Skip to content
project-hero.webp
Field team at work on a conservation project

Project

Grassland restoration trial

Testing native seed mixes on degraded pasture alongside local herders.

Small Grants Project Working with Communities · Research & Monitoring Kazakhstan 2023 · 2024 ← Back to archive

Degraded pasture recovers slowly on the steppe, and restoration methods developed elsewhere often fail in this climate. This trial tested several native seed mixes across paired plots.

Herders were involved in plot selection and monitoring from the outset, so that whatever worked could be adopted without further external support.

Outcomes

12

trial plots established

5

native seed mixes tested

2 yrs

of recovery data

Year by year

How the work has developed

Activities and outputs for each year of the project. Further years are added as the work continues.

Two of the five mixes established well enough to recommend, and both are now being sown by herders outside the trial without further support.

Twelve paired plots were fenced and sown across three grazing areas, each chosen with the herders using them.

project-gallery-a.webp
Close view of field monitoring equipment
project-gallery-b.webp
Saiga tracks in dry ground
project-gallery-c.webp
Field team walking back at the end of the day

Support our work

Keep them moving

Saiga herds cross hundreds of kilometres of open steppe every year. Your support helps keep those routes open, protected and safe.

Make a donation

Every donation goes to work in the range states.