Ghost Peppers Saving the Grasslands

Guest: Dean Pearson, PhD, Research Ecologist, US Forest Service Once firefighters have put out the devastating wildfires burning across the West, the race will be on to get those burned areas to start growing shrubs and grasses that are native to the region. The trouble is that a lot of these areas are already infected by invasive plants – like cheatgrass – that grow aggressively, squeeze out native plants and only make future fires more likely because cheatgrass is an annual plant that becomes a field of dry tinder just itching to go up in flames during the next fire season. So, getting native, fire-resistant plants to take root in grasslands is a major priority. But field mice also happen to find the seeds of native plants really tasty – unless they're coated in chili powder, that is.