Idaho Inmates to Help Plant Sagebrush at Burn Area
BOISE, Idaho (KLIX) Female inmates at a Boise correctional facility will help plant sagebrush seedlings they've been growing to help restore burned areas in Idaho. According to the Idaho Department of Corrections, inmates at the South Boise Women's Correctional Center are involved in a joint program called the Sagebrush in Prisons Project with the IDOC, Sustainability in Prisons Project, Bureau of Land Management, and the Institute for Applied Ecology. The inmates have grown and taken care of 80,000 plants this year to be planted in areas damaged by wildfires. IDOC says their work helps support the greater sage-grouse and species that depend on the sagebrush habitat. Since 2015 the women's facility and the Idaho State Correctional Center have grown more than 233,000 sagebrush and bitterbrush for the program. The department says more than 60 women have participated in the project this year by attending science lectures on wildlife and ecology of sagebrush-steppe. On Thursday, 700 sagebrush seedlings are expected to be planted by program members in a burn area near Lucky Peak Reservoir.