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Reseeding to restore disturbed rangelands is rarely successful or cost effective, particularly within hotter, drier, lower elevation sites. Seedling mortality is highest during the critical transition between reliance on stored carbohydrates in the endosperm and self-sufficiency through photosynthesis. During this transitional period, seedlings are vulnerable to attack from pathogenic fungus. Seed treatments with fungicides may protect the plant from fungus attack and improve seedling survival and vigor. Screening fungicides for use in wildland systems can be challenging in the laboratory as there is an array of native pathogens in the soil that may impact seedlings. Additionally, during the screening, fungal pathogens must be active and present in the soil at concentrations high enough to produce a significant treatment effect. Most laboratory fungicide screenings are tested against specific pathogens that have been cultured. Testing fungicides against the actual populations of pathogens in the soil within a controlled setting could improve the validity of the results. We hypothesize that an aqueous sugar solution could be added to native soil to activate fungal pathogens and promote fungal growth. We expect that increased microbial activity will result in greater pathogen attack and a better treatment response when evaluating fungicide seed treatments. In addition to screening fungicides, this method could be used for a variety of applications that evaluate soil fungal pathogen impacts.