by Isabella Norton, January 2025

This October at the reclaimed Bull Rush Mine site near Riverton, Wyoming, the Wyoming Honor Farm (WHF) Sagebrush in Prisons Crew planted just over 3,600 sagebrush seedlings to support abandoned mine land restoration.

IAE’s Sagebrush in Prisons Project has been at the Wyoming Honor Farm, a minimum-security men’s prison, since 2019. This year, the crew grew over 18,000 seedlings for restoration projects across Wyoming and Idaho. Learn more details on the crew’s 2024 season here.

Fall is the typical planting season for sagebrush as temperatures have cooled off, and sites are still accessible before too much precipitation makes the roads impassable. Working with the Wyoming Department of Corrections, Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, and the Bureau of Land Management, the WHF crew spent 3 days at the Bull Rush site diligently digging holes, planting, and watering seedlings.

This effort was a part of a broader reclamation effort in this area that is culminating with sagebrush seedling plantings and broadcasting of native seeds. The goal is to make this area suitable habitat for all creatures of the sagebrush sea, specifically the Greater Sage Grouse. The area was once an old uranium mine site, which often consists of deep holes in the ground, radioactive materials, and contaminated water sources. Over the past years, the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality has been reclaiming this site, and now it is at the stage of revegetation. Sagebrush is notoriously difficult to establish from seed. Although it can take more time, planting seedlings can be more effective to get sagebrush back on the landscape.

The site was tilled and amended before the seedlings were brought to the site. There were also small snow fences installed in parts of the planting area to assess if they would collect more precipitation near the seedlings and improve establishment success. The site will continue to be monitored to see how well the sagebrush are doing at the site. In years to come, the hope is that animals like the Greater Sage Grouse, Pronghorn, Mule Deer, and the plethora of animals that call the sagebrush sea home will be able to live in the area once again.

Thank you to the Wyoming Department of Corrections, Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, the Bureau of Land Management, and the community of Lander who all came out to make this project a success!