The Gleason Creek Research and Demonstration Project, located alongside U.S. Highway 50 about nine miles west of Ely, Nev., is a landmark effort in the use of science to restore eastern Nevada landscapes, say proponents.

“This project uses the best science available today to simulate – on the ground – nature’s natural processes,” states Dr. Lee Turner, an ecologist with the Eastern Nevada Landscape Coalition.

“What we’re doing here can be studied and adapted for use on watersheds throughout our district,” says Dr. Gary Medlyn, a BLM Ely Field Office soil scientist.

The roughly 2,000-acre project, which lies at the north end of the nearly 40,000-acre watershed it is named after, is a collaborative effort between the BLM and coalition, a 501c3 non-profit organization whose sole purpose is to restore, on a landscape scale, private and public lands.

When complete, the project will result in a carefully-crafted natural mosaic that will help to stabilize the watershed and stem the potential for flooding in Ely, while providing for native wildlife, such as the Greater Sage Grouse and mule deer.

“We designed the project around the soil’s capabilities. We determined the soil’s capabilities by studying its physical and chemical properties, which tells us what vegetative composition it has historically supported,” says Medlyn.

The BLM and coalition have so far treated about 75 acres of the total project area, using mechanical equipment. In short, BLM fire crews have thinned and scattered selected juniper trees, opening up the landscape for the regeneration of sagebrush, and native grasses and forbs. Elsewhere, a coalition member has donated time and equipment to clear sagebrush to also stimulate the growth of native grasses and forbs. The federal government and coalition provided funding for the project.

The project is timely because eastern Nevada’s landscapes are changing – and not for the better. Past land management practices have combined with long-term shifts in climate and the introduction of aggressive non-native plant species to create an environment wherein wildland fire plays an often catastrophic role – unlike the naturally-recurring and cleansing wildland fires of centuries past.