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Using Native Plant Material
A highly successful roadside restoration project in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration. Establishing native species along roadsides is aesthetically pleasing and can reduce maintenance requirements. Road right-of-ways also provide connectivity across fragmented landscapes, serving as important dispersal corridors for propagules of desirable native plant species.
A student volunteer hand-seeding native grasses in a restoration project in the Snake River Canyon, Oregon.
Native plant materials are needed for a wide variety of restoration and rehabilitation efforts on National Forests and Grasslands around the country. Native plant materials are used for erosion control, weed prevention, forage, cover, and aesthetics. The types of projects include:
- Post-fire rehabilitation
- Post-harvest seeding or planting
- Decommissioned road beds, cut-and-fill slopes
- Non-native invasive species infestations
- Recreational developments, including trails and campgrounds
- Riparian areas
- Range improvement areas
- Wildlife and fisheries habitat restoration
- Mining reclamation
- Special use sites and corridors
Although the Forest Service has a long history of using native tree species in reforestation, efforts to revegetate with other native plants (hardwood trees and shrubs, grasses, and forb species) is relatively new. As a consequence, supporting research, infrastructure and plant material programs are all in the early stages of development.
Roadside Revegetation
Roadside Revegetation: An Integrated Approach to Establishing Native Plants - This manual was a collaborative effort between Region 6 Forest Service personnel (Scott Riley, David Steinfeld, Lee Riley, Tom Landis (retired)), Kim Wilkinson, and the Federal Highway Administration (Western Federal Lands Highway Division). As described in the Executive Summary (PDF 0.2 MB), the manual guides readers through four stages of revegetation, including initiation, planning, implementation, and monitoring. Although the manual focuses on roadside revegetation, it has great relevance to other types of disturbances and activities where revegetation with native plant materials is desired.
A Manager’s Guide to Roadside Revegetation Using Native Plants (PDF, 3.3 MB) - This guide is intended to support managers in facilitating successful protection and/or establishment of native vegetation as an integral part of road design and construction. This report summarizes the concepts and approaches developed in Roadside Revegetation: An Integrated Approach to Establishing Native Plants, from a manager's perspective. While the full report is designed for field-level practitioners, it is this reference document that engineers and managers should use as a guide in project planning, design, and construction. This guide summarizes an integrated approach to effectively revegetating roadsides and other disturbance areas associated with road construction, modification, or obliteration. Management issues including scope, schedules, budgets, communication, and quality assurance are outlined as they relate to integrating revegetation practices.
Fiscal Year 2008 Reports
The following reports provide the most recent information from around the country about local efforts to identify and characterize target species, collect and propagate seed and planting stock, develop seed zones and plant movement guidelines, provide training, and utilize native plants in restoration. The projects were funded by a special Congressional appropriation for the development and use of native plant materials on National Forest System lands.
Alaska Region
Eastern Region
- Native Plant Program – Banking on the Future, Allegheny National Forest (PDF, 0.2 MB)
- Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest: Native Plant Program Greenhouse (PDF, 0.1 MB)
- Aldo Leopold Native Pollinator Project, Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest (PDF, 0.2 MB)
- Native Plant Pollinator Garden on the Chippewa National Forest (PDF, 0.2 MB)
- FLNF Native Plant Program Development, Finger Lakes National Forest (PDF, 0.2 MB)
- GMNF Native Plant Program, Green Mountain National Forest (PDF, 0.1 MB)
- Old Farm Field Restoration – Grand Island NRA, Hiawatha National Forest (PDF, 0.1 MB)
- Rapid River Pollinator Garden, Hiawatha National Forest (PDF, 0.2 MB)
- Native Plant Production Nursery and Restoration – Hoosier National Forest (PDF, 0.2 MB)
- Tell City Ranger District Pollinator Garden – Hoosier National Forest (PDF, 0.3 MB)
- Native Plant Pollinator Gardens for the Baldwin and White Cloud District, Huron-Manistee National Forests (PDF, 0.1 MB)
- Chittenden Native Plant Pollinator Gardens for the Cadillac-Manistee District, Huron-Manistee National Forests (PDF, 0.1 MB)
- Huron Native Pollinator Garden on the Huron-Manistee National Forest (PDF, 0.2 MB)
- Huron Manistee Native Plant Program (PDF, 0.1 MB)
- Local Native Genotype Project For Cool Season Grasses Of The Huron-Manistee National Forests (PDF, 0.1 MB)
- Pollinator Garden Expansion at Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie (PDF, 0.1 MB)
- Native Plant Pollinator Garden for the Cranberry Mountain Nature Center, Monongahela National Forest (PDF, 0.1 MB)
- Native Plant Pollinator Garden for the Greenbrier Ranger District, Monongahela National Forest (PDF, 0.1 MB)
- Native Plant and Pollinator Gardens at Administrative Sites, Ottawa National Forest (PDF, 0.2 MB)
- Local Native Seed Collection and Production, Ottawa National Forest (PDF, 0.1 MB)
- Establishing a Poverty Oats (Danthonia spicata) Production Site on the Superior National Forest (PDF, 0.3 MB)
- Kawishiwi Ranger District Native Plant and Pollinator Garden - Superior National Forest (PDF, 0.3 MB)
- Development of Native Grass and Forb Seed for Shallow Soil Sites – Superior National Forest (PDF, 0.2 MB)
- Native Plant Program – Planting for Pollinators, Wayne National Forest (PDF, 0.2 MB)
- Saco Ranger Station Native Plant Pollinator Garden on the White Mountain National Forest (PDF, 0.1 MB)
Intermountain Region
- Native Grass Seed Collection and Propagation for Habitat Restoration in Idaho, Boise National Forest (PDF, 0.1 MB)
- Sandberg bluegrass selection and propagation on the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest (PDF, 0.2 MB)
- Natives Used on Brundage Ski Area,
Payette National Forest (PDF, 0.6 MB)
- Sawtooth National Forest Native Plant Program for Restoration and Rehabilitation (PDF, 0.1 MB)
- Native Seed Collection and Increase on the Minidoka Ranger District, Sawtooth National Forest (PDF, 0.1 MB)
- Native Plant Seed Increase for Restoration and Rehabilitation, Sawtooth National Forest (PDF, 0.1 MB)
Northern Region
- Collection and Propagation of Native Plant Materials for Integrated Resource Restoration Projects in North Central Idaho and West Central Montana: Bitterroot, Clearwater, and Nez Perce National Forests (PDF, 0.1 MB)
- Native Plant Pollinator Garden on the Bitterroot National Forest (PDF, 0.1 MB)
- Clearwater National Forest and Nez Perce Tribe Restoration Partnership: Propagating Native Plants for Burned Area Revegetation (PDF, 0.1 MB)
- Seed Collection for Native Grass Species on the Custer National Forest (PDF, 0.1 MB)
- Grand River Ranger District Monarch Butterfly Pollinator Gardens on the Dakota Prairie Grasslands (PDF, 0.1 MB)
- Native Prairie Reestablishment on the Dakota Prairie Grasslands (PDF, 0.1 MB)
- Native Plant Pollinator Garden on the Flathead National Forest (PDF, 0.2 MB)
- Nursery Collection and Propagation of Native Plant Materials on the Helena and Lewis & Clark National Forests (PDF, 0.1 MB)
- Stool Bed Production of Native Shrubs to Meet Region-wide Needs for Rooted Cuttings, Coeur d'Alene Nursery, Idaho Panhandle National Forest (PDF, 0.1 MB)
- Kootenai National Forest Native Grass Seed Collection and Increase (PDF, 0.2 MB)
- Murphy Lake Ranger Station’s Native Plant Pollinator Garden, Kootenai National Forest (PDF, 0.1 MB)
- Native Plant Pollinator Project at the Lewis and Clark Interpretative Center, Lewis and Clark National Forest (PDF, 0.1 MB)
- The Lolo National Forest Native Plant Pollinator Garden at Fort Missoula (PDF, 0.2 MB)
- A Guide to Creating Native Plant Pollinator Gardens in the Northern Rockies, Lolo National Forest (PDF, 0.2 MB)
- Effectiveness of Native Plant Material for Re-vegetation of Decommissioned Roads (PDF, 0.1 MB)
- Revegetation with Native Plants Training Curriculum in Region One (PDF, 0.1 MB)
- Development of Seed Transfer Zones through Common Garden Studies in Region One (PDF, 0.1 MB)
- USFS Region One WCF Native Plant Materials Seed Cache, Coeur d'Alene Nursery (PDF, 0.1 MB)
Pacific Northwest Region
Pacific Southwest Region
- Interagency Visitor Center Alkali Meadow Restoration and Native Plant Demonstration Project, Inyo National Forest (PDF, 0.1 MB)
- Native Forb Seed Propagation on the Lassen National Forest (PDF, 0.3 MB)
- Native Grass Seed Cache for the Plumas National Forest (PDF, 0.1 MB)
- Seed Bulking for Mega-fire and Invasive Species Restoration on the San Bernardino National Forest (PDF, 0.1 MB)
- Sierra Nevada Native Grass Seed Zone Study (PDF, 0.6 MB)
- Rehabilitation in the Central Franciscan Subsection, Six Rivers and Mendocino National Forests (PDF, 0.1 MB)
- Native Plant Materials Workshop, U.S. Forest Service - Region 5 (PDF, 0.2 MB)
Rocky Mountain Region
- Restoration of Black Hills Montane Grassland Sites: 2nd Phase (PDF, 0.1 MB)
- Forest-Wide Native Plant Materials Program, Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forests and Pawnee National Grassland (PDF, 0.2 MB)
- Native Plant Materials Program Initiation: Year 2, Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forests and Pawnee National Grassland (PDF, 0.2 MB)
- Restoring Native Vegetation Program: Year 2, Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forests and Pawnee National Grassland (PDF, 0.2 MB)
- Uncompahgre Plateau Native Plant Program on the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forest (PDF, 0.1 MB)
- Northwest Colorado Native Seed Partnership, Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest and Thunder Basin National Grassland (PDF, 0.2MB)
- Mountain District Broad Spectrum Upland Seed Mix on the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests (PDF, 0.2 MB)
Southern Region
- Native Seed Collection, Apalachicola National Forest (PDF, 0.1 MB)
- Native Seed Production Area, Apalachicola National Forest (PDF, 0.1 MB)
- Wet Prairie Restoration Project, Apalachicola National Forest (PDF, 0.1 MB)
- Jackson Island Native Plant Restoration and Expansion Project, Cherokee National Forest (PDF, 0.2 MB)
- Boggy Hollow non-native to native plant restoration and rehabilitation project, Conecuh Ranger District, National Forests in Alabama (PDF, 0.1 MB)
- Carolina Piedmont Prairie Forbs, Francis Marion and Sumter National Forests (PDF, 0.1 MB)
- Re-establishment of Native Warm Season Grasses in Old-Growth Restoration Areas, Ouachita National Forest (PDF, 0.1 MB)
- Hazardous Fuel Reduction through NNIS Removal, Shoal Creek Ranger District, National Forests in Alabama (PDF, 0.3 MB)
- Georgia aster Restoration Project, Talladega National Forest (PDF, 0.2 MB)
- Native Prairie Seed Increase Project at Clymer Meadow, National Forests and Grasslands in Texas (PDF, 0.1 MB)
Southwest Region
Scenes depicting wildland collection and field production of native grass and forb seed. Wildland-collected seed can be used directly in restoration projects, or established in production fields to generate larger quantities of seed.
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