A Biological Wildfire

Excerpts from a brochure by the same name, written by Steven A. Dewey, Utah State University. For copies contact the author at (435) 797-2256.

This model will be useful to many in vegetation management. It explains the issue in terms we can understand, especially in the West. This brochure suggests that the movement of invasive species is comparable to a wildfire. The analogy works. Invasive species can spread over wildlands and rangelands. This unwanted wildfire, noxious weeds, increases soil erosion, damages watersheds, impacts recreation, degrades wildlife habitat and more. Unlike a natural wildfire, the impact is often permanent. Whereas lands burned by wildfire have the capability to self-heal; lands invaded by noxious weeds do not naturally return to pre-invasion conditions over time. Invasive plants are far more devastating. Thus the brochure goes on to discuss a management strategy that parallels that of wildfire management:

Prevention: This will always be the first line of defense. Protecting lands that are not infested should be everyone's priority. A significant part of every weed management budget should be devoted to awareness education and other forms of prevention.

Detection: Early detection of wildfires makes rapid and complete control more likely. The same is true for weed invasions. Detection is the job of all field personnel. Detection requires field surveys and mapping. Involving the public as volunteers and other land users can aid in detection and reporting.

Suppression (Control): The third element of wildfire management is actual control. So it should be with invasive species. Fire-fighters use a proven step-wise process: (1) rapid response, (2) size-up, (3) containment, and (4) mop-up. Suppression is likely to fail, if all four steps are not implemented in proper sequence.

• Rapid Response - control of wildfires when they are small costs less dollars and reduces resource loses. This is true of weeds. Often their control is postponed until the infestation has covered hundreds or thousands of acres and is beyond hope of eradication. A rapid response attitude about new weed invasions is vital to success.
• Size-up - developing a plan of attack against each new wildfire requires information-gathering on : incident size, direction and rate of spread, location and value of threatened resources, control restraints (terrain, safety, budget). A weed control plan should result from a similar "size-up" process.
• Contain/Confine - The first objective in wildfire suppression is always containment - protecting unburned areas by stopping further spread. To vegetation managers that means contain the perimeter, and control isolated spots.
• Mop-up - This is the final step in fire management. For invasive plants, this means total eradication to avoid future spot flare ups and escapes.

Revegetation: In wildfire management, site restoration is the fourth stage. Often it occurs naturally. However, after controlling weed invasions on highly disturbed lands i.e. highway rights-of-way, revegetation becomes key to preventing future invasions.