Cheatgrass winter range tour

jims

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I thought I'd toss out a last minute invitation to anyone interested in viewing several large-scale cheatgrass control projects on critical mule deer winter range. Some of the sites are up to 7 years since they originally were sprayed and still look amazing! We will meet this Friday to look at several sites near Lyons, Colorado. If you are a land manager or rancher with cheatgrass it will give you an idea of the benefits of long-term cheatgrass control. Send me a PM and I will let you know the specifics.
 
What was used to control the cheatgrass? I started spraying Plateau this fall for my infestation as I am tired of pulling and seeing it return yearly. Hoping for good results.
 
You may get lucky and get 1 to maybe 2 years of control with Plateau if you timed your application right, there is remnant competitive grass present, and all the stars align. The soil seed longevity of cheatgrass is 3 to 5 years and that’s the cycle you need to break.

We’ve had excellent long-term control with Rejuvra. If you would like to know any specifics send me a text….or better yet stop by sometime and I can show you!
 
jims, do you ever foresee some type of biological control, such as some type of weevil that will curb cheatgrass? meanwhile, could you burn a stand or are the seeds resilient enough to make it through?
 
We are supposed to get 1 to 3" of snow tonight but it usually doesn't last long here. Yep, the WG&F is using Rejuvra in scattered locations across Wyoming. Some of the larger-scale treatments have been in sage grouse country in Sublette County.

Bio-control of cheatgrass is definitely an option for cheatgrass control but so far nothing has been effective. There have been numerous studies conducted across the Western US trying to control cheatgrass with a soil-borne bacteria, Pseudomonas fluorescens. Plain and simple, it hasn't worked.

Unfortunately the frequency and intensity of wildfires tend to increase where there is cheatgrass. Here's a mule deer foundation article that explains this:

 
Jim's
Just curious what the cost per acre is for the treatment? I know there would be several variables but a ball park price?
 
Rejuvra is around $40 to $55/acre. Fixed wing is around $12-15/acre or $25/acre for helicopter. A helicopter can handle a lot steeper and rougher terrain than fixed wing. If you do your own spraying you obviously save some $. We've actually sprayed a lot of acres with a John Deere. Our tractor has high clearance for shrubs and handles some pretty rough topo. Not nearly as quick as aerial though! We also have gators but they just don't have clearance for rocks and shrubs like a John Deere.

We've gotten fairly large grants that have helped fund several large projects. Here in Colo they are working on a cost-sharing program to make it more affordable.
 
I’ve just read the label, since it is for use in rangeland situations I assume pinyon, juniper, and ponderosa pine are tolerant species? They aren’t mentioned in the label. I need to get some desirable grasses established before I use it on my property.
 
Alion, Spectacle, Endaziflam, and Rejuvra all have the same active incredient indaziflam in the bottle. Indaziflam is registered for application to residential and commercial areas (lawns, ornamentals, and hardscapes including patios, walkways, etc.), turf (parks, cemeteries, golf courses, sod farms, sports fields, and commercial lawns), field-grown ornamentals, and Christmas trees, commercial nursery and landscape plantings, and forestry sites. Food use sites include woody trees, shrubs, vine fruits, and nuts. One of the first labels for indaziflam was actually in orchards. I'm pretty sure they are using it over seedling pine trees to restore logging areas in Oregon and Washington. There are bareground applications with indaziflam tank mixes that I would definitely keep away from trees!

We've been spraying over and under ponderosa pines and junipers without any injury in our area. In fact, the needles, cones, and trees themselves are considerably healthier than when there was cheatgrass in the understory. I'm hoping in the near future to collect growth ring data from the trees inside and outside of where we've controlled cheatgrass. We know exactly what year we controlled cheatgrass and my guess is the yearly growth ring gaps will be considerably larger after cheatgrass is controlled.
 
Alion, Spectacle, Endaziflam, and Rejuvra all have the same active incredient indaziflam in the bottle. Indaziflam is registered for application to residential and commercial areas (lawns, ornamentals, and hardscapes including patios, walkways, etc.), turf (parks, cemeteries, golf courses, sod farms, sports fields, and commercial lawns), field-grown ornamentals, and Christmas trees, commercial nursery and landscape plantings, and forestry sites. Food use sites include woody trees, shrubs, vine fruits, and nuts. One of the first labels for indaziflam was actually in orchards. I'm pretty sure they are using it over seedling pine trees to restore logging areas in Oregon and Washington. There are bareground applications with indaziflam tank mixes that I would definitely keep away from trees!

We've been spraying over and under ponderosa pines and junipers without any injury in our area. In fact, the needles, cones, and trees themselves are considerably healthier than when there was cheatgrass in the understory. I'm hoping in the near future to collect growth ring data from the trees inside and outside of where we've controlled cheatgrass. We know exactly what year we controlled cheatgrass and my guess is the yearly growth ring gaps will be considerably larger after cheatgrass is controlled.
Thank you
 
Your range may be under feet of snow, travel safe.
Is WG&F using Rejuvra?
I asked this question last year. They are using it on state lands. I was talking with the local office habitat biologist. On the state lands they have the day on what they can use.

However all their projects/joint projects with the feds (BLM/Forest) the Rejuvea has yet to get approval. So she has been using rejuvenated on state lands and using plateau on federal lands. Her hope was rejuvenated would get approval soon as it is showing much better results…
 
Jim’s,

Can you comment on the above conversation I had with the local lady. She said that currently they were no approved to use rejuvra on federal lands but she was using it on state lands.

Is use on Federal lands limited? If so, how long until it becomes available as an option?
 
Elks96, you are correct. From what I understand, the BLM doesn't have Rejuvra on their list of herbicides at this time. I've heard of scattered forest service lands that have limited use. I'm pretty sure most state lands are open to spraying Rejuvra. I've enclosed a couple Wyoming examples below.

I'm not sure if Rejuvra has been ok'd on BLM to control vententa and medusahead where it was discovered in the northcentral part of Wyoming? That area got an emergency ok to spray Rejuvra on grazed areas before the grazing tolerance was on the label. Maybe someone from that area can chime in?

Quite frankly, it certainly seems like the BLM is dragging their heals getting Rejuvra on their list. Now that Rejuvra has livestock tolerance on it's label you would certainly think the BLM would be inclined to speed up and release the use of Rejuvra. Wildlife and livestock will be the biggest winners once it is on their list!

With that said, there is no comparison between long-term cheatgrass, ventenata, medusahead, jointed goatgrass, and wild rye control with Plateau vs Rejuvra. Anyway, that is true where university studies have compared the 2 in numerous studies across Western US.


 
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Jims and I are friends who met on here probably 15 years ago and hunt together often and I've been out to see his plots and the changes that occur when cheatgrass is controlled and it's quite dramatic. I really wish they would start using Rejuvra on BLM land but I understand how slow approval of new chemicals occurs by the government. Everytime I hunt with Jims it's and education in the flora of the area we hunt.
 
We missed the snowstorm that hit elsewhere. It's still game on for Friday if anyone is in the area and would like to meet up and take a look.
 
They sprayed almost 10,000 acres near Saratoga, Wyoming in the Upper North Platte/Carbon County this year. Special funds from many sources, but the Mule Deer Initiative was a key component. Thanks to the G&F and Carbon County Weed and Pest for their leadership and involvement in that effort.
 

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