Fending off the invasion of the exotics! Rescuing species in the path of destruction! Bringing scorched earth back to life!
Going on one of Scott Abella's experimental field trips is a little like playing Indiana Jones to the plant world for students in his restoration ecology course. They worked in partnership with the National Park Service to preserve plant species on federal lands.
Abella oversees the Vegetation Monitoring and Data Management program of the UNLV Public Lands Institute and teaches in the School of Life Sciences. This spring, he let students earn extra credit by doing restoration work at Lake Mead and on wildfire-charred U.S. Bureau of Land Management lands.
"The experimental field trips exceeded my expectations because they created a winwin- win situation for UNLV, federal agencies, and the private developer," Abella says.
The three dozen students in the class got hands-on learning in the field and contributed to research. The federal agencies benefited from lands restoration. Andthe developer contributed to local conservation efforts.
Reversing Habitat Loss
Finding native plants for restoration isn't
easy — particularly for deserts. So when a
grassy site in the southwestern Las Vegas
Valley was slated for construction, he
worked with the developer to salvage its
native plants. Students took more than 100
plants to the Lake Mead nursery facility for
restoration and seed production.
Their first job was to revegetate an old landfill near Lake Mead. Students put 216 plants in the ground there, including snakeweed and deer grass, to see if they can resist invasion of non-native plants, such as red brome and Sahara mustard. "The idea is to establish five different native community types, then introduce the exotics that are already present at the site and see which native communities best fend off invasion by the exotics," Abella says.
Next, the class visited Goodsprings, south of Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, where fire ravaged the desert in 2005. There they learned how to establish native plants on arid lands by setting up DriWater, a slow-release irrigation system, and shelters for seven native species. Students brought in 280 native plants, including wildflowers, deer grass, and California buckwheat.
Abella says the rewards of restoration are long-lasting. "Ecological restoration is an increasingly emerging approach to reverse habitat loss and ecosystem decline. And it enhances the services that native ecosystems provide to society."
