Restoration
View article.
We investigated habitat selection by 28 male greater sage-grouse during each of 3 years after a 113,000-ha wildfire in a sagebrush steppe ecosystem in Idaho and Oregon. During the study period, seeding and herbicide treatments were applied for habitat restoration. We evaluated sage-grouse responses to vegetation and post-fire restoration treatments. Throughout the 3 years post-fire, sage-grouse avoided areas with high exotic annual grass cover but selected strongly for recovering sagebrush and moderately strongly for perennial grasses. By the third year post-fire, they preferred high-density sagebrush, especially in winter when sagebrush is the primary component of the sage-grouse diet. Sage-grouse preferred forb habitat immediately post-fire, especially in summer, but this selection preference was less strong in later years. They also selected areas that were intensively treated with herbicide and seeded with sagebrush, grasses, and forbs, although these responses varied with time since treatment.
Several important paths to improved success of native plant restoration are clear: recognize and leverage intraspecific variation and local adaptation in plants, increase the development and use of seed transfer guidance, build seed production partnerships to benefit restoration and local communities, and be ready and willing to adopt changes to the way things are done when the evidence is clear that change will help.
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Post-fire seeding has been widely implemented in the semiarid Great Basin because natural vegetation recovery may be compromised. Non-native species are often seeded to rapidly establish perennial cover and compete with invasive annuals. We asked whether seeding treatments with different amounts of native and non-native species followed different successional trajectories and whether they became more similar to reference communities over time. We considered restoration implications of seed mix choices and reference community options involving: (a) local unburned vegetation; and (b) reference states mapped by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) based on soil-vegetation associations.
View brief.
This brief provides recommendations for managers thinking about using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (drone) for post-fire seeding. This project was designed to test the technology, learn about the logistics associated with drone seeding, and share lessons learned to improve drone use in future projects. Partnerships made this project possible.
Webinar recording.
Description: Agricultural seed production is needed to meet ambitious restoration goals, which will require more seeds than can be harvested from wild populations. However, there may be direct conflicts between traits that are favorable in conventional agriculture and those that are adaptive in restoration settings, which could have long-lasting impacts on restored communities. Here, we review some of these evolutionary and ecological conflicts and suggest research directions needed to meld the needs of agriculturalists and restoration practitioners. Partnerships between ecologists, engineers, breeders, and growers are essential to develop best practices for providing seeds for successful native species restoration.
Presenters:
Alison Agneray has ten years of experience executing long-range research and monitoring programs across the Western United States. She is currently a PhD candidate working with Dr. Beth Leger at the University of Nevada Reno to optimize seed mixes used to restore degraded habitats in North America’s Great Basin Desert.
Owen Baughman is a Restoration Scientist with The Nature Conservancy of Oregon, USA, and has worked to understand, test, and/or demonstrate new and innovative approaches to native plant restoration in North America’s sagebrush steppe. He earned an MS in Plant Ecology in 2014 from the University of Nevada Reno, and a BS in Ecology and Conservation Biology in 2010 from the University of Idaho.
View brief.
Restoration efforts can be negatively impacted by increases in small mammals. These small mammals consume larger seeds of the native plant community, hampering the establishment of new plants and the recovery of existing plants. An approach to overcome this problem is to coat seeds being used for restoration projects with seed predation deterrents. RMRS researchers have identified substances successful in deterring seed predation, including chili powder, neem oil, and activated carbon. In this study, the increased seed recruitment success was enough to offset the cost of coating the seeds.
Forum presentations.
Sessions include a variety of native seed topics including permits, collection, production, testing, certification, storage, marketing and restoration.
“The goal of the forum was to bring growers and stakeholders together to discuss cultivation and native seed availability to help facilitate the success and expansion of native seed suppliers in Nevada,” said Meghan Brown, deputy administrator for the Division of Plant Health and Compliance at the Nevada Department of Agriculture, a member of the NNSP.
Native seeds refer to plant seeds native to Nevada landscapes, cultivated in this climate. These seeds can acclimate to Nevada’s unique environment, increasing the plant’s chances of survival. The NDA supports the industry by providing wildland seed certification services and ensuring Nevada native seeds maintain purity for use in land restoration efforts. These rehabilitation projects are completed by land management agencies or landowners in response to devastating land impacts from wildfires, invasive species, land development, among other activities that result in surface disturbance. Restoration efforts are critical to protecting wildlife habitat, supporting diverse land use, and mitigating future wildfire impacts.
“NNSP has worked to increase availability of native grown seed for restoration projects,” said Brown. “We’re excited to announce new resources to better connect growers with native seeds and assistance.”
High school youth are invited to enjoy a week of fun, camping and learning about rangelands and natural resource management in Nevada. Camp will be held at the Timber Creek Campground providing a beautiful setting for learning. The purpose of this camp is to provide youth with the knowledge and understanding of how decisions are made about natural resources on Nevada’s rangelands.
The last camp was June 19-26, 2022 at Timber Creek Campground northeast of McGill, NV.
This camp is sponsored by the Nevada Section of the Society for Range Management. See https://nevada.rangelands.org/youth-range-camp/
for more details and application materials.
Contact Camp Director Ethan Mower with questions at emower@parks.nv.gov | 775-726-3564
Workshop recordings.
Description: The workshop aims to bring together experts working in seed-based restoration around the world to discuss key elements of the native seed supply chain. This event is organized in conjunction with INSR, BLM, SER, TNC, and with assistance from the Great Basin Fire Science Exchange.
This workshop has been approved for continuing education credits through the Society for Ecological Restoration.
Webinar join links and recordings.
The SCIENCE X webinar series brings together scientists and land management experts from across U.S. Forest Service research stations and beyond to explore the latest science and best practices for addressing large natural resource challenges across the country.