"Two big bulldozers pulled an anchor chain through the project site," Whittaker said. "By pulling it one direction, and then reversing direction and pulling it through again, we get a better knock down and uprooting of the trees. It also grinds them up a bit and prepares the soils for the seeds. We didn't chain the entire area; instead we chained a series of openings.

"The openings were seeded with three brush species. Seeds from bitterbrush, fourwing saltbrush and mahogany were spread into the tracks while the bulldozers did the chaining. Another mix of 12 species of plants, mostly grasses and forbs, was flown on just after the chaining. The final species — sagebrush — will be flown on in early winter, hopefully after a good snowfall."

Unfortunately, wildlife habitat projects like this one don't provide immediate results.

"It takes time for the plants to get established, so this project is a long-term vision," Whittaker said. "This year's efforts may not be readily visible for years. The grasses and forbs will respond first, and they'll provide some forage and help prevent erosion. The larger shrubs will take years to reach maturity. For example, sagebrush takes about 20 years to mature."