Proceedings: Wildland Shrub and Arid Land Restoration Symposium

Abstract

Contributions range from broad perspectives on restoration of arid lands to specific studies of arid land plant ecology and improvement. The proceedings emphasizes the use of revegetation to rehabilitate arid to semiarid lands for a variety of objectives. The symposium consisted of oral presentations including a plenary session, posters, and field trips. For convenience, we have divided these entries into six sections: Overview, Restoration and Revegetation, Ecology, Genetic Integrity, Management Options, and Field Trip. This volume includes 62 of the 82 papers and posters presented at the symposium (Shrub Research Consortium 1993) and one of the three field trips. The Nevada Test Site field trip is written up in these proceedings. The Viceroy Gold's Castle Mountain Gold Mine field trip featured a tour of a greenhouse used to propagate Mojave Desert plants from seed and tissue culture and a demonstration of salvaging topsoil and plants for Mojave Desert restoration. The Lower Colorado River and Mojave Desert Spring Restoration field trip featured problems with an alluvial desert river and riparian ecosystems and various attempts to restore health and function to them. The symposium also included workshops on Large-Scale Rangeland Revegetation and on Revegetation Contracting and Practice.This symposium proceedings reflects the growing interest in and the development of the science and practice of restoration ecology. See for instance, Baldwin and others (1993); Berger (1990); Cairns (1988a,b); Harker and others References

Physiological and Morphological Characterization of Basalt Milkvetch (Astragalus filipes): Basis for Plant Improvement

“…Establishing perennial vegetation on degraded rangelands can restore ecosystem function (Roundy et al 1995), making rangeland ecosystem services more sustainable. Arid and semiarid rangelands are usually nitrogen limited, and only a few North American legumes are available for restoring rangelands in the Intermountain Region of the western United States (Johnson et al 1989;Pyke et al 2003).…”

Teetering on the Edge or Too Late? Conservation and Research Issues for Avifauna of Sagebrush Habitats

“…The accelerating frequency of large wildfires in sagebrush ecosystems has resulted in extensive rehabilitation efforts to control erosion, return stability to the system and, in some cases, reestablish a shrubland landscape (Roundy et al 1995). During 2000-2001, $91 million was approved to treat 755 000 ha of lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management in the emergency fire rehabilitation program, whose primary objective is to stabilize soils , 2002b.…”

Ecological Genetics and the Restoration of Plant Communities: Mix or Match?

“…Hard rock and strip mines often require intense reclamation (Schaller & Sutton 1978). Logged forests, abandoned agricultural lands, and overgrazed rangelands all require large scale restoration efforts (Millar & Libby 1989;Jackson 1992;Roundy et al 1995).…”