By Marissa Birnie Invasive grasses are creeping into burnt landscapes years after wildfires and could fuel massive future fires that put people’s lives at risk, a University of British Columbia researcher says. Jennifer Grenz, an assistant professor in the department of forest resources management, co-authored a study that focuses on the aftermath of the McKay Creek wildfire, a 46,000-hectare fire that burned near Lillooet in 2021 during the record-breaking heat dome. The study, published this month in the journal “Fire Ecology,” took place in B.C.’s southern Interior, a region that includes dry forests and grassland and rugged terrain ranging from narrow valleys to tall ridges. Grenz said that while native plants were slow to recover two years after the fire, invasive grasses like cheatgrass are starting to grow onto bare…
Register
