Conifer Removal Restores Human and Wildlife Community Health

Shane Boren is a farmer and rancher in east-central Nevada from a small community near the town of Ely. He works for the region’s power company, volunteers with the area’s conservation district, and recently retired from the county game board after 20 years. He guided hunters and does some trapping. On top of that, he coached varsity basketball and loves picking wild asparagus.

When asked to describe the place he lives and works you can almost imagine him standing outside turning in a wide circle.

“We are literally on the edge of a dry desert where it meets our spring-fed valley before rising through high-country sagebrush to three mountains around 10,000 feet,” Boren said. “The valley has 11,000 gallons of water flowing out of springs feeding grass hay and alfalfa production all surrounded by cedar and pinyon pine country beyond. It’s a great place to live.”

Boren’s dedication to his community is reflected in his love of the landscape, as well as the many roles that he holds. One of the volunteer positions that keeps him particularly busy is as the Vice-Chair of the White Pine County Conservation District. As vice-chair, he works with ranchers, farmers, federal and state agencies, NGOs, and many other groups to write grant proposals to fund and enact conservation projects. These projects run the gamut from removing encroaching cedar and pinyon trees from sagebrush rangelands to soil conservation efforts like erosion control and water structure maintenance to noxious weed treatments. It takes a lot of work, especially as a volunteer, but Boren has a simple way of explaining why he attends (and often leads) all those late-evening meetings and conference calls.

“I like the accomplishment of seeing things happen to improve wildlife and rangeland health,” he said. “Just to see the country better off is enough for me. I’ve spent my life here and I want to see it better than how I found it.”

Boren said he’s also motivated by some serious changes in his community, both in the area’s landscape health as well as the people that make their living and raise families there.

“The biggest challenge our communities here face is keeping the younger generations around and involved in the ranching and farming,” he said. “Keeping families on the land maintains our community structure.”

Kellie Dobrescu and Shane Boren meet-up in the field to review a conservation project’s progress.

Healthy landscapes that grow cows and crops are key to keeping families in agricultural businesses. Boren works regularly with Kellie Dobrescu, who is also a member of this region’s working land community and she is helping do just that. As the Bristlecone Range and Wildlife Biologist-Project Implementation Coordinator, she oversees conservation project planning and develops relationships to grow awareness about available programs.

“My position is as a liaison to reach out to a bunch of different groups, including people like Shane (Boren). We work together to pool resources and make projects happen,” she said. “A lot of people don’t know that the federal land management agencies can work with landowners and permittees on projects like conifer removal on public and private land that benefit their bottom line as well as the landscape’s health.” 

Dobrescu’s position is hosted by Pheasants Forever and she works out of the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) District Office in Ely, Nevada. There are 14 people across the West in roles similar to hers that are supported by Partnering to Conserve Sagebrush Rangelands, an effort between the BLM and Intermountain West Joint Venture. Dobrescu said her job is uniquely positioned so that she gets to work directly with ranchers to make connections that previously didn’t exist and she can help provide much-needed capacity when state and federal agency staff are stretched thin.

“I came from a ranching background and saw my dad struggle at times when working with different groups,” Dobrescu said. “It’s become my passion to be that middle person to connect people and find the resources that are needed. I’m also a scientist who likes bringing these seemingly conflicting elements together.”

Dobrescu is key to partner coordination, contracting, as well as helping showcase projects in order to expand efforts across landownership boundaries to have a full watershed-scale impact for wildlife and working rangelands. With half of the West being owned and managed by public agencies, capacity continues to be one of the primary needs for implementing restoration and enhancement efforts. This is highlighted by Dobrescu’s position as the BLM office has implemented more conifer removal projects this year than they ever have in the past because of the increased capacity her position brings. This collaboration represents partners coming together behind a shared vision and shared funding to accomplish landscape projects that don't end at fence lines. Organizations like Pheasants Forever, among others, provide the flexibility, guidance, and expertise to help leverage funding and ensure that partner funding has the greatest impact.

In their community, Dobrescu and Boren frequently collaborate on projects that involve the removal of encroaching conifer trees that are expanding in sagebrush habitats. Conifer expansion into grasslands and rangelands has two major impacts: First, these trees decrease native grasses needed by deer, elk, birds, and livestock by reducing the amount of sunlight and soil nutrients available; and, second, encroaching trees are really good at altering fire regimes and how precipitation hits the ground and sucking up tons of groundwater. Water is well known to dictate all forms of life in the arid West!

The Douglas Canyon Restoration Project is taking place over multiple years, will treat up to 3,000 acres, and will curtail conifer expansion to improve wildlife habitat and forest stand diversity. This is one of many of the projects within this large effort that Dobrescu and Boren are working on to address various phases of conifer expansion (see the below diagram of conifer expansion phases) where the understory still has some native shrubs, forbs, and grasses. Once the trees are removed, these native plants can spring back quickly.

As conifer expansion occurs, native grass and shrublands transition slowly into woodlands and forests as trees become denser (infill) and outcompete understory vegetation.

These conifer removal projects are implemented by 10-person contract crews and there can be four different crews working at a time. While they are on a project they stay in local hotels, eat at restaurants, and frequent other businesses for five months out of the year at times. 

“The return these conservation projects bring to the community economically is quite significant,” Dobrescu said. “With COVID this past year our community didn’t see a lot of folks on vacation traveling through and spending money locally but these contractor crews were still working. They get tools at our hardware store, fuel for their equipment, buy their groceries, and tons of other amenities. In the time they are here they are doing 100% of their business in our towns.”

One piece of the Douglas Canyon Restoration Project includes 305 acres of conifer removal on BLM land that’s being treated in collaboration with the Natural Resources Conservation Service. They are removing conifers with the purpose of conserving a migration route for mule deer as well as improving the overall health of the sagebrush steppe, reducing fuel loading, and improving wildlife habitat. The mule deer travel 80-90 miles through this area each season. A lack of food sources due to conifer encroachment has cut off parts of their migration route. 

“We as humans have to help this along since we’ve already changed nature and made a mess of things,” Boren said. “We get nature out of balance with our roads and houses so we have to try to rebalance as we go. That's what's needed to keep this place productive for wildlife as well as the families that make our living here. This is the type of work I get to do with Kellie (Dobrescu) and why partnerships are so important.”