This partnership focuses on identifying, collecting, propagating, and planting native plants for restoration; fostering conservation education; and providing a facility that combines education and plant propagation. Using Forest Service funding and expertise, Hopi tribal members built the Cultural Plant Propagation Center (CPPC) at the Moenkopi Day School in Tuba City, AZ. Dedicated in April 2006, the CPPC provides a place where Hopi and Navajo children receive environmental education and hands-on experience growing plants. Students, teachers, and natural resource professionals work together to produce native plants-including narrowleaf yucca, three-leaf sumac, and fourwing saltbush-for special tribal use.

Willows, poplars, and aspen belong to the family Salicaceae. Salicaceae species are dioecious, meaning that plants are either male or female, and cannot self-fertilize. Riparian sites on the reservation are far apart and frequently have plants of only one sex, making it impossible for natural sexual reproduction to occur. In addition, these stands have been damaged by grazing, invasive species, and/or drought, so propagation potential is greatly reduced. To produce the number and quality of Salicaceae plants desired by the tribe, experts from the Forest Service and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) have trained the Hopi in proper collection and propagation techniques. Collected plant materials are being used in the Moenkopi CPPC and in the NRCS, Los Lunas Plant Materials Center in New Mexico to produce plants for restoration.

New techniques, like stacked propagation, are being tested to meet the unique needs of the Hopi. Developed by Larry LaFleur of Smoky Lake Nursery, stacked propagation makes use of two characteristics of aspen: the rapid and extensive root growth of seedlings, and the fact that severed roots will form new shoots. For this technique, a seedling is placed in an upper container of Styroblock®, and lower blocks are filled with growth medium. When roots from the seedling grow into the lower blocks, the roots can be severed. New shoots should form from the pruned root systems.

The western contingent of the National Agroforestry Center, Dumroese and Pinto are the only Forest Service Research & Development members of the Forest Service Reforestation, Nurseries, and Genetics Resources National Team. Dumroese provides science delivery to tribal, State, and private nurseries, and edits three publications: Forest Nursery Notes, the Native Plants Journal, and the National Nursery Proceedings. As the intertribal nursery coordinator, Pinto organizes the annual INC meeting, which serves as forum for technology transfer and as a network for tribal members interested in propagation of native plants.

For more information:
Kas Dumroese at 208–883–2324 or kdumroese@fs.fed.us.
Jeremy Pinto at 208–883–2352 or jpinto@fs.fed.us.