The Nature Conservancy Honors Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality and Bureau of Land Management With Conservation Award

The Nature Conservancy in Wyoming (TNC) is proud to announce that the Abandoned Mine Land (AML) Division of the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) are the recipients of the 2025 Deborah MacKenzie Award for Innovation. This award recognizes their outstanding partnership with TNC to expand the supply of native seeds and promote sustainable seed production across the state. Through this collaboration, DEQ and BLM have helped make native seed production more accessible and economically viable for Wyoming seed growers—particularly for ecologically important but hard-to-grow species. These efforts are paving the way for healthier landscapes, more resilient ecosystems, and a stronger native seed industry in Wyoming.

The Deborah MacKenzie Award for Innovation is meant to honor TNC partners who exemplify a “big picture,” innovative idea with practical follow-through that advances conservation efforts in Wyoming. The award is made in the legacy of the late Deborah Williams MacKenzie, a founding trustee of the Wyoming Chapter of TNC who cared deeply about Wyoming’s land and waters.

“It has been an immense privilege working with DEQ and BLM on these projects to improve native seed supply for restoration projects in Wyoming,” said Maggie Eshleman, Wyoming Restoration Scientist with TNC in Wyoming. “Our partners have brought so much leadership and passion to this work and TNC is proud to recognize them with the much-deserved Deborah MacKenzie Award for Innovation.”

Each year, nearly 1 million acres of sagebrush habitat are lost to disturbances like wildfire, invasive grasses, and development. A key component to restoring this habitat is the ability to return native plants to the landscape, and the lack of native seed supply and subsequent knowledge of how to grow them is a significant barrier to accomplishing that goal.

“The partnership between TNC, BLM, Institute for Applied Ecology and our consultants has had a profound positive impact on our ability to restore native wildlife habitat at our mine reclamation sites,” said Don Newton, AML Division Administrator. “The creative scientists working on these two projects are breaking down the barriers that limit our ability to restore diverse native plant populations required by the hundreds of species reliant on the Wyoming sagebrush steppe.”

Both DEQ and BLM have partnered with TNC on two recent projects that earned them the MacKenzie Award. The first is the Wyoming Seed Partnership (WYSP), a collaborative effort among statewide partners to improve the supply of native plant materials for reclamation and restoration projects. WYSP conducts seed collection for partner projects and contracts directly with producers to put that seed into production in a way that reduces the risk inherent to growers. In future years, WYSP plans to expand by recruiting new producers to the native seed market and distributing seed to a broader range of buyers. Through this work, WYSP aims to bolster Wyoming’s restoration economy and enhance ecological resilience across the state. Both DEQ and BLM were founding partners of WYSP, along with the Institute for Applied Ecology, Tetra Tech and Rockwell Science.

"This award reflects the strength of our partnerships and our shared commitment to restoring Wyoming’s landscapes. By working together to increase the native seed supply, we’re building a more resilient future for public lands and the communities that depend on them," said Kim Wahl, BLM Wyoming Botanist. "Species diversity and genetic integrity are essential to restoring Wyoming’s native plant communities and varied habitats. This collaboration brings together key partners to identify seed supply gaps, overcome native seed production challenges, and align resources to meet restoration needs—supporting both public and private lands while preserving Wyoming’s natural legacy."

The second project is the Wyoming Seed Strategy, which was published this summer. With funding from BLM and in partnership with many stakeholders across Wyoming, TNC led the development of a strategy to coordinate efforts across the state to maintain and expand the high-quality seed grown in Wyoming, provide the state with the right seed and education for its reclamation success and support the state’s seed industry.