(Boise, ID) The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation has awarded over $400,000 to conservation nonprofits Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever to reduce invasive grasses and improve rangeland and wildlife habitat across Idaho.
The funds will support the Idaho Cheatgrass Challenge Team, a group of federal, state and private land managers formed in 2019 to address the threat of invasive grasses in rangelands. The team aims to treat 21,000 acres using the grant, according to a press release from the nonprofits.
To date, the program has treated nearly 50,000 of public and private lands in Idaho. Tactics to reduce invasive grasses include applying adaptive herbicide, aerial and ground seedings of perennial plants and livestock grazing management. Restoring these acres will increase available wildlife habitat, livestock grazing and biodiversity, according to the release.
“We could not fund and treat all these acres against annual invasive grasses without the strong partnerships we’ve built here in Idaho and the landowners willing to get on board with these large, landscape level treatments,” Lacey Clarke, the nonprofits’ cheatgrass challenge coordinator, said in the release. “This new funding from NFWF will help us to continue growing our core areas and to fight against annual invasive grasses in the West.”
Successful projects will see a reduction in annual grasses and an increase in desirable perennial plants on treated and monitored acres. Long-term goals of these treatments include reduced wildfire size, frequency and intensity which would allow native habitat to thrive and result in more recreation activity opportunities.
This story first appeared on Idaho Capital Sun.