News Release

Saguaro National Park Resumes Aerial Treatments to Control Buffelgrass in the East District (Rincon Mountain District)-2019

Date: October 4, 2019
Contact: Perry Grissom

Tucson, AZ – Beginning as soon as Friday, October 4, Saguaro National Park plans to begin this year’s aerial spraying treatments to control the spread of Buffelgrass in the Rincon Mountain District (east side). The start date will depend on weather and other factors. A helicopter with a spray boom is used in areas of the park that are inaccessible to ground crews. This is the sixth year that the park has used a helicopter to treat larger, dense patches of Buffelgrass with glyphosate during the monsoon. The park considers weather conditions before beginning treatment each day, including wind direction and wind speed. This is to ensure that the rain-sized droplets reach only their intended target areas. The exact starting date and time will also depend upon weather conditions, and it will last 3 to 5 days, depending on the weather each of those days. “The monsoon rains have been very spotty this summer, but the recent widespread rains have caused widespread Buffelgrass green-up. Now that it is green and actively growing, it is susceptible to herbicide,” said Michelle Torok, Acting Superintendent of Saguaro National Park. During treatment, portions of the Tanque Verde Ridge Trail, Rincon Creek Trail, Quilter Trail, and Manning Camp Trail in the Rincon Mountain District (east unit) will be temporarily closed for a few hours while spraying is conducted near each trail. Due to success in killing Buffelgrass at Panther Peak, aerial spraying with the boom is not needed in the Tucson Mountain District (west side) of the park. The accompanying map shows the general locations of helicopter boom-spraying treatments. Updates providing locations of closures due to aerial spraying will be available on the park’s website: www.nps.gov/sagu. Later in October, a helicopter with a spot-sprayer may be used for a few to several days in both districts to treat smaller Buffelgrass patches, more information to come on those dates and locations. The prescribed treatment of Buffelgrass is within guidelines approved by the National Park Service in 2014 as part of a Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment. That document includes aerial application of herbicide to control invasive, non-native plants in places that are unsafe or too remote for control by ground crews. Ground-based crews and volunteers will continue to control these invasive plants in accessible areas with manual pulling and herbicide from backpack sprayers.

It is essential to understand that Buffelgrass spreads exponentially, and significant efforts are required to reverse its expansion. It crowds out native plants and can pose a serious fire threat, not only to desert plants like the saguaro, but also to homes and property. Recently, the Mercer Fire provided a demonstration of what Buffelgrass burns like –due to its heavy, continuous groundcover, it can and will fuel wildfires. Lightning started that fire on August 22, 2019, in the Santa Catalina Mountains. Luckily, the fire started at night and in a patch of Buffelgrass, so firefighters were able to quickly spot it and extinguish the fire. In 2012 when the park was last mapped for Buffelgrass infestation, there were approximately 2,000 acres of parkland with the invasive grass. Last year, about 600 acres of Buffelgrass-infested park lands were aerially treated with herbicide, and follow-up monitoring has indicated a significant decrease in Buffelgrass in treated areas. A repeat aerial survey is planned for this fall to track Buffelgrass coverage in the park. Only with consistent treatment and monitoring efforts like these can the park continue to effectively beat back Buffelgrass. Additional information on Buffelgrass and the threat it poses to Saguaro National Park, as well as the park’s Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment, are also available at: https://www.nps.gov/sagu/learn/management/restoration-plan.htm and https://www.nps.gov/sagu/learn/nature/Buffelgrass.htm If you are interested in helping the park eradicate Buffelgrass, please visit: https://www.nps.gov/sagu/getinvolved/supportyourpark/monthly-Buffelgrass-pull.htm