Resource tour highlights current conservation, weed management projects

The Hot Springs County Weed & Pest hosted another successful resource tour last Tuesday. There were approximately 60 people that participated in the tour this year. The tour is normally a yearly event that has been taking place for well over 15 years.

Hot Springs County Weed & Pest Supervisor Lindsey Woodward said "The tours are a chance to showcase current conservation and weed management projects that are going on in the county. It gets people out of town allows them to see different parts of the county they might not normally get a chance to see." Many of the projects are a colaborative effort between the HSC Weed & Pest, NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service, HSC Conservation District and other contributing partners. Along with Woodward, Holden Hergert and Dawn Peil from NRCS and Jim Andreen and Dara Culp from the Conservation District were on hand to help explain and answer questions on some of the projects.

Streambank Erosion Project

The first stop on the tour was a Streambank Erosion Project north of town. It was just off of Black Mountain Road along the Bighorn River at Dee Hillsberry's ranch. The project actually started a few years ago with weed and pest removing Russian olive trees along the river bank. Russian olive are an invasive tree that tends to crowd out desirable native riparian trees such as cottonwood and willow, thereby reducing flora and fauna diversity. A few years after the removal of the Russian olive trees it was noticed that there was some streambank erosion.

The next phase of the project to repair the streambank was begun this past winter. NRCS and the Conservation District were more involved in this stage of the project. They established a riparian buffer along the rivers edge to enhance the protection of the conservation area. Root wads are a streambank protection technique that provides immediate riverbank stabilization, protects the shoreline edge and provides excellent fish habitat. They provide support for bank revegetation and collect sediment and debris that will enhance bank structure over time.

Root wads, the trunk of a dead tree with the roots of the trunk still attached, were placed in the river. The stem of a root wad is used to stabilize a streambank and divert water flow away from the bank helping stop the erosion. The root ball creates habitat for aquatic organisms such as cover for fish. Riprap, rock rubble and large rocks were used to secure the root wads in place. The rock rubble was brought in from the town sidewalks that were dug up and replaced and two hundred ton of large rocks were brought in from Montana for the project. The root wad and rocks are all underwater and are barely visible from the surface.

Cheatgrass Mitigation Project

The second stop on the tour was up Kirby Creek at the V Ranch owned by Jim and Terry Wilson. The project there is to try to reduce the cheatgrass population by trying and comparing a combination of herbicides.

Cheatgrass is an alien grass that was first introduced into the western U.S. in the late 1800s as a packing material in imported goods from Asia. Cheatgrass roots grow when it is still cool outside, earlier in the spring than most native plants in sagebrush habitat, and they continue growing later into the fall.

The cheatgrass plant germinates in the fall and is one of the first grasses to actively grow in the spring. It produces an extensive root system that is able to take up more water and nutrients before native plants have even started to grow. Cheatgrass then dries out by late spring or early summer and provides fuel for wildfires that clear established native plants nearby, making room for more cheatgrass to seed. A single plant under good growing conditions can produce several thousand seeds.

Cheatgrass can be grazed in the spring, when it is in its vegetative state, but it remains a nutritional forage source for just two to three weeks - whereas perennial grasses can provide good forage for three to four months. Once cheatgrass is nearly mature and dries, it isn't used as forage by deer, cattle, or other grazing animals because it provides almost no nutritional value.

Typically by late spring, it's long, stiff seeds are sharp enough to puncture the lining of the mouth, throat tissue, and intestines of livestock and other grazing animals, causing sores and infection and reducing feed intake and weight gain. It can also injure the eyes of grazing livestock. Potentially the greatest negative effect of cheatgrass is its tendency to burn rapidly and often. Because cheatgrass dries four to six weeks earlier than native perennials and is susceptible to fire one to two months longer in the fall, it is the primary source of major fires throughout the West each year.

The V Ranch cheatgrass mitigation project started in Fall of 2020 with spraying of two different herbicides, Plateau and Rejuvra, on both private and BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land. One of the BLM pastures was sprayed with Plateau herbicide, it attacks a specific enzyme found only in plants - not humans or animals – to control growth. Unlike other herbicides, Plateau herbicide is the first product to effectively control cheatgrass without affecting other desirable types of plants.

Fall applications, or applications preemergence to cheatgrass germination, show the most consistent cheatgrass control results. Another pasture was divided and sprayed with Plateau and Rejuvra. Rejuvra herbicide attacks cheatgrass with an approach that breaks the cycle of germination and future seed production. Rejuvra stops cheatgrass at the germination level and protects rangelands for up to four years so desirable forage can return. Rejuvra stays on the top layer of the soil, perennial grasses are lower in the soil so they aren't affected by the herbicide. Both herbicides are nonvolatile and have no grazing restrictions.

The control of cheatgrass should increase the quality and quantity of forage for livestock and wildlife while helping reduce future wildfire risk. This projects full results won't be truly evident until this fall and beyond. They will compare the transects to see if one herbicide site has better results than the other.

Historical Lunch

The lunch stop for the trip was a historical stop over in the abandoned coal mining town of Gebo. The group was treated not only to a wonderful lunch provided by Chubby Cheeks BBQ but the fascinating history of Gebo and it's community. Ray Shaffer was the historian/storyteller of the afternoon regaling the group with how the town came to be, it's purpose and what life was like there in it's payday. Shaffer also read snippets from first hand accounts about life in Gebo that he had found in his research of Gebo. There were a few tour attendees that also shared some stories either from there experiences living in the town or relatives that had lived there. A very educational stopover site before heading on to the last leg of the resource tour.

Saltcedar Removal

Project

The last stop was several miles up Sand Draw Road to the Sand Draw Saltcedar Removal Project. Saltcedar, also known as Tamarisk, is one of our most harmful invasive species because the plant's long roots tap into underground aquifers. Its groundwater-absorbing qualities may add to the severity of the drought in the western U.S.. Tamarisk's extensive root system extracts sodium chloride, or salt, from deep within the soil. Salt collects in plant tissues allowing it to exude the excess through its leaves. Over a period of years, the plant effectively changes the natural chemistry of the soil. Native trees and plants can no longer thrive in the salt-saturated soil. Wildlife is also affected by the saltcedar due to a lack of protein found in the plant rendering it unfit for consumption. Many native birds also find the plant undesirable.

Weed & Pest started the Sand Draw Saltcedar project this past winter by mechanical mastication of the plants along the draw. The first step in the removal process, the machine chews and grinds up the saltcedar. Once chopped up the plant can regrow so the next step is having the weed & pest crew hand spray all the plant areas.

It is an intensive process that requires retouch spraying for 3-4 years. It is an effort that involves 47 stream miles. Woodward says they are trying to rid all tributaries to the Big Horn River of saltcedar. Cold Draw, Sand Draw, Grass Creek, Cottonwood Creek and Owl Creek are all in various stages of saltcedar removal. Currently Cottonwood Creek and Grass Creek are the furthest along, "they are back to native cover," says Woodward.

Cold Draw is in the third round of treatment. Eliminating the saltcedar also allows the weed & pest crews to control perennial weeds that they couldn't access before. The removal of this invasive plant will help create a healthier, more abundant ecosystem .

Woodward was very pleased with the turnout for the resource tour and happy to share these projects with the participants. She also said "Being able to work with private land owners is the key to the success of any of theses types of projects." The tour this year was sponsored and funded by Helena Chemical, Bayer Environmental Science, Corteva Agriscience and Van Diest Supply.