Successes & Accomplishments

Updated 07/10/2008

We can only realize the goals of achieving a sustainable natural resource base and a high quality environment with sound plant science. Through the past 70 years and today, the work of Plant Materials Centers and Plant Materials Specialists has been vital to these efforts, and the strength of the NRCS Plant Materials Program lies in its continued commitment to the conservation of America’s resources.

Technology Developments

The Plant Materials Program is a proven leader in conservation plant selection: over 400 plants from the program are commercially produced with an annual value of more than 90 million dollars, and they are planted on 3.7 million acres (fiscal year 2001).

In addition, NRCS incorporates our technology developments and plant selections into conservation practices related to:

• Conservation Needs
• Use of Conservation Plants for Biofuel
• Native Alternatives to Non-native Species
• Wildfire and Drought
• Air Quality
• Partnerships
• Communities
• New Technology and Assistance

Conservation Needs

Many people associate the work of the Plant Materials Program with more traditional conservation needs related to agriculture. However, Plant Materials Centers also address emerging issues such as:

• Erosion Control
  We evaluate plants for their erosion control ability before testing them on problem sites.
   

• Grazing Issues
  We develop establishment methods for rotational grazing systems, like this eastern gamagrass paddock.
   

• Wildlife Habitat
  We select native grasses like big bluestem and basin wildrye for traits that enhance habitat for birds and other wildlife. The habitat for sage grouse has been threatened by conversion to urban land and changes in grazing and vegetation management strategies. Plant Materials Specialists, working with biologists, have provided a list of diverse plants, including native forbs, grasses, and shrubs and the plant technology to manage them, to land managers and wildlife specialists.
   

• Establishment and Management of Plants Important to Native American Cultures
  We are developing production methods for plants like sweetgrass, to be used on tribal lands.

Use of Conservation Plants for Biofuel

The Plant Materials Program of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has been collecting, evaluating, selecting, and releasing cultivars of switchgrass since the 1940’s for soil conservation, livestock forage and wildlife. These cultivars such as ‘Alamo’, ‘Kanlow’ and ‘Cave-in-Rock’, which are products of the plant materials program, are being utilized as biofuel crops in the Northern Great Plains and southeastern United States.

Yields in excess of 10 tons/acre are not uncommon for this native warm season grass. ‘Cave-in Rock’ is being used in combination with coal to generate electricity as part of the Chariton Valley Biomass Project near Ottumwa, Iowa.  We are cooperating with the Department of Energy to study switchgrass and eastern gamagrass for alternative sources of fuel. 

• Several Plant Materials Centers cooperated with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Biomass Feed Stock Development Program by conducting regional testing trials and management practices for biomass production and evaluation.
   
• Plant Materials Centers in Pullman, Washington, Aberdeen, Idaho and Lockeford, California are working with university scientists and the USDA Agricultural Research Service to evaluate previous and recently released plants from their respective centers as future biofuel crops in the western United States. The Big Flats Plant Materials Center, Corning, NY in cooperation with the State University of New York, Syracuse, tested hybrid poplar selections for growth and other biofuel qualities as an energy source for the northeastern United States.
   
• The East Texas Plant Materials Center and the Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture at Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, Texas are evaluating the biofuel qualities of black locust, green ash, sweetgum, sycamore, cottonwood and loblolly pine in a short rotational woody cropping system. The Aberdeen (ID) PMC is evaluating accessions of poplar for production potential.
   
• In an on-going effort to establish the best management practice for maximizing yield and biomass quality of ‘Alamo’ switchgrass, the Jamie L. Whitten Plant Materials Center in Coffeeville, Mississippi compared a one (early fall) and two harvest (mid summer and early fall) system. Their study found a one harvest system consistently produces higher yields than the two harvest system (9.4 vs. 7.5 tons/acre) in northern Mississippi.

 
• East Texas Plant Materials Center staff measures short rotation woody plants such as cotton wood and sycamore for potential energy crops.
   
• The Bismarck Plant Materials Center, in cooperation with South Dakota State University, is evaluating prairie cordgrass as a biofuel crop for the northern Great Plain region.

 
• Future Studies The Plant Materials Program and their cooperating partners will continue to identify potentially new herbaceous and woody biofuel species that can be integrated into typical farming operations. Management response studies will be conducted to verify selections or improve production guidelines on current and new biofuel crops.

Native alternatives to non-native invasive species

The Program works to find new technology to slow the spread of noxious weeds. Some examples include:

• In the western U.S., we are studying the ability of native plants to prevent reinvasion of Russian olive once it has been controlled.
• Researching ways to establish native bunchgrasses in areas infected with yellow starthistle in Oregon, Idaho and Washington.
• Selecting and promoting new plant releases of native species for use in areas once the invasive plants have been eradicated. Re-establishing desirable vegetation is one of the most important steps in reclaiming area to help prevent the reinfestation of invasive species. The Florida Plant Materials Center has produced a production guide to assist native seed growers improve their operation to produce greater quantities and higher quality of seed for restoration efforts.

Wildfire and Drought

The Program provides plant recommendations and new technology for reseeding burned sites and shouldering drought including:  We test drought tolerance of plants and methods for revegetating arid lands. Some past examples include:

• Assisted with recovery efforts for the Aspen Fire in Arizona.
• After the 2000 Bitterroot fires in Montana, helping seed over 6,000 burned acres to protect houses and highways from mudflows, and prevent noxious weed invasion. The Program provided similar direction for fire rehabilitation in Washington, Idaho, Colorado, California, Arizona and New Mexico.
• Provide information resources for wildfire recovery including "Landscaping with Fire Resistant Plants" and "Wildfire Risk Reduction and Recovery Tips for Homeowners," and fire resistant plants including a release of bottlebrush squirreltail.
• Provide technical assistance for drought and releasing drought-tolerant plants for commercial production. For example, staff recently helped several Colorado ranchers revegetate their pastures and reorganize their grazing systems to help weather drought conditions.

Air Quality

The NRCS Plant Materials Centers located throughout the country provide effective plant solutions for air quality concerns.  Some examples include:

• The Cape May Plant Materials Center in New Jersey continues to test native grasses to stabilize sand dunes along the eastern states coastline to lessen the impact of extreme coastal winds. This helps improve air quality by reducing wind-driven particulate matter in coastal communities.
• The Colorado Plant Materials Center tests and maintains foundation seed for ‘Arriba’ western wheatgrass (Pascopyrum smithii). ‘Arriba’ has been used in seed mixtures on hundreds of thousands of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acres since the mid to late 1980s to control blowing soil in eastern Colorado. NRCS National Resources Inventory (NRI) data indicates evidence that tens of millions of tons of soil were prevented from entering the atmosphere as fugitive dust because of the ground cover that western wheatgrass and other plant materials released by the NRCS Plant Materials Program provided these CRP acres.
• The Big Flats (NY) Plant Materials Center is cooperating with a Pennsylvania windbreak working group studying trees and shrubs to be planted near poultry production facilities to mitigate odor and particulate matter.
• The Kansas Plant Materials Center is evaluating hackberry (Celtis spp.) and oak (Quercus spp.) tree species for windbreaks to protect highways, crop fields, and subdivisions from wind erosion. The Idaho Plant Materials Center is conducting similar studies. Windbreaks can provide protection to adjacent fields, structures, and roads for up to 15 times the height of the tallest tree in the windbreak.
• A plant specialist at the New Mexico Plant Materials Center measures big sacaton (Sporobolus wrightii) for use in arid climates as a tall, herbaceous grass barrier to trap abrasive soil particles that are transported by wind. Herbaceous wind barriers provide producers an economical means to protect fragile or specialty crop seedlings.

Partnerships

The Program works with a long list of public and private partners to accomplish conservation using plants, for example:

• Partnering with over 250 volunteers to restore 110 acres of "Cajun Prairie" as part of a 240-acre WRP project near Gueydan, Louisiana. Over 20 conservation partners assisted including U.S. Geological Survey, Ducks Unlimited and The Nature Conservancy.
• Working with several Pacific Northwest Tribes to propagate and establish the culturally significant plants tule and camas. Also, the Alderson, West Virginia, Plant Materials Center is cooperating with the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation to develop cultivation techniques for ramps, an important food source and medicine.
• Cooperating with the National Park Service to research and produce native plants for restoration activities in National Parks across the country.

Communities

The Program coordinates with local communities to beautify natural areas and provide important homeowner information including:

• Sharing new windbreak technology in the Northeast to help prevent snow drifting on highways and reduce traffic accidents.
• Revegetating a mining Superfund site in Pennsylvania.
• Cooperating with the Iowa Department of Transportation to seed native wildflower mixes along highways.
• Creating native landscaping guides for homeowners and Xeriscape demonstration sites at Plant Materials Centers and nurseries in Oregon, New Mexico, California and others.
• Seed from Plant Materials Program releases provides $95 million in sales annually, which helps generate revenue in local communities.

New Technology and Assistance

The NRCS Plant Materials Program provides new technology and assistance to NRCS and district field offices.  Some examples include: