What We Do

Ecological Restoration

EcoSource Native Seeds and Restoration develops state-of-the-art restoration plans and subcontracts to implement these plans. If you would like to work with us to conduct actual restoration, or you need an area of your land restored, join here or contact us here.

Using the most up-to-date scientific information, EcoSource works with its members to develop ecologically-based restoration plans and, once the plans are developed, we work with our hundreds of members to implement the these plans. These plans are based on site assessments specially designed to determine which ecological processes are in need of repair. To be sustainable, EcoSource restoration plans aimed to repair portions of ecosystems that are dysfunctional, establishing diverse (floristically/genetically) and highly productive, healthy native plant communities that are resistant to re-invasion and resilient to further fires, and other disturbances. Our services include site preparation, involving invasive weed management and soil amendments where necessary. EcoSource facilitates aerial seeding using newly developed safe site assessments to ensure seeds reach adequate places to germinate and plants emerge and grow. We also work with our members to sow seeds using state-of-the-art seeding equipment, including air seeding and techniques, such as seeds treated with coatings that improves plant establishment.

Adaptive Management/Iterative Restoration

EcoSource conducts pre- and post- restoration monitoring necessary for developing and improving restoration programs. If you would like to help monitor rangelands or would like to work with us to develop and implement restoration programs, join here or contact us here.

Restoring diverse and healthy ecosystems is complex and can take multiple years. EcoSource designs state-of-the-art restoration strategies that are often applied in sequential steps that provide the highest chances of success. We use a sophisticated form of adaptive management and monitoring that provides a control to help identify the trajectory of plant community dynamics, and also allows determination of the actual proportion of the restoration that is a response of management and the proportion of the restoration that occurs naturally. Adaptive management and monitoring provides a continuous flow of science-based information that allows multiple restoration steps very effective in establishing a diverse and healthy plant community.

Large-scale Transplanting of Nursery Plants

EcoSource hand-plants seedlings for transplanting. In the near future, if you would like to help plant seedlings for restoration or need seedlings transplanted on your land, join here or contact us here.

Two fundamental measures of the quality of any restoration project are species richness and the relative productivity of the plants growing together across the landscape. Forbs are a very critical component in achieving highly productive and diverse plant communities. Forbs can contribute as much productivity and ecological function to rangeland biomes as grasses. Forbs can have very complicated propagation traits and can be nearly impossible to establish from seeds. In these cases, EcoSource works with members to transplant nursery grown plants across large landscapes. We also create islands of forbs across the landscape and works to foster their spread from those islands. Although 'Island Seeding' is slower, this method can be used to get large scale establishment of hard to seed species growing across the landscape using a system that replaces the costs of transplanting with time allowing forbs to spread naturally.