In the Colorado CSR Greenhouse

In the CSR Greenhouse: Redoiser Dogwood, Cornus sericea, cuttings in production.

The Redoiser Dogwood’s native habitat is along river banks, lake shores, wooded or open, and wet areas. Large and small mammals alike take advantage of this shrub; deer browse on dogwood year-round. Waterfowl, marshbirds and shorebirds are major users and this native shrub is also a larval host to the Spring Azure . (Lady Bird Johnson)

Native Plant Focus: Holodiscus discolor, Hillside Oceanspray

(photo: Dave Powell, USDA Forest Service, Bugwood.org)
(photos: Walter Siegmund)

OceanSpray, Holodiscus discoloris, is a many-stemmed, spreading shrub that normally grows 4-5 ft. tall but can reach 7 ft. The stems are slender and often arching, bearing deeply lobed and toothed, deciduous foliage. During the flowering season (May-August), the shrub is a complete mass of tiny, fragrant, creamy-white flowers arranged in large, plumed clusters. Older bark is dark red to brown or gray and exfoliating. Swallowtail, Azure, and Lorquins admiral butterflies benefit from this native shrub.

OceanSpray is a member of the rose family (family Rosaceae) which includes about 2000 species of trees, shrubs, and herbs worldwide; approximately 77 native and 9 naturalized tree species and many species of shrubs and herbs in North America.

This shrub is a colorful reclaimer of open or disturbed lands.

(Lady Bird Johnson Wildflowers)

CSR Attends Utah Green Trade Show

Conservation Seeding & Restoration is attending the Utah Nursery & Landscape Association Utah Green Conference & Trade Show today in Sandy, UT. Stop by and say hello! Photos above from the 2012 Idaho Horticulture Expo last week in Boise, ID.

Mushroom, by Nicholas P. Money

Mushroom, by Nicholas P. Money, Professor of Botany and Western Program Director, Miami University.

“The overnight appearance of mushrooms in a meadow or on a suburban lawn is a marvelous sight. It is one of many awe-inspiring, magical processes that have evolved among the fungi, yet this group remains the least studied and most poorly understood kingdom of organisms.

In Mushroom, Nicholas Money offers a vibrant introduction to the world of mushrooms, investigating the science behind these organisms as well as their enduring cultural and imaginative appeal. Beginning with the basics of mushroom biology, Money leads us through a history of mushroom research, painting portraits of the colorful characters involved in their study—among them, Beatrix Potter, the celebrated author and creator of Peter Rabbit, and Captain Charles McIlvaine, a Civil War veteran who engaged in a dangerous quest to determine the edibility of every mushroom in North America. Money also discusses the uses of mushrooms today, exploring their importance as food and medicine, their use as recreational drugs, and as the cause of horrific poisonings. A cultural, natural, and scientific history in one, Mushroom is a must-read for mycophiles, mushroom gatherers, and nature lovers alike.” (overview source)

High-speed video of a fungus releasing spores at 180,000 g–the biggest acceleration ever recorded in nature. More information.

Wildlife & Sport Fish Restoration Program Recognizes 75 Years of Wildlife Conservation & Partnership Success

From the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Virtual News Room, January 17, 2011:

“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) joins the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (AFWA), and other partners at the 2012 SHOT-SHOW to announce the start of a yearlong celebration of the 75^th anniversary of the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program (WSFR),   one of the most significant and successful partnership approaches to fish and wildlife conservation in U.S. history.

The “WSFR 75 – It’s Your Nature” celebration brings together federal and state fish and wildlife agencies; the hunting, shooting, angling, and boating industries; and conservation groups to mark a milestone of partnership success that has led to 75 years of quality hunting, fishing, shooting, boating and wildlife-related recreation. The occasion also marks the beginning of a new era in wildlife conservation, during which the partners will establish new goals for fostering and maintaining partnerships to continue conservation and outdoor recreation into the next 75 years and beyond.

“The Service is proud to join our partners in recognizing more than seven decades of wildlife conservation and quality outdoor recreational opportunities,” said Director Dan Ashe of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “With our nation’s support and our partnership’s renewed commitment, WSFR will help more Americans enjoy wildlife and our great outdoors for many years to come.”

Through the WSFR program, several innovative and foundational fish and wildlife conservation programs are administered.  The first was created on September 2, 1937 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act, which raises funds through a dedicated excise tax on sporting guns and ammunition.  In 1950, the Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Act was enacted and added to the WSFR program.  Through this law, funds are provided for fish conservation and boating and fishing recreational programs in each state through an excise tax placed on certain fishing and boating equipment and fuels.

“Since its 1937 inception, WSFR has provided more than $14 billion to support fish and wildlife restoration and management,” said Hannibal Bolton, the Service’s assistant director for the WSFR program.  “The program and its partners, including the sporting arms industry, conservation groups, and sportsmen and sportswomen, are coming together for this anniversary to renew their commitment to conserve fish and wildlife and enhance hunter, angler, and boater recreation.”

These funds, administered by the Service, are combined with hunting license dollars in each state to fund important state wildlife conservation and hunting programs.

“The 75^th anniversary of the WSFR program is a tremendous opportunity to celebrate the conservation victories that have been made possible because of this innovative funding approach,” said Jonathan Gassett, PhD, president, Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. “WSFR has made the difference for the survival and abundance of some species, and because of it, many fish and wildlife populations are at historically high levels today.” Continue reading

WSFR Success Story: Summer Lake Wildlife Management Area, Oregon.

Photo: Waterfowl habitat enhancement project at Summer Lake Wildlife Area completed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife in 2009.

Super-Mega-Botanist Friendship Friends, Part 2

The CSR Team relies on two main plant keys: Flora of the Pacific Northwest (Hitchcock and Cronquist) and Flora of Wyoming (Dorn). These are very different botanical keys, with often very different names for the same plant. To help wade through the confusion, CSR’s Biologist, Kent Fothergill, produced a stream of comic strips to aide in the education of plant identification.

Click here to view the first set of comics in the series, and then read on as our superheros battle the dangers of bio-polluting. Enjoy!

In the CSR Colorado Greenhouse

Various Penstemon species popping are up!

Betty White, Wilderness “is where my soul lives”

CSR Cell Phone Meets Wood Chipper

Safety comes first at Conservation Seeding and Restoration Inc, so when an employee accidentally sent his smart phone through the wood chipper, the question of how it could have been avoided was asked. Safety protocols were being followed, however, as this incident shows, one can never be too safe.

The definition of a “near miss” is an unplanned event that did not result in injury or illness – but had the potential to do so. Only a fortunate break in the chain of events prevented an injury or fatality; in other words, a miss that was nonetheless very near. Although the label of ‘human error’ is commonly applied to an initiating event, a faulty process or system invariably permits or compounds the harm, and should be the focus of improvement. Other familiar terms for these events is a “close call”, or in the case of moving objects, “near collision”.

In order to prevent a near miss, we must understand the ways in which we can correct them and be safe. Possibly the best course of action for prevention in this incident would have been to secure any loose items while operating the wood chipper, keeping unguarded objects away from the job site.

Please use our “near miss” as a reminder of potential job site hazards, and stay safe out there!

Native Seed Collection for Great Basin Restoration

Photo and Story shared from Boise State Public Radio.
Reported by Emily Schwing on Jan 11th, 2012.

Boise, ID – A long-term initiative to restore native plants throughout the Great Basin Region includes hundreds of thousands of acres of land south of Kuna, Idaho. The Morley Nelson Birds of Prey National Conservation Area is prime habitat for raptors, like the American kestrel and the Red-tailed hawk. But their prey -animals like jack rabbits, are disappearing with the native plants they like to eat. The Bureau of Land Management is trying to bring back some of those plants to help the raptors. But the agency needs manpower and seeds to do it.

Under a hazy sky, a group of volunteers clad in hats and gloves gathers around restoration Ecologist Anne (Ah-nah) Halford .

She shows them how to collect the seeds from four-wing saltbush into large paper bags and big canvas baskets, or hoppers.

The seeds from this bush can fit inside a thimble. They look like little tan helicopters.

As she pulls seeds from the bush, Halford explains that grazing, a change in how and when fires burn in the region, and the introduction of invasive and non-native plants has displaced native plants and impacted native wildlife.

She points to a light brown, feathery grass that wobbles in the cold breeze.

“It’s prolific throughout the Great Basin, it’s been here since the early 1900’s and has just fundamentally just changed the landscape of the Great Basin,” she says.

The Snake River runs along the northern border of the Great Basin. It’s a giant watershed that lies between the Wastach and Sierra Nevada mountain ranges. It spans five states including the southwest corner of Idaho. The Great Basin is an arid region, well known for sagebrush and other desert shrubs, like four-wing saltbush. But invasive Cheatgrass carpets large swaths of the region. It’s here beneath our feet too.

“I think one of the most important thing to consider now,” says Halford, ” is just the capacity of these native systems to be resilient, to give them time to manifest their resiliency.” She points to the grass below. ” Because this grass right here is a native Poa – Poa secunda – it’s a native Nevada bluegrass and it can outcompete cheatgrass.”

These native grasses also provide tasty forage for animals – like jack rabbits – that find themselves on the menu when it comes the area’s 25 birds of prey species.

According to Halford, “the main mission for the Snake river BOP is to provide habitat for raptor species and we’ve lost 75 percent of the shrub system here.”

Sagebrush along with the four-wing saltbush and other woody shrubs provide protection for jack rabbits and little lizards.

“Some of our goals is to restore at least islands of those shrubs,” says Halford. “One of the most important things we can do is to obtain seed form the local stands of native remnant shrubs we have, because sometimes we gather seed from different populations of sagebrush, higher elevations of sagebrush that doesn’t do as well on these more arid sites.” Read more…