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<br /> <br /> <br />Community Wildfire Protection Plan 16 September 2018 <br /> <br />3.5.1.3 Noxious Weeds <br />Noxious weeds and cheat grass are found across the planning area and present yearly challenges for <br />residents, agricultural users, and fire suppression agencies. Cheat grass, introduced invasive annuals <br />and other noxious weeds typically occur where the ground has been disturbed to create roads, paths, <br />or other plantings. Once established, they return perennially and can reach heights of three feet or <br />more creating an easily ignitable fuel bed once they dry out during summer months. Fires that occur <br />in this type of fuel spread quickly and can direct fire to other fuels such as trees or structures. <br />Cheat grass provides a flammable link in the brush and forests vegetation types. It cures early in the <br />fire season and ignites readily during dry periods because of its very fine structure that responds <br />readily to changes in the atmospheric moisture, tendency to accumulate litter, and invasive nature. <br />Cheat grass promotes more frequent fires by increasing the biomass and horizontal continuity of fine <br />fuels that persist during the summer lightning season. Its expansion has dramatically changed fire <br />regimes and plant communities over vast areas of western rangelands by creating an environment <br />where fires are easily ignited, spread rapidly, cover large areas, and occur frequently. Fire in these <br />habitats can have severe effects on native species of plants and animals. <br />Kittitas County Conservation District