| Art Talsma notes that "what we see a lot in Hells Canyon is this transition from Yellowstar Country at lower elevations into the good bunch grasses above." Their conservation target or goal is to maintain the good bunch grass communities. He notes that there are Hells Canyon blue bunch wheatgrass and Idaho fescue that they are trying to protect. With encroaching Yellowstarthistle coming into these grasses, these are the points where they want to fight the battle line and try to restrict the weed and keep it back. They do this in a number of ways, including the biocontrol release, which is probably the best control for big, broad rough canyon lands like Hells Canyon. They have found that some chemical weed treatments are also effective when you have a patch of weeds you can go to with a backpack sprayer, ATV or helicopter. Quite often they see that transition between the weed and native grasses pretty distinctly. This gives them a place to go do their work where they think they can be most successful.
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