Cheatgrass

I think somebody planted native bunchgrass on one of my surveys. 

Bunchgrass

Originating in Europe, North Africa, and Asia, Cheatgrass now owns North America and my shoes and socks.

Photo by Emily Froese

Cheatgrass probably came over in ship ballast, but was also intentionally introduced at least once -- a college experiment in Pullman, Washington in 1898. Good job, guys. It outcompetes native grasses and thrives on fire.

In Idaho, over a million acres are infested with Cheatgrass. 

From the top of my survey, a little green bunchgrass in the foreground, but the horizon is covered in brown Cheatgrass. 

The only way I'd heard of to combat Cheatgrass is by planting native bunchgrass and tenderly caring for it. 

While walking around my survey, I developed a theory: somebody's been driving a tractor around planting bunchgrass. But they couldn't get to the steep parts. See the inverted brown triangle above my windshield, too steep for the tractor, still cheatgrass. But they got the tractor up the gentle incline to the right - green bunchgrass. 

I just heard about Ann Kennedy, a soil scientist, who's found soil bacteria that kills cheatgrass while leaving native grasses alive. 

Ann Kennedy

Maybe Ann was driving her tractor around planting bunchgrass on my survey.