Buffelgrass foes taking root

www.gvnews.com

Buffelgrass marching south from Tucson along the Interstate 19 corridor has made itself at home in Green Valley amid stepped up efforts at eradication.

The fire-prone, strawlike grass can be seen reaching out into the desert from the base of mine tailings, swaying alongside the interstate and popping up in backyard flower gardens. Buffelgrass is so common in the Santa Cruz Valley that it’s easy to forget it’s not native to the Sonoran Desert.

Pima County has approved a plan requiring homeowners to get rid of the grass, primarily because it’s a fire hazard, said Ursula Kramer, director of the County Department of Environmental Quality.

The County Board of Supervisors last week designated buffelgrass a weed, giving the board the authority to order homeowners to control it or face a fine. The ordinance goes into effect in mid-April.

Kramer said the county will be talking with the non-profit Southern Arizona Buffelgrass Coordination Center and local fire districts to designate high-priority areas. The focus will be on large patches of buffelgrass, though homeowners with a few straggling plants in their front yard may also receive a notice.

“This is more about education than enforcement,” Kramer said.

Residents with large bunches of the grass on their property need to know about the fire dangers, she said. Even for those with a minor infestation, “It’s much easier to eradicate the plants when you’ve just got one or two, before it becomes a much bigger issue. Our goal is to start getting the word out.”

The dangers

Regular brush fires burn 600 to 800 degrees with a flame height of 6 to 8 feet. Buffelgrass fires burn 12,000 to 14,000 degrees, producing flames as high as 30 feet, said Travis Bean, a doctoral student at the University of Arizona who specializes in the effects of buffelgrass on desert ecology.

Fire actually helps the grass grow and spread, while killing off native plants and cacti, he said.

Fire officials are concerned for the safety of firefighters combatting a buffelgrass burn, which Kramer said was another factor that motivated the county ordinance.

The first documented buffelgrass fire in Pima County occurred in Green Valley in 2004, near Duval Mine Road and La Canada Drive at the base of the mine tailings. Chief Simon Davis of the Green Valley Fire District said they didn’t realize at the time that it was the nature of the grass that caused the blaze to spread so quickly.

Another issue: Buffelgrass, which Davis describes as a “flash fuel,” is a perennial plant, which means it will come back year after year if the root system is intact.

Davis said there is a drive in Pima County to get fire departments to begin removing the grass, but added, “In our current economy, that would be impossible.”

He also said the scope of the problem is too big for fire departments to tackle it.

“The grass is all over the desert — it’s everywhere. Pretty much any grass you see along the 1-19 is buffelgrass.”

Harmful to the ecology

Bean called the proliferation of buffelgrass “pretty scary,” and said some canyons at the foot of the Catalina Mountains in Tucson have “almost no native vegetation left.”

He described the phenomenon as one of the first cases of wholesale ecosystem conversion in the region.

“To say the Sonoran Desert is becoming an African savannah is not an exaggeration,” he said.

jrichardson@gvnews.com | 547-9726

What is buffelgrass?

Buffelgrass is native to Africa, Arabia, the Canary Islands, Indonesia, northern India, Madagascar and Pakistan.

Introduced in the U.S. beginning in the 1930s as livestock forage; now in 12 states.

Planted along mine tailings in Southern Arizona for erosion control.

Grows in late winter, flowers spring through fall

Can grow up to 3.5 feet tall and 3 to 4 feet in diameter; roots can reach 10 feet deep.

Information: www.buffelgrass.org.

SEMINAR

Master Gardener Mary Kidnocker will host a seminar on buffelgrass at 9:30 a.m., April 16, at the East Social Center, Green Valley.