Grant provided to target cheatgrass in Idaho

JEROME, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — Cheatgrass is both a pain to take out of your shoes, but also is a hazard for wildlife, as it’s a major fuel for wildfires.

Miranda Reinson, the Regional Wildlife Habitat Biologist with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, said the invasive plants choke out native Idaho flora like sagebrush and bitterbrush. They are also a major contributor to wildfires since it dries out quicker than native plants.

“The fire can catch and spread more frequently and rapidly and in sage brush ecosystems, typically those burn every 80 years, that fire cycle. And with invasive grasses in there, it can increase that to as frequent as three years,” Reinson said.

But now new money will go to remove the pesky plants. The Idaho Cheatgrass Challenge Team matched a $400,000 grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. They are accepting applications that will put the money towards projects to target cheatgrass.

“The applications that come to us are herbicide applications, native seedings, and then there’s some monitoring and grazing management,” Lacey Clarke, the Idaho Cheatgrass Challenge Team Coordinator said.

Clarke said the process for removing cheatgrass is expensive. The areas they want to focus on are ones where there is still a good amount of native plants in the area.

“Comparing if you work in the heavily invaded annual grass with not much native plants to take over. It’ll be a lot more expensive, a lot more time consuming. So we like to work in those areas of less invasion and work our way out,” Clarke said.

Clarke adds they have been doing this every year since the team was founded in 2019. Applications are open now, and will close sometime in February. Anyone interested in applying for money to fund their project can reach out to Lacey Clarke at lacey.clarke@usda.gov for more information.

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