Here's what cheatgrass is and why it holds so much fire risk

There is a long list of threats to sagebrush ecosystem health in Nevada and beyond.

It includes global warming, drought, overgrazing, conifer encroachment, wildlife loss and misuse of water, among other problems. 

Overshadowing all those others, at least when it comes to rangeland fire and the day-to-day lives of Westerners, is cheatgrass. 

Here's what you should know and why you should care about this plant:

Invasive plant 

• It came to the U.S. in the 1800s and spread to all 50 states but is most problematic in the intermountain west.

What's the season for cheatgrass? ❄️

• Cheatgrass is a winter annual, which means seeds germinate in winter and the plant sprouts, grows, produces new seed and dies within one season.

How to recognize it 👀

• Cheatgrass can be from two inches to two feet tall.
• It’s green during winter and early spring and turns rusty red to purple in spring and early summer before it dies and turns light brown. 

Its seeds spread quickly 🌱

• Cheatgrass produces a huge seed bank. A single plant can produce enough seed to grow 1,000 plants per square foot.
• The plant's early germination means it can beat native plants to early-season moisture, sun and soil nutrients.
• The only advantage native plants have over cheatgrass is if they can establish themselves, their root systems will go deeper than shallow-rooted cheatgrass.

Cheatgrass brings fire risk 🔥

• Cheatgrass is a fire risk because it can blanket entire swaths of the landscape which then become flammable as the thin blades dry out.
• Lightning strikes can easily start cheatgrass fires and high winds can push those fires across vast distances at a high rate of speed.
• Once an area burns it becomes more susceptible to cheatgrass invasion which perpetuates a vicious cycle that converts landscape to fire prone cheatgrass monoculture. 

WATCH:How can North Rim ranchers help control the spread of wildfires?