GREAT BASIN RANGELANDS SERVE MANY FUNCTIONS, PROVIDING IMPORTANT RESOURCES FOR LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION, A VAST EXPANSE OF WILDLIFE HABITAT AND PUBLIC LAND FOR RECREATION, AND MAINTAINING NATIVE BIODIVERSITY. ANTHROPOGENIC DISTURBANCES AND INTRODUCTIONS OF INVASIVE SPECIES ARE CONVERTING MILLIONS OF HECTARES OF PERENNIAL SAGEBRUSH STEPPE TO ANNUAL GRASSLANDS. MANAGERS ENGAGE IN RANGELAND RESTORATION AT VERY LARGE SCALES TO REVERSE THIS CONVERSION, BUT THESE EXPENSIVE SEEDINGS OFTEN FAIL. HERE, WE ASK IF WE CAN IMPROVE RESTORATION SUCCESS, AND ASSOCIATED ECOSYSTEM SERVICES, BY CHANGING SEED SOURCES AND SEEDING STRATEGIES. UTILIZING WILD COLLECTIONS IN FIELD AND GREENHOUSE EXPERIMENTS, WE WILL IDENTIFY SEED AND SEEDING TRAITS THAT IMPROVE ESTABLISHMENT IN ARID, INVADED SYSTEMS FOR SEVEN NATIVE GRASS, FORB, AND SHRUB SPECIES. ADDITIONALLY, WE PROPOSE POPULATION GENETIC STUDIES TO DESCRIBE DIVERSITY AND STRUCTURE IN THESE IMPORTANT BUT UNDERSTUDIED SPECIES, ASKING HOW GENETIC VARIATION AFFECTS SEED SOURCE PERFORMANCE. FINALLY, IN FIELD EXPERIMENTS, WE ASK HOW SPECIES FUNCTION TOGETHER IN COMMUNITIES, THE ULTIMATE TEST OF RESTORATION. WE WILL PLANT COMMUNITIES FROM DIFFERENT SOURCE POPULATIONS FOR EACH SPECIES, ASKING IF RESTORATION IS MORE SUCCESSFUL WHEN THE BEST SEED SOURCES FOR EVERY SPECIES ARE ASSEMBLED INTO A HIGH-PERFORMING MIX, OR IF IS MORE EFFECTIVE TO RESTORE COMMUNITIES WITH COLLECTIONS ALL FROM A SINGLE, POTENTIALLY CO-EVOLVED, COMMUNITY, WHICH MAY USE RESOURCES MORE COMPLETELY. OUR PROJECT ALIGNS WITH THE BIOENERGY, NATURAL RESOURCES, AND ENVIRONMENT PROGRAM AREA, AND THE AGRO-ECOSYSTEMS MANAGEMENT PROGRAM, AS WE SEEK INNOVATIVE WAYS FOR NATURAL RESOURCES IN THIS REGION TO SUSTAIN THE DOMINANT AGRICULTURAL PRACTICE AND ENHANCE ADDITIONAL ECOSYSTEM SERVICES.