Pullman, Washington
April 16, 2009
Scientists and land managers in
Washington and Oregon have received a five-year, $500,000 grant
from The Nature Conservancy to field test a bacteria that may
give land managers a new tool to suppress cheatgrass and restore
degraded rangeland.
Cheatgrass is an invasive annual weed that infests an estimated
50 million acres of rangeland in West. Cheatgrass grows in the
late fall and early spring, outcompeting native plants. It dries
out in the summer providing a continuous layer of fuel for
wildfires, and it has the potential to destroy more than 100
million acres of sagebrush country.
“The use of naturally occurring bacteria as a bioherbicide
against an invasive species represents a new concept for
rangeland management,” said Ann Kennedy, USDA-Agricultural
Research Service Soil Scientist and adjunct professor of crop
and soil sciences at Washington
State University.
Kennedy identified the potential biological control agent during
research on weed-suppressive bacteria. “It is capable of
selectively inhibiting cheatgrass,” she said.
The microorganism -- the bacterium Pseudomonas fluorescens
strain D7 -- is native to Washington soils and has been shown to
inhibit germinating cheatgrass seeds in laboratory, greenhouse
and field trials while not harming other species.
The grant will enable researchers and land managers to evaluate
the effectiveness of the bacteria under a range of environmental
conditions with understory restoration in areas that have
sagebrush cover. The results of this study will be used to
develop management strategies that will both prevent further
rangeland degradation and serve as a tool in restoring infested
land.
Partnering with The Nature Conservancy on the project are Tami
L. Stubbs, associate in research, WSU crop and soil sciences
department, Tony Svejcar, USDA-ARS rangeland scientist in Burns,
Ore.; the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service.
The Conservancy collaborators are Sonia Hall, arid lands
ecologist, and Chuck Warner, Moses Coulee conservation area
program director.
The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization
working around the world to protect ecologically important lands
and waters for nature and people. |
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