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Underground plant organs harvested historically by the Big Pine Paiute Tribe for food include corms of Nahavita (Dichelostemma capitatum ssp. capitatum), providing an important starch and protein component of the tribe's diet. An experimental study was conducted in 2011 on the Big Pine Paiute Tribe (BPPT) reservation to examine impact of transplantation (from three native locales - Buttermilk, Symmes Creek, and Pinon Creek) on Nahavita corm establishment, survival, and productivity on reservation soils on which future, larger-scale production of corms as a tribal food source would occur. Project sponsors included the Big Pine Paiute Tribe of the Owens Valley, Big Pine, CA; Inyo-Mono Resource Conservation District and the Natural Resources Conservation Service, Bishop, CA; and the NRCS-USDA California Plant Materials Center, Lockeford, CA. While the Symmes Creek accession exhibited higher emergence and survival during 2012, the Pinon Creek accession approached or equated with the Symmes Creek accession by the end of 2013 (15% survival). The Buttermilk accession displayed reduced survival at the headquarters study site (9%). The Buttermilk accession, however, consistently exhibited more flowering stems at multiple monitoring dates, demonstrating potential for new seedling recruitment, and tending to compensate for the reduced corm survival over time. The Buttermilk accession also supported vegetative cormlet reproduction better than the other accessions (2:1 ratio compared to approximately 1:2 and 1:1 ratios for the Symmes Creek and Pinon Creek accessions, respectively). Moisture conservation and/or shading effect were considered the predominant factors promoting the natural occurrence and transplant survival of Nahavita corms. The vast majority of corms originated directly under the canopy of mature native shrubs – primarily antelope bitterbrush (Purshia tridentata) and Wyoming big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata ssp. wyomingensis). Cormlet production is achievable for all three accessions, suggesting that established, transplanted corm populations could be sustained via vegetative reproduction under optimal soils and management.