Annual grass invasion causes serious degradation of western North American rangelands and shrublands. Managers need tools to reduce habitat degradation and restore converted rangelands. Liquid-based herbicides provide effective control for annual grass invasion but face several challenges. Physical obstruction of liquid applications by thatch results in patchy control and cheatgrass �halos� around sagebrush where herbicide application was unable to penetrate the brush canopy. The weight of water limits backcountry application. Open Range� G (ORG) is a novel herbicide formulation that does not require water and improves annual grass control. Wilbur-Ellis� bonded imazapic to granular particles. The high-density granule penetrates vegetation cover to reach the soil surface beneath vegetation canopies and/or annual grass thatch layers allowing the use of low volume rates with application. Wilbur-Ellis�, Haycreek Ranch, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW), and Synergy Resource Solutions, Inc. (Synergy) collaborated to evaluate the ability of ORG to control invasive annual grasses in rangeland ecosystems. In September 2015, we established plots, collected pretreatment data, and applied a preemergent ORG treatment at 4 sites in central Oregon. Sites contained native bunchgrass communities but were dominated by invasive annual grasses with thatch accumulations and/or thick vegetation canopies. Monitoring in June 2016 showed that ORG significantly reduced ventenata, medusahead, and cheatgrass cover and production. The trial demonstrates the ability of ORG to penetrate thick vegetative cover to reach the soil surface and provide effective control of annual grasses with little harm to desirable species at low application rates. Because ORG gives managers another restoration tool for weed and fire management, its unique advantages challenge us to rethink restoration options, treatment thresholds, and consider the viability of treating low-level infestations that were previously not economically viable. This could change the relationship of economic restoration thresholds with environmental restoration thresholds.
Oral presentation and poster titles, abstracts, and authors from the Society for Range Management (SRM) Annual Meetings and Tradeshows, from 2013 forward.