Revegetation of arid lands disturbed by fire, or by cropping, mining, and other activities, represent a continuous and substantial expenditure by the responsible entities. In 1999, the U.S. Department of Agriculture expenditures for the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) in Washington were several million dollars. Likewise, fire rehabilitation work accounts for several million dollars annually. The dominant revegetation method currently used on large-acreage projects (i.e.,-fire rehabilitation) is helicopter seeding which has proven to be largely ineffective. Standard containers have been developed for re-forestation and horticultural applications. These containers are currently used in minor quantities for arid land reclamation. Although highly successful in terms of plant survival and growth, these containers are not considered economically viable for large-scale projects. An alternative container that allows for higher growing densities, short-term production intervals, and outplanting with the seeding would minimize economic inputs while allowing for maximum production. Thus, BRI proposes to test the concept embodied in USDA-ARS "Booth Tube" as an alternative container for large acreage arid- land projects. ANTICIPATED RESULTS & POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS OF RESEARCH Our proposed alternative container design will provide substantial economical and ecological benefits to large acreage, arid land revegetation projects. Economically, a smaller container size, which can be incorporated into a greenhouse production facility and mechanized planting system, could greatly reduce costs for implementing the use of containerized stock on a large-scale. Thus, use of containerized material could become an economically viable alternative to seeding. Ecologically, containers designed for outplanting that provides protection from wind shear, desiccation, browse and other typical arid land environmental factors could provide substantial survival benefits above reforestation containers.
