I coordinate the Great Basin Native Plant Selection and Increase Project and JFSP Project: Equipment and Strategies to Enhance the Post-wildfire Establishment and Persistence of Great Basin Native Plants. The focus of this research is on Wyoming big sagebrush communities disturbed or threatened by human activities. Both projects were initiated to foster the development of genetically diverse, regionally adapted native plant materials for use in the Great Basin and to provide information that will be useful to managers when making decisions about selecting appropriate plant materials for seedings. As second major objective is to provide the equipment and techniques required for reestablishing diverse native communities.
My research interests include native seed biology and technology, cultural practices for seed and seedling production, in situ and ex situ plant conservation, species interactions, invasive species biology, and ecological restoration.
The cumulative impacts of livestock grazing, exotic invasives, altered fire regimes, increasing human population and climate change have adversely impacted the ecological health and functioning of native communities in the Interior West. This research will provide tools for assessing the recovery potential of disturbed ecosystems. Where active intervention is required, increased knowledge of the environmental requirements of native plants is needed to design restoration plans for repairing damaged ecosystems or moving them toward an altered, but more stable condition. With climate change greater emphasis on ex situ and in situ conservation must included in restoration efforts.
Previous research included shrubland ecology, riparian restoration, and invasive species biology. Co-authored Restoring western ranges and wildlands, a three-volume book on plant materials and techniques for restoration of degraded rangelands in the Intermountain West. Co-editor of symposia proceedings: Sage-grouse habitat restoration and Seed and soil dynamics in shrubland ecosystems. Contributed chapters to the current version of the Woody Plant Seed Manual.