Home

October 30, 2012--Native seed shortage hampers wildfire recovery in the West (Durango Herald)

High demand has increased the price and hurt the supply of native seeds needed to replant areas devastated by drought in some areas of the West and wildfires that burned millions of acres of land nationally. Some agencies reported shortages of sagebrush seed as dry conditions hamper the ability of unburned plants to produce new seed for harvest. “I’ve been in the business 24 years and this is the most extreme fluctuation in demand and availability I’ve ever seen,” Ed Kleiner, owner of Comstock Seed, a commercial seed distributor based in Gardnerville, Nev., told the Reno Gazette-Journal. Much of the fire-damaged landscape serves as valuable habitat for sage grouse, a candidate for listing under the Endangered Species Act. In Nevada, habitat used by threatened species such as the sage grouse, Lahontan cutthroat trout and desert tortoise will be given the highest priority for restoration, said Mark Coca, vegetation-management specialist for the Bureau of Land Management in Nevada. Experts are already prioritizing burned land to determine what areas will be seeded with available supplies, he said.

To view the full article, visit the Durango Herald. For a copy of the original article contact the WIP at (970) 247-1302 or stop by the office at 841 East Second Avenue in Durango, Colorado.


Published in