Wildcat Hills Wildlife and Livestock to Benefit From Cheatgrass Grant

he crew for Hammond Helicopter LLC loads the Rejuvra herbicide before treating acres in the Wildcat Hills for cheatgrass. Photo by Bob Smith

By Chabella Guzman, PREEC Communications

The Wildcat Hills have had several wildfires in the past few years, and while dry

conditions have contributed to the wildfires. An annual invasive brome grass,

commonly known as Cheatgrass (Bromus inermis), has played a significant role.

Cheatgrass grows quickly in the spring, competes with native grasses for resources,

and affects the native ecosystems on many acres in the Nebraska Panhandle.

Dr. Mitch Stephenson, Nebraska Extension Range Management Specialist, has been

working to better understand cheatgrass management on rangelands in the Panhandle

since 2015. "Cheatgrass often creates dense patches of highly flammable fine fuels,

especially later in the summer," he said.

Stephenson, in a study with the USDA-Agricultural Research Service, found that

targeted cattle grazing in the spring could be used to reduce cheatgrass seed

production. In this study, cheatgrass seed biomass was reduced by 30-77 percent,

depending on the year and grazing location. Cattle in this study consumed cheatgrass

for an average of 38 days in the early spring before plant maturity reduced

palatability. While grazing is a viable management practice, the short grazing

window, given cheatgrass's rapid growth, poses a challenge for targeted cattle

grazing. Additionally, cattle also consumed cool-season and native perennial grasses

in springtime grazing.

Through collaboration, Stephenson also began to explore the role of herbicide

options for cheatgrass management. One herbicide that showed real promise was

Indaziflam (tradename: Rejuvra), a cellulose biosynthesis inhibitor that essentially

prevents the root from emerging from the seed. Stephenson worked with local

ranchers, such as Gary Darnall, to perform research on their rangelands.

"They (Stephenson's Lab) did several demonstrations with us. They sprayed it in the

fall, and then we ran cattle in the spring on that ground, and as a result, the

cattle grazed the sprayed part," Darnall said. He also noted that the range appeared

to have at least twice as much forage, and the cattle ate twice as much as on the

non-sprayed range.

Bob Smith, Platte River Basin Environments (PRBE) Manager, also witnessed the test

trials on other producers' land and on Platte River Basin properties. "I was

astounded, they were just unbelievable. So, we (PRBE) were really impressed and

wanted to do some more land."

This is where they hit a snag: the cost of the herbicide can be prohibitive. Smith

said the herbicide is around $70 an acre, and not many producers can afford it. "So

we were trying to think of possibilities in grant funding. We had worked with the

Nebraska Environmental Trust before on different grants, and after talking with the

people at ENVU, the company that produces Rejuvra. We thought it would be a good

idea for us to apply for a grant."

In 2025, Platte River Basin Environments received a 2025 Nebraska Environmental

Trust grant to treat 4,000 acres of cheatgrass in the Wildcat Hills area. The

grant's goals included protecting deer, elk, and bighorn habitat by increasing plant

diversity and increasing livestock forage. This would be accomplished by treating

the project areas with Rejuvra herbicide in the fall to provide long-term control of

the cheatgrass seedbank and release the native vegetation and soil function.

"Annual grasses like cheatgrass are very susceptible to this active ingredient at

very, very low levels. So essentially, we can go and aerially apply Rejuvra across a

pasture. It keeps that cheatgrass seed from germinating for 4 to 5 years. It allows

the native vegetation to take advantage of that window of not having any competition

and regrow," said Noe Russo, Envu.

On October 9, 2025, an aerial spraying crew, Hammond Helicopters LLC, from Nephi,

Utah, arrived at the Wildcat Hills to spray cheatgrass. Using GPS technology, the

helicopter pilot used satellite imagery to spray the mapped out cheatgrass areas. In

the Spring of 2026, producers will be able to see how effective the application was

when the grasses begin to grow.

Smith said if everything goes well, they would like to apply for another grant in

2026 to cover more acres in the Wildcat region.

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