Growing Native Seeds to Save the Sagebrush Sea [Video]

Native wildflowers and grasses are the foundation of life on the Sagebrush Sea, the vast landscape that is home to sage-grouse, pronghorn and many other iconic species of the American West. The Sagebrush Sea is one of the most vulnerable ecosystems in the world in the face of human development and climate change, and its future hinges on whether we can replant native seeds fast enough and over a big enough area to fight back its loss. But right now, conservationists don’t have enough seeds–or knowledge of how to build up that supply–to do large-scale replanting of native plants.

In this short video, you’ll see how The Nature Conservancy in Wyoming is researching how to best get native plants to sprout and thrive, even on heavily disturbed former mine sites. The knowledge that staffers like Maggie Eshleman and Michaela Owens are generating will help commercial seed growers in Wyoming and beyond begin to offer native seeds for sale to state and federal agencies, as well as others dedicated to restoring the Sagebrush Sea.

Special thanks to the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, the Bureau of Land Management and our other partners for collaborating on this important work.

Produced by Kirk Rasmussen/Home Range Films

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