Forgotten Grasslands: Basin Wildrye

This article was originally published in The Midden – Great Basin National Park: Vol. 17, No. 2 , Winter 2017.

Basin Wildrye is a native grass that will be the focus of a restoration project.

NPS Photo by G. Baker

By Gretchen Baker, Ecologist

Basin wildrye (Leymus cinereus) is an easy-to-recognize grass. It stands up to six feet tall, and early pioneers that arrived in Snake Valley commented on how it rose up to their horses’ bellies. It was an abundant grass, but that is no longer the case. Basin wildrye ecosystems have been severely degraded by fire suppression, timing of grazing, conversion to agriculture, and introduction of nonnative plants. In Great Basin National Park, this degradation has resulted in the conversion of a large proportion of wildrye communities to areas dominated by non-native grasses and woody vegetation.

The Nature Conservancy (TNC) used soils data and satellite imagery to map plant communities to a one-meter resolution. They determined that 268 acres in the park is a basin wildrye ecosystem. This ecosystem was identified as the most endangered plant community in Great Basin National Park through a park-wide watershed analysis and conservation planning assessment process.

Fortunately, basin wildrye communities are highly recoverable. The park applied for a Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Area grant for five years. The first year has been spent completing archeological clearance. During years two through four, we will restore 90 acres of basin wildrye, 80 acres of sagebrush, and 45 acres of riparian habitat through a combination of planting, seeding, chemical, and mechanical treatments. These management strategies were recommended by TNC as a key restoration action in restoring park plant communities to desired condition.

The project area is near Lehman Creek from the park boundary up to Upper Lehman Campground and the lower part of the Lehman orchard. We expect to start treatments this winter.