| Advances in
Conservation Technology. Wendi Lutz My husband
and I developed our interest in native
plants when we moved to rural property in
Northern  Nevada in 1978.
At that time only a few biologists,
botanists, conservationists, wildlife and
plant specialists were available on a
local level to property owners living in
rural areas. In the early days there were
two primary methods for conservation and
restoration. Agricultural conservation
focused on plantings to improve land for
agricultural use by providing plants for
livestock forage and feed. Conversely,
environmental activists advocated an
extremely opposite approach, prohibiting
any private use or restricting access to
land that was determined to be of
ecological significance. The result of
these combined philosophies was a
patchwork of single species plantings
interspersed with a scattering of
disconnected properties sporadically
managed for obscure conservation  objectives.
As the concept of sustainability and
biological diversity became more apparent
to agricultural researchers and plant
specialists, conservation began to focus
on the interdependence of soil, plants,
climate and all living organisms.
Conservation managers saw better success
in wildland management and rural
restoration plantings when they emulated
the diversity found in nearby preserved
indigenous plant and animal populations.
They saw that maintaining a balanced
array of adapted native plants helped
control populations of animal and plant
pests and restored soil health and
fertility. Environmental organizations
learned that properly managed
agricultural use can benefit restoration
activities. Agricultural and conservation
organizations, native plant societies and
small regional nurseries began working
together to develop conservation
principles and planting guidelines that
supported the use of native plants.
Now, native plants are specified by
state and federal departments of
transportation and other governmental
agencies. Native plantings are often
incorporated into restoration activities
after wildfires or road construction.
Priority is given to agricultural
conservation activities that employ
native plants. Conservation organizations
now recognize the importance of working
with private property owners to create
areas of greater biological diversity
that supports sustainable conservation.
Many regional nurseries and seed sellers
now offer native plants to their
customers.
Our own experience as property owners,
as conservation supervisors and with
rangeland restoration projects has helped
us develop tools for planting success. We
designed the Plant
Selector Kit to help property owners
like ourselves select and use native
plants appropriate to the specific needs
of individual properties. The concept of
the Plant Selector Kit incorporates
current knowledge relating to ecoregion
inventory and historic flora lists with
soil and climate data analysis to select
plants and seeds for a variety of
landscape planting objectives.
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