By Michel Wiman May 2020 Please note: IAE’s work at Champoeg Prairie is currently on hold due to COVID-19. Willamette Valley native prairies occupy less than 1% of their original range, and are now among North America’s rarest ecosystems. Once blanketing the Willamette Valley with diverse forbs, grasses and shrubs, prairies have always provided critical […]
Tag Archives: native plants
Habitat Restoration and Ecological Education Combat the Enemy We Know
By Jessica Celis April 2020 In this time of combating an insidious, novel threat like the coronavirus, it is nice to get outside and combat a more typical ecological threat: weeds. Last week, staff from IAE’s Ecological Education Program (EE) joined Habitat Restoration Program (HR) folks up at Horse Rock Ridge, a 378-acre mid-elevation meadow […]
Nursery supports the restoration cause
Peter Moore April 2020 Getting plants in the ground and seeing them thrive – this is a rewarding part of being a restoration ecologist at the Institute for Applied Ecology (IAE). Each year, IAE plants thousands of native plants at restoration sites throughout Oregon and New Mexico. For example, see the December blog How does […]
Celebrating Nearly a Decade of Native Seed Production in the Willamette Valley
By Alexis Larsen February 2020 Historically, the Willamette Valley of Oregon was lush with fields of purple camas (Camassia quamash ssp. quamash) and rosy seablush (Plectritis congesta) in the spring, and goldenrod highlighted by the last rays of sun in the fall. Today this prairie habitat is among the most endangered ecosystems in North America, with over […]
How does IAE get all of those plants in the ground?
By Andy Neill December 2019 Fall is planting season, which means IAE’s restoration ecologists are in the midst of their busiest time of the year. Most of the restoration work that takes place the rest of the year is in preparation for planting and seeding each fall. This year, nearly 116,000 plants were planted and […]
Comparing Dobermans to Chihuahuas: Great Basin plants are adapted to local conditions
Owen Baughman, The Nature Conservancy of Oregon; Elizabeth Leger, University of Nevada, Reno; and Tom Kaye, Institute for Applied Ecology A new study published in the most recent issue of the journal Ecology and Evolution shows that plant species native to the Great Basin are generally adapted to local conditions, a fact that could be a key […]
Islands of Prosperity
Recently IAE hosted the Gold 5 AmeriCorps team, a group of young volunteers who devote 9 months to community service. Among other projects they spent two days planting native species to enrich the plant community and enhance habitat for Fender’s blue butterfly at Fir Butte, a Bureau of Land Management site just west of Eugene. […]