Learn more about a pressing issue in our region and what we can do to help in this virtual Coffee Break with guest speaker Kim Franklin, associate director of conservation at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.
Non-native plants like bufflegrass, fountain grass, red brome, and stinknet are changing fire regimes in the Sonoran Desert and fueling fires that were once rare in this landscape. Left unchecked, these species threaten to convert large swaths of the Sonoran Desert from a fire-resistant, biodiverse desert to a fire-prone grassland, an ecological state change known as “grassification.”
The extent of the iconic saguaro-palo verde plant community will be drastically reduced and homes, infrastructure, and public safety will be threatened by increasingly frequent and severe fire, while fire suppression and post-fire recovery costs are expected to rise. The grassification of the Sonoran Desert is underway, but with adequate resources and changes to existing policy, it can be managed.
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