GIS Education in the Schools

Last week the CSR Inc. GIS dept. collaborated with Electronic Data Solutions (located in Jerome, ID) in a 4th grade school presentation/field activity. Students were shown real life GIS applications using the Ricoh 500SE GPS equipped camera. These cameras are capable of exporting to professional, as well as, open source formats such as ArcGIS Explorer or [...]

Firecracker Penstemon

Firecracker Penstemon (Penstemon eatonii) …This perennial’s striking feature is its scarlet flowers. Five to ten long, narrow, tubular blossoms top each of the numerous 2 ft. high stems. Leaves are tough, leathery, and deep green, arranged in pairs along the coarse, purplish stems. Firecracker Penstemon attracts hummingbirds to its tubular red flowers. (Lady Bird Johnson) [...]

Cheatgrass in Landscapes

Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum). This invasive species is the most widespread non-native species within the Great Basin region, encompassing thousands of acres…including smaller residential landscapes. CSR’s restoration work requires us to treat cheatgrass on most projects. Cheatgrass is a winter annual, meaning that it is actively growing earlier than most species. Germination begins in late fall [...]

Idaho TechLaunch

Steven Paulsen, CSR Inc. co-founder, presented at Idaho TechLaunch last Thursday. It was an entrepreneurial competition and Steven introduced a spin-off company, Living Earth, LLC, that is solely based around CSR’s biological soil crust project. The presentation, company and project were all well received. Living Earth, LLC, was in the running to receive the $10,000 [...]

Tour the CSR Inc. Nursery

The Conservation Seeding & Restoration Inc. native plant nursery is bursting with spring color! Currently, tours of the nursery are by appointment only. Call CSR, Inc at 208-423-4835 to schedule an appointment.

Restoration Begins

A restoration project begins in Kimberly, ID. This area was dominated with non-native weeds such as annual mustards, bur buttercup, blue mustard, kochia, field bindweed and puncture vine. Chemical application was initiated to prep for a native seed mix that will be applied soon.

Native Focus: Blue Camas, Camassia quamash

Camassia is a genus of six species native to western North America, from southern British Columbia to northern California, and east to Utah, Wyoming and Montana. Historically, the genus was thought to belong to the lily family (Liliaceae), sometimes narrowed down to the families Scillaceae or Hyacinthaceae, but DNA and biochemical studies have led the [...]

Mushroom Education

Mushrooms: Mystical, medicinal, delectable, ecologically indispensible and sometimes potently dangerous! Mushrooms, scientifically speaking, are a part of the fascinatingly vast kingdom Fungi. They play a critical role in nutrient cycling in a multitude of ecosystems and many plant species depend on a symbiotic (mutually beneficial) relationship with soil inhabiting fungi. Pictured above are Calvatia booniana [...]

Winning Photo!

Conservation Seeding & Restoration Inc. takes 1st place in the Images Southern Idaho magazine photo contest! Winning photo is of an Arrowleaf Balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata) blooming in the South Hills. One of our most beautiful, quintessential sagebrush steppe species in Idaho.

In the CSR Greenhouse: Ceanothus velutinus

Ceanothus velutinus, Snowbrush Ceanothus, an almost hedge-like bush that grows along many of the less used trails and roads in the South Hills (Sawtooth Natl. Forest). It can withstand very cold winters, dry conditions, full sun to fairly dense shade and is evergreen. It is quite a versatile species for our environment. Snowbush is not [...]