Photo: Idaho Department of Correction
The Sagebrush in Prisons Project does double duty, helping to repopulate the western US with sagebrush while giving prisoners a chance to learn skills that can help them after their release. By 2021, prisoners at 18 facilities across eight states, including California, Oregon and Nevada, had grown more than 500,000 plants. Led by the nonprofit Institute for Applied Ecology, the project provides saplings to the federal Bureau of Land Management to replant lands scarred by wildfire. The Idaho State Correctional Center, which has a capacity of around 2,000, is expected to produce 60,000 sagebrush plants this season. Coordinator Holly Hovis, a former BLM botanist, says the project offers hope for incarcerated people across the nation while providing a vital, underused resource to protect landscapes increasingly embattled by climate change. There is usually a waitlist for people to join, she says.
|
|
More:
