12/07/05 Project to improve sagebrush rangeland

SageSTEP is the Sagebrush Steppe Treatment Evaluation Program, a collaborative effort involving BLM, the University of Idaho and seven other organizations. BLM's Mike Pellant is one of the 20 scientists who will spend the next five years exploring sagebrush rangelands in southern Idaho and the rest of the Great Basin. PELLANT "To look at treatments that we can apply to these sagebrush ecosystems that have invasive species and kind of bump them back into a healthy functioning capability rather than seeing them continue to go downward and eventually be dominated by an annual grass, an alien annual grass like cheat grass." Pellant says they'll concentrate on areas at risk by using prescribed fire burning, or mechanical treatments or herbicide use. He says once those areas go over to weeds, cheat grass, pinions and junipers, its hard and costly to try to restore the land back into a healthy state. PELLANT "We've got the best of the best of the scientists in the Great Basin including Idaho working together to help solve this problem." Scientists say that half of these dry, open areas with few trees have already been lost in the Great Basin and the risk of wildfire continues to increase. More in our next report. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott