Restoration
Description: To ensure as many of you, the suppliers, end-users, industry, government and NGO’s have an opportunity to learn and speak first hand with some of the authors of the Native Seed Standards, we welcome you to dial into our launch event. This is your chance to find out what the Standards mean for you and to ask the experts about how they can be used.
Presenters: Kingsley Dixon, Moderator; Peggy Olwell, Bureau of Land Management; Gil Waibel, representing ISTA;
Panel: Simone Pedrini; Nancy Shaw, Olga Kildisheva, Stephanie Frischie, Gil Waibel, Danilo Ignacio Urzedo
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In recent years restoration project efforts in arid grasslands of the Pacic Northwest have increased; however, little isknown about the bee communities in these areas or how restoration affects them. Native bees provide an essential ecosystemservice through pollination of crops and native plants and understanding their response to restoration is a high priority. Toaddress this issue, we conducted a three-year study in an arid bunchgrass prairie with three objectives: (1) describe the beecommunity of this unique grassland type and its temporal variability; (2) investigate environmental variables inuencing thecommunity; and (3) examine effects of restoration on the community. We identified 62 bee species and found strong seasonaland inter-annual variation in bee abundance, richness, diversity, and species composition. Unexpectedly, these temporaltrends did not correspond with patterns in floral resources; however, several variables were associated with variation inbee abundance, richness, and diversity among sites. Sites with high levels of litter cover had more bees, while sites withtaller vegetation or more blooming flowers had greater species richness but lower diversity. We found no detectable effectof restoration on bee abundance, richness, diversity, or composition. Species composition at native sites differed from those inactively and passively restored sites, which did not differ from each other. Restored sites also had fewer flowers and differingfloral composition relative to native sites. These results suggest that if grassland restoration is to benefit bees, efforts shouldfocus on both expanding floral resources and enhancing variables that influence nesting habitat.
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Water-holding soil amendments such as super-absorbent polymer (SAP) may improve native species establishment in restoration but may also interact with precipitation or invasive species such as Bromus tectorum L. to influence revegetation outcomes.We implemented an experiment at two sites in Colorado, U.S.A., in which we investigated the interactions of drought (66% reduction of ambient rainfall), B. tectorum seed addition (BRTE, 465 seeds/m2), and SAP soil amendment (25 g/m2) on initial plant establishment and 3-year aboveground and belowground biomass and allocation. At one site, SAP resulted in higher native seeded species establishment but only with ambient precipitation. However, by the third year, we detected no SAP effects on native seeded species biomass. Treatments interacted to influence aboveground and belowground biomass and allocation differently. At one site, a SAP × precipitation interaction resulted in lower belowground biomass in plots with SAP and drought (61.7±7.3 g/m2) than plots with drought alone (91.6±18.1 g/m2). At the other site, a SAP × BRTE interaction resulted in higher belowground biomass in plots with SAP and BRTE (56.6±11.2 g/m2) than BRTE alone (35.0±3.7 g/m2). These patternswere not reflected in aboveground biomass. SAP should be used with caution in aridland restoration because initial positive effects may not translate to long-term benefits, SAP may uniquely influence aboveground versus belowground biomass, and SAP can interact with environmental variables to impact developing plant communities in positive and negative ways.
Wildfire has historically played an important role in the health and structure of Oregon’s dry forests. Prescribed fire is a valuable tool used to restore forest health, increase firefighter safety, and better protect nearby human resources in these fire-adapted landscapes.
Access the videos ranging from about 1:30-10:00 in length.
As we approach the Decade of Ecosystem Restoration (2021–2030), there is renewed focus on improving wetland restoration practices to reestablish the habitat and climate mitigation functions and services that wetlands provide. A first step in restoring these functions and services is to reestablish the native vegetation structure and composition through strategic seed-based approaches. These approaches should be driven by ecological, genetic, and evolutionary principles, along with consideration for economics, logistics, and other social constraints. Effective seed-based approaches must consider the chosen species, seed sourcing, dormancy break and germination requirements, seed enhancement technologies, potential invaders, seeding densities, and long-term monitoring. Choice of species should reflect historical plant communities and future environmental conditions, species that support functional goals including invasion resistance, and seed availability constraints. Furthermore, seeds should be sourced to ensure ample genetic diversity to support multifunctionality and evolutionary capacity while also considering the broad natural dispersal of many wetland species. The decision to collect wild seeds or purchase seeds will also impact species choice and genetic diversity, which can have cascading effects for functional goals. To ensure seedling establishment, seed dormancy should be addressed through dormancy breaking treatments and the potentially narrow germination requirements of some species will require targeted sowing timing and location to align with safe sites. Other seed enhancements such as priming and coatings are poorly developed for wetland restoration and their potential for improving establishment is unknown. Because wetlands are highly invasion prone, potential invaders and their legacies should be addressed. Seeding densities should strike a balance between outcompeting invaders and preserving valuable seed resources. Invader control and long-term monitoring is key to improving revegetation and restoration. Here, we review scientific advances to improve revegetation outcomes, and provide methods and recommendations to help achieve the desired goals. Gaps in knowledge about seed-based wetland restoration currently exist, however, and untested practices will certainly increase risks in future efforts. These efforts can be used to better understand the ecological, genetic, and evolutionary processes related to wetland seeds, which will bring us one step closer to seed-based restoration of functions and services needed for human and ecological communities.
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The hundreds of Indigenous tribes in the United States harbor diverse perspectives about the natural world, yet they share many views that are important for ecosystem restoration efforts. This paper features examples of how such views have guided ecosystem restoration through partnerships between tribal communities and the U.S. Forest Service in the western United States. Traditional perspectives have influenced restoration by deepening the understanding of reference conditions, expanding consideration of system dynamics, and guiding treatment based upon ethical principles and beliefs. More holistic perspectives may enhance restoration success by encouraging positive psychological and social effects that help sustain community efforts. Guided by traditional perspectives, restoration activities can reveal evidence of past human engagement with the land, which further illustrates the need and opportunity for restoration. Traditional perspectives can encourage more integrative, ethical, and self-reinforcing restoration that will benefit present-day tribal and non-tribal communities.
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Frequent-fire forests of the western United States have undergone remarkable changes in structure, composition, and function due to historical exclusion of naturally occurring fire. Mechanized tree thinning to reduce forest density and fuel loads tends to be expensive and cannot be effectively implemented across all lands, and there is increasing interest in managing naturally ignited wildfires for meeting forest restoration objectives. To investigate general effectiveness of resource objective (RO) wildfires for restoring frequent-fire and associated forests of the western United States, a review of the related peer-reviewed literature was conducted.
Conference website.
The Annual SRM meeting will be virtual. The meeting theme is “Rangelands – New Frontiers” and we hope to highlight many new ideas and endeavors occurring on rangelands across the globe. Call for sessions is now open.
Imagine the great opportunities this digital alternative will offer to gather people from everywhere who love rangelands to learn about stewardship of these amazing landscapes. The 2021 Annual Meeting will include the familiar oral presentations, posters, symposia, workshops, and campfire conversations that are a part of traditional SRM meetings. The 2021 Event will also include exceptional plenary sessions, interactive committee meetings, SRM awards and business sessions, plus opportunities to engage with colleagues and fellow SRM members. As we enter this new frontier, start thinking about how to show others what you and your organization are doing on the ground.
This virtual workshop will introduce conservationists to ‘low-tech’ process-based approaches for restoring streams and their associated riparian areas (riverscapes) to benefit fish, wildlife, and working lands. Participants will learn principles guiding low-tech process-based restoration and become familiar with simple, hand-built tools, including Beaver Dam Analogues (BDAs) and Post-Assisted Log Structures (PALS), intended to mimic and promote specific ecosystem processes. Participants will gain basic skills in the planning, design, and implementation phases of project development. Course content is supported by a published Design Manual.