Preventing the “Sonoran-geti” with Simulated Herbivory
By Tony Figueroa, Director of Invasive Plant Management Large patch of buffelgrass in the Sonoran Desert before treatment. Non-native invasive grasses are creating wildfire risks that our Sonoran Desert ecosystem has not evolved with. When fires move through the desert, very few natives survive, and the time for natural regeneration could span several generations, if ever. These invasive grasses—buffelgrass, fountain grass, and yellow bluestem—evolved with heavy grazing pressure and fire cycles that allow them to outcompete native plants after being burned. Our desert animals don’t eat these non-natives because they are unpalatable, leading to large areas of waist-high grasses that intensify fire risks for our region. In our effort to prevent the conversion of our desert into the “Sonoran-geti” where African grasses have replaced our saguaro forest, we are implementing a “Simulated Herbivory” approach to managing large populations of buffelgrass and fountain grass where wildland and ur...
