Young people involved with the Lassen County Educational Collaborative will be planting bitterbrush seedlings in areas burned in the Rush Fire, in a habitat restoration project open to the public on Saturday, November 15th. Bitterbrush is an important food source for mule deer and many other wildlife species, and provides cover for sage-grouse. It is a slow-growing plant, so using seedlings will help speed up the rate of recovery.
The Rush Fire devastated some 315,000 acres of high desert range in August of 2012 and the process of rehabilitating the desert is lengthy according to Ken Collum, manager of the BLM’s Eagle Lake Field Office. “We expect it would take 10 to 15 years to begin seeing establishment of maturing stands of bitterbrush and sagebrush,” said Collum. “Using seedlings gives us a little jump start on plant growth compared with using seeds.”
Anyone interested in joining the group should contact Jessie Diermier at the Lassen Land and Trails Trust, (530) 257-3252. Participants will depart at 8:00a.m. from the historic Susanville Railroad Depot, 601 Richmond Road in Susanville. Participants must provide their own transportation in vehicles suitable for gravel roads, bring food and water and provide adult supervision for youth.
Participants will work with Valda Lockie, an ecologist with the Bureau of Land Management’s Eagle Lake Field Office, to plant 500 seedlings on public lands at Rodeo Flat along the Buckhorn Back Country Byway east of Ravendale.
The Lassen County Environmental Education Collaborative is a partnership among the BLM Eagle Lake Field Office, Lassen National Forest, Lassen County Office of Education and the Trust.
