UPDATE: due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the conference will not be held in-person in Boise. We are working on setting up a virtual meeting. Please stay tuned for more information.

Meetings of the

Great Basin Chapter for  Society for Ecological Restoration and Great Basin Consortium 
Boise State University, 17-19 March 2020

Please make sure you have filled out the registration form on the meeting website. There is no registration fee, but donations are accepted to help offset food/AV/room costs to GBSER (see donation tab at https://sergreatbasin.weebly.com). Many thanks to BSU for making facilities available.

Complimentary coffee and other drinks and snacks at each break, and appetizers at the poster-session/mixer will be provided, thanks to GBSER.

Tuesday March 17th 


9:00–10:30     Pre-meeting workshop– Bridging the science of genome-to-phenome with management of sagebrush: Idaho EPSCoR (contact: Trevor Caughlin, [email protected]). Learn about the $20 million National Science Foundation investment in Idaho universities, including opportunities to get involved.

  • 9-9:15Jen Forbey, Overview of GEM3 grant
  • 9:15-9:30 Sven Buerki, Sagebrush genomics
  • 9:30-9:45 Donna Delparte, Mapping sagebrush
  • 9:45-10 Trevor Caughlin, Forecasting adaptive capacity of sagebrush ecosystems
  • 10-10:30 Round-table discussion on research prorities and application to land management

10:30-11:30 Lunch (on your own: get bag lunch and load into vehicles for Orchard field trip)

11:30–afternoon Field trip – Orchard Research Area: Common gardens and restoration technique experiments. Returning to Boise well before 5:00. *Pre-notification is required* (contact: Matt Germino, [email protected])

Wednesday March 18th
Hatch Ballroom (see below for side/business meetings)

8:00-11:45 Great Basin Native Plant Program (GBNPP) business meeting, Berguist Lounge (25 people, U table)

9:00–10:30     Welcome and opening plenary – Fire, people, and restoration in the Great Basin: Looking back and looking forward.

  • Welcome , Matt Germino and Trevor Caughlin
  • Plenary (John Ruhs: State Director, Idaho Bureau of Land Management)
  • 1959 film on restoration in Boise’s WUI : “When the Pot Boiled Over” (13 min).
  • Contemporary restoration in the Boise Foothills ( Martha Brabec: Ecologist, City of Boise)

10:30-11:45 Invasives and restoration: highlights of contributed papers. Moderated by Anne Halford (15 min total per talk)

  • Baughman OW, Agneray AC, Forister ML, Kilkenny F, Espeland EK, Fiegener R, Johnson RC, Kay TN, Ott JE, St Clair B, Leger EA. Strong Patterns of Intraspecific Variation and Local Adaptation in Plants of the Great Basin, Revealed Through a Review of 75 Years of Experiments on 121 Taxa
  • Katherine Kucera, Andrea Kramer, Scott Jensen, Melissa Landeen. Genetic diversity changes through collection, production, and use of a seed production field in Penstemon pachyphyllus
  • Faske TM, Sheta TM, Agneray AC, Richardson B, Leger EA, Parchman TL. Linking landscape genomic approaches to common gardens: population genetic and phenotypic variation in rubber rabbitbrush
  • McClinton JD, Parchman T, Torrence K, Verburg P, Leger EA. Habitat preferences, intraspecific variation, and translocation of Eriogonum crosbyae, a rare soil specialist in northern Nevada
  • Sowards TG, Kitchen SG, St. Clair SB, Petersen SL, Aanderud ZT, Madsen MD. Improving Dryland System Restoration Using a Targeted Fungicide Seed Coating

11:45-1:00     Lunch (on own)

  • Committee Meeting – Great Basin Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU), Berguist Lounge (25 people, U table)
  • Committee Meeting on new BLM Initiatives – Great Basin Environmental Program (GBEP) (Hatch Ballroom)

1:00-2:30     The Sagebrush Conservation “Strategies” What they are and how to use them to solve your management challenges. Moderated by Jeanne Chambers.

  • Actionable Science Plan, Science Framework, and Sagebrush Conservation Strategy Overview (content, scope, and intent) – Lief Wiechman (10 min)
  • Practical Applications (10 min each)
    • Practical Applications of the Strategies – Michele Crist
    • How the BLM used the Science Framework to prioritize treatments – Bonnie Claridge
    • USFS Shared Stewardship – Linda Chappell
  • WAFWA Sagebrush Conservation Strategy – Tom Remington (15 min)
  • Moving Forward: Vision for the future of these products – Lief Wiechman and Tom Remington (20 min)
  • Q&A with panel of speakers (15 min)

2:30-2:45     Break

2:45-4:15     SageSTEP 10-year update. Moderated by Mark Brunson (22 total min per talk)

  • Williams CJ, Pierson FB, Kormos PR, Al-Hamdan OZ, Johnson JC, Nouwakpo SK, and Polyakov VO. Advancements in understanding long-term effects of pinyon and juniper removal on vegetation, ground surface conditions, and hydrologic and erosion processes in sagebrush steppe.
  • Pyke DA, Shaff SE, Chambers JC, Newingham BA, Roundy BA, and Schupp EW. Wyoming big sagebrush community response to fuel treatments.
  • Urza AK, Board D, Chambers JC, Kitchen SG, Pyke DA, Roundy BA, and Weisberg PJ. Artemisia tridentata response to fuels treatments: effects of climate and community interactions.
  • Newingham B, Freund S, Chambers JC, Urza A, Roundy BA, and Cushman JH. Decade-long responses of sagebrush plant communities to conifer removal across a regional-scale experiment.

4:15-4:30     Break

4:30-5:00 GB SER awards and recognitions, and presentation on NAS Seed assessment.

  • Stan Young: National Academy of Sciences assessment of native seed needs and capacities (10 min).

5:00-7:00     Poster session and social – appetizers provided, no-host cash bar.

Thursday March 19th
Held in the Hatch Ballroom – Berguist Room is available outside of lunch for side-meetings.

8:00–9:45       Industry, land agency, and researcher perspectives on challenges and opportunities for seed-based restoration of sagebrush: Sagebrush Seed Working Group Moderated by Josh Buck (13 min total per talk)

  • Buck J.  Introduction to the Sagebrush Seed Working Group and Symposium (5 min)
  • Stevenson R.  What Supplying Large Commercial Quantities of Big Sagebrush Seed: What 44 Years of Experience Has Taught Me
  • Bouck M, Brinkerhoff D.  Sagebrush seed certification.
  • Gunnell K, Landeen M.  Seeding Sagebrush: Seed Warehouse and Management Perspective
  • Jensen S, Kitchen SG, Baggett S, Richardson BA, Roundy B, Anderson VJ, Allphin L. Soil Web Improves Accuracy of Collection Site Plant Identification Among Big Sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) Subspecies
  • Richardson B, St.Clair B, Kilkenny F, Stevenson-Molnar N, Massatti R, The Climate Smart Restoration Tool: use and planning for future climates
  • Madsen MD, Anderson R, Hoose BW. Improving Wyoming big sagebrush seeding success using seed conglomeration technology
  • Germino M.  Prospects, challenges, and opportunities for seed-based restoration of sagebrush – a researcher’s perspective.

9:45-10:00      Break

10:00-11:45     New and basic insights on sagebrush restoration Moderated by Matt Germino (15 min total per talk)

  • Fisk M et al. – Long-term sagebrush seed viability: new experiments reveal extended longevity with chilling and drying, and less benefit of purity and container type
  • Applestein C et al. – Post-fire seed dispersal from remnant sagebrush islands
  • Davidson B et al. – Adaptive variation within and among seed zones of big sagebrush
  • Zaiats A et al. – Sagebrush common gardens: all climate effects, or do biotic interactions matter?
  • Lazarus B et al. – Physiological tradeoffs underlie maladaptation of cold-adapted sagebrush seed in warmer sites and times
  • Shriver B et al. – Connecting process and pattern in restoration: Insights into rangeland restoration outcomes from population models
  • O’Connor R et al. – Ecological drought and success of post-fire sagebrush seedings

11:45-1:00      Lunch (on own) –

  • GB Chapter of Society for Ecological Restoration (GBSER) annual business meeting (Hatch Ballroom); all invited.
  • Committee Meeting – GB Fire Science Exchange (GBFE) (Berguist Lounge) (25 people, U table)

1:00-2:30 Great Basin Native Plant Project Moderated by Francis Kilkenny (15 min total per talk)

  • Kulpa S, Leger E, Baughman O, Burton R, Edwards F. Linking research and land management to improve native plant restoration in the Great Basin
  • Barga S, Kilkenny F, Edwards F. Forb common garden research to inform seed transfer guidance for restoration
  • Landeen M, Gunnell K, Jensen S. Native Plant Research and Small Scale Seed Increase at the Great Basin Research Center (GBRC), Ephraim, Utah
  • Clinton Shock, Erik Feibert, Alicia Rivera.  Irrigation Requirements for Seed Production of Wildflowers Species of the U.S.
  • Ott JE, Kilkenny F, Summers D, Thompson TT. Vegetation succession following post-fire seeding with conventional and native seed mixes
  • Wilson L, Francis Kilkenny F, de Graaff MA.   Soil Biological, Chemical and Physical Perspectives on Sagebrush Restoration Post-Fire


2:30-2:45         Break

2:45-4:15 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) applications in science and management Moderated by Trevor Caughlin (15 min total per talk)

  • Trevor Caughlin. Rangeland ecology in the drone era: challenges and opportunities
  • Donna Delparte. Application of thermal and hyperspectral imagery to map adaptive capacity of sagebrush communities
  • Scott Bergen. Developing sUAS Image Techniques for the Purposes of Estimating Ungulate Forage Quality
  • Michael Bishop. Detecting AML hazards in a mountain community
  • Olsoy PJ, Delparte DM, Zaiats A, Forbey JS, Germino MJ, Richardson BA, Caughlin TT. Measuring growth and survival of sagebrush plants at two common gardens with unmanned aerial systems
  • Wrap-up discussion with best practices for drone development (15 min)

4:15-4:30 Break

4:30-5:15 Contributed talks on higher trophic levels, and late-breaking contributions. Moderated by Corey Gucker (15 min total per talk)

  • Fleishman E. Williamson, M.A., R.C. Mac Nally, J.C. Chambers, B.A. Bradley, D.S. Dobkin, D.I. Board, F.A. Fogarty, N. Horning, M. Leu, and M.W. Zillig. Response of cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) in the central Great Basin to fire, livestock grazing, topography, and precipitation
  • Sun E, Pilliod D, Welty J. Pollinator responses to post-fire treatments following the Soda Wildfire
  • Stan Johnson. An Economic Analysis of Cattle Numbers and Feed Sources in the Basin and Range Region and its Relevance to Restoration.

Friday March 20th 
8:00-3:00     Field Trip – Soda Fire – weather and interest-dependent. Contact Matt Germino.