***Native Plant Conservation Campaign News***

 

Success Stories:  Use of Native Seed for Restoration and Land Management is Growing; Plant Conservation Groups Taking the Lead

October 11, 2015

 

The science-based land management philosophy demonstrated in the National Seed Strategy is taking hold. The Strategy promotes the use of local native plants for restoration and rehabilitation of damaged or degraded ecosystems. Local natives tend to be more successful in restoration because they are adapted to local wildlife, soils, microclimates and conditions. At least two ongoing projects – both led by plant conservation groups! - already exemplify this principal:

 

1.      Western native plant societies promote native plants for rangeland management

 

Many native plant communities have been degraded or lost due to invasion by intentionally released non-native plants, and many millions of dollars have been spent in attempts to control these species after they have proved to be destructive.

 

In 2013, six western native plant societies – the Native Plant Society (NPS) of Oregon, Montana NPS, Utah NPS, Arizona NPS, Idaho NPS, and Nevada NPS - came together in an unprecedented partnership. In a letter, they asked the USDA to stop introducing invasive non-native plant species into rangelands for forage, “restoration,” or erosion control. They also suggested the agency evaluate the risks before any non-native species introduction, including of biocontrol organisms.

 

A series of meetings and conference calls followed between the native plant societies, agricultural officials, seed producers, and others. As of September  2015:

 

• The USDA is monitoring invasive non-native species and developing protocols to mitigate their invasion into native rangelands. 
• It is considering native gray molly (Kochia americana) to perhaps replace non-native forage kochia, a species of particular concern. 
• It is developing methods for harvesting and planting native seeds from five selected rangeland species. 

 

Learn more at 

Ø  http://missoulanews.bigskypress.com/IndyBlog/archives/2013/09/12/western-native-plant-societies-urge-usda-to-ban-exotics and

Ø  http://www.mtnativeplants.org/fileaccess/getfile/378.pdf

 

2.      Native seed collected for East Coast hurricane response and flood control

 

On the East Coast, $2.3 million is being spent to collect native seed from Virginia to Maine. The program will build seed banks of native species for use in restoration of coastal wetlands and salt marshes destroyed by Hurricane Sandy in 2012. It will also help prepare the coast for the increasingly damaging storms that climate scientists predict.

 

Native plant communities help absorb storm surges, reduce coastal flooding, stabilize shorelines and wetlands, and create habitat for native wildlife. In the past, it has been difficult to obtain locally appropriate native seed, particularly for wetland restoration. Because of this, some East Coast projects have used species from the South or Midwest because local seed was unavailable.

 

The project is being implemented by the New England Wildflower Society, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, and the North Carolina Botanical Garden, among others. They hope to create 1,400 seed collections for use by land managers.

 

Learn more at NEWFS:  http://www.newenglandwild.org/conserve/seed-collection-for-coastal-restoration.html

and the North Carolina Botanical Garden: http://ncbg.unc.edu/uploads/files/SeedsofSuccess.pdf

 

Learn more about the National Seed Strategy: Seed Strategy