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Seeds are a critical and limited resource for restoring biodiversity and ecological function to degraded and fragmented ecosystems. Cleaning and quality testing are two key steps in the native seed supply chain. Optimizing the practices used in these steps can ensure seed quality. Post‐collection handling of seeds can have a profound impact on their viability, longevity in storage, and establishment potential. The first section of this article describes seed cleaning, outlines key considerations, and details traditional and novel approaches. Despite the growth of the native seed industry and the need for seed quality standards, existing equipment and standards largely target agricultural, horticultural, and commercial forestry species. Native plant species typically have complex seed traits, making it difficult to directly transfer existing cleaning and quality standards to these species. Furthermore, in ecological restoration projects, where diversity is valued over uniformity crop standards can be unsuitable. We provide an overview and recommendations for seed quality testing (sampling, purity, viability, germinability, vigor), identity reporting, and seed transfer as well as highlight the need to implement internationally recognized standards for certification for native seeds. Novel and improved cleaning and testing methods are needed for native species from a range of ecosystems to meet the challenges and goals of the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. The guidelines outlined in this article along with others in the Special Issue of Restoration Ecology “Standards for Native Seeds in Ecological Restoration” can serve as a foundation for this critical work.
Individual fact sheets comprising the Information and tools to conserve and restore Great Basin ecosystems – Factsheet Series are available below.
No. 1- Putting resilience and resistance into practice
No. 2- Limiting medusahead invasion and impacts in the Great Basin
No. 4- Conifer removal in the sagebrush steppe: The why, when, where, and how
No. 6- Wind erosion following wildfire in Great Basin ecosystems
No. 7- Post-fire grazing management in the Great Basin
No. 8- Establishing big sagebrush and other shrubs from planting stock
No. 9- Assessing fuel loads in sagebrush steppe and PJ woodlands
No. 10- Seeding big sagebrush successfully on Intermountain rangelands
No. 11- Assessing impacts of fire and post-fire mitigation on runoff and erosion from rangelands
No. 12- Management of aspen in a changing environment
No. 13- Woody fuels reduction in Wyoming big sagebrush communities
No. 14- Seeding techniques for sagebrush community restoration after fire
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Moderate grazing decreases wildfire probability by decreasing fuel amount, continuity, and height and increasing fuel moisture content. Grazing, through its modification of fuels, can improve fire suppression efforts by decreasing flame lengths, rate of fire spread, and fire severity. Logistical, social, and administrative challenges exist to using grazing to decrease fire probability. Some of these challenges can be overcome by using off-season (i.e., fall-winter) grazing, but other challenges will require persistent efforts as well as science to support management changes.
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Workshop purpose: Identify fire science and management needs and discuss tools and approaches to natural resource assessments and adaptation strategies for fire dynamics in future climates in Southwest (DOI Regions 8 & 10 [CA, NV, AZ]) bioregions.
Take-Aways:
Provide awareness of tools needed for decision-making in an uncertain future
Generate a list of new science actions to meet fire needs for practitioners/planners in future, non-analog landscapes and communities
Suggest how we might address and accomplish these identified needs going forward
Exchange Information
Make connections
This four-hour, virtual Summit was an abbreviated, rescheduled version of ‘Building Bridges and Solutions: Partners in Facing Fire-Science Challenges’ that was cancelled in April due to COVID-19. We assembled scientists and fire practitioners/leaders in an interagency effort to identify fire science and management needs and to discuss decision-making tools and approaches that address resource assessments and adaptation strategies for fire dynamics in future climates in the Southwest (Department of Interior [DOI] Regions 8 and 10 [CA, NV, AZ]). This overriding goal threaded together the Summit’s talks, Q&A, and break-out sessions. Speakers from various agencies, institutes, and academia focused on fire management and planning in future non-analog landscapes and climate-fire-ecosystem impact relationships in western forest (e.g., mixed-conifer, subalpine), desert (hot and cold, grassland, pinyon-juniper, sage-steppe), and Mediterranean/chaparral bioregions. Syntheses from talks, Mentimeter-conducted discussions, and break-out groups on management and actionable-science needs will be summarized in a white paper and posted on the Southwest, Great Basin, and California Fire Science Exchange websites. Let’s work together to address fire science and management in an uncertain future!
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Land managers are challenged to protect cultural resources within the context of reintroducing fire on the landscape. Positive relationships and partnerships are essential to effective management.
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Using the greater sage-grouse, a species highly dependent upon sagebrush landscapes, we (1) evaluated how females select nesting habitats based on sagebrush type, along with livestock grazing related linear and point features, and other biotic, abiotic characteristics, given hypothesized influences on hiding cover, microclimate and predator travel routes and perches, (2) compared habitat selection information with results for nest survival estimates to evaluate if selection appears to be adaptive or not, and (3) used our results to evaluate the most appropriate strategies for this species in a grazing-modified landscape.
Nest survival in preferred sagebrush type was one-fourth the rate in type avoided. Nest survival was four times higher when placed >100 m away from nearest fence. Timing of graze could best achieve herbaceous requirements for successful nesting. Fence modifications along with prioritization of sagebrush type are discussed.
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This study investigated the effects of container volume and fertilization on the performance of nursery-grown Wyoming big sagebrush seedlings following outplanting. Researchers found that container volume may influence seedling morphology and optimize establishment, while field fertilization, especially during spring outplanting when planting sites have low moisture availability, may hinder first-year survival.
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Of our estimated 3.7 Mkm2 of rangeland in the continental US and Alaska, an average of 38 000 km2 burned per year between 2008 and 2017. To highlight the role of soils in fire ecology, we present 1) a conceptual framework explaining why soil information can be useful for fire models, 2) a comprehensive suite of literature examples that used soil property information in traditional soil survey for predicting wildfire, and 3) specific examples of how more detailed soil information can be applied for pre- and post-fire decisions.
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This study assessed causal relationships between conifer encroachment and sagebrush restoration (conifer removal and seeding native plants) on small mammal communities over 11 yr using a Before-After-Control–Impact design. Sagebrush habitat supported an additional small mammal species, twice the biomass, and nearly three times higher densities than conifer-encroached habitat. Sagebrush restoration increased shrub cover, decreased tree cover, and density but failed to increase native herbaceous plant density. Restoration caused a large increase in the non-native, invasive annual cheatgrass. Counter to prediction, small mammal diversity did not increase in response to sagebrush restoration, but restoration maintained small mammal density in the face of ongoing conifer encroachment. Piñon mice, woodland specialists with highest densities in conifer-encroached habitat, were negatively affected by sagebrush restoration. Increasing cheatgrass due to sagebrush restoration may not negatively impact small mammal diversity, provided cheatgrass density and cover do not progress to a monoculture and native vegetation is maintained. The consequences of conifer encroachment, a long-term, slow-acting impact, far outweigh the impacts of sagebrush restoration, a short-term, high-intensity impact, on small mammal diversity. Given the ecological importance of small mammals, maintenance of small mammal density is a desirable outcome for sagebrush restoration.
Visit RangeSAT website
RangeSAT uses satellite data to generate maps and graphs of vegetation across pastures, ranches, and allotments. Using the record of Landsat data going back to 1984, the interface lets users easily view maps of vegetation amounts across their ranch or management area, at a single point in time or averaged across a month or a season. Vegetation amounts can also be displayed as graphs, allowing users to compare current vegetation amounts to past time periods. Climate variables (precipitation, potential evapotranspiration) can also be viewed alongside graphs of vegetation throughout a growing season.
RangeSAT is an ongoing project being developed at the University of Idaho, in partnership with The Nature Conservancy, Oregon Ranchers, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and the Northwest Climate Hub.