Utah's State-Run Nursery to Shut Down

Utah's state-run nursery is shutting down.
  
The Lone Peak Nursery in Draper produces about a million young plants each year that are either native to Utah or well-adapted to its climate. It was a popular spot for state and federal agencies -- as well as members of the public -- looking to buy large quantities of native plants for restoration, rehabilitation after wildfires and other landscaping projects.
  
The Legislature cut funding for the 32-year-old nursery in its recent special session. It will stop operating June 30, 2009.
  
Nursery officials were putting together a plan to get it back into the black but ran out of time as lawmakers looked to trim the state budget amid decreasing revenue, said Jason Curry, a spokesman for the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands, which runs the nursery.
  
"The timing was really horrible with the economy," Curry said.
  
The nursery, which operates on a 35-acre farm, takes about $350,000 a year to run. It employs three full-time workers and seasonal employees.
  
Private groups and public agencies used seedlings to reseed after fires, create windbreaks and wetlands, and do large-scale landscape rehabilitation. The nursery provides more than 90 species of native or adapted trees, shrubs, grasses and plants. The minimum order is 100 seedlings.
  
There are private operations that sell native Utah plants but none that provide the quantities and types available at the state-run nursery.
  
"It was a bit of a niche that doesn't exist in the private sector," Curry said.
  
The nursery started at Utah State University and moved to Draper in 1976 where it could use inmate labor from the nearby state prison. That program ended two years ago because of the costs associated with guards watching the inmates and security issues, said Brandon Long, the nursery's manager.
  
The nursery uses locally adapted seeds that have been successful in Utah-specific conditions, including rainfall, temperature, soil conditions and elevation.
  
"We don't select for genetic specificity -- the color or shape," Long said. "We want to encourage genetic diversity."
  
There are out-of-state sources for those plants but they're likely to have a higher mortality rate because they're not specifically adapted to Utah's climate and elevations, Curry said.
  
The nursery will fast-track orders this year and try to sell off other inventory before June.
  
It's unclear what will happen with the nursery's buildings and equipment, Curry said. State officials may look at holding on to them in the hopes of future funding or seek out public or private partnerships to keep it afloat.