To enable the creation of the nursery, The Nature Conservancy has transferred a portion of the preserve to Rim to Rim Restoration, a non-profit organization focused on the re-establishment of native vegetation in the Moab area. The conservancy is retaining ownership of the remaining 177 acres of critical habitat at Mayberry, and has placed a conservation easement on the acreage sold to Rim to Rim, ensuring that it will always be used and managed in a way that protects its natural and agricultural values, according to a news release from The Nature Conservancy.
“Under the care of Rim to Rim, the aging peach orchards at Mayberry will be given new life as a nursery, providing seeds, shrubs and trees desperately needed for restoration and revegetation efforts throughout the Colorado River Corridor and Plateau,” the news release states.
“Rim to Rim Restoration’s creation of a native plant nursery allows us to broaden our conservation vision for this property,” said Chris Montague, director of conservation programs for the conservancy. “Now, we can continue to ensure the protection of Mayberry’s important habitat, while also supporting restoration projects far beyond the preserve’s borders.”
A five-year operating plan for the nursery includes the development of three plant-growing areas at the preserve, which will eventually yield a wide variety of native seeds, shrubs and trees, including Fremont cottonwoods and coyote willows, as well as slower-growing woody shrub and trees, Nature Conservancy officials said..
“As we ramp up the removal of highly invasive plants like tamarisk and Russian olive, the new nursery will be uniquely suited to help meet revegetation needs,” said Sue Bellagamba, Canyonlands regional cirector for conservancy. “They’ll have the ability to offer plant materials that are grown from local genetic stock and the capacity to plan for and support specific large-scale restoration projects. The Mayberry Nursery will be an invaluable resource for non-profits, government agencies, and private landowners throughout Southeastern Utah.”
Seeds and native plants grown at the nursery will be made available for native reseeding efforts being conducted by the Southeastern Utah Tamarisk Partnership, a group that includes the conservancy and more than 25 private and public partners. To date, the group has removed more than 1,000 acres of tamarisk that has been destroyed by the tamarisk-eating beetles in Grand and San Juan counties. The beetles were introduced by Grand County several years ago in an effort to reduce or eliminate the non-native plant from riverbanks throughout the region.
As tamarisk trees are removed, the areas have been planted with native vegetation in an effort to restore healthy ecosystems along the Colorado, according to the news release.
“Rim to Rim is looking forward to helping expand the local propagation efforts already underway,” said Kara Dohrenwend, Rim to Rim program director. “Converting the Mayberry Orchard parcel to a nursery will take some time, but it is a great location to propagate plants collected on the Colorado Plateau for revegetation projects in southeastern Utah.”
The Nature Conservancy originally purchased the 210-acre Mayberry Orchard in 1993 to “protect its scenic, biological and open space values from the threat of development,” according to the news release. Historically, the area supported irrigation-intensive peach orchards, as well as native shrubs and cottonwood and willow communities along the river.