1. Out West, ‘Black Fingers of Death’ Offer Hope Against an Invader

New York Time's environment reporter, Felicity Barringer, wrote an article about the "Black fingers of Death", a fungus that may be used to combat one of the biggest pests in the Intermountain West: cheatgrass. Cheatgrass is a weed that, due to its rapid development and lifecycle, drives off all other competitors. This not only unbalances the ecosystem but also but also poses many difficulties for farmers. As Stephen Pyne, a Western fire historian at Arizona State University says “Cheatgrass is a very insidious kind of biotic virus.” Another problem linked to cheatgrass is wild fires. An unpublished paper by Jennifer K. Balch of the Penn State geography department shows that fires occurred four times more often in landscapes covered by cheatgrass. To further emphasize the graveness of the issue, the author comments on how scientists estimate that as many as 30 million acres of the American territory is dominated by cheatgrass. However, Dr. Meyer, a Forest Service ecologist is attempting to introduce the black fingers fungus in order to contain cheatgrass. The black fingers fungus attacks cheatgrass during the winters by attacking the plant's seeds before they germinate. The use of the black fingers fungus along with other fungi to contain cheatgrass seems promising. “I think we can get a biocontrol plan going in the next 5 to 10 years,” says Dr. Meyer. But there are a few concerns to be considered such as: will private industry be able to collaborate with government and academic scientists? Will the government be able to provide sufficient funds? These questions and the overall elusive nature of cheatgrass spurs doubt among scientists. Nevertheless some such as Bethany Bradley, an assistant professor of environmental conservation at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst remain optimistic, "We’re going to get a handle on it," he says.

   The main purpose of the author is to inform about the threat posed by cheatgrass and how it can both directly and indirectly affect people. She also stresses the importance of the current effort to contain it.