The only place in the world where the endangered Steamboat buckwheat grows is on 150 acres split by Hwy. 395 and a geothermal company in south Washoe County.
When the 500-acre Petrilla Fire broke out in the Pleasant Valley area south of Reno last June, threatening the plant, a forester with the Nevada Division of Forestry rushed to the site to retrieve multiple buckwheat plants that had been impacted by fire suppression efforts.
The plants were transported to the Washoe State Tree Nursery in Washoe Valley, where native trees and shrubs are propagated for conservation and restoration purposes around the state. Now, the buckwheat grows alongside dozens of other native trees, shrubs and flowers used to help restore degraded property after severe drought and wildfire.