Seedings and Plantings

For the past several years, the BLM has implemented sagebrush seedling plantings to improve sage-grouse habitat affected by wildfires. At the end of October 2021, the BLM Eagle Lake Field Office contracted a crew of about 20 conservation corps members from the Great Basin Institute to plant over 16,000 seedlings. The Working Group Coordinator helped the BLM Ecologist lead the crews in planting the seedlings within 3 different fire scars. The majority, about 11,000 sagebrush seedlings, were planted in the 2020 Laura 2 Fire scar near Doyle, CA. About 2,000 bitterbrush seedlings were planted in the 2021 Beckwourth Fire scar, and about 3,000 sagebrush seedlings were planted in the 2012 Rush Fire scar near an active sage-grouse lek in an area that was still devoid of sagebrush. The BLM also planted over 5000 sagebrush and bitterbrush seedlings in October 2022.

In November 2020, the US Fish and Wildlife Service helped fund the seeding of 75 acres of private land that burned in the Sheep Fire.  A large portion of land that burned in the Sheep Fire was priority mule deer habitat, so bitterbrush and a few grass species were included in the seed mix to help restore this habitat. California Department of Fish and Wildlife provided the rangeland drill seeder for this project, and the seeding did very well!