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MADRAS - Fire blackened hundreds of thousands of acres this summer in central Oregon, and ecologists and land managers say they need native grass seed to help restore some of the steeper slopes more prone to erosion after fire.

The only trouble is that native grass seed local to the area is in short supply and quite expensive.

Native grass seed to replant burned forestland or overgrazed rangelands is in increasing demand. But agricultural production of native grass seed is relatively new. In the past, seed has been painstakingly collected in the wild. Or non-native species such as crested wheatgrass or wheat are used.

"There's a lot of opportunity out there for commercially growing native grasses," said Claudia Campbell, a research assistant at Oregon State University Central Oregon Agricultural Research Center (COARC) in Madras. "But the grower has to learn by the seat of their pants. The costs are such that a grower can't afford to see what works or doesn't work. So we're trying to help."

Campbell is working with Marvin Butler, OSU Extension crop scientist, and others to explore the feasibility of growing native grass seed as a crop.

Weed control is one of the major challenges for grass seed growers. To raise a really clean crop of native grass seed is tricky, since the major weeds are also grasses - cheat grass and rat-tail fescue, which are hard to clean out because of their similarity in seed size.

Herbicides are the most feasible alternative for weed control, according to Campbell. But which species of native grasses can tolerate which herbicide?

In the autumn of 2000, OSU's COARC researchers planted eight species of perennial native grass: Great Basin wildrye, bluebunch wheatgrass, streambank wheatgrass, big bluegrass, Idaho fescue, Indian ricegrass, squirreltail and prairie junegrass. After the native grasses established themselves, researchers applied post-emergence herbicides in October 2000 or during dormancy in November.

In June and November 2001, the researchers evaluated the native grasses for seed heading and number of plants per area. Overall, Roundup, Sinbar and Kerb caused the most damage to native grasses. Frontier, Goal and Surflan were the safest herbicides for native grasses. They have just completed evaluating a second year of trials, and the results will be out later this winter and will be posted on COARC's website, said Campbell.

So far, Indian ricegrass and Great Basin wildrye were most vulnerable to being killed by the herbicides. Streambank wheatgrass and big bluegrass had the highest survival rate.

Heading, the amount of seed produced on a plant, was best in treated bluebunch wheatgrass, Great Basin wildrye and streambank wheatgrass.

Other hurdles to the commercial production of native grass seed include harvesting and seed cleaning.

"It's hard to harvest grasses like squirreltail," said Campbell. "They are mostly a lot of fluff because of the awns. And cheat grass seed is so difficult to clean out of the harvest."

Marketing is another big challenge for farmers considering growing native grass seed crops.

"The market is volatile and difficult," she said. "Some years, like this year, there's a great need and demand for native grass seed. But other years there's not."

The biggest customer for native grass seed would probably be land management agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. But since they purchase by bidding, a grower would never know year to year if they had a buyer, she said.

Then there's the genetic question: What is truly native?

"Is Idaho fescue grown here different than that in Montana? This is a concern to some land management ecologists," said Campbell.

Growing native grass seed has hidden advantages. Less fertilizers and irrigation water are used as compared to the more traditional bluegrass seed crops grown in this area.

In addition, there may be alternative markets for some native grasses, such as Indian ricegrass, as a source of gluten-free grain for those with allergies.

"The opportunities for growing native grasses are endless," she said. "We just have to learn how to grow it and make it financially feasible."

For more information, contact Clint Jacks, Marvin Butler or Claudia Campbell, OSU COARC, 850 Dogwood Lane, Madras, OR 97741.