Within the Deschutes National Forest (which is where I live), there are over 395 invasive plant species as of 2015. Yellow starthistle (Centaurea solstitialis) is one such invasive plant (FS 2015). It out-competes native vegetation, is unpalatable to livestock and wild life (within the US), and prefers the Mediterranean climate in which it grows world wide (ODA 2016). Luckily, yellow starthistle dies quite quickly as it is an annual weed. Generally it dies after it has reproduced, shortly after summer. What this means for fire managers is huge. They have discovered a way to combat this weed with fire. This thistles' seed only has a 3 year longevity, so if land/fire managers know the longevity of the seedbank for both the invasive thistle and whatever local native vegetation was there, they can ultimately eliminate the thistle with fire as long as the native plant that is being restored has a longer longevity than that of the thistle (Fire Science 2009). It is also beneficial that this plant dies right after summer, allowing for the risk of fire damage in the area greatly decreases as well (ODS 2016).
Yellow Star Thistle
Photo Source: USU.edu
Fire Fighters attacking Yellow Star Thistle in California
Photo Source: http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/info/newsbytes/2009/389xtra_fire_v_weeds.html
Sources:
Fire Science. 2009. [Internet] Using Fire to Manage Invasive Species. [Cited 27 May 2016) Available at: https://www.firescience.gov/projects/briefs/06-S-01_FSBrief37.pdf
FS. 2015. [Internet] Invasive Plant Treatments. [Cited 27 May 2016] Available at: http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/deschutes/landmanagement/planning/?cid=stelprdb5302243
ODA. 2016. [Internet] Early Detection and Rapid Response. [Cited 27 May 2016] Available at: http://www.oregon.gov/ODA/programs/Weeds/Pages/EDRR.aspx
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