Restoration

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Native mycorrhizal fungi and whitebark pine restoration

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Whitebark pine is an iconic, five-needle, high-elevation pine whose existence is threatened by an exotic rust, mountain pine beetles, fire suppression, and climate change. Its distribution is limited to western North America and populations have declined 90% in recent decades. Whitebark pine is shade intolerant and depends on wildfire to reset the “successional clock”. Regeneration occurs mainly through germination of un-retrieved seeds planted by Clark’s Nutcrackers on burns following wildfires, however natural regeneration does not always follow wildfires or prescribed burning. Thousands of nursery seedlings are being planted across the landscape to compensate for losses, however survival rates are often low. This webinar will examine the potential use of native ectomycorrhizal fungi to improve seedling survival by describing the methods and results of greenhouse and field studies from Montana.

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New reforestation practices for post-wildfire landscapes: Building early resilience

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The increasing frequency and severity of fire and drought events have negatively impacted the capacity and success of reforestation efforts in many dry, western forests. Challenges to reforestation include the size, cost, and safety concerns of replanting large areas with standing dead trees, and high seedling and sapling mortality rates due to water stress, competing vegetation, and repeat fires that burn young stands. Resources for management are increasingly limited, reducing the capacity for young plantations to develop early resilience to fire, drought, and bark beetle stress. This talk summarizes recent research on the conditions under which current standard reforestation practices are no longer tenable, and provides suggestions on how these practices might be modified to improve their success.

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Use of the Target Plant Concept to promote successful post-fire restoration

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Restoration of severely burned forest lands is limited in the southwestern US primarily due to a lack of research and resources. For those areas that have been reforested, there has been little success with an average of only 20% survival of planted seedlings. Major limitations to the establishment of tree seedlings are exposure to harsh abiotic factors, poor soil conditions such as reduced water holding capacities and fertility, animal damage, and competing vegetation, all of which limit basic physiological and growth processes in plants. However, there are different approaches, both in forest tree nursery production and during active reforestation planting operations, that could remediate one or more of these limitations. Success for any forest planting effort begins with the “Target Plant Concept” (TPC), which is defined as those morphological and physiological attributes of a nursery grown plant that will result in successful establishment and productivity on specific outplanting sites, such as the harsh, dry environments of the Southwest. This concept is the basis for all research conducted at the John T. Harrington Forestry Research Center with New Mexico State University.

Native plants in crested wheatgrass

Long-term recovery in native vs. nonnative post-fire seedings

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Results indicate that postfire seeding has lasting effects on vegetation composition and structure, implying that seed mixes should be carefully formulated to promote long-term management objectives. Seed mixes containing large amounts of competitive introduced species may be especially effective for long-term cheatgrass suppression, but native-only mixes can also serve this purpose to a lesser degree while avoiding drawbacks of non-native species introductions.

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SageSuccess Project Findings

Recording of Part I (2/20)
Recording of Part II (2/21)

The SageSuccess Project, a joint USGS, BLM, and USFWS effort, examines the factors contributing to big sagebrush establishment across the range of sage-grouse. In two webinars, USGS researchers will present major findings of studies on restoration, resistance and resilience, soils, population dynamics, and more.

SageSuccess Project findings were presented over two days by 6 presenters. 

2/20 – 

History, Study Design, and Partnerships of the SageSuccess Project: David Pilliod
The SageSuccess project required considerable planning and partnership building and coordination. Early partner engagement and flexibility were key to our success. This presentation sets the stage for why and how the project formed, what lessons we learned along the way, and where the science may take us next.

Big Picture Considerations for Sagebrush Restoration: Matt Germino
Sagebrush ecosystems, while often perceived as homogenous “seas” of shrubs, exhibit striking variation within and among sites. Heterogeneity exists over time and across space due to weather, climatic, topographic, and edaphic factors. In addition to this variability is remarkable genetic diversity within sagebrush and its associated species. This variability presents challenges and opportunities for sagebrush restoration.

Is Resistance & Resilience a Useful Predictive Tool? Robert Arkle
Ecological resistance and resilience to disturbance and subsequent invasion is becoming a cornerstone of conservation management in the Great Basin. However, whether this theory works in practice is largely untested at broad spatial and temporal scales. R & R theory was evaluated from field data from over 200 post-wildfire rehabilitation sites sampled from 1–35 years post-treatment throughout the Great Basin.

2/21  –

Gradients in Sagebrush Recovery after Fire are Associated with Soil and Biocrust Characteristics: Dave Barnard
The influence of soil properties on the recovery of sagebrush canopy structure after fire is not well documented. In this study, we investigated associations between soil depth, texture, and surface characteristics and the recovery of sagebrush canopy structure. We show that a diversity of associations exists and that soil characteristics such as depth and structure can surpass precipitation in terms explaining post-fire sagebrush responses.

Population Trajectories of Sagebrush after Restoration: Connecting Pattern and Process: Bob Shriver
It’s assumed that in the absence of drought, invasive species, or other disturbance, populations should recover soon after restoration, but there is little data to support this. When we examined the population dynamics of restoration, we found sagebrush populations declined for decades following seeding, even in the absence of environmental change. It took an average of 20 years to see increases in sagebrush cover. Much of this prolonged recovery can be linked to the sagebrush life history.

To Plant or to Seed? A Good Question: Dave Pyke
Sagebrush restoration typically takes two forms: seeding or transplanting. Transplants can bypass some of the roadblocks to establishment that seedings face. However, growth can sometimes be a challenge with transplanted species growing poorer than seeded species. We examine canopy and height growth of seeded and transplanted sagebrush across the Great Basin. Transplants have an early growth advantage in the first three to five years, but seeded plants eventually match the growth of transplants.

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Nonnative plants, fuels, and desert revegetation

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To revegetate disturbed desert lands, practitioners often reestablish fertile islands as a first step in restoring native plants and associated fauna on disturbed desert sites. This research brief discusses the pros and cons of this approach considering native and non-native species.

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Pre‐dispersal seed predation and pollen limitation constrain Astragalus utahensis

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Our results suggest that pollen limitation and insect herbivores limit population growth in A. utahensis similarly across the centre‐to‐north portion of its latitudinal distribution. However, because A. utahensis population growth barely reaches the level of replacement at the northern range edge, the reduction in λ resulting from these interactions may contribute to limiting expansion at the northern edge of A. utahensis’ latitudinal range.

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Restoring species diversity: Assessing capacity in the US native plant industry

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Of the approximately 25,000 vascular plant taxa native to the United States, 26% are sold commercially, with growth form, conservation status, distribution, and taxonomy significantly predicting availability. In contrast, only 0.07% of approximately 3,000 native nonvascular taxa are sold commercially. We also investigated how demand for germplasm to support high‐quality restoration efforts is met by vendors in the Midwestern tallgrass prairie region, which has been targeted extensively by restoration efforts for decades. In this well‐developed native plant market, 74% of more than 1,000 target species are commercially available, often from vendors that advertise genetically diverse, locally sourced germplasm. We make recommendations to build on the successes of regional markets like the tallgrass prairie region, and to fill identified gaps, including investing in research to support production, ensuring more consistent and clear demand, and fostering regional collaboration.

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Nevada Society for Range Management Suggested Reading – Winter 2019

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Abstracts of Recent Papers on Range Management in the West. Prepared by Charlie Clements, Rangeland Scientist, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Reno, NV

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Seed and seedling traits have strong impacts on establishment of perennial bunchgrass in invaded semi-arid systems

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The best seed sources for restoration of Elymus elymoides in invaded sites were populations with longer roots, larger seeds and earlier emergence. These easily measured traits were strong predictors of survival in disturbed field sites. While the most successful populations were found in areas with similar abiotic conditions as planting sites, there was phenotypic variation even among populations originating from locations with similar conditions. Thus, our results indicate that abiotic conditions are important considerations when selecting seeds, but these conditions may not sufficiently predict which populations will establish. Understanding population differences in seedling functional traits can improve predictions of restoration success.

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