Backed by the Department of the Interior, scientists are experimenting with soil bacteria to kill off one of the West’s biggest botanical invaders: cheatgrass. After identifying which naturally-occurring soil bacteria are capable of killing cheatgrass in the spring, before it puts out seeds, researchers are conducting tests on plots in Idaho.
Cheatgrass gets its name because it “sends out roots that cheat others plants of water in the spring,” says the LA Times. Once it dries out in summer, it’s ideal tinder for wildfires, burning up rangeland needed for cattle and wild species like the endangered sage grouse.
The project is part of a larger program started by Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell in early 2015 to take a “science-based” approach to protecting the sage grouse, while lowering the risk of fire in the Great Basin range of Idaho, Nevada, California, Utah and Oregon, says the Times.
But Matt Germino, a research ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey who’s in charge of the Idaho test plots, says that cheatgrass’ spread is symptomatic of larger ecological issues and won’t be quickly solved. “It’s unlikely that any one technology will be the magic bullet,” he told the Times. “Cheatgrass has come to dominate our lands. Chances are there are fundamental problems in the health of the land, or how we are treating the land.”