Slow Burn: Non-native Plant May Boost Wildfire Restoration Efforts

Finding the roughly 30 acres of Millard County rangeland that a team of Utah State University and federal Agricultural Research Service researchers planted and have studied for the past 20 year is simple – it’s the only patch of green in a landscape left scorched and blackened by the worst range fire in Utah history.

The Milford Flat fire burned 350,000 acres in Beaver and Millard counties in July, but the plot of forage kochia, crested wheatgrass and Russian wildrye that was planted in the late 1980s in an effort to stabilize soil following the 1984 Clearspot fire is mostly untouched.

 

“There are places at the edge of the plot where the fire burned and the kochia is scorched, but the plants are green at the base because they are already regrowing,” said ARS plant geneticist Blair Waldron. “And the areas where we planted forage kochia also have native shrubs that have been able to become established and they were protected from the fire.”

 

Forage kochia is a perennial, semi-evergreen, shrub that is native to Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Waldron has done extensive research on the plant and made several trips to Eurasia to gather specimens and seed. Forage kochia grows well in the arid West, but does not have the invasive characteristics that make some non-native species a menace. Waldron adds too that it should not be confused with its weedy, distant cousin, an annual plant called kochia scoparia.

 

Robert Newhall, a plant and soil conservation Extension specialist and Utah Agricultural Experiment Station researcher, was called on following the Clearspot fire. Although the Bureau of Land Management reseeded approximately 10,000 of the 18,000 acres of rangeland damaged by the fire, the effort was unsuccessful. For six years following the 1984 fire, unprotected soil created huge clouds of dust and sand that blew as far away as Salt Lake City and the remaining soil began to dune.

 

Newhall, Waldron and ARS plant geneticist Michael Peel agree that rapid planning and quick, appropriate action is critical following the Milford Flat fire and other rangeland fires that have plagued the West this summer.

 

“We’re not anti-native [plant],” said Waldron, explaining his thoughts on policies that favor exclusive use of native plants in re-seeding efforts. “But most natives do not germinate easily and the seed and soil blow out before the plants can even begin to grow. Every inch of soil you lose takes thousands of years to replace. After the Clearspot fire they lost more than 3 inches.”

 

The researchers have learned that the mix of kochia, wheatgrass and Russian wildrye they planted on the central Utah site grew readily, stabilized the soil, provided food and cover for wildlife and livestock, allowed other beneficial plants to get a roothold and outcompeted many weeds that cause seemingly endless problems on rangeland. Following the recent fire they also confirmed that kochia is highly fire resistant. Many weedy plant species can quickly dominate areas disturbed by fire, construction or vehicle traffic, Waldron explained, so reseeding has got to be done this fall if new, desirable plants are to have a chance to grow and keep precious soil in place. In late July, while the team was studying and documenting the condition of the kochia plot, a storm moved in that created huge clouds of ash and soil. Sand was already beginning to blow and create dunes on the charred land around them.

 

“We were not surprised that the kochia acted as a firebreak,” Newhall said. “But it is a really dramatic difference. It’s a little oasis surrounded by charred soil, and the only wildlife activity I saw in the area last week was in our plot. It seemed like any birds, reptiles or small mammals that were still in the area had all moved onto the plot because it’s the only habitat they have left there.”

 

See related Utah State Today feature, “Many Irons in the Fire” [ http://www.usu.edu/ust/index.cfm?article=18532        ]

 

 

 

Contacts: Blair Waldron (435) 797-3073, blair.waldron@usu.edu; Robert Newhall (435) 797-2183, bobn@ext.usu.edu; Michael Peel (435) 797-3288, mpeel@cc.usu.edu