LANDSCAPE NEWS Volume 16, Issue 2: February-March 2017
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Eastern Nevada Landscape Coalition LANDSCAPE NEWS Volume 16, Issue 2: February-March 2017 Weather Doesn’t Slow Winter Weed Conference On January 11-12, 2017, ENLC and Tri-County Weed successfully hosted their 12th Annual Winter Weed Conference. We had over 90 registered participants, and even though Mother Nature decided to throw some wicked weather at the West, the majority of registrants and presenters made it through blizzards and floods to attend the conference. We were fortunate to have generous presenters who were willing to fill in and do additional presentations for presenters who were unable to get through the weather to make the conference. Instead of detailing the highlights of the conference, we have included several of the presenter’s abstracts below. If you would like a copy of their PowerPoint presentations please contact the ENLC office. The presentations covered a wide range of topics from updates by the Nevada Department of Agriculture and laws and regulations to mapping and control Jani Ahlvers (right) and John Watt of ENLC. presentations on curly dock, Russian olive, tamarisk, ventenata, and viper grass. increasing infestations are wide-ranging, but all have one thing in common: the need to know the location Spatial Imagery Solutions for Identifying, and extent(s) of the invasives of interest. One very Mapping, and Monitoring Invasive Species in the effective, and efficient, solution for addressing this Great Basin, Jeff Campbell spatial need is the utilization of multi-spectral spatial Contact: [email protected] imagery. The plethora of satellite and aerial based Over the last century, increased human activity sources of imagery affords resource managers of today across the west, and particularly throughout the Great a valuable set of tools for mapping invasive species Basin, has resulted in an ever-changing landscape. distributions, designing strategies of treatment, and Endeavors to utilize, enhance, and restore the monitoring their effectiveness of those treatments. abundant natural resources in the Great Basin have Coupling digital image analysis of multi-spectral and had the collateral effect of introduction and spread multi-temporal imagery with good old boots on-the- of invasive species that have had a detrimental impact ground and ecological expertise, millions of acres of on many ecosystems and habitats. Efforts to mitigate landscapes have been successfully mapped, evaluated, these adverse impacts and stem the tide of new and Continued on pages 4-5 Eastern Nevada Thoughts From the Barn Landscape Betsy Macfarlan, Executive Director Coalition As I write this the vernal equinox is just days away. Thanks to a wet winter and several unusually warm weeks this month Nevada is once again experiencing an explosion of vegetation. Reservoirs throughout the state are filling up, if they aren’t already full, and for the first time in many years water Our Mission managers are worrying about what to do The mission of the Eastern Nevada when the snow pack really starts melting. Landscape Coalition is to restore the ENLC has had a busy winter. We have had a three-person dynamic, diverse, resilient landscapes of crew inventorying noxious weeds in the Mojave Desert since the the arid and semi-arid West for present beginning of March. We also started monitoring Sage Grouse leks in and future generations through education, partnership with the Ely BLM and Nevada Department of Wildlife research, advocacy, partnerships, and the this month. Our Elko and Ely staff have been busy hiring seasonal implementation of on-the-ground projects. crews, and in 2017 we will have the largest number of seasonals that we have employed in several years. In Elko two crews will work on Our Vision the Emergency, Stabilization, and Restoration (ESR) projects for the We envision a future where the BLM and a third crew will inventory and spray noxious weeds. In ecosystems of the arid and semi-arid West Ely we will have two crews working in the ESR program, as well as thrive. Functioning, diverse ecosystems a recreation technician working closely with the will be the result of restoration achieved ENLC is starting two new and maintained with naturally occurring Ely BLM District. Our projects with the Forest disturbances such as fire, in combination staff botanist, ecologist, with other management prescriptions, biologist, and minerals Service this year. The first including traditional uses. The Eastern and lands specialists will is a selective thinning Nevada Landscape Coalition, a 501(c) also be busy over the next project in phase two and (3) non-profit, will be a recognized several months working phase three Pinyon and contributor and leader in this effort for on a variety of projects. Juniper stands, with a future generations of Americans. Our summer hoped-for goal of increasing conference is three pinenut harvest.... Board of Directors months away. We had The second project will be to cancel last year’s Robert Koch, Chair a four-year education and conference, so we are Rhonda Hornbeck, Vice Chair outreach program focused going with the same Jerry Martin, Treasurer on noxious weeds. Laurie Carson, Secretary theme of “Climate Carol Ferguson • John Hiatt Change in the Great Kent McAdoo • Bill Wilson Basin.” I have been following up with the presenters who committed to present last year and recruiting additional presenters. You can read Betsy Macfarlan, Executive Director more about the conference in this edition of the newsletter. Pre- registration materials will be available in April. The Landscape News is published four Check out ENLC’s website. After a long and arduous process times per year. Design and layout by we were able to migrate our website away from Yahoo web hosting Tempra Board & Associates. and underwent a complete design overhaul. The new site was just [email protected] • www.envlc.org Continued on next page Page 2 Landscape News Mindy Seal Takes Reins as BLM Bristlecone Field Manager Ely, Nev. – Mindy Seal until assuming responsibility as is settling into her new Associate District Manager in position as Bristlecone Field June 2015. This past summer Manager for the Bureau of she served as advisor to the Land Management (BLM) Ely BLM Director in Washington, District. D.C. Seal knows eastern Nevada’s “Mindy’s breadth of public lands and issues having knowledge and experience grown up on family ranches in with grazing management, Lincoln, Nye and White Pine minerals, and the National counties. She and husband Environmental Policy Act make Tyler raised their children here her the ideal choice to help lead and continue to make this their and direct the Bristlecone Field home. Office forward into the future,” Seal began her BLM career said Michael Herder, BLM Ely in 2005 as an administrative District Manager. assistant in the Ely District Office. She “It is a privilege to work with people who value subsequently held several positions, including that and cherish our public lands and I look forward of natural resource specialist, while simultaneously to working together to fulfill today’s demands and performing as the lead for several projects and tomorrow’s dreams,” said Seal. programs. In 2013, Seal was selected as Assistant Field Manager for Non-Renewable Resources in Editor’s Note: Mindy Seal was also ENLC’s first the then Egan Field Office, a position she held administrative assistant in 2001 and 2002. Thoughts, Cont. Continued from previous page hosting our Winter Weed Conferences and teaching about invasive species in our Great Basin Kids unveiled and has some great new features. We will Workshop—now incorporated into the White Pine work to keep the calendar of events current. If you have County 4-H Camp program. something you would like on our calendar please don’t Lastly I would like to welcome Paula Day to ENLC as hesitate to e-mail it to me. our new administrative assistant. Paula started working ENLC is starting two new projects with the Forest for us in late December. She generally works three days Service this year. The first is a selective thinning project a week, but is always willing to jump in and help with a in phase two and phase three Pinyon and Juniper project if needed. Paula retired from Tri-County Weed stands, with a hoped-for goal of increasing pinenut last January after seven years as their office manager. In harvest. We will be working closely with both the Forest November she dropped by the office because she was Service and their pinenut contractors on this project. “bored” and I took advantage of that and offered her a The second project will be a four-year education and part-time position. She brings a very diverse and strong outreach program focused on noxious weeds. ENLC background in administration to ENLC. will once again be running Weed of the Week ads in Until next time, the local papers and on our website, in addition to Betsy Macfarlan February-March 2017 Page 3 Highlights from the 12th Annual Winter Weed Conference Continued from page one treated, and monitored throughout the Great Basin and price. Curly dock spreads primarily by water is a brown to red band at the stem node and adjoining ecological regions. Imagery sources and contaminated with seed produced by plants growing that also is characteristic. Ventenata application examples from these landscapes will be along rivers, irrigation canals, and ditches. emerges primarily in the fall, often about discussed. In 2009, the Sevier County Extension two weeks after cheatgrass. We know Agricultural Advisory Committee and county conditions need to be above 47 F and one Russian Olive and Tamarisk Control, Curt Deuser commissioners asked for help with the problem. inch of rainfall to trigger germination. Contact: [email protected] Extension began mapping weed populations using Litter seems to protect seedlings through Information included in this presentation is GPS-capable digital photography.