Meet Erin McConnell

For our fourth and final installment of 2019 New Council Member Fridays, meet Erin McConnell! Erin is the Invasive Species Program Coordinator for Oregon and Washington at the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). In her role at BLM, she provides support to field programs, including reviewing pesticide use and distributing funds. Invasive species management is a huge part of Erin’s work, especially noxious weeds. One particular invasive species that she is concerned with is Ventanta dubia, an annual grass that was overlooked for a while, but is now everywhere!

With over 20 years of experience working as a Weed Manager for Oregon BLM, 19 of which were spent working in rural eastern Oregon, she has and will continue to share valuable insight that she has learned from her experience managing BLM District Weed programs and weed control activities, including chemical, biological, manual, and mechanical methods. Since becoming a Council member, Erin has joined the Education & Outreach Committee, the Communications Committee, and the Eastern Oregon Working Group. We are thrilled to have her on the Council and look forward to continuing a coordinated effort to tackle invasive species!

Wildfire Recovery: One Oregon Farmer's Efforts to Keep Invasives Out

Oregon is experiencing another busy fire season, with the number of acres burned steadily climbing. While many of the devastating effects of large wildfires are obvious, another downside that can easily be overlooked is the threat of invasive species taking over recently burned land. One man is making an effort to combat this issue. Jerry Erstrom, who worked as a fire manager with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for 30 years, knows the challenges that invasive species pose on burned land. The invasive plants have an advantage over native species, Erstrom says, as they “green up a little earlier in the spring, they ripen a little earlier in the summer and they tend to create quite a fire hazard because they’re very fine and flammable”.

What is he doing to stop invasive plants from taking over after a wildfire? After retiring from the BLM, he started growing plants such as yarrow flax and sagebrush, both of which take root in the ground after a fire and help to ward off invasive species from moving in. He now sells those seeds to wilderness management groups across the western U.S., in hopes that his efforts will help restore land that has been scorched by wildfires.

Erstrom notes that human intervention can only go so far. “A timely rainstorm in the spring can make a hero out of any restoration specialist”, he said. “Or the lack thereof can make him a villain. So it depends on which side you’re on when the rain comes.”

The original article was written by John Notarianni for OPB.
Read the full article here.