Cheatgrass burns off a whole season’s water at once … in early March.

By May, this will be a desert, and this fire will be red. This sagebrush-cheatgrass culture takes the place of a complex world of 100s of species. It is the result of exploitive grazing in the 1870s. When will we adjust our agricultural regimes to this new timing? Spring is actually in October now. Right now, it’s been like that for about 138 years. Would 139 be long enough? 140?

Red June Cheatgrass, Colville Federated Tribes Reservation