October 2021 • Nebraskaland 37
strategically placed to force them to trail through forming
blowouts in their journeys from food to water.
In the fall and winter of 2018 and 2019, the partners sowed
a total of fi ve pounds of penstemon seed in Hunt Pasture
blowouts, and in May of 2019 and 2020, they planted several
hundred greenhouse-grown seedlings in the blowouts.
The Penstemon Returns
Surprisingly, blowout creation in the Hunt Pasture was
more diffi cult than anticipated because the project had taken
place during several of the wettest years in recorded Sandhills
history, which caused grass growth to outpace bison grazing.
About half the pasture remains prairie-covered; in the
remainder, however, grazing has stressed the deep-rooted
grass and strong winds have sculpted the exposed sand into
blowouts with bare sand slopes to their leeward side.
During the summer of 2021, Turner Enterprises' ecologists
surveyed the Hunt Pasture and found 60 fl owering blowout
penstemon plants and 40 seedlings. To fl ower, the penstemon
must be at least two years old. The fl owering plants were
located in areas where seed was sown, but no greenhouse
seedlings were planted. It appears that few, if any, of the
greenhouse plants survived the winter of 2020-21; excessive
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Brooke Stansberry (left) and U.S. Forest Service wildlife biologist
Greg Wright harvest blowout penstemon seed on the McKelvie National Forest. GERRY STEINAUER, NEBRASKALAND
