Analysis: Restoring Idaho’s rangelands would help combat climate change

The American West needs a “moonshot investment” in rangeland restoration to reverse the spread of invasive species like cheatgrass in the wake of climate change, a top firefighting official said.

Grant Beebe, Bureau of Land Management deputy director, told a panel of managers and scientists Wednesday the replacement of native ecosystems by fire-fueling invasive plants undermines the future of hundreds of species and their habitat. These native ecosystems can help capture carbon and reduce the costs of fighting wildfire, he said.

“Restoration is the key,” Beebe told a virtual audience of more than 400 people tuned into a climate change discussion sponsored by the Public Lands Foundation and the Andrus Center for Public Policy at Boise State University. “We can’t just fight wildfires.”

Such a massive effort is daunting, but Beebe’s plea comes after Congress has just passed a $1.2 trillion federal infrastructure package that includes billions of dollars for wildfire prevention and to make public lands more resilient. That includes increasing prescribed burning, logging and thinning that would reduce the size of many wildfires and the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere.

“There is real money available now,” said Madeleine West, director of the Center for Public Lands at the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. Additional billions are targeted to increasing the capacity of rivers, wetlands and estuaries to absorb floodwaters and reduce drought.

The Bureau of Land Management oversees 248 million acres of public lands in the West, enough that an effective restoration and mitigation strategy can make the region more resilient to the climate changes we already face and will face in the future, she said. Add the 193 million acres of national forests and the impact can be even greater.

Worldwide struggle to create change

The burning of fossil fuels, the release of methane and the increasing size of wildfires across the globe has increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that nations are struggling to control at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow. They are seeking agreement on how they can transition the world economy away from burning coal, oil and gas to renewable energy sources.

Climate change remains a polarizing issue despite overwhelming consensus among scientists and the changing climate conditions sportsmen, farmers and nearly everyone else has experienced over the last 30 years. The shift from the Trump to Biden administrations has made it easier for federal managers and scientists to address the issue, Beebe said.

In this political atmosphere, a disconnect between managers and climate change researchers has developed, according to a new study released by Utah State University. Getting the latest research into the hands of managers can increase the tools they have to reduce carbon releases and allow them to meet the needs of ranchers and others, said Jen Pierce, a Boise State geology professor who specializes in climate education.

Wildlife forced to adapt

Wildlife and the ecosystems they depend upon have not been a part of the debate. They have had to adapt to rising temperatures, changing seasons, earlier river runoffs and the other effects of the changing climate, said Steve Beissinger, professor of conservation biology at the University of California, Berkeley.

“Birds are coming back sooner,” he said. “Flowers are opening up earlier.”

Some species are adapting to the changes but others can’t. Night-time active small mammals, for instance, are faring better in the drought-stricken desert ecosystems than the daytime-active birds.

Overall, managers should consider a strategy for the landscapes they manage, Beissinger said. In each case they must decide, “do we resist change; do we accept change; do we direct change,” Beissinger said.

The nation faces tough decisions if it is to change to a carbon-free economy by 2050, Pierce said. The BLM needs to increase its rangeland’s capacity to sequester carbon. It also needs to leave oil and gas underground, a difficult political action.

“One of the biggest things we can do about climate change is talk about it,” Pierce said.

This story was originally published November 12, 2021 at 4:00 AM.