State Senator says to let cows eat grass to lower fire risk

CARSON CITY - If you let cattle graze longer on public lands, then you will reduce the wildfires that have burned more than 767,357 acres in Nevada this year, a veteran rancher and state senator said Friday.

Sen. Dean Rhoads, R-Tuscarora, said he knows firsthand that fires have been caused by the growth of cheatgrass and other fuels, but the Bureau of Land Management won't extend permits to allow cattle to graze for longer periods and reduce the fire hazard.

"Cheatgrass burns just like it is gasoline," added Rhoads, saying the excess grass contributed to fires in his district three weeks ago.

He and other members of the Legislative Committee on Public Lands unanimously agreed Friday to draw up legislation that would call on the BLM and other federal agencies to take steps to allow emergency grazing that could reduce the fuels that contribute to wildfires every summer.

Committee Chairwoman Maggie Carlton, D-Las Vegas, said that their plan will be discussed in detail during the 2013 session and that scientific evidence backs up the claims of Rhoads, 77, who is retiring after serving 34 years in the Legislature.

"I don't know why we can't get it grazed at the appropriate time of the year when we know that fires will come with lightning," Carlton said. "I don't want to blankly open the door (to more grazing), but something must be done."

In an earlier meeting, BLM officials told the committee that it would not be practical to extend the lengths of grazing seasons, which typically last less than a year. Permits are good for 10 years.

Carlton said that the committee visited the Gund Ranch near Austin, operated by the University of Nevada, Reno, and learned cheatgrass can be reduced by grazing in successive years in the fall after seed drop.

It has been thought cattle will eat cheatgrass for a couple of weeks only in the spring. Carlton said she learned that they can be trained to like it.

Rhoads said what happens now after fires is that the BLM shuts down grazing for two or three years, which allows cheatgrass and other vegetation to grow high and become more susceptible to fire. He said cattle should not be kept away for more than a year from land damaged by fire.

If the BLM cannot act quickly on extending permits, Rhoads said, then groups such as county commissions should hear ranchers' concerns and be allowed to determine whether an extended grazing season is needed.

"There are fires burning now that could have been avoided," added Assemblyman Ira Hansen, R-Sparks.

The acreage burned in Nevada through Wednesday is nearly double the 424,170 acres consumed last year, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

Cheatgrass is a non-native grass introduced to the United States in 1928. It takes moisture from native grasses and plants. With the lack of summer rainfall, cheatgrass dries out and becomes a fire hazard.

Because of the large number of Western wildfires this year, Rhoads is hopeful that Nevada and other states can band together and persuade the BLM to change its grazing policies.

"It is just waiting to burn, and the only question is when will it happen," Rhoads said.

Witnesses said Carson City has used sheep every year since a disastrous 2004 fire to thin out the cheatgrass and other vegetation at the edge of the city. No major fires have occurred since.

Contact reporter Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.