(contemplative music) - Sagebrush is one of the most imperiled ecosystems in the world now, right up there with the Amazon forest.

At one point in time there used to be 234,000 square miles.

Now there's only half of that remaining.

This habitat, this sagebrush steppe habitat is being destroyed at rates that we can't necessarily comprehend.

(contemplative music) (dissonant instrumental music) (soft ambient music) Sagebrush is important because it supports so many species and species diversity.

So we have over 350 sagebrush obligate species in Wyoming that scientists have identified.

And what sagebrush obligate means is that that species depends on sagebrush steppe habitat for their food source, for their mating grounds, for their home.

Crucial winter range is part of that.

The more we fragment this habitat the harder of a time these animals have surviving.

- If I have to name some of the bigger scientific crises in the world, the one that is least talked about is biodiversity conservation.

There's been a significant decline in animal species, plant species, insect species across the board, particularly in the last 50 years.

There's just been huge declines in just about every class of organism.

And so being able to reclaim a habitat like this is not only benefiting sagebrush itself, it's also benefiting all of those other organisms that depend on it.

And so that's really important to reclaim entire habitats.

And the only real choice that we have is to do it at a landscape scale.

(soft ambient music) - [Gina] This area was the Andrea Hunter Mine.

It was mined in the 1950s for uranium.

This was once a big open pit where we're standing.

And so Wyoming DEQ with BLM have come in and reclaimed this and they did a great job revegetating it.

But what you can see is that there's not very much sagebrush here.

And so that's why we're planting here today.

- The goal is to restore the landscape to the way it was before it was mined.

And we do a lot of work with the soils and drainage areas, but the revegetation is the last component that is probably one of the most important components.

(ambient music) This is our Sagebrush In Prisons project where we have inmates grow sagebrush for us, and then they even get to plan 'em on some of our old mine sites around the state.

- Research on ecological programs in prison settings have shown that recidivism rates reduce drastically when inmates are learning about ecology and are participating in ecological programs.

Trying to expose them to this idea that we are part of the ecosystem, we are part of ecology.

They're dedicated to the education component.

That's how you get people to invest in themselves.

- The unsung hero in this really is the prisons themselves, the departments of corrections in all of the different states that we work with.

Without their buy-in to the program, we wouldn't be able to do that.

(indistinct chatter) - [Gina] We saw The Honor Farm as a perfect place to have the Sagebrush in Prisons project.

And since its conception there we've been able to put in a greenhouse.

We've been able to put in a shade house and a more permanent structure so that we can keep the program going year after year.

- Personally, I'm really into growing and raising plants.

I plan to do it when I am released in some capacity or another.

I enjoy the fact that I get to plant the seeds, come out here and replant 'em and give back to our community and to our world.

(ambient music) - Sagebrush are really hard to get started.

About 5% of sagebrush seeds will automatically germinate on their own in the wild.

And so what we do with the Sagebrush in Prisons project is we germinate thousands of these seeds in one spring season.

We grow them up to seedlings and the growth that they get in our greenhouse, it would be somewhere between three and five years out in the wild.

After we harden them off and get them ready to be out in the wild, we plant them out here so that we can get the sagebrush component back into this landscape, because at one point in time this whole landscape was covered with sagebrush.

So we'll collect seed from any seed bearing plant within a five mile radius of this project area.

And seed picking is just the most wonderful thing.

(ambient music) It is so meditative.

You're out there, you're with the plants, you're in this detailed flow state.

- Being around plants my whole life it's like from seed to finish it's always, it's like you almost look at 'em as your own kids.

You kind of have to, and being able to go all the way through the season and overcoming any obstacles or just all the work that has to be done and then actually getting to see it through into the ground, it's a real nice feeling.

(ambient music) - Since 2013 when we established the program we've grown over 3 million sagebrush plants.

So I think those are pretty strong measures of success.

But the softer side of it is that we really see our success, too, in being able to connect humans with nature.

That is absolutely the most important goal that we have.

It's the hardest one to measure, but I see the success every time that I'm out working with a crew, whether inside a prison or out like today.

- For me, maybe the project will never be done.

The ultimate goal is I would love to see there be sagebrush all over this.

I would love to see this restored back to a viable functioning landscape.

I do think it is possible.

We just work at it one plant at a time, one person at a time.

(soft ambient music)