- Author: Travis M Bean
New research published in PNAS (Fusco et al 2019) highlights the role of invasive grasses in creating new wildfire regimes at not just local but regional scales. Weed scientists are familiar with the concept of the grass-fire cycle (D'Antonio and Vitousek 1992): exotic grass invasions promote hotter or more frequent fires, which in turn facilitates more extensive grass invasion, causing more fires, etc. Perhaps now is the right time to better educate non-scientists about this critical concept as wildfires take up more of the public's...
- Author: Marie Jasieniuk
- Posted by: Gale Perez
The global horticultural trade in ornamental plants is well known to be a primary source of non-native invasive plant introductions worldwide. In the United States, non-native species make up as much as 80% of the ornamental nursery stock and account for most nursery revenue. Although only a small percentage of these species escape cultivation and become invasive, the large number and diversity cultivated, especially in California, results in ornamental plants contributing to more than half of the invasive weeds currently damaging California's wildlands and remnant natural areas in urban landscapes.
The majority of ornamental plants are purchased and grown by the public. Thus, educating consumers to make informed choices towards...
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
- Re-posted by: Gale Perez
When wildfires burn in California, people often call them forest fires or brushfires, but the odds are high that an invasive weed is an unrecognized fuels component, says a UC Agriculture and Natural Resources scientist.
“We have all of the nasty non-native Bromus species here in California, and these weeds are key drivers of increasing fire frequency,” said Travis Bean, UC Cooperative Extension weed science specialist based at UC Riverside.
The invasive, non-native Bromus species aggressively outcompete native plants, forming dense stands that grow fast and dry out quickly, becoming highly flammable. Fire can move...
- Author: Rebecca Ozeran
Thanks to the recent hot weather (already surpassing 90 degrees several days in a row), we are starting to see the lush green hills near Fresno transition into gold. The much-needed rain we received this spring could unfortunately create a problem in the coming summer: thick forage growth can quickly turn into fuel for fire season.
So, what does this have to do with weed management?
Before wildfire, weeds can be fuel;after wildfire, weeds can spread.
FUEL
The main fuels in the valley and foothills are typically grasses. Even non-weedy grass species can be an issue if grazing livestock (and hardworking landscapers) can't keep up with grass growth before summer. Annual grasses are great...
- Author: Travis M Bean
Looking back at 2017, the devastating wildfires of California seem to have made an impression on the news of the nation. A recent article in the Washington Post offers some stark facts and figures about just how bad our 2017 wildfire season was in terms of lost lives, families left without homes, and the staggering number of acres burned. Both national and local news outlets offered plentiful coverage of these crises, and most have correctly identified the role of very wet conditions in the late winter and early spring in providing the fuel for the fires as well as the role of the subsequent drought allowed these fuels to transform into...