RestoreNet: collaborative dryland restoration
About the project
The RestoreNet project is a collaborative effort between scientists and land managers that systematically tests restoration techniques over broad ecological gradients in the western US. Our lab collaborates is part of the RestoreNet team on large, networked restoration studies and is in the process of establishing several new RestoreNet sites in Colorado in partnership with ranchers, state and federal agencies, and CSU Agricultural Experimental Stations.
RestoreNet will also test new restoration treatments in coming years. Stay tuned for emerging research as the project grows!
Major questions
01
What restoration strategies, plant materials, and traits increase native plant recruitment across degraded drylands?
02
How to environmental gradients relate to restoration outcomes?
03
Does co-produced rangeland science lead to improvement of on-the-ground land management?
What we’ve found
Plant traits can help us design better seed mixes.
Plant traits can be used to design seed mixes that increase restoration success across drylands.
Seed bed treatments boost recruitment success.
Seed bed preparation treatments may be even more important that seed mix design in promoting native plant recruitment.
Seedling traits are dynamic across development.
Seedling trait values that determine recruitment outcomes are not static, but change over time across ontogeny.
Featured publications
Collaborators
Seth Munson, USGS
Seth is the lead RestoreNet PI.
RestoreNet Project Team
RestoreNet is a collaborative team of scientist and land managers spanning multiple universities (NAU, UA, UC Riverside, and NMSU) and over 25 partner organizations across the western US.
Emily Lockard, CSU-AES
Emily is a collaborator working with the lab on rangeland restoration and is the lead scientist at the CSU AES Southwestern Colorado Research Center in Yellow Jacket, CO.
Retta Bruegger, CSU-Extension
Retta is a collaborator working with the lab on rangeland restoration and building partnerships with rangeland stakeholders across western Colorado.
Team members
Amy Gill
Amy is a PhD student in the lab investigating how trait-based seed mix design can be used to combat exotic plant invasion using RestoreNet seed mixes.
Louisa Kimmell
Louisa is an MS student in the lab investigating how soil microbial communities differ in intact and degraded lands across RestoreNet to develop restoration targets.