A number of RNPP Partners are working on important ecological restoration projects in the Rogue Basin, and have shared information with us about their process and progress, including the species of native seeds used, and methods they have used for site preparation and ongoing care and monitoring. This information is shared with the intention of providing useful information to those wanting to start their own ecological restoration project in the Rogue Basin.
This table will be updated with more information as these ecological restoration projects progress, and with new restoration projects that RNPP partners undertake.
Location & Habitats Present | Key Restoration Purposes | Plant Species Used (seed) | Site Preparation Methods | Seeding Method | Monitoring Methods | Notes |
Location: Ashland, private property, valley floor 3.3 acres | Hazard fuels reduction, wildlife habitat enhancement, invasives mitigation, riparian restoration, restoring burn area | *Achyrachaena mollis | Removal of flammable brush along driveway and near structures, and removal of invasive species in pasture and riparian zones using tools and physical labor. | Hand seeding | Regular visual surveys | Achyrachaena mollis: Mid-november 2018 broadcast, have not seen any survival. Pseudoroegneria spicata: Mid-november 2018 broadcast in field, some germination and survival. Poa secunda: Broadcast fall last 2018, germinated fairly well, appreciated water during the 2019 summer. Clarkia purpurea ssp. viminea: Mid-november broadcast, good germination, not certain if it persisted to going to seed. |
Location: Sams Valley (Gold Hill), private property, oak woodland & mixed conifer forest. | Small diameter tree removal, invasives mitigation, hazard fuels reduction, wildlife habitat enhancement | *Achillea millefolium | Removal of invasives by hand pulling and weed wrench, removing small diameter trees, limbing up remaining trees, chipping woody residue to remain in forest, planting native vegetation cover (seeds and shrubs). | Hand seeding. Fescues with rake and foot trod in some areas. Hand-mixes of seeds boot-stomped in before hand-made cages put around woody native shrubs. Some broadcasting, | Regular visual surveys, at least weekly during new native shrub watering season, May- October 2019. Photographing wildflowers blooming when spotted. | Most of 5 bunchgrass species held back and seeded in winter 2019-2020. |
Location: Little Butte Creek, Eagle Point. City of Eagle Point, Medford Water Comission & Bureau of Land Management partnership | Flood plain restoration, wildlife habitat enhancement, invasives mitigation, riparian restoration, improved water quality, improved native plant biodiversity | *Achnatherum lemmonii | Recontouring of bank slopes, log jams buried in banks, blackberry and reed canary grass removal, regrading of previously blocked creek channel, and planting and seeding of native plants. | |||
Location: Rogue River property of Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife | Restoring burned area | *Elymus glaucus | Leaves removed to expose bare earth before seeding | Seed broadcast and raked into earth. Hay applied to cover seeded bare earth. | Plot development and monitoring | A 50 x 100 foot plot was established on 11-9-2018. Leaves were removed to expose the bare soil and the seeds were raked into the ground. The plot was treated with 6 lbs per acre (.70 lbs) of Elymus glaucus. On 1/3 of the short side of each plot (16.5 x 100 feet), an additional 6 lbs per acre (.23 lbs) was applied. On ½ of the long side of the plot (50 x 50 feet), hay was applied to cover the bare ground. Didn’t get final pictures but it sounds like the seed didn’t take very well. A 10 ft x 10 ft test plot of Pseudoroegneria spicata was created nearby on 11-9-2018. Leaves were raked to remove the bare soil, seeds applied, raked in, and the soil was left bare. No luck here either. |
Private Property assisted by ODFW | Restoring burned area | *Elymus glaucus | Seed to be broadcast Fall 2019 | |||
Location: Denman Wildlife Area (ODFW) | Restoring burned area | *Achillea millifolium | No-till seed drill | Visual surveys | Only 4-5 passes were made on the outer edges of the meadow with the no-till seed drill, because application rate was too high starting off. No seed was applied in the center of the meadow, or in areas with high density of blackberry. Some seed did well (BRCA) but there’s still a lot of non-native competition. Didn’t see any LOCRA. | |
Location: Rogue River Preserve (Southern Oregon Land Conservancy). | Invasives mitigation and restoring disturbed areas | *Achnatherum lemmonii | Disturb soil before seeding | Spread seed on disturbed soil in winter after weed removal | Visual surveys | The Elymus has not come up at the Japanese knotweed site, but other bunchgrasses are coming up along the roadside. |
Location: Sampson Creek Preserve (Selberg Institute). | Pollinator habitat enhancement, invasives mitigation | Purchased seed: *Achillea millefolium | Weed whacking in area where planting happened, prescribed burn in area where seed was broadcast   | Broadcast after prescribed burn | Test site within the prescribed burn area is being monitored for seed germination success | |
Location: Bear Creek near Pine Street in Central Point (Rogue Valley Council of Governments) | Restoring burned area and improving native plant biodiversity | *Achillea millefolium | Spot spraying blackberry with herbicide | Broadcast seeding, using straw / mulch to cover | Monthly observation monitoring to check native plant and invasive growth | |
Location: Kane Creek / Stage Rd Culvert Replacement (The Freshwater Trust) | Restoring disturbed area, improved water quality, improved wildlife habitat, invasives mitigation | *Achillea millefolium | Treatment of invasives with herbicide | Broadcast seeding | Photo point, qualitative, and quantitative monitoring will be conducted on the project site. | |
Location: Hwy 99 Applegate River Bridge (The Freshwater Trust) | Restoring disturbed area, improved water quality, improved wildlife habitat, invasives mitigation | *Achillea millefolium | Treatment of invasives with herbicide | Broadcast seeding | Photo point, qualitative, and quantitative monitoring will be conducted on the project site. | |
Location: Whetstone Savana Preserve Vernal Pool Ash Swale (The Freshwater Trust) | Restoring disturbed area, improved water quality, improved wildlife habitat, invasives mitigation | Manual, mechanical and chemical forms of weed suppression (with extra care being used in use of chemicals) | The bare ground between plantings will be seeded with a site-appropriate native species mix. | In person site assessments and qualitative monitoring will be used to adaptively manage the site | ||
Location: Eagle Point solar farm (Understory Consulting) | Improved native plant biodiversity, improved wildlife habitat, invasives mitigation | *Achillea millefolium | Herbicide, mowing, box scraping | Drill seeding, broadcast seeding | Quadrats arranged on a grid throughout the property | After one year, invasive grass cover decreased by about 99%. However, that was mostly replaced by invasive annual forbs along with some of the native species that we seeded. Native cover only increased by about 3%. Follow-up treatments will include pre-emergent herbicide to try and limit the germination of annual weeds and kill the seed bank. Additional native seeding, including more grasses will occur after the weed seed bank is acceptable exhausted. |
Location: Medford foothills (Pacific Slope Consulting) | Hazard fuels reduction, wildlife habitat enhancement, small diameter tree removal, improved native plant biodiversity | Small pile burning | Hand seeding | Growing season species tally for 1 - 2 years following seeding | ||
Location: Medford Water Commission Vernal Pools Preserve (Terra Science Inc) | Invasives mitigation, improved water quality, improved native plant biodiversity, restoring disturbed area | *Achnatherum lemmonii | Prescribed burn (every five years). Shallow discing of uplands prior to broadcast.  | Hand seeding | Revisit annual vegetation plots; square meter vegetation analysis during peak bloom periods. | Upland mound data assessment compared pre-burn baseline vegetation communities to post fire and seed introduction. Analysis documents a 91.9% reduction of invasive Taeniatherum caput medusa with a 188.4% increase of native species atop mound landforms.  |
Location: Rogue Valley Manor, Medford | Post construction restoration, improve native plant biodiversity | *Achnatherum lemmonii | Equipment grading | Broadcast seeding in the Fall | Visual surveys | |
Location: US Army Corp of Engineers site in Trail, OR | Hazard fules reduction, restoring burned area, invasives mitigation, small diameter tree removal, improved native plant biodiversity | Varies, minimal site prep due to lack of funds / staffing resources | Hand seeding | Visual surveys | ||
Location: Whetstone Savanna Preserve (The Nature Conservancy) | Restoring burned area, invasives mitigation, improved native plant biodiversity | Prescribed fire and harrowing | Hand seeding | Quadrat monitoring and photo points. At a minimum, assess plant guilds such as native annual forbs, non-native annual grasses. | ||
Location: Sterling Creek, private property. | Small diameter tree removal, restoring disturbed areas, improving native plant biodiversity, invasives mitigation, improving wildlife habitat | *Achyrachaena mollis | Small pile burning, mechanical removal of invasives | Raking ground before and after hand seeding, including directly into remains of burn pile sites | Visual surveys and photos |