Invasive Annual Grasses

How invasive annual grasses increase wildfire risks

Find out why invasive annual grasses like cheatgrass, medusahead and ventenata can greatly contribute to your wildfire risk and how to protect your rangeland.

Fine fuels are practically the go-to tinder of wildfires across rangelands, so minimizing or eliminating their presence on your land is important to help prevent them from spreading. But knowing where to focus your attention can be tricky. As a rancher or weed director, keeping invasive annual grasses at bay may be your best bet at lowering the amount of fine fuels on your range and lowering your wildfire risk.

Now, you may be wondering why invasive annual grasses are such a big deal. Because invasive grasses aren’t native, they often don’t have biological predators and aren’t able to find a proper equilibrium with the environment. They tend to run rampant and steal resources like water from the native and more productive vegetation. While native grass systems usually consist of bunch grasses and shrubs with ample inner spaces between the plants, invasive annuals will come in to fill these gaps. This creates a dangerous, continuous fine fuel load to feed a spreading wildfire. Invasive grasses also dry out earlier than perennial grasses, making them even more vulnerable to wildfire risk. Three of the most problematic invasive annual grasses in the United States are cheatgrass, medusahead and ventenata.

These reasons are why it’s so important to control annual grasses. Ridding land of fine fuels will allow native perennials to flourish and stay green longer so pastures don’t experience early season dryout. And by removing the fuel for wildfires, you’ll help stop the spread of these devastating disasters.

So what can you do? Ranchers having livestock graze on invasive grasses early in the season or weed directors mechanically removing fine fuels are fine short-term strategies, but if you want long-term control, it’s better to prevent them from growing in the first place. Treatments like Rejuvra^® herbicide can eliminate invasive annual grasses like cheatgrass and provide up to four years of protection with just one application. While the initial application is an upfront investment, this investment typically pays off with years of control and the return of more productive native forage. After all, investing in the land can be one of the best investments you can make, especially when it can help protect your livelihood and community from wildfires.

You can learn more about the problems invasive annual grasses pose and how herbicides like Rejuvra can help at Rejuvra.com.

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