The Importance of Native Seeds

SCIENCE & CONSERVATION

The importance of native seeds Melanie Flood, natural areas conservation coordinator

We all know the importance of having native plants on the landscape. In the world we live in today, planting natives is a tremendous help in providing habitat for wildlife, whether that’s in a home garden or a natural restoration setting.

Have you ever wondered where those native plants come from? We aren’t digging up plants and transplanting them elsewhere. They have to be grown from seed. The start of any plant, native or not, is the seed.

So then, where do the seeds come from? Who grows the plants that make the seeds? Who collects the seeds? Who cares for the seeds? These are all excellent questions, and it’s a long process that involves many different partners, agencies, organizations and farmers.

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State Botanical Garden of Georgia

SEEDS OF SUCCESS NATIONAL SEED PROGRAM One of the leaders in native seed collection is a program through the Bureau of Land Management called the Seeds of Success National Seed Program. SOS started in 2000 and has grown significantly in the last 23 years, including more partnerships with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture – Agricultural Research Service, Tribal Nations and many more.

Initially targeting the western U.S., SOS was focused on collecting seeds to be used for restoration after wildfires.

After Hurricane Sandy devastated the East Coast in 2012, SOS began SOS East, which focused seed collection efforts on coastal and wetland species.

LEFT: Zach Wood collects seed from a large population of Tripsacum dactyloides–-Eastern Gama grass.

BELOW: Jordan Argrett and Lauren Ulich of Upstate Forever in South Carolina check the maturation of Chasmanthium sessiliflorum seeds.

RIGHT: Jennifer Ceska collects seeds of Danthonia sericea.

Seeing the importance of a nationwide sustainable collection protocol, SOS has expanded into the Southeast by partnering with the Southeastern Grasslands Institute, focusing on grassland species.

SOUTHEASTERN GRASSLANDS According to the Southeastern Plant Conservation Alliance, the southeastern U.S. is considered a biodiversity hotspot, primarily due to the abundance of grasslands. A grassland can come in many forms, including the more commonly recognized prairies and meadows to the less recognized herbaceous forb and graminoid-dominated habitats like glades, riverscours, bogs and marshes.

These habitats are threatened by human expansion and its many side effects, such as agriculture, urbanization, invasives and fire suppression. The seed bank stored in the soil will only last through so much disturbance. For areas that have been depleted for decades or even centuries, we cannot rely on the seed bank alone to restore a habitat to its original state. The need for readily available plant materials to aid in restoration, like access to native plant seed, is needed now more than ever.

The seed collected for this project is typically cleaned and shipped to be stored in proper conditions until needed for restoration. The goal is to collect local ecotype seed, seeds from plants within specific ecoregions.

The idea is that plants evolved to thrive where they grow. For example, the soils of the coastal plain are vastly different from those in the mountains. Although many species occur in both of these ecoregions, it’s best to have seed from the mountains to aid in restoration efforts in the mountains, just as it’s best to have seed from the coastal plain to aid in restoration efforts in the coastal plain.

SOS also targets common workhorse species. These species are quick to take root, providing stabilization and quick habitat for wildlife to return to a disturbed landscape.

THE SOUTHEAST NATIVE SEED PROGRAM PARTNERSHIPS The State Botanical Garden’s science and conservation team has partnered with SGI to collect seeds from Georgia and South Carolina. Marcello DeVitis is the director of the Southeast Native Seed Program at SGI. He works closely with USFWS to coordinate SOS Southeast partnerships.

Along with the garden, SGI is partnered with the Audubon Society, the North Carolina Botanical Garden and the Jones Center at Ichauway, to name a few. Through these partnerships, SOS Southeast covers 10 states within the Southeast, from Virginia to Louisiana.

The State Botanical Garden is proud to be part of this initiative, and we hope to grow our local resources in Georgia to help streamline and enhance restoration efforts in the future.

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