ARS | Publication request: The Area-Wide Project: Ecologically-based Invasive Plant Management of Annual Grasses In The Great Basin

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Other
Publication Acceptance Date: October 15, 2009
Publication Date: May 17, 2010
Citation: Sheley, R.L., Smith, B.S., Pellant, M. 2010. The Area-Wide Project: Ecologically-based Invasive Plant Management of Annual Grasses In The Great Basin. Paper No.7

Technical Abstract: The Area-wide project is a large, collaborative effort funded by USDA-ARS to bring together state and federal land managers, researchers, ranchers and policy makers with the purpose of developing and implementing ecologically-based invasive plant management (EBIPM) to guide successful restoration efforts where invasive plants dominate the ecosystem. The EBIPM framework is a comprehensive step-by-step decision tool that integrates ecosystem health assessment, knowledge of ecological processes and principles to formulate management strategies and tools; and procedures to adjust management outcomes as management progresses, i.e. adaptive management. Expected outcomes from this project are increased profits and values from the rangeland, increased health and welfare benefits, lower fire-fighting costs, and enhanced environmental quality by restoring healthy functions ecosystems. To catalyze the implementation of EBIPM, multiple landscape scale demonstrations and small plot research are being conducted to add to the available information on invasive grasses. Economic analysis of the benefits and costs of invasive grass infestations and implementing EBIPM are also being conducted. Education and technology transfer are central to implementing a long-term, self-sustaining program where EBIPM is adopted on a large scale. The goal for the education program is to give land managers the skills, ideas and practical know-how to implement EBIPM to establish and maintain healthy rangelands into the future. A number of decision support tools have been created and workshops, field days and trainings are scheduled to catalyze this project.