Get to know our sister company, Living Earth LLC.
A full service landscaping company driven to improve soil health as the basis of all services for residential, commercial, agriculture and restoration.
Posted on May 31, 2012 by Conservation Seeding & Restoration INC
We welcome you to join us Saturday, June 9th, 2012 at the Sawtooth Botanical Garden spring plant sale! “Each spring the Sawtooth Botanical Garden sells a unique variety of native and drought-tolerant plants that are often unavailable at local nurseries. Purchase plants that are readily adaptable to the Valley’s high desert conditions, including some tried and true native favorites such as Lupine and Penstemon. Garden Members enjoy exclusive pre-sale benefits. Please call 726-9358 to become a new member or renew your membership.”
Posted on May 30, 2012 by Conservation Seeding & Restoration INC
Conservation Seeding and Restoration Inc has been nominated as the nursery/garden center that “exceeds your expectations” in the Magic Valley. Today is the last day to show your support and cast your vote.
Click on over the Times News, Readers’ Choice 2012, scroll down to the Nursery/Garden Center tab, and show your love for CSR and native plants!
Posted on May 25, 2012 by Conservation Seeding & Restoration INC
Conservation Seeding and Restoration Inc. recently attended an Earth Day event at Uintah High School in Vernal, Utah. Water issues are always prevalent in the west, especially this year with minimal snowpack and the lack of spring rains. CSR displayed a booth and educated students on water conservation through native plants, native landscaping, and native grass turf. Students were also encouraged to seek possible employment opportunities with CSR for summer and full time work when they graduate.
Scarlet cinquefoil, Potentilla thurberi, is a perennial of rich, conifer forests. Its leafy stems are usually at least a foot tall. Basal leaves are palmately compound, with five to seven leaflets. One or several leafy branched stems bearing loose clusters of long-stalked, rich, deep crimson flowers. Five-petaled flowers are rose-red to dark-red and bloom from July through October. Scarlet cinquefoil holds special value for native bees. (recognized by pollination ecologists as attracting large numbers of native bees -Pollinator Program at the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation)
The rich red, darkest in the flowers center, seems to have a velvety glow; the surface is dull but the color intense. A second Potentilla species with reddish flowers, Purple Cinquefoil (P. palustris), is relatively humble, with tiny, dark red petals between larger, dull red sepals; it grows in bogs across North America, extending south in the West to northern California and Wyoming. (Plant information shared from Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center)
Invasive species reach new areas outside of their home range in one of two ways: (1) self introduction on their own, or (2) with human assistance that may be deliberate or accidental.
Self-introduction of species into new areas is not a new phenomenon. This process has been happening for millions of years at a very slow rate, and often introductions occur between close neighbors. For example, New Zealand has acquired bird, plant, and insect species that are carried by winds across the Tasman Sea from Australia.
Humans have greatly altered the speed at which species are moved around the world and species introductions are occurring between areas that are separated by vast distances and across natural barriers (e.g., oceans and mountains) that had previously prevented the long-distance movement of species. The speed at which long-distance spread can happen has greatly accelerated due to air travel which allows people to reach most places on earth within 72 hours or less. Short travel (hours on a plane as opposed to weeks or months on a boat at sea) times have greatly increased the survival chances of invasive species traveling with humans.
Humans have deliberately moved an incredible number of plant and animal species around the globe either for food, as part of international commerce (e.g., the pet and nursery trade), or for sport (e.g., hunting and fishing). It is estimated that there are 50,000 non-native species of plants and animals living in the USA.
Occasionally, some of these species that were once beneficial while under human control (e.g., weeds that were originally garden plants) become problematic when they escape and start to colonize and breed in areas where they are not wanted. For example, plants like salt cedar from Eurasia have invaded the desert southwest of the USA because humans deliberately moved them there for the control of constantly eroding desert sands.
Often, invasive species are moved accidentally by humans. This can occur through hitch-hiking unnoticed on plants that are being moved (e.g., tiny insects or diseases on leaves or in potting), in ballast water that is used to stabilize large transport ships, or inside other animals (e.g., diseases that kill birds have been spread by the commercial trade in exotic pet birds.)
Air Traffic: The above video shows world air flight traffic over a 24 hour period. Notice how the number of planes flying changes between daytime and nighttime. Even at night there are still lots of planes flying around the world. Every flight can potentially move an invasive species into a new area.
Posted on May 22, 2012 by Conservation Seeding & Restoration INC
CSR’s Michael Callen, GIS Analyst, and Lance Bennett, Idaho Regional Manager, collaborate over a map developed by the talented CSR GIS Dept.
Spatial awareness allows us to truly understand disturbances created by both man and nature: how those disturbances change sites over time and their actual impact to the surrounding environment.
GIS (Geographic Information Systems) incorporates geographical features with attribute information in order to map, analyze, and assess real-world problems. The collection and analysis of GIS spatial data is an invaluable tool for the understanding, documentation, and successful restoration of complex projects.
CSR, Inc.’s GIS team is adept at providing consulting, remote sensing analysis, field data collection, map production, web mapping, and federal reporting. We also excel at providing site and goal specific services to our clients such as identification of weed infestations, precise tracking of restoration activities, and custom database development.
Our GIS Specialists utilize cutting-edge technology and expertise to collect, store, and analyze field data and information as well as produce accurate custom maps. CSR, Inc.’s technological resources include Trimble™ Technology and ESRI’s Software Suite, ArcInfo™ and ArcServer™. Fully utilizing GIS and GPS technology enables us to streamline the storage and analysis of any form of spatial data in digital format to provide you, the client, with exacting data for your restoration project.
Major benefits of site specific GIS analysis are:
precise measurement and mapping of all surface disturbance features & restoration classifications
ability to accurately & efficiently recommend locations for partial release
production of a targeted remediation program for problematic areas
“We have to remember that these are public lands. We all have a stake in these forests, we all have the responsibility to remain engaged and help find solutions.”
Posted on May 18, 2012 by Conservation Seeding & Restoration INC
The CSR installation crew recently completed the native plantings on the Ruby Pipeline. This project comprised of planting sagebrush species, wetland native plants, antelope bitterbrush, ponderosa pine, and mountain mahogany across 670 miles of pipeline. The CSR crews began in Utah in the spring of 2011 and then planted in Wyoming in the fall. They finished up in Nevada and Oregon in the spring of 2012. This project presented many challenges and the CSR team performed fantastically.
“Great job Restoration Crew! CSR, Inc. is proud of your efforts, and wildlife across the western U.S. are grateful for their new native habitat opportunities. Well done!” -Lance Bennett, Idaho Regional Manager.
Posted on May 17, 2012 by Conservation Seeding & Restoration INC
In honor of American Craft Beer Week (May 14th – 20th, 2012) we thought it would be fun to share one of CSR’s extracurricular arts: Crafting Beer. Many of the fine folks at CSR share a love for craft beer. In 2007, a small group of CSR employees gathered together to pool their beer making experiences, learning from each other and moving forward in the art of brewing. Over the years, the “Brew Crew” has grown to what it is today: “Bad Bird Brew”.
Bad Bird Brew (so named after CSR’s mascot) currently brews 15 gallon batches of beer for employees and family to enjoy. From IPAs, Pumpkin Beers, and Scottish Ales… to Coffee Stouts, Stouts, Pale Ales, and a Bourbon Barrel Porter. Our real passion, however, is the possibility to incorporate native plants into the brew. This spring we started experimenting with a native grass seed, great basin wild rye. This first test batch will be followed by many more as we formulate a perfect native beer recipe. When it comes to brewing Native Beers, the sky is the limit! And we look forward to the taste testing.
Photos of CSR’s Steven and Starla Paulsen, along with CSR’s Brew Master, Rich Drick.
