An Assessment of the
Need for Native Seeds and the
Capacity for Their Supply
INTERIM REPORT
Committee on an Assessment of Native Seed Needs and Capacities
Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources
Division on Earth and Life Studies
Committee on National Statistics
Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education
A Consensus Study Report of
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
Washington, DC
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This activity was supported by Contract No. 140L0618C0052 with the U.S. Department of Interior Bureau of Land Management. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of any organization or agency that provided support for the project.
International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-309-68015-8
International Standard Book Number-10: 0-309-68015-8
Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.17226/25859
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Suggested Citation: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. An Assessment of the Need for Native Seeds and the Capacity for Their Supply: Interim Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/25859.
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COMMITTEE ON AN ASSESSMENT OF NATIVE SEED NEEDS AND CAPACITIES
SUSAN P. HARRISON (Chair), University of California, Davis
DELANE ATCITTY, Indian Nations Conservation Alliance, El Prado, NM
ROB FIEGENER, Independent Consultant, Corvallis, OR
RACHAEL GOODHUE, University of California, Davis
KAYRI HAVENS, Chicago Botanic Garden, Glencoe, IL
CAROL C. HOUSE, Independent Consultant, Lyme, CT
RICHARD C. JOHNSON, Washington State University, Pullman, WA
ELIZABETH LEGER, University of Nevada, Reno
VIRGINIA LESSER, Oregon State University, Corvallis
JEAN OPSOMER, Westat, Rockville, MD
NANCY SHAW, U.S. Forest Service, Boise, ID (Emeritus)
DOUGLAS E. SOLTIS, Florida Museum of Natural History, Gainesville, FL
SCOTT SWINTON, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
EDWARD TOTH, Greenbelt Native Plant Center, Staten Island, NY
STANFORD A. YOUNG, Utah State University, Logan, UT (Emeritus)
Staff
ROBERTA SCHOEN, Board and Study Director, Board Agriculture and Natural Resources
KRISZTINA MARTON, Senior Program Officer, Committee on National Statistics
JENNA BRISCOE, Research Associate, Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources
SARAH KWON, Program Assistant, Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources
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Acknowledgments
This Consensus Study Report was reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in making each published report as sound as possible and to ensure that it meets the institutional standards for quality, objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process.
We thank the following individuals for their review of this report:
Amy W. Ando, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Steve Apfelbaum, Applied Ecological Services
Stephanie Frischie, Indiana Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation
Paul Gibson-Roy, Kalbar Operation
Randi Johnson, USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (retired)
Scott Lambert, Rainier Seed Inc.
Abby Meyer, Botanic Gardens Conservation International
Doug Schemske (NAS), Michigan State University
Barry Schrumpf, Oregon State University
Lynne Stokes, Southern Methodist University
Russel Tronstad, The University of Arizona
Rob Wendell, Schaff Seed Companies
Tao Zhang, Sasaki Associates Inc.
Although the reviewers listed above provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations of this report, nor did they see the final draft before its release. The review of this report was overseen by Peter Raven, Missouri Botanical Garden (emeritus) and Laurian J. Unnevehr, Economic Research Service (emerita). They were responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with the standards of the National Academies and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content rests entirely with the authoring committee and the National Academies.
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Preface
This interim report represents the culmination of 9 months of exploration into the complex system by which seeds of native plants are produced and used in the United States. This system plays an essential but under-recognized role in the maintenance and restoration of the nation’s natural and semi-natural areas, including national parks and forests, rangelands, roadsides, lands recovered after energy development, and many, many others. Our assessment committee—a group of diverse professionals from the public and private sector—is now at the end of this initial phase in its assessment of the demand for native seeds and the capacity of the supply chain to meet those demands. The goal remains deceptively simple: to understand who and what are parts of this system and how the system works.
To meet this goal we heard from federal agency representatives, city planners, restoration practitioners, seed suppliers, and other experts from across the system. The committee visited nurseries, restoration sites and seed cleaning facilities to understand the nuances of the many different paths through which native seed supplies are connected with the individuals and organizations who want to use them. In the course of this initial exploration, the committee developed a set of questions, the answers to which we hope to obtain in the next phase of the assessment. The ultimate aim will be to provide the essential information needed to delineate the existing system and suggest improvements to our nation’s native seed supply.
I would like to thank all committee members and the experts who generously gave of their time and expertise. Additionally, on behalf of the committee I wish to thank the assessment staff from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine for their efforts to forge a path for us to understand the native seed system, including Robin Schoen, the study director, and her team, Krisztina Marton, Jenna Briscoe and Sarah Kwon, who were indispensable in facilitating our inquiry.
Sincerely,
Susan P. Harrison, Chair
Committee on Assessment of Native Seed Needs and Capacities
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Contents
Overview of the Composition and Status of the Native Plant Seed Supply Chain
Description of Remaining Chapters in This Report
2 SUPPLY CHAIN: ITS COMPONENTS AND FLOW
Ancillary Influences: Funding, Policy, Research, Guidance, and Advocacy
Collect Data from Seed Suppliers
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