GREEN VALLEY, Ariz. (KGUN) — As Pima County leaders work to finalize a fire mitigation plan, residents of Green Valley are sounding the alarm about a dangerous and fast-spreading invasive species: buffelgrass.
The Green Valley Council stated in its last meeting of Homeowners Association (HOA) representatives that it would seek grant opportunities to fight back against the buffelgrass invasion.
Buffelgrass, originally introduced for livestock grazing, has proven to be a wildfire hazard and a significant ecological threat. It crowds out native vegetation like mesquite trees and saguaros, turning the Sonoran Desert into fire-prone grassland.
In areas like The Springs at Santa Rita, its spread is becoming increasingly difficult to manage.
“It’s expanding as we speak,” said Bruce Grieshaber, President of The Springs at Santa Rita HOA. Grieshaber has spent the last five years battling buffelgrass. Despite the community’s best efforts, he says, the situation is only getting worse. “It’s too many man-hours. It’s grown too much.”
Grieshaber says of the 26 acres of the HOA’s nature park, about 10 to 15 acres are infested with bufflegrass. He and volunteers from the Springs spent about 48 to 60 hours removing one acre’s worth of it. He says it would be prohibitively expensive, both physically and financially to treat the entire nature park.
“Now multiply that by 15 and now you’re talking about hundreds of man hours,” Grieshaber said. “And it’s all volunteer work.”
Complicating the effort further is seasonal timing. Buffelgrass is best picked following monsoon, when the ground is moist. Pulling the weeds during a dry season only spreads the plant’s seeds, further exacerbating the problem. However, many Green Valley residents leave the area during monsoon, only to return in the dry Fall season.
Grieshaber mentions a few more effective approaches to treat the bufflegrass, but all come with their own expenses. One involves applying glyphosate, the primary ingredient in Roundup. However, this comes with health risks along with financial challenges.
Another approach involves using cattle, such as sheep, to eat the bufflegrass, a method used locally. But like the others, this approach comes with a steep price tag. “We priced it out, and to do probably a couple acres, it would be thousands of dollars,” Grieshaber said.
Buffelgrass doesn’t just compete with native species; it transforms the entire ecosystem. “It will take away all the nutrients from native grasses, all the nutrients from cactus,” Grieshaber warned. “We’re on a relatively sharp slope downward to having this area of Southwest Arizona turn into grasslands. Beyond is something we really don’t want to think about, because then it’s just desert with no growth.”
The area has seen success in the past in beating back buffelgrass.
Green Valley received a $70,000 grant in 2014 to fund buffelgrass mitigation and partnered with the Pima County Flood Control District. The program made significant progress by 2017.
However, those funds ran out two years ago, and without continued support, the invasive plant has returned with force.
Debbie Kenyon, President of the Green Valley Council, says the cost of keeping buffelgrass at bay has now shifted to individual HOAs, many of which are struggling to keep up. “We need a buffelgrass slash wildfire mitigation grant,” Kenyon said, “so we can give relief to some of these homeowners associations that are spending thousands of dollars to keep this effort going.”
To strengthen the case for new funding, the Green Valley Council has sent out surveys to local HOAs. The goal is to collect updated data on how much is being spent and how widespread the problem has become. That information will be passed on to county and state leaders.
Until then, Grieshaber and the over 80 HOAs in Green Valley continue the battle against buffelgrass.
“Darwin never said survival of the fittest. It’s survival to those who can adapt,” said Grieshaber. “Buffelgrass is one of those invasive species of the Southwest that has adapted in a short period of time.”
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Joel Foster is a multimedia journalist at KGUN 9 who previously worked as an English teacher in both Boston and the Tucson area. Joel has experience working with web, print and video in the tech, finance, nonprofit and the public sectors. In his off-time, you might catch Joel taking part in Tucson's local comedy scene. Share your story ideas with Joel at joel.foster@kgun9.com, or by connecting on Facebook, Instagram or X.
