Background and Justification

Invasive annual weeds such as cheatgrass and medusahead wildrye have taken over millions of hectares of sagebrush-bunchgrass rangeland in the Great Basin sagebrush steppe.  Restoration of these rangelands is hampered by a generally dry climate and very high annual and seasonal variability in weather.  The inherent ecological resilience and resistance to weed invasion in these…