NV Dream Tags Fund Grant Supports Volunteer Restoration Project

Grants from the Nevada Dream Tag Charitable fund support wildlife habitat rehabilitation projects in Nevada. The Dream Tag Advisory Board is especially interested in projects that involve volunteer and collaborative efforts. The partnership of an Eagle Scout project volunteer labor and stewardship with grant-funded science and materials is a happy outcome. This work reflects the vision and founding purpose for the NV Dream Tag Charitable Fund. Dream Tag Grant # 53 awarded to the Northeastern Nevada Stewardship Group in 2018, is a prime example. The grant goal is to help restore 12 plots of land in Elko County, including some of the land burned in the Lamoille Canyon Fire. Continuing Professor Kent McAdoo's promising research experiment, the Northeastern Nevada Stewardship Group discovered that covering scorched land with sagebrush branches help propagate the seedlings better than aerial drops from helicopter or plane. As the results began to quantify, an Eagle Scout offered to help increase the scale of the project. Scout Nathan Morrill and 21 volunteers spent a Saturday last November collecting and laying sagebrush branches in piles that were secured to the ground with netting. As the "sagebrush carcasses" drop seeds, the branches collect snow to hydrate and protect the seedlings as they start. Nathan's group set 25 carcasses on land covered in ash, which is favorable to seed germination. You can see all of the NV Dream Tags grants here.