Conservation Seeding and Restoration, Inc. hosted another elementary school tour at our southern Idaho farm facility. An important element, and one we thoroughly enjoy, is to help educate area youth in the benefits of native flora and fauna. We hope their visit to the CSR native plant farm will inspire them to get outside and explore their environment.

Conservation Seeding & Restoration Inc sponsors the 2nd Annual YMCA Strong Kids Golf Tournament! This year’s tournament will benefit Twin Falls’ youth scholarships, youth fitness programs, and the YMCA learn-to-swim program.

June 10th 2013
Registration starts at 10:30am
Shotgun tee-off at 12:00pm

Hosted by the Blue Lakes Country Club in Twin Falls, Idaho.

Your support makes it possible, consider becoming a sponsor!!

Last year’s tournament raised $12,000 for the YMCA’s Strong Kids Campaign.

Click here for more details.

CSR’s CEO Steve Paulsen presented “Oil and Gas Restoration, Challenges with Native Seed” at the 2013 National Native Seed Conference last month in New Mexico.

On public lands Oil and Gas producers are expected to hold the line with the Washington mandate of Native only restoration. This has proven to be a challenge in many respects. This talk focused on Native seed and the difficulties industry is faced with in obtaining appropriate volumes and species for its restoration needs.

Native seed diversity and Native seed availability are uniquely challenged with the scope and scale of surface disturbance that needs to be reclaimed annually. Steve addressed those challenges, and the logistical and economic issues that prevent seed producers from meeting the market demand.

“The National Native Seed Conference was a great benefit to all parties involved with collection, production, sale, and even installation of Native Seeds globally. This was a very worthwhile venue and one I look forward to attending again.” -Steven Paulsen

Conservation Seeding & Restoration Inc sponsors the 2nd Annual YMCA Strong Kids Golf Tournament! This year’s tournament will benefit Twin Falls’ youth scholarships, youth fitness programs, and the YMCA learn-to-swim program.

June 10th 2013
Registration starts at 10:30am
Shotgun tee-off at 12:00pm

Hosted by the Blue Lakes Country Club in Twin Falls, Idaho.

Your support makes it possible, consider becoming a sponsor!!

Last year’s tournament raised $12,000 for the YMCA’s Strong Kids Campaign.

Click here for more details.

Pediocactus simpsonii, Hedgehog cactus, photographed in southern Idaho.

I am constantly bombarded with the simple question of “Why Native Plants?”. I have heard and read from my peers in this forum and others the same thing over and over again. I also hear practitioners, and those “in the know”, struggle to find a clear and concise answer to the question. I think, as a group of people trying to educate the public, we are simply too polite in the conversation

It is in our nature as patient, knowledgeable folks, to avoid offending anyone in the room. We know and realize that everyone comes to the table with a specific set of experiences that drive what they want from their landscape (large or small). As a result, it can be a challenge to state the reasons plainly and clearly for the use of a “Native Plants Only” approach.

Epipactis gigantea, Idaho’s largest orchid.

Folks typically think that a hard line is bad line, because we seem to want desperately to please everyone participating in the conversation. When the rubber hits the road, we find that the allowances are not extended to the flora and fauna of the regions we are in, but rather our personal desire to have it our way.

I do tell people that Native is the best way to go for so many reasons. I play to all the common sense ideals of monetary and water savings, environmentally friendly, and generally the right thing to do. Still I find many people, I suspect the majority, are interested in the right color scheme or the best looking lawn in the neighborhood and so on. This last statement is a fun one for me because once I explain how expensive and lifeless a bluegrass lawn truly is, most people are embarrassed with how they started the conversation.

Calochortus nuttallii, Sego Lily

So, why Native only? It is the only way to help steward our inclusion in a landscape, creating a sense of place. Simply, it allows our inclusion in a landscape to be functional without detriment to every other player in or from that landscape. Humans need not feel bad about having desires, just bad about perpetuating ignorance as an acceptable allowance to facilitate those desires.

Humans are selfish. I am selfish. And as a result, the consequences of my actions in my habitat are real for the habitat I am in. Dr. Seuss said it best in The Lorax, “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not”.

~Originally published by Steven Paulsen on the Native Plants and Wildlife Gardens blog.

“Shoot for your chance to showcase our amazing Idaho flora!

The Idaho Native Plant Society is having a photo contest! The contest is open to all members of INPS across the state. This is an excellent opportunity for plant lovers to share their most remarkable photos and earn a chance to win a prize. Photos may be used for the INPS image library on the website, education and outreach documents, Sage Notes, and future calendars.

Photos must be of plants NATIVE to Idaho. This can include close-up shots of species or landscape shots of multiple plants in their native habitats. The contest rules and the entry form can be opened by clicking on the links below. The contest start and end dates will be March 31, 2013 and August 30, 2013″

Photo Contest Rules

Entry Form

The CSR Team is currently working on a sage grouse habitat enhancement project north of Elko, NV. This 2 year commitment will include installation of over 70,000 sagebrush plants. Vexar Compostable Knitted Netting is included with each planting as browse protection.

Sage Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) is the largest grouse in North America, where it is known as the Greater Sage-Grouse. This species is a permanent resident. Some move short distances to lower elevations for winter. These birds forage on the ground. They mainly eat sagebrush, also insects and other plants. Sage Grouse do not have a muscular crop and are not able to digest hard seeds like other grouse. They nest on the ground under sagebrush or grass patches. (wiki)

CSR’s Steven Paulsen will be presenting “Oil and Gas Restoration, Challenges with Native Seed” at the National Native Seed Conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

“The National Native Seed Conference connects Research, Industry, Land Management, and Restoration professionals, providing the premier opportunity to develop relationships and share information about the collection, research and development, production, and use of native plant materials.”

Conservation Seeding and Restoration, Inc. will be attending the 2013 Energy Smart Western Slope Home Show this weekend in Eagle, Colorado!

Saturday, April 6, 2013 – 9 am – 4 pm

Sunday, April 7, 2013 – 10 am – 2 pm

Stop by our booth and say hello to the CSR Colorado Team!

Various Carex species started early March in the CSR Colorado greenhouse.

(Carex utriculata, Carex nebrascensis, and Carex aquatilis)