USGS Western Ecological Research Center Grant: Rare Desert Plant Conservation in Southern Nevada

The goal of this project is to develop conservation and management strategies for rare desert plant species covered under Clark County, Nevada Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan (MSHCP). The Mojave Desert in southern Nevada is home to rare plant species including white-margined beardtongue (Penstemon albomarginatus), Las Vegas bearpoppy (Arctomecon californica), Blue Diamond cholla (Cylindropuntia multigeniculata), three-corner milkvetch (Astragalus geyeri var. triquestrus), and sticky buckwheat (Eriogonum viscidulum). Habitat loss is a major threat to these protected species, and the inability of plants to migrate may require human intervention either by re-introducing plants to favorable habitats within a species’ range (assisted gene flow) or outside a species’ range where different conditions prevail (assisted colonization). USGS currently partners with Clark County to determine seed ecology and breeding systems of these species for increasing conservation seed collections (i.e., direct field harvests and propagation through soil seed bank) and to successfully re-introduce plants into habitats to augment populations. These strategies support the MSHCP mission to balance long-term conservation and recovery of the diversity of natural habitats and native plants while providing beneficial use of land by the growing population of Clark County, one of the fastest growing counties in the U.S.