reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea) burn at Neste Valley IA 653A2153
Winter is a lean time for me to find lots of neat nature subjects to photograph so here's a scene from work today. My co-workers who are all specially trained to fight wildfires are conducting a controlled burn in a small waterway that has a large population of reed canary grass. Reed canary grass is aggressive, invasive and non-native here in Iowa where it chokes out our valuable native grasses and sedges in settings like this. Reed canary grass has practically no value for birds and wildlife and is essentially a flora & fauna diversity desert. Reed canary grass is very difficult to control by conventional means - spraying, mowing, spring burns - but some recent research suggests that a winter burn, if possible, might really set it back some. I guess we'll see next summer.
reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea) burn at Neste Valley IA 653A2153
Winter is a lean time for me to find lots of neat nature subjects to photograph so here's a scene from work today. My co-workers who are all specially trained to fight wildfires are conducting a controlled burn in a small waterway that has a large population of reed canary grass. Reed canary grass is aggressive, invasive and non-native here in Iowa where it chokes out our valuable native grasses and sedges in settings like this. Reed canary grass has practically no value for birds and wildlife and is essentially a flora & fauna diversity desert. Reed canary grass is very difficult to control by conventional means - spraying, mowing, spring burns - but some recent research suggests that a winter burn, if possible, might really set it back some. I guess we'll see next summer.