Turning the tide on the sagebrush sea: long-term invasive annual grass control and rangeland restoration with indaziflam

2022 Spring.Includes bibliographical references.The invasive winter annual grass downy brome (Bromus tectorum L.) has invaded vast expanses of sagebrush-grassland in western North America, and the fine fuel associated with invasion increases the frequency of burning such that native plants struggle to persist. Recent research suggests that B. tectorum invasion may expand across an even larger portion of the US Intermountain West in the absence of effective and proactive management. The herbicide imazapic is widely used to manage B. tectorum, but control often declines after one year and reinvasion is typical. Several trials have demonstrated that the newer herbicide, indaziflam, can selectively control annual grasses for three or more years, and past studies indicate that B. tectorum seed banks are relatively short-lived in the field (