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Wednesday, April 21, 2021 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
B a a ling
ng g CHEATGRASS n never ends
Story and photo by Katy Yoder
Our son-in-love, Toby Maxwell,
is a research scientist working on
a project in Idaho. He9s studying
invasive species like cheatgrass, and
how climate change correlates with
its proliferation. Since I spent many
back-aching hours last year hand-
weeding cheatgrass in our pasture,
I9m well aware of its detrimental
effect on the High Desert.
Cheatgrass begins as a benign-
looking treat for grazers. Although it
fills stomachs, it9s poorly nutritious
for the animals consuming it. When
it turns from green to a luscious pur-
ple and begins to dry out, it loses its
allure as a food source and becomes
a menace. The foxtails waving in the
wind and attaching themselves to the
coats of animals are an effective way
to scatter seeds and expand territory.
Horses and other grazers that snatch
a bite of grass and get some fox-
tails along with it, can get infections
and even die from sharp foxtails
burrowing deep into tender tissue.
At its climax, cheatgrass can
decimate an ecosystem, growing
in near monoculture 4 the domi-
nance by a single plant in a given
area. This can result in pathogens
and disease which undermines the
potential of a plot of land, depletes
soil resources, and diminishes the
Beau roams a pasture that’s got some cheatgrass in it.
The invasive pest can’t be eliminated entirely — but it can be fought.
quality of the food produced there.
I9ve asked Toby how to get rid of
cheatgrass. It9s not native to Central
Oregon and was accidently intro-
duced to the U.S. in packing mate-
rial in the late 1800s. It9s a winter
annual grass native to Europe, south-
western Asia, and northern Africa.
It is now invasive worldwide. It9s
common for seeds, designed to bur-
row into the ground, to get into a
dog9s skin, ears and nose which can
cause infections and even death.
According to the USDA9s
Natural Resource Conservation
Service, Bromus tectorum, or cheat-
grass, spreads explosively in the
ready-made seedbeds prepared
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by the trampling hooves of live-
stock on over-grazed rangelands.
Disturbance associated with home-
steading and cultivation of winter
wheat also accelerated its spread
and establishment.
By the 1930s, cheatgrass was
becoming the dominant grass over
vast areas of the Pacific Northwest
and the Intermountain West regions.
It9s now estimated to infest more
than 41 million hectares (101 mil-
lion acres) in western states. While
it9s pesky for our pets, it9s also
known to increase the frequency
of wildfire and disrupt habitat for
a variety of native animals of inter-
est to naturalists and hunters alike.
Learn more here: https://plants.usda.
gov/plantguide/pdf/pg_brte.pdf.
Toby was clear that there9s no
way to completely get rid of cheat-
grass. It will always find a way to
survive somehow, somewhere.
His work is in its early stages.
What he knows so far is that one
way to gain some control of cheat-
grass in our Central Oregon pastures
is by making sure beneficial grasses
are healthy and receive proper nour-
ishment. Cheatgrass is an oppor-
tunist. It lives and flourishes when
other grasses are weakened by poor
soil quality, lack of water and detri-
mental uses like overgrazing.
I9m still going to pull up the
cheatgrass. But I9m not putting
down poison in its place. That will
only kill living things needed for
a healthy, diverse, multicultural
ecology. I look at fields, mottled
with snow and wet soil, and know
there are foxtail seeds that I missed.
They live under the snow all win-
ter, giving their destructive agenda
a competitive edge after winter9s
siege. They will be the first to
push through the cold ground and
rise towards the sunlight. Finding
and eradicating them when they9re
young and harmless will allow
native plants a chance to thrive.
SISTERS HABITAT
FOR HUMANITY
Sisters Habitat for Humanity Restore should be
at the top of your list of stops when you’re plan-
ning your home projects this spring. Indoor and
outdoor furniture of excellent quality can be had
here for outstanding prices — with what you spend
paying forward into Habitat’s housing programs.
Need tools and supplies for your project?
Restore has an array of hand tools and some power
tools available. Doors, trim, tile, paint — you can
find it all at Restore. Their garden-supply room is
outstanding.
The Restore yard reopened to the public on
April 1, and they are again taking donations. No
appointment is necessary during designated hours
— but you will need to unload yourself. Pickups are
available for some donations, call 541-549-1621 to
inquire.
Volunteers are needed to staff the facility —
cashiers, greeters, intake, pricing/sorting, and prod-
uct testing are all slots that need filling — and a
camera specialist would be most appreciated.
ALL YOU NEED MAINTENANCE & REPAIR
You are looking at a whole lot of chores this
spring. Not to mention all of those projects you’ve
been meaning to tackle for months or even years.
But you’d really like to enjoy the sunny days of
spring instead of working on the house and yard.
What to do? Call All You Need Maintenance &
Repair (AYN).
AYN is a full-service, locally owned family
company in Sisters. They proudly serve the whole
Sisters area at a very high standard. Principal
Austin Selle says that his motto is that perfection
is the only option, no matter the size and scope of
the job.
AYN hires locally and buys its materials locally,
fully committed to the Sisters community because
they “very much believe in this little town.”
They are licensed, bonded, and insured, and
offer fair competitive pricing, and free estimates.
They stand behind every job with pride in a higher
standard of excellence.