Keyword: revegetation

Basalt milkvetch responses to novel restoration treatments in the Great Basin

The restoration of native forbs in the Great Basin and similar dryland ecosystems remains a great challenge for land managers. Variable soil water, precocious germination and emergence, and the presence of soil fungal pathogens often reduce plant establishment.

Abundances of coplanted native bunchgrasses and crested wheatgrass after 13 years

Crested wheatgrass (Agropyron cristatum [L] Gaertm) has been seeded on more than 5 million hectares in western North America because it establishes more readily than native bunchgrasses.

Notice of release of fanny germplasm, carmel germplasm, and Bonneville germplasm Searls’ prairie clover

Three natural-track selected germplasms of Searls’ prairie clover (Dalea searlsiae (A. Gray) Barneby [Fabaceae]) have been released by the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) for use in revegetation and restoration of semiarid rangelands in the western US. Searls’ prairie clover is a perennial leguminous forb that is native to Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and California.

Germination and seedling emergence of three semiarid western North American legumes

Few seed sources of North American forbs are available for revegetation/restoration of degraded western rangelands adapted to annual precipitation zones less than 300mm, and those that are available are mainly wildland collected. The amount of time and resources necessary to make wildland collections in quantity results in high seed prices and variable seed quality, such that forbs have been under-represented in rangeland seeding mixes.

Small-leaf globemallow (Sphaeralcea parvifolia)

Small-leaf globemallow occurs in the Central Basin and Range and Colorado Plateau ecoregions (Lambert 2005). It occurs naturally in Nevada, the southern two-thirds of Utah, western Colorado, northwestern New Mexico, northern and central Arizona, and adjacent California (Kearney 1935; Holmgren et al. 2005; La Duke 2016; USDA NRCS 2017). It has been grown in southern Idaho (Pendery and Rumbaugh 1990) but is not native there.

Munro’s globemallow (Sphaeralcea munroana)

Munro’s globemallow is a western species occurring in southern British Columbia, east of the Cascades in Washington and Oregon, as far south as Nevada and Utah and as far east as southwestern Wyoming (Welsh et al. 1987; Holmgren et al. 2005; La Duke 2016; LBJWC 2018).

Gooseberry globemallow (Sphaeralcea grossulariifolia)

Gooseberryleaf globemallow is native to North America and occurs primarily in the Intermountain region in the western states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico (La Duke 2016). It is also reported in northern California but may reach its maximum abundance in Utah (Kearney 1935). Plants are winter hardy, especially in regions with at least periodic snow cover.

Royal penstemon (Penstemon speciosus)

Royal penstemon occurs from the eastern slopes of the Cascade and Sierra Nevada Mountains eastward across central and southeastern Washington, eastern Oregon, and southwestern Idaho, and south through eastern California and Nevada to higher elevations in mountain ranges on the northern edge of the Mojave Desert (USDA NRCS 2017). A few populations are found in Utah.

Sagebrush false dandelion (Nothocalais troximoides)

Sagebrush false dandelion is distributed from south-central British Columbia to northern California, northern Nevada and Utah, largely east of the Cascade and Sierra Nevada mountains, and eastward across western and central Montana and northwestern Wyoming (CPNWH 2017; SEINet 2017; USGS 2017).

Showy goldeneye (Heliomeris multiflora)

Showy goldeneye is a western species. Variety multiflora is the most widely distributed, occurring in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. Variety nevadensis is more southerly, occurring in California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and as far south as Jalisco, Mexico. Variety brevifolia occurs in Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico (Schilling 2006).