First Season of Great Basin Wildrye Implementation

This article was originally published in The Midden – Great Basin National Park: Vol. 18, No. 1, Summer 2018.

Before photo of a thinning area along the Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive to restore sagebrush and grasslands. The removal of pinyon pine and juniper trees also helps provide a better
fire break. You may notice the bright blue skies in this photo taken in June.

NPS Photo

by Gretchen Baker, Ecologist

The Forgotten Grasslands: Restoration of Basin Wildrye Ecosystems project was surveyed for archeological clearance during the 2017 fiscal year. Beginning in spring of 2018, we started implementing the restoration. Areas of cheatgrass and crested wheat grass were sprayed, pre-treatment monitoring plots were installed, and restoration by thinning began.

After photo of a thinning area along the Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive to restore sagebrush and grasslands. The removal of pinyon pine and juniper trees also helps provide a better
fire break. For this after photo in August, a smoky haze filled the sky many days.

NPS Photo

A five-person Nevada Conservation Corp (NCC) crew, sponsored by the Great Basin Institute (GBI), spent twelve weeks at the park. For five of the weeks, they cut down pinyon pine (Pinus monophylla) and Utah juniper (Juniperus osteosperma) near the park entrance. They left bigger trees, but cut the eight inch and smaller dbh (diameter at breast height) trees to allow the underlying sagebrush and grasses to have more space. They worked on approximately 15 acres. As you can see in the before and after photos, this thinning helped open up the landscape. It also helps provide more of a fire break.

Additional crews will be coming in the fall and future years to complete the project. Seeding native species and planting Basin wildrye are also a component in this project.