[PCA] NEWS:Invasive weed fire in Utah, may be missing part of story?

Addsum-Tony Frates afrates at addsuminc.com
Tue Sep 4 12:12:47 CDT 2007



Penny - we are seeing the same thing starting to happen in Utah.  
"Chaining" seems to be coming back into vogue.    It is a concept 
that I thought was dead.  Here's a link to a fairly recent project at 
Escalante National Monument:

http://www.ut.blm.gov/monument/wildlife-buckskin-projects.php


Tony Frates




From:           	<penny at pinenut.com>
To:             	"Craig Dremann" <craig at astreet.com>,
	"Olivia Kwong" <plant at plantconservation.org>
Date sent:      	Tue, 4 Sep 2007 09:52:55 -0500
Copies to:      	native-plants at lists.plantconservation.org, apwg at lists.plantconservation.org,
	sos at lists.plantconservation.org
Send reply to:  	penny at pinenut.com
	<native-plants_lists.plantconservation.org.lists.plantconservation.org>
	<mailto:native-plants-request at lists.plantconservation.org?subject=unsubscribe>
	<mailto:native-plants-request at lists.plantconservation.org?subject=subscribe>
Subject:        	Re: [PCA] NEWS:Invasive weed fire in Utah,
	may be missing part of story?

> Craig and list members-
> Craig, I very much apperciate your hard work and wish to echo your insight. 
> For the last 13 years I have been participating in land planning via public 
> comments. Whenever the pinyon trees are removed, cheatgrass invades. Yet, 
> the reduction of fuels in the Great Basin always equates to treating pinyon 
> trees, which cool the soil and helps hold moisture in the region. Poor 
> science created a history of poor policy and we have yet to understand the 
> impact of deforestation of the Great Basin.
> 
> Here is yet another example of continued misguided fuels treatment:
> http://news.rgj.com:80/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070801/FERNLEY01/708010325/1306/BIZ01
> 
> The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Carson City Field Office, has proposed 
> a vegetation treatment project on 2,625 acres of public land in the Pine Nut 
> Mountains southeast of Dayton and northwest of Mason Valley.
> 
> In 2001, more than 160,000 acres of pinyon fuels  treatment was planned for 
> Nevada. This was stopped thanks to the hard work of many people. However, 
> tree treatment continues just  in piecemeal projects like the one above and 
> the 4,500 acre Winz Creek Wildland Interface project done via CX.
> 
> As an aside, the pinyon nuts I work with have no harvest this year. This is 
> the first time in the 13 years I have been doing pinyon work that there were 
> no nuts (hence no reproduction).
> 
> Penny Frazier
> 
> Goods From The Woods
> 
> www.pinenut.com
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Craig Dremann" <craig at astreet.com>
> To: "Olivia Kwong" <plant at plantconservation.org>
> Cc: <native-plants at lists.plantconservation.org>; 
> <apwg at lists.plantconservation.org>; <sos at lists.plantconservation.org>
> Sent: Sunday, September 02, 2007 9:55 AM
> Subject: [PCA] NEWS:Invasive weed fire in Utah, may be missing part of 
> story?
> 
> 
> > Dear Olivia and All,
> >
> > That article last week from USA Today, may not be completely accurate:
> > --------------------------
> >
> > http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/2007-08-29-cheatgrass_N.htm
> >
> > Invasive weed a fuel for West's wildfires
> > By Patrick O'Driscoll, USA TODAY
> >
> > DENVER -- Cheatgrass, a wispy Eurasian weed accidentally brought to the
> > USA in the late 19th century, has become a 21st century headache across
> > the West, fueling some of this summer's most destructive wildfires.
> >
> > The largest blaze in Utah history, the 567-square-mile Milford Flat
> > fire..."
> > ---------------------------
> >
> > There's a map at http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,680197390,00.html
> > of the fire.
> >
> > When I conducted my 1997 Great Basin/Rocky Mtn. vegetation megatransect
> > that you can see at http://www.ecoseeds.com/megatransect.html --- my
> > survey went right through that area, from the tiny town of Milford
> > eastward along Utah 21.
> >
> > What the various Milford Flat fire stories might be missing, is that the
> > fire might also have spread by an exotic perennial grass, that was
> > intentionally sown by the Utah highway department and sown on BLM lands,
> > the Crested Wheatgrass, which was seen during by 1997 survey.
> >
> > A 2005 report done by BLM, stated that of the 3.6 million pounds of
> > seeds purchased that year for sowing on the public lands, 41% (or nearly
> > 1.5 million pounds) were EXOTIC plant seeds.
> >
> > There's a very strange disconnect, when the  Federal government is
> > sowing over a million pounds of exotic plant seeds onto public lands
> > every year, while at the same time, has a policy to limit the spread of
> > exotic plants on public lands?
> >
> > Sincerely,  Craig Dremann, Redwood City, CA (650) 325-7333
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > native-plants mailing list
> > native-plants at lists.plantconservation.org
> > http://lists.plantconservation.org/mailman/listinfo/native-plants_lists.plantconservation.org
> >
> > Disclaimer
> > Posts on this list reflect only the opinion of the individual who is 
> > posting the message; they are not official opinions or positions of the 
> > Plant Conservation Alliance.
> >
> > To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to 
> > native-plants-request at lists.plantconservation.org with the word 
> > "unsubscribe" in the subject line.
> >
> >
> > -- 
> > No virus found in this incoming message.
> > Checked by AVG Free Edition.
> > Version: 7.5.484 / Virus Database: 269.13.2/985 - Release Date: 9/2/2007 
> > 4:32 PM
> >
> > 
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> native-plants mailing list
> native-plants at lists.plantconservation.org
> http://lists.plantconservation.org/mailman/listinfo/native-plants_lists.plantconservation.org
> 
> Disclaimer
> Posts on this list reflect only the opinion of the individual who is posting the message; they are not official opinions or positions of the Plant Conservation Alliance.
> 
> To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to native-plants-request at lists.plantconservation.org with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject line.






More information about the native-plants mailing list