Thanks to the Dream Tag Charitable Fund at the Community Foundation of Western Nevada, wildfire-ravaged wildlife habitat in the Santa Rosa Range north of Winnemucca is resprouting with native plants.

During the cool spring months of April and May, more than 60 volunteers from Reno, Winnemucca and beyond joined Friends of Nevada Wilderness, the US Forest Service and the Nevada Department of Wildlife on six stewardship trips to the Santa Rosa Mountain Range.  

Their job was to help heal areas in the Santa Rosas that have been hit hard with the Tom Basin and Hanson fires in recent years.

Volunteers worked more than 550 hours to plant and cage roughly 6,000 bitterbrush and sagebrush seedlings in burnt areas.

Volunteers are working to help wildlife-friendly native
shrubs take hold instead of invasive weeds.

As these seedlings mature, the bitterbrush and sagebrush will provide important winter forage to wildlife in the area and reduce opportunities for invasive plants to move in.

Proud volunteers, with their protected seedlings in the
background. Photos by Renee Aldrich.

Join Friends of Nevada Wilderness as we continue planting seedlings in the Santa Rosas. There are still two more projects to come in this Dream Tag series:

October 26. Santa Rosa Fall Seedling Planting #1. Join Friends of Nevada Wilderness, in partnership with the Santa Rosa Ranger District, as we continue planting seedlings in areas of the Santa Rosa Mountain Range affected by the Tom Basin and Hanson fires. Planting sagebrush and bitterbrush will help rehabilitate the burned landscape and provide important winter forage and habitat to native wildlife. This event is dependent on wet weather, because moisture is needed to help the seedling thrive. Click for more information and to RSVP for the project.

November 2. Santa Rosa Fall Seedling Planting #2. Join Friends of Nevada Wilderness and the Forest Service as we continue efforts to rehabilitate areas in the Santa Rosa Range affected by recent fires. This event is dependent upon weather as we need moisture to help the seedlings thrive. Planting native seedlings will help restore the area, providing habitat and winter forage for wildlife. Click here for more information and to RSVP for the project.

NOTE: If the weather is nice, Friends will plan to camp out for the weekend, because we think there's nothing more beautiful than camping in beautiful places with beautiful people like you. If it's cold and nasty, however, we will plan for a quicker trip. Feel free to contact Renee Aldrich at [email protected] or (775) 324-7667 for details.