Reseeding Native Plants 2023
Shannon, CVA’s 2023 Field Technician, works to rake a site in the Long Creek area prior to reseeding in June 2023.
CVA’s Invasive Species Management Program brings together community members, agencies, and non-profit organizations to treat noxious weed infestations and improve native vegetation. In addition to herbicide and mechanical treatments, CVA began a reseeding project in 2019, with support from Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks’ Wildlife Habitat Improvement Program (WHIP) and the Montana Native Plant Society’s Small Grants Program.
From 2019–2021, CVA staff reseeded 10-acres identified as high-priority wildlife habitat in the Monida Hill area of the Centennial Valley, using a mixture of native fescue and forb species that included Idaho and rocky mountain fescue, arrowleaf balsamroot, rocky mountain bee plant, and western yarrow. These species were selected based on their relative forage value to both wildlife and livestock, site conditions, seedling vigor, and weed interference. In 2022, we again received support from the Montana Native Plant Society to duplicate our Monida Hills successes on an additional 10-acres of high-priority wildlife habitat in the Long Creek area. While an unexpected cold-snap in October 2022 prevented a fall reseed, we seeded all of the additional acreage this spring!
CVA staff will monitor the reseeding site once per year for five-years post seeding to allow us to evaluate the establishment of the reseeded species while watching for potential weed invasions. CVA estimates that approximately 70 percent of ground cover at the project site will be native grasses and forbs five-years post reseeding, and are already seeing positive results in the Monida Hill area!
Big thank you’s to the Montana Native Plant Society, Montana FWP, The Nature Conservancy of Montana, and Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge for providing an array of support to these projects! If you have any questions or would like to learn more about CVA’s reseeding project, or other invasive plant management efforts in the Centennial Valley, please do not hesitate to contact Clare Ols, Invasive Species Coordinator, at invasiveweeds@centennialvalleyassociation.org.