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FIRE SAFETY TIP: Dry Cheatgrass, Nature’s Kindling |
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Written by Ed Smith
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Tuesday, 01 July 2008 |
One of Nevada’s most infamous plants is cheatgrass. It has increased fire hazards throughout the Great Basin and forever changed millions of acres of Western rangelands.
Cheatgrass dries out quickly, becoming flammable and increasing the occurrence and intensity of fires. It also outcompetes Nevada’s native plants for soil moisture, becoming the dominant form of vegetation. Nevadans living, or recreating in cheatgrass country should learn to identify it, take care not to ignite it, and remove it from their properties.
Cheatgrass is also known as downy brome and bronco grass. Although to Europe and Asia, but it is now one of the most common plants in Nevada. Since its first recorded Nevada sighting in 1906, cheatgrass has come to dominate over seventeen million acres in the Great Basin. It rapidly occupies areas that have been disturbed by fire, construction activities, poor grazing practices, off-road vehicle use, and other human activities. At times, it can also invade undisturbed areas.
Dry cheatgrass is probably the most easily ignitable vegetation on Nevada’s rangelands. Discarded lit cigarettes, welding activities, ricocheting bullets, catalytic converters on vehicles, and fireworks can easily ignite cheatgrass. During years of above-average precipitation, a tremendous amount of cheatgrass can be present during fire season. If started on a windy day, a cheatgrass fire can produce flames in excess of eight feet and travel four-and-a-half miles per hour. Dry cheatgrass can also serve as the kindling necessary to ignite hotter burning plants such as big sagebrush and pinyon pine, creating even more intense wildfires.
If you are working or playing in cheatgrass country, be careful!
• Always have water and a shovel nearby.
• Do not park your vehicle over dry cheatgrass.
• Properly dispose of cigarettes and matches.
• Instruct your children not to play with matches or fireworks.
• Have a cell phone available to report fires.
• Make sure all equipment and vehicles are equipped with proper spark arresters.
If cheatgrass is present near your home, work site, or recreation area, remove it for at least thirty feet from the structure, preferably before it dries. Use a lawn mower with a mulching blade or cut it with a weed eater, rake it up, and remove it during the morning hours. Do not mow dry cheatgrass in the afternoon as mowing equipment can ignite it. For more information on cheatgrass control, go to www.unce.unr.edu/publications and download “A Homeowner’s Guide to Cheatgrass,” FS-05-29.
Ed Smith is a natural resource specialist for University of Nevada Cooperative Extension. You may contact him at (775) 782-9960 or
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