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Suggested Citation:"1 Introduction and Overview." 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. doi: 10.17226/25859.
×

1

Introduction and Overview

BACKGROUND

In 2019, at the request of the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine established an ad hoc committee to assess federal, state, tribal, and private sector needs for native plant seeds and to assess seed industry capacities and public-sector solutions to supply those needs. Native plant seed1 (a term used in this report to include all native plant propagative materials) is used for the ecological restoration of degraded wildlands and their biodiversity and for the enhancement of lands for conservation and for human and wildlife benefit.

The committee’s statement of task (see Box 1-1) specifies that it should largely focus on the vast public land complex in the western continental United States where BLM and other agencies are continuously addressing the impacts of increasingly frequent, intense, wildland fire disturbances. Many of the landscapes affected are already extensively degraded. Some were previously seeded with an array of native and nonnative species. The statement of task also directs the committee to include information, as available, on native plant seed needs for other users and regions in an effort to begin constructing a national perspective of native seed use and supply. Millions of acres of land in settings that range from the most natural to the most urban are potentially in need of supplies of native seed to improve their resilience in the face of changing uses and climate change. A recognition of the connection between plant communities and the ecosystem goods and services on which human existence depends is driving the demand for native plant seeds.

The statement of task calls for the assessment to take place in two phases. This interim report describes the findings of the committee’s phase 1 information-gathering activities which were undertaken in order to develop a framework for the additional data gathering that will take place in phase 2.

By elucidating the present status of native seed needs and capacities and recommending steps to ensure seed availability for ecological restoration, the completed assessment will take a major step towards fulfilling the first objective of the National Seed Strategy for Rehabilitation and Restoration 2015–2020 (PCA, 2015) to assess the nation’s needs for and capacity to supply native seeds.

COMMITTEE ACTIVITIES TO DATE

Short biographies of the committee members appointed by National Academies to conduct the assessment are contained in Appendix A. The committee was initially constituted in

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1 The statement of task (see Box 1-1) specifically refers to “native plant seed,” The report will use native plant seed to encompass not only seeds but other plant materials, such as containerized stock, bare root seedlings, cuttings, rhizomes, tissue culture callus material, and other plant propagules.

Suggested Citation:"1 Introduction and Overview." 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. doi: 10.17226/25859.
×

August 2019 and was later expanded to include additional expertise in markets and contracts. The committee met four times in virtual meetings in closed session and held three in-person meetings, the first in Washington, D.C., on August 18–19, 2019. The topics explored included ecological restoration, seed source selection and seed collection, seed production, seed performance in restoration, seed certification, and marketing. The committee met with a BLM representative and listened to presentations on the roles of different federal agencies in the native seed enterprise, including the U.S. Department of Interior’s Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service (USFS), the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). Several private and public sector seed producers provided their perspectives concerning the growing and marketing of native seeds.

Suggested Citation:"1 Introduction and Overview." 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. doi: 10.17226/25859.
×

The second in-person committee meeting was in Bend, Oregon, on October 10–11, 2019, at the Deschutes National Forest administration headquarters. The committee visited the Deschutes National Forest seed extractory (a facility that removes seed from plant material) and observed the diverse processes of native seed cleaning. The committee met again with representatives of the seed industry, listened to presentations on the USFS native seed needs, met remotely with a retired plant specialist from the Department of Transportation, and heard a presentation on the Oregon Seed Certification Service. The committee met remotely with representatives of the National Park Service and the Umatilla tribe to gather information on their respective uses of native seeds.

The third meeting was at the National Academy of Science’s Beckman Center in Irvine, California, on January 28–29, 2020. Major topics included the best approaches to data gathering and interim report topics and organization. The committee also received information from representatives of various state departments of transportation and the Forest Service’s Intertribal Nursery Program and again consulted with seed industry members. Field trips to seed-growing and ecological restoration sites in Irvine and Los Angeles provided firsthand insight into the scale of native seed needs in urban and semi-urban settings. Throughout this stage of the assessment, individual members of the committee sought information and insight from professionals in public and private organizations engaged in the native plant materials supply chain.

The remainder of this chapter provides a brief overview of some of the main concepts and issues the committee has investigated thus far, which are discussed in greater detail in other chapters of the report. Although the committee has focused mainly on the western United States to this point, it is mindful of differences in the seed supply in other regions of the country that will need elucidation as the assessment moves into its second phase.

OVERVIEW OF THE COMPOSITION AND STATUS OF THE NATIVE PLANT SEED SUPPLY CHAIN

Background on Native Plants and Their Supply and Use in Restorative Activities

For the purposes of this assessment, native seed is seed collected from native plants, including trees and shrubs, which are defined as “indigenous terrestrial and aquatic species that have evolved and occur naturally in a particular region, ecosystem, or habitat. Species native to North America are generally recognized as those occurring on the continent prior to European settlement” (PCA, 2015, p. 42). Native plants, therefore, are the foundation of our native ecosystems; they evolved with other species in a given area and context, resulting in a complex collection of ecological relationships.

Most plant species are represented by an array of genetically variable populations, reflecting different adaptations to varying soils, climates, and biotic factors across their geographic ranges. Long-term restoration success at a given site is dependent upon obtaining and establishing adapted plant seeds (Hereford, 2009; Johnson et al., 2010; Leimu and Fischer, 2008). Long-term ecosystem health is dependent on maintaining the adaptive variability found within and among local populations, and on maintaining critical ecological relationships among plants and animals. Along with other characteristics, (Byrne, 2011; Frankham et al., 2011; Breed et al., 2018) a plant’s plasticity (i.e., its response to changing environments) can vary both among and within species and populations (Bradshaw, 1965). Plasticity can also vary from one specific plant trait to another (Espeland et al., 2018). Plant seeds that originate from the same site or from

Suggested Citation:"1 Introduction and Overview." 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. doi: 10.17226/25859.
×

environmentally similar locations are likely to have similar characteristics, and thus are more likely to establish and enhance ecological relationships than seeds from environmentally distant plants. Although there are exceptions, this basic pattern has generally been borne out by research (Baughman et al., 2019; Johnson et al., 2010; Leimu and Fischer, 2008).

In addition to considering whether native seeds have the appropriate genetic composition to become established and survive at a particular restoration site in the short- to medium term, other critical considerations include (1) whether the species that grow from the seeds will tend to coexist with, or to outcompete, other desirable native species at the site, (2) whether they will survive in the longer term under a changing climate, and (3) whether they, combined with the existing species at a site, represent the full array of species and functional types (grasses, forbs,2 shrubs, trees) desired in an ecological restoration project (PCA, 2015). Meeting these criteria is inherently challenging since the seeds in question must be well-matched to particular restoration projects at specific recipient sites. Native seeds that are derived from specific known locations or climate zones in the wild are an important resource for fulfilling these criteria. In this report the committee refers to such native seeds as provenance-specific (where provenance means the geographic location of the original seed source), which are distinguished from native species that are genetically manipulated through intentional selection or breeding, as described later in the chapter.

The realities of seed production, both by plants in the wild and in cultivation, lead to different paths from the wild to native seed users. For species with copious seed production and large populations (e.g., sagebrush), wild-sourced native seed can supply a significant seed volume for direct sowing. For species that are difficult to grow economically under cultivation, including some shrubs (e.g., bitterbrush) and certain forbs and grasses, obtaining seeds for projects requires that they be collected from wildland plant stands. Ideally, those collections are made from areas that are ecologically similar to a planned or expected seeding site. For most species, seed is collected from the wild in limited quantities and then propagated in fields or nurseries to produce sufficient quantities for seeding projects. When obtaining seed from wild populations, collectors are encouraged or required to use particular sampling protocols designed to ensure that they capture the genetic diversity resident in the sampled populations (USDI BLM SOS, 2016; ENSCONET, 2009; Guerrant Jr. et al., 2014; Waters and Shaw, 2003).

The way in which a seed accession (a uniquely identified sample of seeds) is ultimately handled has significance to participants in the supply chain. The development of germplasm (living tissue that can produce new plants, such as seeds or rhizomes) can be as simple as increasing the numbers of seeds of wild collections in production fields, knowing only the provenance of the wild-growing parents, or it can involve evaluating an accession for its genotype and phenotypic expression and its potential for use in specific restoration projects, geographic areas, or seed zones (Box 1-2).

Germplasm development may also use plant breeding techniques such as selection for particular characteristics or crossing to create new genetic combinations (Johnson et al, 2010; Shaw and Jensen, 2014). One way to categorize native plant materials by describing their “natural” or “manipulated” status and their degree of development has been set forth by the Association of Official Seed Certification Agencies (AOSCA).3 Seed accessions developed by public and private entities are in some cases offered as germplasm or as named cultivar releases

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2 A forb is an herbaceous flowering plant other than a grass.

3 See https://www.aosca.org/about-aosca/programs-and-services/native-plant-restoration.

Suggested Citation:"1 Introduction and Overview." 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. doi: 10.17226/25859.
×

in accordance with AOSCA guidelines (Young et al., 2003). Supplies of some commonly available native germplasms and cultivars, most of them natural but some manipulated (through selection and breeding), have been greatly increased and applied across wide geographic ranges, especially in Western states. However, some restoration practitioners have questioned whether it is appropriate to use these native releases for ecological restoration so broadly outside of their areas of geographic provenance, and this practice runs counter to directives by the Forest Service and other agencies to be guided by seed zones in selecting seed (Breed et al., 2018; Leger and Baughman, 2015).

The committee’s statement of task charges it to examine native seed needs and supply for “ecological restoration and other purposes.” The committee has adopted the terminology of the Society for Ecological Restoration, which defines ecological restoration as “the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, or destroyed” (Gann et al., 2019, p. S7). The committee considered “other purposes” to include activities occurring within a restorative continuum (Figure 1-1) and involving a range of different objectives that take place in natural, semi-natural, agricultural, or urban areas. The restorative continuum encompasses a variety of seeding activities, from simple revegetation (attaining some degree of improvement in ecosystem function with the goal of, for instance, erosion control or fire mitigation) to ecological restoration with the aim of putting an ecological community on a trajectory to attain the species composition, structural diversity, genetic integrity, ecosystem function, and other conditions similar to those that would be present in an undisturbed reference ecosystem (Gann et al., 2019). The committee considers within its charge the use of native plants, including trees and shrubs, for activities along the restorative continuum.

One of the challenges in the native seed supply is aligning what is available on the market with the characteristics of seeds valued by different users, which are shaped, in part, by the objectives of their seeding projects and the characteristics of their project locations. In ecological restoration there is a high demand for provenance-specific native seeds. When used at sites that are geographically and ecologically similar to the source of the seeds, provenance-specific seeds are presumed to be locally adapted, i.e., to be capable of surviving at least in the short- to medium term and likely to coexist well with other native species. Provenance-specific seeds may be blended to create seed mixtures with the genetic variability believed to enhance the seeds’ potential for adaptation within seed zones and to climate change (Etterson et al., 2020; Havens et al., 2015; Massatti, et al., 2020).

Suggested Citation:"1 Introduction and Overview." 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. doi: 10.17226/25859.
×
Image
FIGURE 1-1 The restorative continuum. SOURCE: Gann et al. (2019). Reprinted with permission; copyright 2019, Restoration Ecology.

In other restorative activities, including revegetation with specific aims such as forage production or soil stabilization, there is generally greater acceptance of using widely adapted native seed from other seed zones or of genetically manipulated varieties of native species that have been bred for qualities such as fast growth, high biomass production, or wide climatic tolerance. Active and extensive debate continues about what mixtures of species and genotypes of native seeds are suitable for particular purposes and specific locations.

Drivers of Native Plant Restoration: Reactive versus Proactive Projects; Challenges of Scale, Geography, and Timing

Native plant restoration is conducted as a response either to the extreme degradation of native plant communities by any of a wide variety of human activities, such as unsustainable use and overdevelopment, or to large-scale losses of vegetative cover caused by such events as fires, hurricanes, encroachment by invasive weeds, and climate change. The primary impetus of native plant restoration is to help promote the reestablishment of landscapes in order to assist natural recovery. Although events such as wildfires and flooding have occurred throughout history and are not entirely human-caused, there is often a perception that some of today’s very large and severe events—often combined with the loss of resilience due to previous degradation—may leave ecosystem recovery impaired in the absence of intervention (Oldfield et al., 2019).

Among the projects using the largest amounts of native seed are reactive projects following wildfires in Western U.S. forests and rangelands or those following storms and flooding in the coastal Eastern and Southern United States. One of the immediate goals of restoration following a disturbance such as fire is to prevent the spread and dominance of invasive plant species. Proactive restoration efforts, by contrast, are often smaller in size than reactive projects, and they usually have a lead-time for completion and are diverse in geographic location and scale. Examples of proactive projects include the creation of fuel breaks, the development of wildlife and pollinator habitat, the establishment of urban green infrastructure,

Suggested Citation:"1 Introduction and Overview." 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. doi: 10.17226/25859.
×

and federal and state cost share programs that require native plant establishment by private landowners. Other drivers of proactive seed use are various restoration projects that are required by regulation or policy following such intentional disturbances as utility corridors, mining, wind and solar power, or invasive plant removal.

Emergency reactive projects may encounter major difficulties in procuring large quantities of provenance-specific seed in the time frame needed (Shaw and Jensen, 2014). BLM procurement data show that even non-native species are frequently employed in those situations, perhaps because of the difficulty in acquiring the provenance-specific seed, although there appear to be many different factors that affect these purchasing decisions. The lead times for plant materials development and seed increase (field production to harvest more seed) can be anywhere from a few months to 5 or more years, making the acquisition of sufficient provenance-specific seed challenging even in proactive projects with longer lead times. The implication of the time frame of demand versus supply is a question raised for further exploration later in the report.

Supply Challenges

As indicated above, the outcomes of restoration or revegetation efforts vary greatly depending on whether the project is proactive or reactive, the size and urgency of the project, the availability of funding, and the project goals (e.g., where the project falls on the continuum of restorative activities). In the Western United States, native seed shortages appear largely driven by the need for large quantities of seeds following massive wildfires on public land combined with the limited diversity of seed available in large-scale production relative to what is desired, for reasons that will need additional exploration. Shortages also occur in other geographic regions for a variety of reasons, often due to the lack of a predictable market. As a result, growers often do not know or cannot anticipate future needs and thus focus on species that have sold well in the past. While the typical goal for ecological restoration is to use seeds from the same provenance or seed zone as the restoration site, the response to large unplanned disturbances such as fires often relies on the use of native seeds from adjacent seed zones, manipulated-track cultivars, or even non-native species (Camhi, et al., 2019; Peppin et al., 2010). With large disasters, restoration goals such as erosion control, exotic weed mitigation, the establishment of fire breaks, watershed protection, preparing for wildlife and livestock use, and endangered plant and wildlife recovery may all be compromised by the use of seed that is ill matched to the disturbance regime. With some exceptions (Ott et al., 2019), there have been no large-scale tests of these performance assumptions conducted within the post-fire seeding framework. However, as discussed in Chapter 3, research to date has found evidence for local adaptation in many geographically widespread species (Baughman et al., 2019).

An integral and related topic is the seed procurement methods of users of native plant seed. For small proactive projects, piecemeal buying from vendors is common, as is contracting for the collection of locally sourced seed for direct use or increase. For large reactive emergency needs, BLM and other land management agencies often purchase seed via consolidated purchases, and their options are often limited to buying seed that meet specific seed quality factors “off the shelf” at prices determined by the lowest bid within the certification category requested for the species (if available). In years of high demand this approach often falls short of meeting the greatly increased seed needs. Contracting with seed growers for production of a certain amount of seed has been proposed as an alternative way for seed users to obtain specific

Suggested Citation:"1 Introduction and Overview." 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. doi: 10.17226/25859.
×

native germplasms at specified quantities and prices, and some limited contracting efforts have recently been implemented by BLM and USFS.

DESCRIPTION OF REMAINING CHAPTERS IN THIS REPORT

Chapter 2 takes an in-depth look at the many different kinds of organizations that compose the native seed supply chain, including users and buyers, the entities that participate in supplying native seed, intermediaries that are part of the seed market infrastructure, and ancillary functions, technical assistance, policy, funding for restoration, and research. Chapter 2 provides support for the committee’s final assessment by providing a comprehensive description of the components and participants in the U.S. supply chain for native seeds.

Chapter 3 describes the committee’s initial observations, based on its investigations to date, of some of the realities and challenges that define and may constrain the native seed enterprise. These initial observations will serve as the foundation of the committee’s analysis and final report on how to move the native seed industry forward.

Chapter 4 details the planned processes for gathering additional quantitative and qualitative data needed by the committee for its final assessment, conclusions, and recommendations.

REFERENCES

Baughman, O. W., A. C. Agneray, M. L. Forister, F. F. Kilkenny, E. K. Espeland, R. Fiegener, M. E. Horning, R. C. Johnson, T. N. Kaye, J. Ott, and J. B. St. Clair. 2019. Strong patterns of intraspecific variation and local adaptation in Great Basin plants revealed through a review of 75 years of experiments. Ecology and Evolution 9(11):6259–6275.

BLS (Bureau of Land Management). 2016. Bureau of Land Management technical protocol for the collection, study, and conservation of seeds from native plant species for Seeds of Success. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management.

Bradshaw, A. D. 1965. Evolutionary significance of phenotypic plasticity in plants. Advances in Genetics 13:115–155.

Breed, M. F., A. Bischoff, P. Durruty, N. J. C. Gellie, E. K. Gonzales, P. A. Harrison, K. Havens, M. Karmann, F. F. Kilkenny, A. J. Lowe, P. Marques, P. G. Nevill, P. L. Vitt, and A. Bucharova. 2018. Priority actions to improve provenance decision-making. BioScience 68:510–516.

Byrne, M., L. Stone, and M. A. Millar. 2011. Assessing genetic risk in revegetation. Journal of Applied Ecology 48:1365–1373.

Camhi, A. L., C. Perrings, B. Butterfield, and T. Wood. 2019. Market-based opportunities for expanding native seed resources for restoration: A case study on the Colorado Plateau. Journal of Environmental Management 252:109644.

ENSCONET (European Native Seed Conservation Network). 2009. ENSCONET seed collecting manual for wild species. Available at http://brahmsonline.kew.org/Content/Projects/msbp/resources/Training/ENSCONET_Collecting_protocol_English.pdf (accessed September 26, 2020).

Espeland, E. K., R. C. Johnson, and M. E. Horning. 2018. Plasticity in native perennial grass populations: Implications for restoration. Evolutionary Applications 11:340–349.

Etterson, J. P., M. W. Cornett, M. A. White, and L. C. Kavajecz. 2020. Assisted migration across fixed seed zones detects adaptation lags in two major North American tree species. Ecological Applications 30(5):e02092.

Frankham, R., J. D. Ballou, M. D. B. Eldridge, R. C. Lacy, K. Ralls, M. R. Dudash, and C. B. Fenster. 2011. Predicting the probability of outbreeding depression. Conservation Biology 25:465–475.

Suggested Citation:"1 Introduction and Overview." 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. doi: 10.17226/25859.
×

Gann, G. D., T. McDonald, B. Walder, J. Aronson, C. R. Nelson, J. Jonson, J. C. Hallett, C. Eisenberg, M. R. Guariguata, G. Liu, F. Hua, C. Echeverria, E. Gonzales, N. Shaw, K. DeCleer, and K. W. Dixon. 2019. International principles and standards for the practice of ecological restoration. Second edition. Restoration Ecology 27(S1): S1–S46.

Guerrant Jr., E.O., K. Havens, and P. Vitt. 2014. Sampling for effective ex situ plant conservation. International Journal of Plant Science 175(1):11-20.

Havens, K. P., S. Vitt, A. T. Still, J. B. Kramer, and K. Schatz. 2015. Seed sourcing for restoration in an era of climate change. Natural Areas Journal 35:122–133.

Hereford, J. 2009. A quantitative survey of local adaptation and fitness trade-offs. American Naturalist 173:579–588.

Johnson, R., L. Stritch, P. Olwell, S. Lambert, M. E. Horning, and R. Cronn. 2010. What are the best seed sources for ecosystem restoration on BLM and USFS lands? Native Plants. 11(2):117–131.

Leger, E. A. and O. W. Baughman. 2015. What seeds to plant in the Great Basin? Comparing traits prioritized in native plant cultivars and releases with those that promote survival in the field. Natural Areas Journal 35(1):54–68.

Leimu, R., and M. Fischer. 2008. A meta-analysis of local adaptation in plants. PLOS ONE 3:e4010.

Massatti, R., R. K. Shriver., D. Winkler, B. A. Richardson, and J. B. Bradford. 2020. Assessment of population genetics and climatic variability can refine climate-informed seed transfer guidelines. Restoration Ecology 28(3):485–493.

Oldfield, S. F., P. Olwell, N. Shaw, and K. Havens. 2019. Seeds of restoration success: Wild lands and plant diversity in the U.S. Springer Earth System Sciences Series. Cham, Switzerland: Springer.

Ott, J. E., F. F. Kilkenny, D. D. Summers, and T. W. Thompson. 2019. Long-term vegetation recovery and invasive annual suppression in native and introduced postfire seeding treatments. Rangeland Ecology & Management 72:640–653.

PCA (Plant Conservation Alliance). 2015. National Seed Strategy for Rehabilitation and Restoration. www.blm.gov/seedstrategy (accessed March 31, 2020).

Peppin, D. L., P. Z. Fulé, J. C. Lynn, A. L. Mottek‐Lucas, and C. H. Sieg. 2010. Market perceptions and opportunities for native plant production on the Southern Colorado Plateau. Restoration Ecology 18:113–124.

Shaw, N., and S. Jensen. 2014. The challenge of using native plant materials for sagebrush steppe restoration in the Great Basin. In K. Kiehl, A. Kirmer, N. Shaw, and S. Tischew (eds.), Guidelines for native seed production and grassland restoration. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Pp. 141–159.

Waters, C. M., and N. L. Shaw. 2003. Developing native seed industries for re-vegetation in Australia and the Western United States: A contrast in production and adoption. In N. Allsopp, A. R. Palmer, S. J. Milton, K. P. Kirkman, G. I. H. Kerley, C. R. Hurt, and C. J. Brown (eds.), Proceedings of the VIIth International Rangeland Congress. 26 July – 1 August 2003, Durban, South Africa. African Journal of Range and Forage Science 20:1152–1160.

Young, S., B. Schrumpf, and E. Amberson. 2003. The AOSCA Native Plant Connection. Association of Official Seed Certifying Agencies. Available at www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_PLANTMATERIALS/publications/idpmstn6990.pdf (accessed March 31, 2020).

Suggested Citation:"1 Introduction and Overview." 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. doi: 10.17226/25859.
×
Page 11
Suggested Citation:"1 Introduction and Overview." 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. doi: 10.17226/25859.
×
Page 12
Suggested Citation:"1 Introduction and Overview." 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. doi: 10.17226/25859.
×
Page 13
Suggested Citation:"1 Introduction and Overview." 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. doi: 10.17226/25859.
×
Page 14
Suggested Citation:"1 Introduction and Overview." 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. doi: 10.17226/25859.
×
Page 15
Suggested Citation:"1 Introduction and Overview." 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. doi: 10.17226/25859.
×
Page 16
Suggested Citation:"1 Introduction and Overview." 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. doi: 10.17226/25859.
×
Page 17
Suggested Citation:"1 Introduction and Overview." 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. doi: 10.17226/25859.
×
Page 18
Suggested Citation:"1 Introduction and Overview." 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. doi: 10.17226/25859.
×
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Across the United States, millions of acres of land have been so disturbed by human activities or severe climate events that significant portions of their native plant communities have been lost and their ecosystems have been seriously compromised. Restoring impaired ecosystems requires a supply of diverse native plant seeds that are well suited to the climates, soils, and other living species of the system. Native seeds are also in demand for applications in urban land management, roadside maintenance, conservation agriculture, and other restorative activities that take into account the connection between native plant communities and the increasingly urgent need for resilient landscapes. Given the varied climatic and environmental niches of the more than 17,000 native plant species of the United States, supplying the desired seed types and species mixes for this wide range of activities is a challenge.

As the first phase of a nationwide analysis of the full scope of needs for native plant seeds, this interim report describes the participants in the native plant seed supply chain, makes preliminary observations, and proposes an information-gathering plan for the second phase of the assessment.

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