GOLD: Kinross supports sagebrush restoration in Nevada

[caption id="attachment_1003723825" align="aligncenter" width="538"] Efforts are underway to restore sagebrush rangeland – and the diverse animals that call it home – in Nevada. (Image: University of Nevada, Reno)[/caption] NEVADA – Toronto-based Kinross Gold has made a gift of US$75,000 over the next three years to support the College of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Natural Resources’ Great Basin sagebrush restoration project. Sagebrush ecosystems have shrunk 56% from historical size due to land degradation. The Great Basin sagebrush restoration fund was established last year by Lithium Nevada Corp. which has an advanced exploration project in Humboldt County. A team with diverse backgrounds including plants, landscape ecology, bioengineering, remote sensing and soil ecology are seeking to restore disturbed rangeland essential to the many species that live there. In collaboration with Brigham Young University, the fund will support seed coating technologies to enhance germination, emergence, and establishment of new sagebrush plants. Professor Tamzen Stringham of CABNR will lead the efforts. “The very real problems of changing climate, increasing fire frequency and fire size, invasive weed expansion and dismal restoration success following disturbances has led the research community to look beyond traditional funding sources in order to provide long term, innovative and multi-disciplinary approaches to finding solutions to these difficult problems,” Stringham says. “Philanthropic support from our community partners is a statement of their commitment to engaging in the need to provide long term, stable funding for research into the very difficult issues surrounding rangeland restoration within the Great Basin environment.” Kinross purchased the Bald Mountain heap leach gold mine in 2016. The company says its gift is part of its efforts to engage in responsible mining. Learn more about Kinross and its mines at www.Kinross.com.