Post-fire herbicide treatments planned on BLM land

The Bureau of Land Management’s Prineville District plans to aerial spray the herbicide imazapic (brand names Plateau, Panoramic 2SL, Nufarm 2SL) to treat noxious weeds and invasive non-native weeds on BLM-administered lands affected by 2018 wildfires.

All treatments are designed to keep public lands healthy and productive and to minimize impacts to other resources such as water, wilderness, wildlife and recreation, Monday’s announcement said. The application is weather-dependent and may occur any time between Tuesday and Dec. 15.

Spraying will occur in a variety of locations in areas burned by the Boxcar, Long Hollow, Substation, Seale and Jennie’s Peak fires.

For safety, officials said, members of the public should stay out of these areas during spraying and for 12 hours after spraying is complete. All public entrances to these lands will be posted with herbicide and specific closure information prior to spraying.

A pre-burn analysis of BLM-administered lands identified one-third of the approximately 70,000 acres burned in the 2018 fire season as being infested by noxious and invasive annual grasses. Failing to treat the burned areas could lead to an expansion of noxious weeds and non-native invasives throughout the entire burned area within seven years.

For more information, please contact the project lead, Sarah Canham, at (541) 416-6785, or email her at scanham@blm.gov.