BLM trying hot foam on weeds.

Byline: Scott Maben The Register-Guard

CORRECTION (ran 9/22/04): A story on Page D1 on Tuesday said there was no local contractor of the Waipuna hot foam weed-killing system. Eric Cramer of Coburg recently began offering the service, as well as graffiti removal using the system, under the name Green Life Environmental.

MARCOLA - At first glance, Eric Norstog appears to be steam-cleaning the forest floor.

But it's not a Rug Doctor that the Bureau of Land Management worker is dragging across the carpet of grass and plants alongside Shotgun Creek Road. He and a co-worker are zapping noxious weeds with a burst of hot foam - a promising alternative to herbicides.

"The plants are shocked instantly and die within four hours," Norstog said.

The treatment kills about 90 percent of the targeted weed, in this case false-brome, a foreign grass invading Western Oregon with alarming speed.

The BLM's Eugene district is in the second year of a three-year lease of the weed-killing system, called Waipuna. Developed in New Zealand in 1993, it's used worldwide to kill unwanted vegetation as well as remove chewing gum and graffiti and clean monuments.

Waipuna, from the Maori words for "water" and "clear spring," uses a nontoxic, biodegradable foam created by infusing hot water with a sugar extract from corn and coconut. The foam acts as an insulator, holding the heat - about 205 degrees - to the plant to do the most damage.

The BLM is testing the method on several invasive weeds, including Himalayan blackberry and Japanese knotweed in the Eugene district, and puncturevine and Scotch broom in districts based in Coos Bay and Medford.

But the agency is especially eager to test its effectiveness against false-brome, a perennial native to Europe, Asia and North Africa.

The aggressive grass is expanding rapidly in Lane, Linn and Benton counties, where it's most widespread. But it recently has popped up in other parts of Oregon, from the Columbia River west of Astoria to near Cave Junction in Southern Oregon to the headwaters of the Metolius River near Sisters. An outbreak also was spotted last December in California's Santa Cruz Mountains.

Locally, it has spread to at least 150 sites on BLM land, stretching from the foothills near Brownsville south to the Jasper and Fall Creek area, where the invasion is most severe, said Chuck Fairchild, the BLM district's noxious weed coordinator.

"We're worried it's going to overtake the forest understory and the native plants," Fairchild said.

The perennial grass grows well in sun or shade and in moist or dry conditions, and it crowds out indigenous plants - including some listed as threatened or endangered - that help support other wildlife.

False-brome also may have no natural enemies in the Northwest. "We have no evidence that deer or anything else feeds on it," Fairchild said.

Officials also think the weed could undermine efforts to replant logged or burned stands of timber by taking moisture needed for tree seedlings to survive.

It is capable of dominating forested and open habitats to the exclusion of most other native species, according to the False-brome Working Group, a partnership of state and federal agencies, environmental groups and the Oregon State University College of Forestry.

Initial tests last year showed that the Waipuna treatment was very effective on smaller patches. On larger infestations, several tries may be necessary to knock back the weed, Fairchild said.

"We figure at best we'll need three years to eradicate it" from a particular area, he said.

In the Fall Creek area, false-brome has such a foothold that Fairchild believes it can be only contained, not abolished.

The hot foam method is slower than spraying weeds with an herbicide, but it's touted as environmentally friendly for about the same cost. It's also more versatile; it can be used in windy conditions and light rain, unlike most pesticides.

The BLM's Eugene district doesn't use herbicides because it lacks current environmental analysis to support the use of chemicals.

Researchers believe false-brome may have hitchhiked into the country on a shipment of tree seedlings from Europe. The earliest record of it in North America is a 1939 collection near Eugene. By 1966, the grass grew in at least two large colonies in the Corvallis-Albany area.

Human activity - hiking, off-road vehicle and horseback riding, logging and firefighting - helps spread the seeds, which can survive years before germinating.

The BLM and other agencies hope to spread the word about the threat of false-brome and how people who work or recreate in the woods can help control its spread by washing their boots, tires and other equipment.

Public education won't be easy, Fairchild conceded. False-brome is difficult to distinguish from many native grasses.

As for the Waipuna system, Fairchild hopes the BLM eventually will be able to hire a local contractor to kill weeds using the hot foam method. No vendor is established in the area.

The Eugene district leases the system for about $700 a month. A two-man crew can treat up to a half-mile on both sides of a road in one day.

CAPTION(S):

BLM workers John Kalso (left) and Eric Norstog spray hot foam on noxious weeds near Shotgun Creek on Monday. Oregon Department of Agriculture False-brome is native to Asia, Europe and Africa.