1. BLM Plant Conservation Program: Its Role in Sage Grouse Conservation
Peggy Olwell
BLM Plant Conservation Program Lead
Colorado Plateau Native Plant Program Meeting
April 8, 2014

2. Overview Native Plant Materials Development Program
Sagebrush for Conserving Sage- Grouse
Climate Change
Interagency Seed Summit
3rd National Seed Conference (planning stages)

3. FY2001 House Appropriations Conference Report Language
“The managers direct the agencies to develop a long-term program to manage and supply native plant materials for use in various Federal land management restoration and rehabilitation needs. The managers recommend that the interagency native plant conservation initiative lead this effort.” Native Plant Materials Development Program Funding committed by DOI/BLM FY2001 – FY2014 ~$70 Million

4. Native Plant Materials Development Process

5. USGS Colorado Plateau Research Station
Great Basin Native Plant Project
USDA Rocky Mountain Research Station
University of Idaho
University of Nevada-Reno
OSU Malheur Experiment Station
University of Utah Rio Mesa Center
University of Wyoming
BLM Field Offices
Chicago Botanic Garden Interns
USDA FS Bend Seed Extractory
USDA ARS Western Plant Introduction Station
USDA ARS National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation
Smithsonian Institution
NRCS Plant Materials Centers
Palmer PMC (AK)
Tucson PMC (AZ)
Lockeford PMC (CA)
Upper Colorado PMC
Aberdeen PMC (ID)
Bridger PMC (MT)
Los Lunas PMC (NM)
Great Basin PMC (NV)
Corvallis PMC (OR)
Pullman PMC (WA)
Growers
Special K Ranch
BLM Public Land
Institute for Applied Ecology
Truax Company, Inc.
This is the BLM Native Plant Materials Development Process and there are 6 integrated parts of this process. I have color coded the diagram and have highlighted a few of the more than 500 partners working with the BLM.
Native Seed Collection:
BLM and its Seeds of Success partners have made over 15,000 collections of native seed using the Conservation and Land Management Intern Program with Chicago Botanic Garden. For example, we have had collecting teams in every field office in Wyoming!
All seed collected by BLM is sent to the USDA Forest Service Bend Seed Extractory where they clean each collection, test its viability, package and ship it to ARS Western Plant Introduction Station for short-term storage and use in the development of native seed and for long-term conservation storage at ARS National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation.
Evaluation and Development:
Evaluating potential native plants for use in native seed development is done at the eco-regional level: BLM works very closely with the Forest Service in the Great Basin and with the USGS in the Colorado Plateau on these respective Ecoregional Native Plant Programs. BLM spends over $1.5 million/year with these two partnerships.
Field Establishment:
BLM works very closely with 10 of NRCS Plant Materials Centers across the west. For example:
CA BLM, WY BLM have several projects with Lockeford PMC and the Upper Colorado Plant Materials Center in Meeker, CO
Private Grower Production:
BLM has procured seed from more than 75 private growers and seed companies.
Seed Storage:
Seed is a living entity and requires specific environmental conditions to remain alive… sagebrush for example requires refrigerated storage to keep its viability for longer than 6 months.
Restore Native Plant Communities:
BLM has collaborated with private sector, such as TRUAX COMPANY, located in New Hope, Minnesota. Jim Truax began reengineering the standard rangeland drill in The Rough Rider rangeland drill evolved and with it several key improvements in native seed planting technology including 1) metering and planting seeds of different sizes and shapes at the same time and at different depths; 2) minimizing soil disturbance and reducing damage to residual biological soil crusts and native species; 3) planting surface seeded species between rows of drilled species; and 4) planting into heavy litter without plugging. This partnership has been mutually beneficial, increasing the effectiveness of research treatments and highlighting further equipment modification needs for rugged western terrain. Recently, Truax has been adding GPS to the drill to monitor both equipment utilization and seed placement.
BLM Seed Warehouse System
Boise Regional Seed Warehouse
Ely Regional Seed Warehouse
Other Partner Seed Warehouses
Growers
State Seed Certifying Agencies

6. Map from 3 Feb 2014

7. Seeds of Success Collections by REA 2001-2014
Collection Count
Central Basin and Range
1546
Chihuahuan Desert
273
Colorado Plateau
789
Madrean Archipelago
170
Middle Rockies
114
Mojave Basin and Range
625
North Slope 45
Northern Great Basin
1104
Northwestern Great Plains
127
Seward Peninsula
123
Sonoran Desert
272
Southern Great Plains
240
Wyoming Basin
622

8. Seeds of Success Collections
By State
State
Collection Count
Alaska
614
Arizona
749
California
2277
Colorado
887
Idaho
623
Montana 94
Nevada
1528
New Mexico
367
Oregon
1974
Utah
1521
Washington
243
Wyoming
768
Active in all western states

9. 2012 Wildfires in Sage-Grouse Habitat
2 million acres of Sage-Grouse habitat burned
Only 400,000 acres rehabilitated
1.6 million acres remain to be rehabilitated
Background Information:
BLM could only rehab 400,000 acres because of the Fire Expenditure Cap.
BLM bought all sagebrush seed on the market in Fall 2012 that was available and ready for delivery.
All commercially collected Sagebrush seed was from Utah sagebrush ecosystems being used in Oregon and California fire rehab projects (not the source identified seed preferred by field offices).
Sagebrush seed ripens and is collected in mid November,- an additional 472, 000 pounds of commercial wildland collected seed became available in December, but BLM had no more fire rehab funds. Procurement at End of Fiscal Year is also an issue that needs to be addressed.
Commercial Growers – there are barely any commercial growers of sagebrush seed – only one we know of is a Wyoming rancher who did supplemental irrigation in wildland stands. None of what we bought in 2012 for fire rehabilitation was cultivated sagebrush seed.
For other grasses and forbs (wildflowers) we have source identified private sector growers.
Failure of our process: Fire expenditure cap, end of fiscal year, under continuing resolution and sequestration hit- all reducing our capability to complete rehabilitation on the 1.6 million acres remaining.

10. Wyoming Big Sagebrush from 13 Locations Planted in Glenns Ferry, ID in 1987
Idaho Fish and Game shows how important it is to use local sagebrush seed for restoration and fire rehabilitation based on this study!
However, it took almost 25 years to see the issue clearly for just one species of Sagebrush. Seed from 13 different sources/locations of Wyoming Big Sagebrush were all planted in Glenns Ferry, ID. For the first 5 years of the study they had very good survival rate and by year 10 the scientists started to see some of the non-local sources dying off. After 23 years, they only had 100% survival in the seed that was local from Glenns Ferry, ID … all other seed sources were 50% or below 50% survival- most sources being below 50%.
Not all native seed is the same and the source of your seed material is important to the success of your restoration/rehabilitation project.
From: Sands, Alan, and Ann Moser   ID Fish & Game Report

11. Seeds of Success Sage-Grouse Habitat Collections 2001-2013

12. Sage-Grouse Habitat Conservation & Improvement Projects Across the BLM
99 Projects in Total Across 7 Western States in 41 Field Offices
- Native Seed Collection - Post-Fire Seeding
- Propagation - Germination Studies
- Monitoring - Grow Out
29 Projects with Federal Partners
- USGS - Forest Service
- NRCS - ARS
- BIA - Fish & Wildlife Service
62 Projects with NGO Partners
- Mule Deer Foundation - University of WY
- Chicago Botanic Garden - Great Basin Institute
- NV Sagebrush Ecosystem Council
Examples of projects include:
Bishop, CA BLM FO - Interns completing vegetation plots in nesting habitat to understand habitat used for nesting, in partnership with USGS, Nevada Dept. of Wildlife, California Dept. of Fish & Wildlife, Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, Chicago Botanic Garden.
Four Rivers, ID BLM FO - Applied research investigating methods to increase microsite structure to increase seeding and re-vegetation success within low elevation sagebrush steppe, in partnership with USGS.
Carson City, Battle Mountain, Elko, Winnemucca, and Ely, NV BLM Offices – Conducting ESR projects that use native seed materials to treat wildfire impacted areas in sage grouse habitat, in partnership with the NV Dept. of Wildlife.
Spokane, WA BLM DO - Completed seed germination and growout protocol trials for 9 sagebrush forb species, including 6 that are critically important species for sage-grouse, established small trial fields with local grower
Lakeview, OR BLM DO – Working on restoration trials with USDA ARS in Burns, OR on adapted management trials seeding native grasses in sagebrush areas infested with annual grasses
Montana BLM SO - Utilizing Sage-grouse initiative funds to collect sage-grouse specific native plant seed. The NRCS has established partnerships with private land owners to allow of seed collection on private lands. The grant money is used to hire Montana Youth Conservation Corp teams to collect seeds form both public and private lands for the SOS program. These excess seeds are used on public and private lands for developing and enhancing sage-grouse habitat and connectivity.

13. Greater Sage-Grouse Habitat with State & Federal Correctional Facilities
BLM is working with the Institute for Applied Ecology in Corvallis, OR on a sagebrush grow-out program
Sustainability in Prisons Project Network
Potential to engage 24 correctional facilities across 10 states throughout the range of the greater sage grouse
A pilot project is underway in Eastern OR where they are producing 10,000-20,000 sagebrush plants that will be planted into an area damaged by wildfire in 2012

14. National Fish, Wildlife & Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy
The Strategy identifies seven goals to help fish, wildlife, plants and ecosystems cope with the impacts of climate change.
Goal 2: Manage species and habitats to protect ecosystem functions and provide sustainable cultural, subsistence, recreational, and commercial use in a changing climate.
Strategy 2.3: Conserve genetic diversity by protecting diverse populations and genetic material across the full range of species occurrences.

15. Thank you and Questions