2026 Undergraduate Research Showcase

Habitat Restoration at Diane Moore Nature Center

Document Type

Student Presentation

Presentation Date

4-24-2026

Faculty Sponsor

Greg Kaltenecker and Heidi Carlisle

Abstract

In today’s human-dominated world, it is important to retain healthy wild spaces where nature thrives and ecosystems function. At the Intermountain Bird Observatory’s Diane Moore Nature Center, students participated in ongoing habitat restoration and improvement efforts during the spring of 2026 as a part of a vertically integrated project at Boise State University. This site is one of the last large remaining patches of intact riverside habitat along the Boise River and serves as a useful corridor for migrating birds and mammals, pollinators and spawning fish. It is also used as a major study site for the observatory’s migratory bird research and community education. Healthy plant communities are the foundation of healthy wildlife habitats, and a lot of land habitat restoration focuses on vegetation management. Thus, most restoration efforts at the nature center have been focused on removing invasive vegetation whilst increasing the abundance and diversity of native vegetation. Over the course of the semester, students worked on various projects such as fence installation, path improvement and uprooting noxious weeds. Over 4000 cuttings of willow, cottonwood, birch, dogwood and elderberry were collected and potted up to eventually be planted and increase tree and shrub cover throughout the site. Students also collected and dispersed large batches of seeds of sagebrush, wildflowers, grasses and sedges. This increase in plant cover is part of the observatory’s efforts to create self-sustaining native riverside plant communities that will support the rest of the food web and improve ecosystem function.

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