Herbicide treatment to begin next week on public lands burned in 2005/2006
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LAS VEGAS – On October 2, the next step in one of the largest efforts to restore burned areas in the Mojave Desert will commence as herbicide treatments begin on four areas of public lands burned in 2005/2006 that have recovered poorly.
About 100 acres in each of the following burned areas will be treated with Imazapic: Goodsprings Fire (three miles NW of Goodsprings); Loop Fire (Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area), Halfway Fire (14 miles NW of Mesquite, in Lincoln County) and Tramp Fire (in the southern part of Gold Butte National Monument). Application will be done by fixed-wing aircraft except in Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, which will be treated by hand.
Hundreds of small (2.5 acre) islands of vegetation are being established to help recolonize large burned areas from the 2005/2006 wildfire seasons. Half of these vegetation islands will be pre-treated with herbicide to help reduce the competition from invasive grasses and to reduce the risk of wildfire. The other half of the vegetation islands will not receive herbicide in order to assess whether herbicide treatments are effective enough to warrant use in future treatments of this nature.
Imazapic is a pre-emergent herbicide that acts on red brome and other invasive grasses as they germinate in the coming months. Imazapic remains in the soil for well over a year (average half life is 232 days, but this varies with soil conditions) so it will have an impact on next year's invasive grass crop in the areas being sprayed. The environmental analysis for this project can be viewed at https://eplanning.blm.gov/epl-front-office/projects/nepa/65595/88880/106388/default_original.html
A combination of established and new restoration techniques are being used to restore vegetation islands including sowing native seeds, growing seedlings in a greenhouse and planting seedlings and growing seedlings under different conditions to test their ability to survive. The U.S. Geological Survey is providing scientific expertise for this effort.
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land located primarily in 12 western states, including Alaska, on behalf of the American people. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. Our mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of America’s public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.