11/12/0 4:37 PM Inches: 8.6 REGULAR BC-NV-RegrowingNevada Bjt 11-12 0362

Wildlife agency reseeds scorched wildlife habitat

By MARTIN GRIFFITH

Associated Press Writer

RENO, Nev. (AP) - The Nevada Division of Wildlife is stepping up efforts to reseed thousands of acres of critical wildlife habitat blackened by wildfires across the state the last two summers.

The fires burned about 660,000 acres this year and 1.8 million acres in 1999. NDOW biologists estimate the affected areas provided habitat for more than 40 percent of Nevada's wildlife.

''It is difficult to even contemplate the time, complexity and costs associated with the rehabilitation of well over two million acres lost during the past two years, but that's our ultimate goal,'' said Doug Hunt, NDOW's chief of habitat.

''Last year, the Bureau of Land Management was able to seed just over 500,000 acres and NDOW was able to complete revegetation of over 17,000 acres, so we have a long way to go.''

Sixty-nine separate fire rehabilitation plans are in place with a number of others pending, Hunt said. Plans call for the revegetation of 210,000 acres through either aerial or ground seeding.

But the effort is being hampered by sharp increases in seed prices. Sagebrush is selling for $65 to $100 per pound for seed this year, up from about $30 per pound in a normal year.

To keep costs down, NDOW is relying in part of volunteers to collect seeds. Sagebrush and bitterbrush seeds are used for most rehabilitation work on Nevada rangelands.

Earlier this year, volunteers planted 1,400 bitterbrush seedlings on a burn in the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge in extreme northern Washoe County in conjunction with the Mule Deer Foundation.

Volunteers collected bitterbrush seed in July, and will collect more sagebrush seed in Elko, Tonopah and the Reno area later this year, Hunt said.

Additional seed will be bought for cooperative rehabilitation efforts by the BLM, U.S. Forest Service, Nevada Division of Forestry and a number of outdoor sports groups.

Four Nevada counties were declared natural disaster areas by the U.S. Agriculture Department as a result of this past summer's wildfires.