For some people, friendly competition might involve a pickup game of backyard football or one-on-one basketball. For Gary Stone and other Extension educators and conservationists, it's to see who can best control cheatgrass on a quarter-acre of land.

CHEATGRASS PROBLEM: This photo of the Bromus Eradicator's plot was taken on April 2, 2015, at the start of the Cheatgrass Challenge. After years of continuous set-stocked grazing, the quarter-acre contest plots were dominated by cheatgrass and other weeds.

Stone, University of Nebraska Extension educator at the Panhandle Research and Extension Center in Scottsbluff, along with his team, the Bromus Eradicators, are competing against teams from University of Wyoming Extension, the Wyoming Reclamation and Restoration Center, Wyoming Weed and Pest Control, and the Wyoming Society for Range Management, and others as part of the University of Wyoming Cheatgrass Challenge. The Bromus Eradicators team includes Nevin Lawrence, integrated weed management specialist at the Panhandle REC; Bethany Johnston, Extension educator in the central Sandhills; and Mitch Stephenson, range and forage specialist at the Panhandle REC.

"Cheatgrass infests over 100 million acres in the High Plains and Intermountain West, and once it dries out, it's like gasoline," Stone says. "It's probably one of the most prevalent invasive grasses there is."

The competition involves managing a quarter-acre of land near Lingle, Wyo., that, after years of continuous set-stocked grazing, is dominated by cheatgrass and other weeds. Over the course of two years, teams may use any legal means necessary to control cheatgrass and kochia before the contest ends in the summer of 2017. Teams document and share their practices and the logic behind their approach through video and other educational means.

ANY MEANS NECESSARY: This photo was taken at the team plot led by Extension educator Gary Stone after a year and a half of control on Aug. 23. Over the course of two years, teams may use any legal means necessary to control cheatgrass and other weeds on the quarter-acre plot.

Getting a handle on cheatgrass
Teams have shared a number of practices to get the weeds on these quarter-acres under control. Methods include trying to smoke everything with glyphosate, using tillage to mechanically control weeds and replant native perennial species in their place, and seeding cover crops and grazing livestock to put additional pressure on weeds.

And it isn't just cheatgrass growers have to contend with — many of these plots also contain kochia, Canada thistle, Russian knapweed and a host of others.

The Bromus Eradicators have mowed several times to give native perennials and other desirable species a better chance to thrive, while putting continuous pressure on various weed species. Last year, the team also sprayed dicamba and 2,4-D to get a handle on broadleaves and kochia

Last fall, they seeded a number of native grass species like western wheatgrass, green needlegrass, sand bluestem, Canada wild rye, prairie sandreed, sand drop seed and blue grama to crowd out the weed population and restore the ground to its original state before it was grazed intensively.

Stone's team has also been experimenting with a new kind of biological soil amendment product on the UNL Sioux County Experimental Range site. Developed by Ann Kennedy, Agricultural Research Service soil scientist at the ARS Northwest Sustainable Agroecosystems Research unit in Pullman, Wash., the soil amendment product uses naturally occurring bacteria that only colonizes on roots of certain grass species like goatgrass, cheatgrass and medusa head, and suppresses root growth.

"All you're doing is giving the bacteria a bigger population in the soil to make it work," Stone says. This product requires temperatures of 45 degrees F or cooler, and light precipitation to incorporate into the soil. "It's a slow-acting bioproduct. You probably won't see anything the first two years until the bacteria builds up a population. It's got to work up a population sufficient to colonize the roots."

Different teams, different solutions
Teams have until July 17, when judges will evaluate plots for agricultural production and habitat diversity, as well as the educational and outreach components of the competition.

Regardless of who wins the competition, Stone says producers are the real winners.

"You've got 11 different teams and 11 different thought processes. Everybody's approaching the problem a little bit differently. Some things that may work on one plot might work for one rancher, while something that works on our plot may not necessarily work on that rancher's system," he says. "We're out to win it, but even if we don't win, the ultimate winners are those that are dealing with the cheatgrass problem."