Posted on 11/04/2019 10:15:21 PM PST by BenLurkin
For much of the United States, invasive grass species are making wildfires more frequent, especially in fire-prone California, a new study finds.
Twelve non-native species act as “little arsonist grasses,” said study co-author Bethany Bradley, a University of Massachusetts professor of environmental conservation.
Wherever the common Mediterranean grass invades, including California’s southern desert, fires flare up three times more often. And cheatgrass , which covers about one-third of the Intermountain West, is a big-time fire promoter, Bradley said.
“In a lot of ways, California was ground zero for invasive grasses. Much of California’s native perennial grassland was replaced by Mediterranean annual grasses over a century ago. This study doesn’t look at invasive grasses in the areas that are burning in California, but invasive grasses are contributing to the fires there.”
Experts say the areas burning now in California are more shrubs and grasses than forests, despite what President Donald Trump tweeted over the weekend.
Invasive species are spreading more because of climate change as warmer weather moves into new areas, said study lead author Emily Fusco, also of the University of Massachusetts. New England and the Mid-Atlantic are seeing new invasive and more flammable grasses, Bradley said.
The study in Monday’s journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences looks at the connections between a dozen species of invasive grasses and fires nationwide, finding fires occur more often in places with the non-native grasses. But the study did not find a link between invasive grasses and the size of the fires.
Flanagan noted that invasive plants that are not grasses also feed the wildfire problem.
(Excerpt) Read more at ktla.com ...
Can’t be true. All the news readers say Trump is lighting the fires.
We should welcome migrant grasses and not disparage them, global warming is making it impossible for them to survive in their native lands
Maybe it would help to plant lots of natural ground cover plants, such as Ice Plants or other ground dwelling succulents. Meanwhile, more controlled burning is needed, without regard to any special rodents living near extinction.
How much of CA is naturally habitual without water pipelines? Of course, in socal, it’s no longer habitable because it is dem controlled.. unlike nor cal.. o wait.
Any reasonable environmental expert would simply depopulate ca.. but then that’s how many ec votes.
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I call b.s. It took a professor 3,000 miles away to figure out that Calizuela is overrun with non-native grasses? Please!
Then why doesn’t the Mediterranean burn down every year?
Because the Med was overrun by the naturally fire-resistant and invasive native California grasses.
Grass diversity, what kind of bigoted monsters could be against that?
Sweden seems to be having a similar problem with invasive little arsonists.
Unadulterated horsehockey.
I was born and raised in Calif., but left in 1982. What they have is Star Thistle, a low growing, oil laden plant whose name more than describes it. Beekeepers brought the plant in it has taken over as it can flourish with little moisture.
Especially since since they tend to blot out the natives
While the homeowners don’t give a damn
Another deflection, the fires could not be because if BAD environmental policies. It is illegal to cut bushing under power lines, illegal to pull out (3D) trees (dead, down, decayed)...and no logging roads cut to go in and bring them out. You wouldn’t stack tinder around your house, but in a dry forest it is OK. These people are reaoingbehar they gave sewn.
Ok, so they’re saying that you can allow massive amounts of fuel to build up but it’s the GRASS that matters?
Nothing more than a veiled admission that California has failed to manage their habitat. Fire is nature’s way of cleaning up garbage and starting fresh. Unicorn farts and laws repealing the laws of physics just don’t cut it.
SHEEP and goats will take care of the problem.
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