly in the spring, choking out native vegetation. It grows quickly and then dies early in the summer, leaving behind a real fire hazard.
“Firefighters sometimes refer to it as solid gasoline because of how fast it burns,” said Teresa Rigby, public information officer for the Salt Lake field office of the Bureau of Land Management.
Cheatgrass was a primary component in the recent fires in Utah County, Rigby said.
“A lot of people don”t have any idea what a pest it is,” said Wilford Hess, BYU professor of plant and wildlife sciences.
Hess said there are two main problems with cheatgrass. First, it causes fires to burn rapidly and devastates native species. Second, it causes problems with livestock, increasing the possibility of a mouth infection called lumpy jaw.
“Basically the whole Great Basin ecosystem is going down the tube,” Meyer said of the ever-increasing cheatgrass encroachment.
One of the main problems with cheatgrass is that it is difficult to get rid of. It spreads easily as the seeds blow away or get stuck in hikers” socks and tires.
The plant is also difficult to kill. The use of pesticides could harm native plants and fire does not destroy cheatgrass seeds.
Meyer said it is too late to stop cheatgrass from spreading – now the focus needs to be on getting rid of it. For the past eight years, she has been studying with the Shrub Sciences Laboratory, which is located south of BYU, on possible ways to kill cheatgrass.
Researchers in the lab have discovered a smut fungus that infects the plant and stops it from producing seeds. The Shrub lab is currently working on isolating the fungi to infect only cheatgrass.
A smut epidemic could wipe out cheatgrass. The problem is protecting the native plants while infecting only cheatgrass.
“Our chances of succeeding in our project are about 50/50, but I plan to spend the rest of my career fighting [cheatgrass],” Meyer said.
In the meantime, people need to be aware of the problem.
“If we don”t cause fires to burn in areas with cheatgrass on the fringe, it won”t spread as easily,” Rigby said.
