The Bureau of Land Management is proposing to use herbicides on approximately 932,000 acres of western land, including Alaska, and to treat 5.1 million acres by other means.

"Currently we treat in Utah about 20,000 acres annually with herbicide," said Lisa Bryant, the Utah BLM coordinator for the vegetation environmental impact statement. She does not foresee a big jump in this type of treatment because of the expense involved.

However, a St. George-area ecologist is concerned about what will happen to the land, water and wildlife if herbicides are used on the land and says the agency is treating too much land with chemicals.

BLM officials are accepting public comments through Jan. 9 on a draft programmatic environmental impact statement on vegetation treatment, which outlines how the agency will "combat the spread of noxious and invasive plants and reduce the amount of highly flammable forest and rangeland fuels," says a BLM news release.

It quotes BLM director Kathleen Clark in inviting comments, as well as inviting "everyone to partner with us in combating noxious and invasive weeds that threaten the economic productivity of millions of acres of public land across the West."

Along with the EIS, the agency released a report on use of nonchemical methods such as fire, mechanical and manual clearing and biological controls. The BLM plans to treat about 932,000 acres on 17 western states with 14 current and four new herbicide ingredients.

Nonchemical methods are planned for 5.1 acres. The BLM manages 261 million surface acres.

Bryant said that in the late 1980s and 1990s, four environmental statements were issued covering such actions in more than a dozen states. The update brings the actions under a single umbrella plan.

In earlier documents, the nonchemical treatment involved about 2 million acres annually in the West. "Under this new proposal, we'd be treating several million more acres," she said.

Much of the proposed additional work is to prevent or reduce the damage from wildfires and restore habitat. It would help reduce "the size and intensity of wildfires," protecting homes and communities, she said.

Also, highly flammable cheatgrass can be tilled or chemically treated, with the ground replanted with native species that are better for wildlife like sage grouse.

While some new chemical agents would be added to the approved list for treating vegetation, some others would be removed. Those are chemicals that "we don't use and don't feel are safe," she said.

James P. McMahon, an ecologist with 30 years of field experience who lives in Brookside, Washington County, is concerned about use of herbicides.