of about 10 community members, all hauling water to help establish an experimental planting of sand dropseed grass in the upper part of Castle Valley, Utah. The purpose of the project, in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management, is to attempt to establish a fire-resistant native grass that spreads prolifically on dry and disturbed soils.
Nearly 500 plugs of sand dropseed grass were planted last autumn, in equal numbers within an enclosure and outside the enclosure in order to assess the grazing impact on the immature plants.
This project was enabled by the Castle Valley Fire Department which provided a small tanker to bring the water to the site.