Lessons learned from the EBIPM large- scale cheatgrass control and

Need Financial Assistance to Improve yourLand or Operation?By Jeff Schick, NRCS District ConservationistThe Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has aprogram that may be able to help you. The EnvironmentalQuality Incentives Program (EQIP) is a voluntary programthat provides financial assistance to improve your operationin ways that will also provide environmental benefits.The benefits of this program will improve and enhanceBox Elder County’s soil health, water quality and quantity,air quality, and wildlife habitat and increase the ability ofproducers to maintain a sustainable agriculture operation.Over the past ten years, many of the county’s producershave already participated in this program. Almost $17 milliondollars have been utilized to improve Box Elder’s naturalresources and make local agriculture, dairies, livestockproducers, farms, orchards, and ranches more sustainable.If you want to improve your operation, large or small, youcan apply for this program here at the USDA ServiceCenter in Tremonton at any time. There are batching periodsduring each year when funding selections are madeand projects are selected to be funded for the year.When you apply, the staff here will use their expertise tohelp you to analyze your operation and develop a plan tohelp you to:increase crop yields,make range and pastures produce better andmore forage,build soil instead of deplete it,manage animal waste to meet current regulations,conserve water by applying it more effectivelyand efficiently,extend vegetable harvest season, andimprove your operation in many other ways.It is our objective to endeavor to make your operationmore sustainable for you and your family and the generationsto follow. Please come into the office and visit withus.Lessons learned from the EBIPM largescalecheatgrass control and revegetationproject in Park Valley, UtahBy Justin Williams, Rangeland Management Specialist,USDA-ARS Forage and Range Research Laboratory,Logan, Utah & Tom Monaco, Research Ecologist, USDA-ARS Forage and Range Research Laboratory, Logan,UtahAdopting the EBIPM FrameworkEfforts to control invasive weeds often fail to achieve lastingresults if they do not impact the underlying causes ofweed dominance and invasion. For this reason, the USDA-Agricultural Research Service has teamed up with universitiesand land management agencies in the western U.S.to develop and demonstrate how the adoption ofEcologically Based Invasive Plant Management (see www.EBIPM.org), can lead to systematic land improvements.Adopting EBIPM can help producers maximize productivityand improve economic viability in five simple steps(see table below). Here, we briefly describe the outcomeof adopting the EBIPM Framework in Park Valley, Utah.Management GoalWe’ve all seen it, thousands of acres of rangelands in BoxElder County infested with cheatgrass. Although thisannual grass may be productive in early spring, it is not areliable source of forage in low precipitation years. Thepromise of something better, and the fear of letting aninvasive annual grass take over rangelands, has promptedrenewed interest in ways to successfully and economicallyconvert grazed lands to perennial grass pastures (Figure1). When successful, this conversion is a win-win for boththe ecosystem and producers. For example, producers willenjoy a more stable and reliable forage base than thatprovided by cheatgrass, while our shared ecosystem willbe left in better shape than it was found. Our goal in ParkValley was simple – increase forage production, reducewildfire frequency, and better understand how to similarlyconvert cheatgrass pastures to perennial grass pasturesin the future.Project ImplementationIn 2008-2009, we completed EBIPM Steps 1 and 2 anddetermined that cheatgrass dominance across large-scalestudy pastures was due to abundant dry litter production,frequent wildfire disturbance, hyper-abundance of cheatgrassseed on the soil surface, and the absence of desirableplant species to compete with cheatgrass. Consultingthe available list of EBIPM principles in Step 3 to guide ourmanagement decisions, we reasoned that disturbancemust be modified, even if only temporarily, to reducecheatgrass litter and seeds and to allow seeded perennialcontinued on page 6...4Conservation Connection

...continued from pg. 4 'Cheatgrass Control'grasses to gain a foothold. Thus, in EBIPMStep 4, with the cooperation and insightsof producers, we determined that fireand herbicide application could be usedstrategically to reduce cheatgrass litterand seed production and improve soilsurface conditions prior to seeding desirableperennial grasses. In essence, thismanagement strategy was deemedappropriate because it was capable ofsimultaneously altering site conditions,plant species availability, and plant speciesperformance.In Fall 2009, replicated pastures ownedby two different producers in Park Valley,Utah were assigned to one of four treatmentcombinations – untreated, burnedonly(early November), herbicide application-only(mid-November, Plateau®applied at the rate of 40oz/acre), andburned+herbicide application. In earlyDecember, all pastures were drill-seededwith a seed mix that consisted of bothnative and introduced perennial grasses(total = 9 lbs of seed/acre). The averagecost for applying these treatments was asfollows: fire, $30/acre; herbicide, $40/acre; and seeding, $30 acre. It is importantto note that these costs reflect professionalcontracts, which are expectedto be much lower if a producer is capableof applying their own cheatgrass controland revegetation treatments.Initial OutcomesTwo years after treatment (2011), burningand herbicide, especially when combined,effectively reduced soil surface litterand cheatgrass seed on the soil surface.In the same token, perennial grassestablishment was significantly greater inall treatments when compared tountreated pastures. For example, fireonlyresulted in over three perennialseeded plants per square yard, whileherbicide-only resulted in just over twoseeded plants per square yard. In contrast,when fire and herbicide were combined,there averaged five seeded plantsper square yard. A particularly promisingaspect of these results is that perennialThe Five EBIPM Steps1. Complete Rangeland HealthAssessment with an USDA-NRCS specialist.2. Identify causes of weed invasionand the associated processesin need of modification.3. Use ecological principles toguide decision making.4. Choose appropriate toolsand strategies based on ecologicalprinciples.5. Design and execute a planusing adaptive management.Figure 1. Management goal ofproject in Park Valley, Utah includedreducing wildfire threat and improvingforage production in dry years.grasses successfully established eventhough cheatgrass within pasturesincreased due to higher-than-averageprecipitation in both 2010 and 2011.However, livestock grazing in 2012 willhopefully reduce the threat of wildfireoccurrence during what appears to be aseason of considerable wildfire risk,given drought conditions and high litterproduction during both 2010 and 2011.Lessons Learned and FutureOpportunitiesUsing the EBIPM framework helpeddefine the underlying causes of cheatgrassdominance and guided the implementationof an ecologically appropriatemanagement strategy. We are encouragedby the results of this pasture-levelstudy and hope that it inspires additionalproducers to adopt the EBIPM frameworkwhen choosing to convert cheatgrasspastures to perennial grass pastures.A few points warrant considerationwhen adopting this ecologically basedapproach. First, although cheatgrass willlikely continue to be a pest into thefuture, pastures invaded by this grasswill not “right-themselves” over timewithout active interventions to triggerthe desired conversion. Second, itappears that perennial grass establishmentis essential for pasture sustainabilityand to prevent re-invasion by cheatgrass.Finally, pasture conversion is aprocess that likely requires more thanthree years and depends on whethercheatgrass is effectively impacted bytreatments and the initial establishmentof perennial grasses. During this conversionperiod, we advocate the use ofadaptive management approaches asoutlined in Step 5 of the EBIPM frameworkto further help producers protecttheir investments in weed control andrevegetation and realize economic gainsthat are anticipated due to improved forageproduction. In this vein, it may benecessary to carefully consider futuregrazing practices that will weaken cheatgrasswhile strengthening the spreadand performance of perennial grasses.6Conservation Connection