Dear HCN,
I’ve been working with
reclamation in the Great Basin for 17 years and personally know the
learned gentlemen interviewed by Jon Christensen. Your article left
me feeling like all our efforts over the years (HCN, 5/22/00: Save
Our Sagebrush) have little show.
I agree that
the crested wheat plantations are more like museums than positive
successional states. Likewise, the weeds are overwhelming and new
species are invading all the time. However, at several of our
project sites we are having success germinating the native grasses
and shrubs that all parties are interested in.
These sites may never return to their predisturbance condition, due
to the radical disruptions in landform and soil conditions, but if
the natives are germinated and we can witness seral advance, I will
continue to be optimistic that we can heal our wounds.
We have worked on the Sierra Pacific utility
corridor from Reno to Oregon and, even though the progress has been
slow, after four years, we have successfully established many
sections with pre-disturbance native grasses. Likewise, at several
of our Great Basin mine sites, if we pay attention to soils and
seeding techniques, we are germinating diverse native communities.
Even in Reno, we have success at several sites with establishing
diverse native communities. At all of these sites, native grasses
are holding their own against the shrubs, and I suspect that the
absence of cattle is allowing these grasses to proliferate.
In the end, restoration is an evasive
condition. These plant communities evolved over thousands of years
and our projects may just be ecological Band-Aids. Our children and
grandchildren will be better judges of our successes and failures.
Ed Kleiner
Reno,
Nevada
The writer is CEO of Comstock Seed.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Optimism for Nevada’s weedy wasteland.
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