Smoke in northern Utah

Work to reduce phragmites began March 19

FARMINGTON — Don't be concerned if you see smoke above some of the wetlands in northern Utah over the next few weeks. The controlled burns that are causing the smoke are actually helping the marsh by reducing a plant called phragmites.

This photo was taken in spring 2007 at the Harold Crane Waterfowl Management Area northwest of Plain City.

Photo by Randy Berger

Division of Wildlife Resources biologists started burning phragmites on March 19 at the Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area west of Farmington. They will also burn phragmites at the Ogden Bay WMA west of Hooper this spring.

The Division of Air Quality has approved a permit for the burns.

Phragmites

Phragmites is an aggressive plant that has invaded the marshes of the Great Salt Lake. It's outcompeting more desirable plants for space.

With the help and support of the Utah Waterfowler's Association, in 2006 the DWR received $200,000 to spray phragmites on Utah's waterfowl management areas (WMAs). The DWR aerially sprayed almost 2,100 acres in fall 2006. Biologists followed that spraying by spraying another 2,100 acres in fall 2007.

"The downside to spraying phragmites is that you need to burn the dead vegetation the following spring," says Randy Berger, wetlands manager for the DWR. "Burning opens up the canopy of phragmites so more desirable plants can grow. Opening the canopy also allows us to more efficiently re-spray the phragmites that is still alive.

"After the initial spraying, every acre has to have a follow-up spraying. Killing and then maintaining phragmites is a long-term effort."

The DWR has put a 15-year Phragmites Management Plan into action.

"The bottleneck that is keeping us from completing the project sooner is that we have to follow up on every acre we aerially spray to make sure no phragmites plants survive," Berger says. "That process takes a couple of years on every acre we spray. If we sprayed the phragmites and didn't follow up, in just a few years the plant would reinvade these areas."

For more information, call the DWR's Northern Region office at (801) 476-2740.