It is among the oldest living things on earth. Individual members of the family have survived in one of California's harshest ecosystems for 11,000 years. And it is growing more plentiful all the time, making up 16 percent of the plants now growing in the Mojave Desert.

Despite its hearty lineage, the Creosote Bush, Larrea tridentate, has proved stubbornly difficult to grow from seed. This fact posed a major hurdle to Borax's reaching its commitment to reclaim the millions of tons of soil it has removed from its primary mine in Boron, California. To meet the state Department of Conservation's plant diversity requirements – and its own pledge to minimize its impact on the environment – Borax is in the process of reclaiming mined soils by establishing native vegetation to levels of density and diversity that resemble the undisturbed desert, without the benefit of irrigation, fertilization or other labor-intensive handling.

“ Creosote Bush is difficult to grow but is absolutely necessary to achieve the diversity we need to fully reclaim these lands,” explains Borax Senior Geologist Joe Siefke.

Siefke and Neville Slade, Chairman of the Agriculture and Natural Resources Department at local Victor Valley College, established a partnership to address the challenge: a program for horticulture students to gain practical experience in propagating difficult species, using Borax land as a field laboratory. To date, 500 plants, propagated in a campus greenhouse, have been successfully transplanted, and Borax has doubled its annual funding commitment from $10,000 to $20,000.

The original enterprise also resulted in another groundbreaking partnership. Two students at California Polytechnic University, Pomona, may be close to solving the Creosote Bush dilemma on a larger scale. Cal Poly seniors Carlos Ruiz, a former project leader at Victor Valley College, and Stefan Szalkowski are conducting promising applied research on a fundamental building block of plant life that could unlock the secret to

propagating Creosote Bush on reclaimed lands, and to preserving biodiversity throughout the Mojave Desert.

Ruiz and Szalkowski are conducting extensive research into mycorrhizae, a broad category of fungus that forms a symbiotic relationship with 95 percent of all plant species. Present in most surface soils, mycorrhizae send out root-like structures that seek out roots of growing plants. By “infecting” the roots of those plants, the mycorrhizae draw nutrients from the plant at the same time they function as an extension of the host plant's root system.

Initial research suggests that adding the right kind of mycorrhizae to the mined soil at Boron may provide the added edge Creosote Bush needs to germinate and grow successfully, especially in soils from far below the surface of the earth that contain little organic material.

“ Mycorrhizae may be the silver bullet that allows these native plants to survive in these harsh climates,” said Neville Slade, chairman of the Agriculture and Natural Resources Department at Victor Valley Community Project. “Creosote Bush, like other desert plants, has evolved in such a way that it is perfectly adapted not to grow except when conditions are perfect. If it germinates at the wrong time and sticks its head up out of the soil, it will die.”

With financial support from Borax, information exchanges between the company and numerous colleges and universities, outreach to local communities and the sharing of human resources, the partnership has blossomed into a mutually rewarding collaboration.

“ This effort has been an incredible opportunity for education,” said Slade. “It has allowed people from Borax, from academia and from the community to get involved and get their hands dirty doing very important research. We are all learning together as we go along.”