BLM High Desert District plans to implement cheatgrass treatments

RAWLINS, Wyo. – The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Rawlins Field Office, in cooperation with United States Wildland Fire Service (USWFS), Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD), and Carbon County Weed and Pest Control District (CCWP) plans to continue cheatgrass treatments on multiple lands, including those managed by the Rawlins Field Office and associated partners during spring/summer/fall of 2026.

Treatments will be carried out via the aerial application of herbicide which specifically targets invasive annual grasses. The treatments will be implemented in accordance with the herbicide label requirements and special conditions specified in the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) authorization.

Treatments will occur in southwest and northern Carbon County, and north/northwest Albany County. The actual chemical application will take two to four weeks per treatment area and entry, consisting of both aerial fixed and rotary-wing applications.

• The West Carbon treatment units lie between Baggs and Rawlins, Wyoming covering areas in the Grizzley Habitat Management Unit, and from Long Draw to Bridger Pass north of Muddy Creek. 
• The North Carbon treatment units lie in the Seminoe, Ferris, and Pedro mountains, including areas burned in wildfires and prescribed fires, as well as unburned areas with a high cheatgrass load. 
• The Platte Valley treatment units lie in the Pennock Mountain Habitat Management Unit on the west flank of the Snowy Range, and the Spring Creek area on the east flank of the Sierra Madre mountains. Additional units are in the North Fork Encampment River drainage and lands within and west of the Blackhall wildfire area, all south of Encampment and Riverside.
• Treatments in Albany County will include the Laramie Peak Habitat Management Unit and the Sybille Canyon area including areas affected by multiple wildland fire events.

Treatments will include public, state trust, and deeded lands. If and where applicable, a 100-foot buffer will occur adjacent to identified perennial riparian areas and will also be in place along other land ownership not included in the treatments to mitigate the potential for spray drift. The chemical applied to the project areas has the trade name Rejuvra (active ingredient Indaziflam) and poses no threat to humans, wildlife or livestock. The chemical application will occur at a rate of 5 ounces per acre with 5 gallons of water as the carrier. 

Another annual‑grass herbicide, Plateau (active ingredient imazapic), may also be tank‑mixed at a rate of 3 to 5 ounces per acre. The low application rate of imazapic would assist only with first‑year control, where cheatgrass has already begun growing and maturing for the season. Treatment dates and duration would depend on applicator availability and weather conditions.

The treatments are being conducted to improve wildlife habitat, watershed and vegetation health, and manage hazardous fuels (fine fuels vegetation.) They will reduce and selectively remove cheatgrass which is an aggressive, invasive, annual vegetation species that out-competes desirable native bunch-grasses, forbs, and shrubs. It spreads and produces large continuous areas of light, flashy fuels and dramatically alters the wildfire return intervals and fire regime. 

The public should avoid areas of application while the aircraft are actively spraying. This may result in a slight delay in public land use, but the delays should only last a few hours or until the aircraft move to a new treatment polygon within the project area. 

Chemical vegetation treatments implemented on public lands by the BLM, USWFS, WGFD, and CCWP follow stringent authorization and permitting procedures. They are implemented only after environmental review which incorporates project design features and mitigation measures intended to ensure that objectives can be met with minimal impacts to other resources. A Pesticide Use Proposal (PUP) is followed which emphasizes public and operator safety, resource protection, and pesticide safety and reporting as the highest priorities. These environmental analyses, authorizations, and planning efforts and processes ensure the mitigation of as much risk as possible.   

For more information, please contact Reese Irvine with CCWP at 307-324-6584 or Christopher Otto with the USWFS at 307-328-4250.