An Assessment of Native Seed Needs and the Capacity for Their Supply Final Report (2023) / Chapter Skim
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1 Introduction
1 Introduction
Pages 13-22
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From page 13... ...
During this period, the committee sought information from, and about, various actors in the native seed supply chain including federal, state, tribal, and municipal agencies, private landowners in conservation programs, native seed collectors and suppliers, seed testing associations, seed banks, land trusts, environmental groups, and other nongovernmental organizations. Using surveys and interviews, presentations to the committee, expert consultations, and the considerable experience of its own members, the committee explored the diverse set of needs and activities in the native seed supply chain to identify opportunities for progress.
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in ecological restoration and other activities; • the frequency and scale of the demand and the characteristics of the seeds pursued by users, as well as the diversity of applications for which they are sought; • how users find seeds that are appropriate for their intended purpose and how users communicate their needs for seeds to potential suppliers; • how suppliers make known their capacity to potential users; • the different kinds of entities and roles that compose the seed supply chain (from professionals and organization involved in the identification of site-specific needs, to the collection, propagation, cleaning, storage, and supply of seed) and their respective capacities; • the relationship of seed availability to other agricultural, land-management, and conservation activities generally; • procurement processes for native seeds and the cost, availability of funds, infrastructure, market, and other factors that influence decision making on the part of users and suppliers of native seeds; • opportunities to increase the size and capacity of the native seed supply chain (and number of suppliers)
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The point here is that seed needs are shaped by a broader context. Preliminary Observations as the Context for Phase Two The committee's interim report included eight preliminary observations about the native seed supply (Box 1-2)
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The Congressional Mandate for a Native Seed Supply In June 2001, with increasing acres of public land affected by wildland fire, Congress urged the Department of the Interior's (DOI) Burned Area Emergency Rehabilitation program to go beyond emergency stabilization and toward the rapid use of native plant species to prevent invasive species encroachment in newly burned areas.
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Extreme events can and do damage landscapes; wildfire is after all one reason public land managers seek native seeds. Intact native plant populations have evolved to be resilient, however, and are thought to be able buffer the impacts of climate change on ecosystems and support recovery of animal species.
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Preliminary Observation 2 of the committee's interim report postulated that the native seed market in the western United States is strongly affected by decision making by the large land-management agencies, such as BLM and USFS. The survey of state agency personnel partially supported this hypothesis, as seed shortages were associated with bad fire years, but another federal program, the USDA Conservation Reserve Program (CRP)
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. New Opportunities for Ecological Restoration A final contemporary context for the native seed assessment is the significant development during the past 2 years of national directives that recognize the value of natural assets in relation to jobs and the national economy.
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Conclusion 1-3: The nation's native seed needs depend on the native plant communities that are the source of seeds. There is urgency to the need for conserving the biodiversity that is present in existing native plant communities and, therefore, for building a native seed supply through seed collection, plant development, and restoration, because climate change, extreme events, and destructive human activities have put these genetically and ecologically valuable natural resources at increasing risk.
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From page 21... ...
2015. National Seed Strategy for Rehabilitation and Restoration.
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