[APWG] NEWS: Researcher Finds Way to Fight Cheatgrass--Just a bandaid to keep from listing the Sage Grouse

[Holly Sletteland]

I personally was very pleased to see this posting, because I highly value any advances in biological solutions. None are going to be a panacea, and the article made that clear, but they are all a step in the right direction and a welcome addition to the toolkit. I also agree with Craig that poor grazing practices are to blame for  the spread of cheat grass on the plains, but it also seems like more holistic grazing with some form of ungulate solely for the purpose of restoring the land rather than making a profit is the only way to restore NPK to the soil on a broad, cost effective scale. Like you, I am often frustrated by the protracted delays of USFWS on listings and designating critical habitat, but given the fact that they have been woefully underfunded for years, it's not surprising.  They also work in a very hostile environment and it seems to me they need more support from people who support their mission, not less.  I supported listing the Sage Grouse, but a number of conservation groups backed the decision not to do so. I can only hope they are right and time will tell.

-----Original Message-----
From: APWG [mailto:apwg-bounces at lists.plantconservation.org] On Behalf Of Addsum-Tony Frates
Sent: Thursday, October 22, 2015 2:26 PM
To: apwg at lists.plantconservation.org
Subject: Re: [APWG] NEWS: Researcher Finds Way to Fight Cheatgrass--Just a bandaid to keep from listing the Sage Grouse


Craig - thanks for your post.  I'm glad that cheatgrass issues are getting attention but I too have little confidence that this bacteria is "the answer."

As to USFWS, they do also seem to be in the business now of not listing species and either diverting attention to other things, or entering into long term agreements that are committing themselves and taxpayers to equally significant costs simply to avoid the stigma of a listing, and to pacify anti-ESA interests.  It is a sad state of affairs.


Tony Frates



Quoting craig at astreet.com:

> Dear APWG,
>
> This is just a pie-in-the-sky bandaid to pretend that we can manage 
> the cheatgrass, without spending the money to fix the real problem 
> that is causing the cheatgrass in the first place, the lack of N-P-K 
> and organic matter in the Great Basin soils, that are needed for 
> native seedling survival.
>
> We found that out the hard way when restoring a 100-mile gas pipeline 
> through BLM lands in the 1990s north of Reno, and you can see our 
> first failures at http://www.ecoseeds.com/good.example.html.  Then you 
> can see when we brought the soil nutrients up to what the local native 
> seedlings needed for survival, at http://www.ecoseeds.com/greatbasin.html.
>
> You will also see in the article that this bacteria program is tied to 
> not listing the Sage Grouse, which is my personal Endangered Species 
> petition from June 2002 that Congress last December illegally stopped 
> the listing by defunding the USFWS from acting according to the ESA laws.
>
> Anyone in the Great Basin can confirm my findings at 
> http://www.ecoseeds.com/good.example.html.  Harvest some local native 
> grass seeds and scoop up the top four inches of soil nearby where the 
> plants are growing, but wherever the cheatgrass and no native grasses 
> are established.
>
> Then, put part of that soil in pots or boxes, and sow the seeds.  With 
> another part of the soil, do a soil test for N-P-K and organic matter, 
> and add to another pot of soil the N-P-K and organic matter needed 
> shown by the tests, and sow some seeds in that pot.
>
> That is exactly what you are seeing on that website in the two photos.
> Flat with soil and no fertilizer, even though the soil was taken just 
> a few feet away from existing native grass plants, was too poor for 
> seedling survival, and the seedlings sprouted and died.
>
> Second box, added the needed N-P-K and organic matter, and native 
> grasses happy and waving in the wind.  When the scale is measured over 
> the millions of acres in the Great Basin, of how much N-P-K and 
> organic matter has to be put back, that is going to be one-millionth 
> the cost if we just sprayed the cheatgrass with herbicides, or bacteria or whatever.
>
> You cannot keep allowing the sheep and cattle to walk away from the 
> nutrients from an arid ecosystem over decades or a 100 years, and not 
> expect that one day, the soil nutrient levels will be too poor for 
> native seedlings to survive?  We are causing the eventual extinction 
> of that entire ecosystem through our continued grazing.
>
> So even if we could wave a magic wand today and all of the cheatgrass 
> disappears across North America tomorrow morning, the local native 
> plants will still be unable to recolonize any areas where the soils 
> are too poor for their seedling survival.  And each native plant has 
> its own soil-nutrient seedling survival threshold, so there is no 
> one-size-fits-all for the soil nutrient levels, as we found with the 
> Reno pipeline project.
>
> At any rate, I am glad to see instead of listing my Sage Grouse as 
> Endangered, that people after 13 years are starting to pay attention 
> to that poor bird, and perhaps see how many billions of dollars it is 
> going to take to fix things for everything that lives in the Great Basin?
>
> Sincerely,  Craig Dremann (650) 325-7333 The Reveg Edge, Redwood City, 
> CA 94064 Inventing Licensed Native Grassland Ecological Restoration 
> technologies since 1972.
>
>> http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/06/science/researcher-finds-way-to-fig
>> ht-cheatgrass-a-western-scourge.html
>>
>> Researcher Finds Way to Fight Cheatgrass, a Western Scourge By 
>> CHRISTOPHER SOLOMON OCT. 5, 2015
>>
>> Cheatgrass could vie for the title of the most successful invasive 
>> species in North America. The weed lives in every state, and is the 
>> dominant plant on more than 154,000 square miles of the West, by one 
>> estimate. When it turns green in the spring, “you can actually see it 
>> from space,” said Bethany Bradley, an assistant professor at the 
>> University of Massachusetts, Amherst, who studies biogeography, the 
>> spatial distribution of species.
>>
>> See the link above for the full article text.
>>
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