War on Cheatgrass Declared from Capitol Hill

Feb 08, 2008 by Elizabeth Ziegler

(KCPW News) One Utah lawmaker is declaring war on cheatgrass. Republican Senator Dennis Stowell, from southwest Utah, says eliminating this invasive non-native grass will greatly reduce the frequency and severity of wildland fires.

"Last year we had seven deaths due to fires. We lost thousands of wildlife and cattle in these fires. So we have to get a handle on this," Stowell says. "It will be cheaper if we do this before the fires, rather than after the fires."

Stowell is running a bill to create a fund to help clear out invasive plants that are known fire hazards. However, the bill does not appropriate any money for the fund. Stowell says funding could come later this session in the form of an $8 million budger request, plus $1 million earmarked by Governor John Huntsman in his budget, private donations and federal grants. Kathleen Clarke, from the Utah Department of Agriculture, says it's a pay-now or pay-later situation.

"We can either step up and work on a progressive, proactive initiative to get a handle on this to reverse this negative cycle of expansion of invasives," Clarke says. "Or we can pay the costs, both monetary and non-monetary."

Clark says wildfires not only cost the state millions of dollars to fight, they devastate prime grazing land needed to support the cattle industry. Wildfires also impact Utah's tourism economy, she says, and reduce the state's air quality. The Senate Natural Resources Committee unanimously approved the fund this morning. The proposal now moves to the Senate for full consideration. Click here for the full text of the bill and a podcast of the committee meeting.

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