Newswise — The sagebrush rangeland of Park Valley, Utah, has seen its share of land-use demonstration projects. One hundred years ago, an experimental farm was created there to display “dry farming” and encourage settlers to come to this semi-arid land. Today, demonstration sites seek to show ecologically based invasive plant management strategies. Ironically, it was the dry farming experiment that first introduced the weeds that ranchers are struggling against today.
An article in the April 2011 issue of Rangelands reviews the history and lessons learned from demonstration projects in this area of Utah north of the Great Salt Lake. It also discusses the goals and progress of the current project, initiated by the Agricultural Research Service division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which seeks to promote “science-based solutions for invasive annual grasses.”
The 1911 dry farming experiment—agriculture without irrigation—was a product of railroads and land companies that stood to make a profit from selling land in Utah. By 1916, the dry farming scheme in Park Valley was collapsing. The abandoned fields that would-be farmers left behind became fertile ground for exotic plant species, including cheatgrass, halogeton, and Russian thistle. Cheatgrass is a weed named for cheating the farmer out of a good crop.
In 1974, an association of local ranchers and regional and government agencies undertook a land improvement project. Heavy grazing and fire exclusion had led to thick sagebrush cover, reduction of forage grasses, and encroaching woodlands. After successfully burning and reseeding 800 acres with a drought- and grazing-tolerant species, crested wheatgrass, the project was expanded. By 1982, more than 20,000 acres had been cleared, burned, sprayed, plowed, and seeded. The creation of this collaboration was a lesson in what could be accomplished.
The current project in Park Valley began in 2008 with a goal of reducing invasive grass dominance and promoting the transition of lands toward desirable grasses. This also is a partnership among ranchers and regional and national agencies and is committed to using plant management principles that have a proven effectiveness.
Using the lessons history provides, the current project seeks to incorporate what has been done to the land in the past, conduct outreach in the local community, and set realistic expectations of successful management of weeds on rangelands.
Full text of the article, “Implementing Ecologically Based Invasive Plant Management: Lessons From a Century of Demonstration Projects in Park Valley, Utah” Rangelands, Vol. 33, No. 2, April 2011, is available at http://www.srmjournals.org/doi/full/10.2111/1551-501X-33.2.2
About RangelandsRangelands is a full-color publication of the Society for Range Management published six times per year. Each issue of Rangelands features scientific articles, book reviews, and society news. Additionally, readers may find youth, technology, and policy departments. The journal provides a forum for readers to get scientifically correct information in a user friendly, non-technical format. Rangelands is intended for a wide range of individuals, including educators, students, rangeland owners and managers, researchers, and policy leaders. The journal is available online at www.srmjournals.org. To learn more about the society, please visit www.rangelands.org.
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