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Cosgrove Fire to be re-seeded by air this month (03-05-12)
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – The area burned by last summer’s Cosgrove Fire will be getting a boost this month when the Bureau of Land Management applies more than 25,000 pounds of native plant seed from the air.
In August 2011, the Cosgrove Fire burned 1,744 acres in the remote Little Book Cliffs Wilderness Study Area and Little Book Cliffs Wild Horse Range, about eight miles north of Grand Junction.
Fire managers closely managed this lightning-ignited fire to benefit wildlife and wild horse habitat and to improve ecosystem health. The fire was allowed to burn in pinyon-juniper habitat to create new openings rich in forage for wildlife and wild horses. Fire managers suppressed the fire where it was threatening existing grassland foraging areas.
“We are applying this native seed ahead of the spring growing period to minimize the potential for non-native cheatgrass to invade the area,” said Christina Stark, resource advisor on the Cosgrove Fire. “This will help maintain the integrity of the native plant community -- which is important to wildlife and wild horses -- as well as help stabilize steep slopes to reduce erosion.”
The seed mix, which contains seeds from nine plants native to this area, will be applied at about 14.8 pounds per acre. Olathe Spray Services, Inc., was awarded the contract to apply the seed. The seed needs to be applied before April 1, and application should take up to two days.
Ecologists will monitor the burned area over the next several years to measure the success of the re-seeding effort and to watch for noxious weeds.
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land, the most of any Federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2011, recreational and other activities on BLM-managed land contributed more than $130 billion to the U.S. economy and supported more than 600,000 American jobs. The Bureau is also one of a handful of agencies that collects more revenue than it spends. In FY 2012, nearly $5.7 billion will be generated on lands managed by the BLM, which operates on a $1.1 billion budget. The BLM's multiple-use mission is to sustain the health and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. The Bureau accomplishes this by managing such activities as outdoor recreation, livestock grazing, mineral development, and energy production, and by conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources on public lands.
2815 H Road Grand Junction, CO 81506