While cheatgrass arrived in the West as an accident, African Buffelgrass was deliberately planted. It has changed the fire ecology of the Sonorian desert and has even become a severe fire threat inside cities such as Tuscon, AZ.
“Buffelgrass is like taking a kiddie pool, filling it with gas, and putting it in your front yard,” [said Kevin Kincaid, a fire inspector for Rural/Metro, a private emergency services provider]. “These fires can go from four-foot flames to 30-foot flames in 20 seconds.”
Story in the High Country News. By Michelle Nijhuis
Ralph Maughan
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University. He has been a Western Watersheds Project Board Member off and on for many years, and also its President. For many years he produced Ralph Maughan's Wolf Report. He was a founder of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. He and Jackie Johnson Maughan wrote three editions of "Hiking Idaho." He also wrote "Beyond the Tetons" and "Backpacking Wyoming's Teton and Washakie Wilderness." He created and is the administrator of The Wildlife News.
