Got a Free Saturday? Collect Sagebrush Seeds for Idaho

By J. Gelband, 10-16-07

Sagebrush seems to grow all over Idaho. The sharp-smelling dusty green shrub blankets the countryside along the state highways, the foothills, the deserts. It is hard to believe the livelihood of sagebrush and its ecosystem are in jeopardy.

The fires that devastated Idaho’s rangeland over the summer also destroyed greenery critical to the state’s ecology. So last week Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter asked for several hundred volunteers to help gather wild sagebrush seeds for rehabilitating the damaged areas.

“More than 2 million acres of private, county, state and federal land burned in Idaho during this year’s fire season,” Otter said. “Thousands of people were temporarily forced out of their homes, and lives were put at risk. We owe it to the people we serve to act in concert with our neighboring states to reduce this annual threat and restore the lands on which our lifestyle and economy depend.”

Otter and officials from the state departments of Agriculture and Fish and Game are asking volunteers to collect seeds on four Saturdays in the southwest Idaho region – November 17 and December 1, 8 and 15 – and in the Magic Valley region – November 10 and 17 and December 1 and 8.

Southern Idaho is one of the few remaining unfragmented sagebrush habitats. Sagebrush not only looks and smells good on Idaho’s landscape but it is also habitat for the threatened sage grouse that nests and winters underneath the shrub. According to Fish and Game, seeding key areas can drastically improve the probability of restoring the Jarbidge sagebrush steppe ecosystem.

Though necessary, the collection process, which is done on a smaller scale every fall, is demanding. Sagebrush seeds are about the size of a pin head and it takes about 2 million to make a pound of cleaned seeds. That’s why many volunteers are needed for each of the Saturday collection hunts.
To sign up or for information, contact Fish and Game offices.