A Sand County Almanac

“A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.”

A Sand County Almanac (Outdoor Essays & Reflections), by Aldo Leopold

Environmental Services

Based on sound environmental research, CSR, Inc.’s Restoration practices lead the environmental and native restoration industry. The establishment of native functioning ecosystems through design, installation, and stewardship is the primary focus of our company. Before any restoration design or installation can be completed, research and monitoring of the site and surrounding areas are performed, providing an accurate baseline of data.

Our Biology team uses a combination of GIS, GPS, and various testing methods to determine native & non-native vegetative cover, species counts, soil quality and depth, and habitat assessments. Through such data collection and comprehensive documentation, CSR, Inc. can select and apply specific native restoration seed, plants, and other materials for a successful site restoration.

Post-restoration activities are as important as pre-restoration. CSR, Inc. also performs post-restoration activities after seed and plant install that include vegetation monitoring, baseline comparisons and mapping, native seed collection, and habitat management plans. With our assistance, any restoration project can be approached and completed in an accurate and all-encompassing manner, achieving recommended percent cover and establishment of native vegetation.

How can Conservation Seeding & Restoration Inc. be of service to you?

Archeology Site

CSR recently finished a Restoration project at Warren Bridge along the Green River in WY. The restoration entailed the planting of 4,550 Narrow-leaf Cottonwood trees. The area was once a major travel corridor for Native Americans and Pioneers. As such, it was required by the BLM to have an archeologist on site to monitor the installation of all large class plant materials. The crew was told to watch for river cobble rocks under the sod-line surrounded by black ash. After seven days of digging hundreds of holes, they stumbled upon an old campfire site, about five inches underground. The archeologist was surprised by the find and noted the actual age of the campfire ring would be impossible to know without carbon-dating. He surmised that it could be a campfire from settlers, but more likely a Native American campground.

Native Focus: Oenothera flava, Yellow Evening-Primrose

Native Focus: Oenothera flava, Yellow evening-primrose, is a nearly stemless, clumped perennial with rosettes of deeply toothed, oblong-linear leaves. This forb likes damp to drier soils. The pretty yellow flower blooms in the evening from April through August.
(Lady Bird Johnson Wildflowers)

To Poach or Not to Poach, There is No Question

When we hear the word poaching, we normally associate it with animals. But this is not always the case. Plant poaching is another form that is all too often overlooked but no less damaging to the ecology of a functioning system. Incidental plant theft from public lands is essentially stealing from the public. When a plant is dug up, it leaves a hole in the landscape that is, in many cases, infiltrated by weedy species. Without properly identifying a restoration plan, no matter how small the disturbance, it creates a veritable avalanche of disruptive patterns and in turn contributes to the overall demise of our native landscape. Companies that remove live plants from the landscape work through proper channels in order to obtain the critical permitting for live plant material extraction, as well as, a plan following strict guidelines for reseeding or replanting of the area the plants were removed. In addition, a weed abatement strategy has to be put into place in order to mitigate weed inclusion in the resulting disturbance from plant removal.

Plant poaching is not only frowned upon, but is a blatant breaking of the law that can severely impact our native habitat, having negative effects on the animal species that depend on a healthy ecosystem. Also, the overall success rate contrasted with the negative environmental pressures leaves no room to justify willy-nilly plant theft on our public lands.

As a very effective alternative, we would strongly encourage you to contact CSR and utilize propagated native plants in the interest of maintaining our native landscape for future generations to enjoy. CSR obtains permits from the appropriate agencies for seed collection, and lovingly cultivates more plants from seed in the overall interest of spreading our native plant
resources further into our landscapes.

Please respect our native landscapes, they need all the help they can get!

“Super-Mega-Botanist Friendship Friends”

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. As an example, Sego Lilies of the genus Calochortus are removed from the family Liliaceae and placed into the family Calochortaceae – a family recognized by a few taxonomic systems, but definitely not mainstream. In Dorn, the genus Aster becomes a new genera, causing much confusion.

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…Enjoy!

Invasive Focus: Spotted Knapweed, Centaurea stoebe ssp. micranthos

Invasive Focus: Spotted Knapweed, Centaurea stoebe ssp. micranthos, looks a lot like Diffuse Knapweed with some notable exceptions. Spotted Knapweed is a short-lived, noncreeping perennial that reproduces from seed (primary means of spread) and forms a new shoot each year from a taproot. The weed produces one or more shoots that are branched and 1 to 3 feet tall. Rosette leaves can be 6 inches long and deeply lobed. Leaves are similar to diffuse knapweed. Lavender to purple flowers are solitary on shoot tips and about the same size as diffuse knapweed flowers. Involucre bracts are stiff and black-tipped. The tip and upper bract margin have a soft, spine-like fringe and the center spine is shorter than others.

Hericide applications are typically applied in spring, when Knapweed rosettes are small and have not bolted. Treament at this time will greatly reduce seed production.

Lady Bugs Beware

As Halloween approaches, many of us are enjoying the spooky decorations that frighten young trick or treaters. A word of caution however, the fake spider webs we all love to drape, work as good as the real ones. These two ladybugs were saved from the depths of death in a “harmless” (fake) spiderweb.

Glacier National Park Restoration Project, 2010

The CSR Construction Team was back near Glacier National Park this past summer, retreating invasive weeds. The project consisted of spraying state-listed noxious weeds found along hiking trails and in riparian areas. Canada thistle, Spotted Knapweed, Meadow Hawkweed and Houndstongue were the most common invasives found in 2009. This year, it was noted that the targeted weeds were reduced by 70 to 80% in most areas, especially perennial weeds like Canada Thistle.

The Narrow-leaf Cottonwood, Populus angustifolia

The Narrow-leaf Cottonwood (Populus angustifolia) is a small, deciduous tree, growing 45-60 ft., with a rather narrow crown and slender twigs. Bark is less deeply furrowed than the broad-leaved cottonwoods. Toothed, yellow-green leaves are narrow and willow-like. Tree with narrow, conical crown of slender, upright branches and with resinous, balsam-scented buds.

Discovered in 1805 by Lewis and Clark on their expedition to the Northwest, this is the common cottonwood of the northern Rocky Mountains. It is easily distinguishable from related species by the narrow, short-stalked, willowlike leaves. Its root system makes it suitable for erosion control. (Lady Bird Johnson) Be sure to check out this great online resource for information on native trees of the Southern Rocky Mountains.

These Narrow-leaf Cottonwoods (photo above) were planted by the CSR Construction Team last week in Wyoming, 4,550 trees to be exact! 4,000 seedlings, 400 5 gallon size, 100 10 gallon size and 50 small mature trees.