Collaborating teams work to restore rangelands and perennial plant species
Pheasants Forever (PF) and Quail Forever (QF) are honored to be awarded over $400,000 from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF). This grant will reduce the invasion of annual grasses across Idaho, such as cheatgrass, to improve rangelands and wildlife habitat.
These funds will continue to support the Idaho Cheatgrass Challenge Team, a group composed of federal, state and private land managers which formed in 2019. The team works collaboratively to address the threat of annual grasses into rangelands, and they will aim to treat 21,052 acres using this new grant.
To date, the program has treated almost 50,000 acres of both public and private lands in Idaho. Tactics for reducing annual grasses include applying adaptive herbicide, aerial and ground seedings of perennial plants, and livestock grazing management. Restoring these acres will increase available wildlife habitat, livestock grazing and biodiversity.
“We could not fund and treat all these acres against annual invasive grasses without the strong partnerships we've built here in Idaho and the landowners willing to get on board with these large, landscape level treatments,” said Lacey Clarke, PF & QF’s Cheatgrass Challenge coordinator. “This new funding from NFWF will help us to continue growing our core areas and to fight against annual invasive grasses in the West.”
Successful projects will see a reduction in annual grasses and an increase in desirable perennial plants on treated and monitored acres. Long term goals of these treatments include reduced wildfire size, frequency, and intensity which allows native habitat to thrive and results in more recreation activity opportunities.
For questions about managing annual grasses in central and southern Idaho, contact Lacey Clarke at LClarke@PheasantsForever.org.
Photo Credit: Charles Morton, Bureau of Land Management