This is about seedling planting for restoration. We’ve started monitoring these restoration plantings with drones. The news blurb mentions just the planting component, but the Idaho matters coverage does talk a little about the drone piece.
Boise State students restore local trails through Service-Learning program
Boise State students restore local trails through Service-Learning program
Boise State’s Restoration Planning and Disturbance Ecology class taught by Megan Cattau, assistant professor in Human-Environment Systems in the College of Innovation and Design, worked on native species restoration of trails in the Military Reserve, a 734-acre park close to the Boise foothills and available to public users for biking and hiking.
Martha Brabec, foothills restoration specialist for the City of Boise and a Boise State alum who graduated with a master’s degree in biology in 2014, worked with the class to create a plan for planting 500 sagebrush and bitterbrush seedlings at 125 sites. Sagebrush provides shelter for many small animals such as rodents and bitterbrush is a vital food resource for deer in the winter.
The students used Quantum Geographic Information System, spatial analysis software, to create their planting plan.
“In creating this project, we’ve been able to apply the geospatial skills and restoration context we’ve focused on in class to contribute to active restoration in our home of Boise,” Cattau said.
Meg Dolman, a second-year Ph.D. student in the Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior program from Kent, England, said, “Engaging in this restoration project taught me just how much meticulous planning, commitment, and flexibility is required to implement a restoration project in the field, rather than just discussing theories in a classroom setting.”
By: Hannah McNamee
College of Health Sciences student journalist
Idaho Matters coverage: Restoring Sagebrush at Boises Mlitary Reserve Park
Restoring sagebrush at Boise’s Military Reserve Park
Published February 17, 2022 at 4:15 PM MST
BSU’s Megan Cattau and her students planted 500 sagebrush and bitterbrush seedlings in Boise’s Military Reserve Park.
Last April, we told you about a project in the Boise Foothills to change some trails into bike paths and others into one-way walking trails. In the Military Park Reserve, one trail was split, with one path for downhill biking and the other for walkers.
An assistant professor at Boise State and the students in her Service-Learning designated class decided to plant seedlings along the two trails as part of an experiment to find the best ways to restore native species.
Megan Cattau, who teaches human-environment systems and Martha Brabec, a foothills restoration specialist for the city of Boise, join Idaho Matters to talk about the project.