Pennsylvania Transplants, 2018–2019

Sagebrush dug up by my family in Idaho and transplanted to Pennsylvania with the goal to be returned and replanted when I returned*. Work includes Phytosanitary Certificate from the Idaho State Department of Agriculture required by the Pennsylvania Plant Board to ship the plants to Pittsburgh, live-stream videos of the plants, and a maintenance calendar documenting every action I made to care for them.

Native to the Western United States, the sagebrush ecosystem is the largest interconnected habitat type in America from the Dakotas westward ranging into Canada and Mexico. Though vital to this ecosystem, sagebrush are an often taken for granted plant. Frequently seen as a pest or nuisance, there have been historical attempts to eradicate them and transform their habitat into idyllic pastures of elsewhere for the benefit of ranching, development, and industrialized agriculture.

*They did not make it back to Idaho.