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Cheatgrass provides a very limited grazing season for livestock and wildlife. Its seeds produce stiff awns that make the plant unpalatable once the seed has dried. Its palatable season is short, providing a brief grazing season for livestock and wildlife of only 4-5 weeks. Because of cheatgrass's competitiveness for moisture early in the spring, it is difficult to get perennial grasses and shrubs established in cheatgrass dominated areas. However, forage kochia has been found to be extremely competitive on cheatgrass ranges. Forage kochia is one of the few plants found that can be seeded into cheatgrass ranges, establish itself, and over time out-compete cheatgrass. Forage Kochia's Role in Fire Suppression Forage kochia stays green most all of the year depending upon moisture levels in the soil. That provides two advantages. First, it is very palatable and nutritious for livestock and wildlife when grass and (orbs have dried up. Second, it is green, and does not have volatile oils in its leaves, which reduces its flammability. Forage kochia grows in bunches with bare soil in between the plants; it does not provide a continuous fuel, which slows down fire and makes it difficult to burn. Ranges seeded with forage kochia and other perennial bunch grasses are far less likely to burn than cheatgrass rangelands. Forage kochia is an excellent plant to use in firebreaks. It has been effectively used as a greenstrip to help protect native shrub communities or private dwellings from fire. A greenstrip sometimes will stop a fire from burning through it. Fires can and do burn through greenstrips, however the fire is usually slowed down, which gives fire fighters a greater chance to control it. If forage kochia does burn, it has a high survival rate. Forage Kochia Establishment At the current time, seed for forage kochia is $8-$9 per pound. This price is expected to drop as more seed is produced. Typical seeding rates are from 0.5 - 3.0 pounds per acre Pure Live Seed (PLS) (PLS = Purity x Germination) depending whether it is seeded by itself or with grasses or shrubs. A common mixture is 1 pound of forage kochia with 5 pounds of crested wheatgrass or other perennial bunch grass. To establish a pure stand of forage for grazing would require 2-3 pounds PLS per acre. Seeding Research shows that forage kochia should be seeded in the late fall or early winter. Generally the months of November and December have proven to be the most successful time for dryland plants, Spring seedings, after mid-January, are not recommended. Spring seedings are often done after the peak moisture, which the new seedling does not get to take advantage of. In addition, later planting gives the seed longer to break the utricle that surrounds the seed and time for the embryonic plant to uncoil in preparation for growth. Forage kochia should be drilled to a depth of 1/8 of an inch below the soil surface. Tilling and harrowing prior to seeding has produced slightly higher plant densities when compared to no seedbed preparation, but the additional cost is not economically feasible on large acres (Page, 1994). Care should be taken not to plant the seed too deep. If the seed is planted too deep emergence and survival is much lower or not at all. Forage kochia is adapted to dry sites, and will