By: Doug Busselman, Executive Vice President

Wildfire is the single greatest threat to the sagebrush landscape of Nevada.  When fire sweeps across large tracts of this terrain, the after-effects include loss of habitat, further expansion of invasive weeds and potential loss of top soil to wind and water erosion. 

The post-fire trends of cheatgrass replacing native plant species, on fire-blackened areas, sets the stage for the next conflagration to further expand and compound the downward spiral.

In light of the serious ramifications, which wildfire posses to the Great Basin ecosystem, the University of Nevada Agricultural Experiment Station assembled a group of 14 renown scientists for a two-day forum to discuss necessary activities in dealing with the situation. 

Following the September 2007 forum, a special bulletin was put together to capture the recommendations and insights the scientist had discussed http://www.cabnr.unr.edu/naes/wildfireforum.pdf

Attention now must turn to implementing the recommendations that came from the scientific contributors.  A total of 42 specifics fell in these seven areas of proposed action:

Urgent Action Needed:

Present conditions continue to be ripe for catastrophic wildfire events and moving forward with meaningful progress is critical.

A special fund-raising program has been launched to accomplish the task of generating dollars for applied research activities to increase understanding of pre-fire, fuels management as well as implementing applied research projects for managing and rehabilitating Nevada rangelands. 

Tamzen Stringham, tstringham@cabner.unr.edu UNR associate professor and rangeland and riparian scientist is the champion leading the charge for the establishment of a $2 million endowment to carry out the work of applied rangeland research projects; outreach and education activities; and, most importantly monitoring internships to follow through in assessing the things that work and the things that don’t.

Your participation is vital in this process, even to the extent of talking with your friends and neighbors about the importance of going forward and putting the wheels in motion.  Contact Tamzen to exchange your ideas on funding opportunities.  Perhaps make a contribution of your own.  

Things get done when people decide to put themselves into the mix of solving problems that need attention.  This is definitely one of those and we’ve got a game-plan to make it happen.