Weather hampers seed collecting efforts for Nevada fire rehab

Sandra Chereb

Friday, Nov. 17, 2000 | 3:55 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - A dry summer and an early winter are hampering the collection of seeds needed to replant vast portions of northern Nevada destroyed by wildfires the past two years.

"To start with, we had almost drought-like conditions from spring through summer until about now," said Kim Toulousse of the Nevada Division of Wildlife. "The plants are all stressed out to start with. They didn't start to set seed until real late."

Then early snow and cold came to much of northern Nevada.

"The seed pods and the plants just locked up tight," Toulouse said Friday.

Or, as is the case with mountain sagebrush, the seeds are ready but inaccessible, thanks to a blanket of snow above the 6,500-foot level where the plant grows.

"It wasn't ready, it wasn't ready; now it's ready and we can't get to it," he said.

Seeds from other varieties of sagebrush that grow at lower elevations should be ready to gather in about a week to 10 days, Toulouse added.

Last year, after wild fires destroyed a record 1.6 million acres in Nevada, volunteer seed-collecting programs began in September. This year fires blackened 636,000 acres in the state.

"By this time last year we were almost done with our seed collection," Toulouse said.

The efforts of the 298 volunteers yielded 125 pounds of rabbitbrush, 816 pounds of saltbrush and 400 pounds of sagebrush seed, after chaff and other materials were removed, he said.

This year, the volunteer program has yet to begin. The wildlife agency hopes to start collecting with volunteers Dec. 2 and continue each Saturday through the first part of January, weather permitting.

Ed S. Kleiner, of Comstock Seed Co. in Gardnerville, agreed weather has made the seed collection task more challenging, even for commercial concerns.

"The early winter did wreak havoc on us," Kleiner said. "The weather's caused us to shuffle around."

Kleiner said Comstock's hired seed crews have gathered "tons and tons" of bulk seed by hand from around the state. After cleaning and processing, the amount of usable seed is much less.

While it might be worthwhile for commercial gatherers to roam the vast expanse of Nevada in search of scattered seed sources, the relative scarcity of viable seed has so far made the use of an organized volunteer effort impractical, Toulouse said.

Weather factors and high demand for native seeds in other fire-ravaged areas around the West also means higher prices.

Sagebrush seed is selling for $65 to $100 a pound. Normally, it sells for about $30, Toulouse said.

Last year, Nevada Division of Wildlife reseeded about 17,000 acres. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management reseeded more than 500,000 acres, though not necessarily with the same type of vegetation.