Training is complete, and the Wenatchee CLM interns are (finally) getting down to business! The past two weeks have given me a much better idea of what kind of work we’ll be doing day-to-day in the field, as well as a better understanding of what ESR (post-fire Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation) actually entails. It turns out that weed monitoring and treatment are a huge part of ESR, since fire can create perfect conditions for invasive plants, such as cheatgrass, to completely take over an area. The large amounts of highly flammable litter that this annual grass creates raise the potential for future catastrophic wildfires, and a positive feedback loop is established. This makes it highly unlikely that a site will be able to recover.
The first site I’ve seen with a solid stand of cheatgrass. Yuck!
A big part of my internship this summer will be mapping weed infestations in recently burned BLM lands. These maps will be given to our spraying contractors to help them create an attack plan, as well as to track the spread of infestations from year to year. For me, doing the mapping is a huge step up; I’m used to being the person who actually does the spraying and pulling! After many a summer doing weed work back in Wisconsin, it feels positively luxurious knowing that I’m not the one who will actually be doing these treatments. After all, the rule of invasive species control seems to be that there is ALWAYS more than you expect, and that has certainly held true in the sites we’ve visited so far. A BLM parcel in the Wenatchee foothills that burned in 2015 has proven particularly depressing. This area is infested with Whitetop (Cardaria draba), a perennial forb that is highly invasive. It grows in thick patches that look like a fungal infection on the landscape when seen from afar. We mapped these patches using a combination of methods: for the smaller, easily accessible patches, we used our Trimble unit, and for the larger patches further from the road, we drew them on a paper map and later digitized these polygons into ArcPad using the contour lines for guidance. It was a long process, but seeing the end product was so satisfying! Of course, I can never seem to escape a weed infestation without getting my hands dirty, so I wasn’t surprised when our supervisor told us to go out and treat some of the smaller roadside patches by clipping the flower heads before they go to seed. This won’t kill the plants, but now that we have the patches mapped, we can see if it at least stops them from spreading.
Cardaria draba infestation
Fortunately, not all the sites we’ve visited have been so disheartening. We traveled to some areas that were sprayed for Russian Knapweed (Acroptilon repens) about a month ago, and were pleased to see that the weeds are indeed dying! We also did a little reconnaissance at some of last year’s burn sites to check for accessibility and soil compaction, since we are hoping to go in and do some planting. One site in particular up by Lake Chelan was doing very well–I identified 18 native forb species, and the two invasives I saw (cheatgrass and bulbous bluegrass) were only located right along the edge of the road. Seeing the diversity of this site reminded me why what we’re doing is so important!
Calochortus elegans (Elegant cat’s ear)
Castilleja elmeri (Wenatchee paintbrush)…possibly my new favorite plant!
Katherine Schneider. BLM. Wenatchee WA Field Office.