Adventures in Revegetation

On Monday, half of the Legacy Crew headed to the Moose Visitor Center on the south end of Grand Teton National Park. There we met with Park Superintendent Mary Gibson Scott and two park rangers, Andrew and Damien, from the Revegetation Crew. The team of seven on the Reveg Crew works on revitalizing areas of the park that have been disturbed by human activity. They only use plants and seeds that are native to the park itself in their projects.

Here’s a pictorial sampling of what we worked on:




Some of the group helped transport plants from a temporary nursery to an area requiring replanting. At the same time Damien gave us a quick lesson about plants native to Grand Teton.




The botanists on the crew were really excited to collect sulfur buckwheat seeds from plants in the park. Seed collection and plantings are one of the main ways the revegetation crew regenerates a disturbed area in the park. Grand Teton boasts over 1000 species of vascular plants.




Several of us also had the chance to prune snowberry shrubs that would soon be planted. Vanessa, a summer intern with the park, explained to us that trimming some of the excess growth on the plants will give them a better chance of surviving the shock of being transplanted.




We had a great time volunteering with the Revegetation Crew. All national parks gladly take short- and long-term volunteers. Another option for young people is to spend three months to a year working in a national park or forest through the Student Conservation Association (SCA), an organization which provides all expense-paid internships for college-aged students. SCA also offers five-week summer trail crew programs in national parks for high school students.

By Julie Curti