In recent weeks, seven Great Basin Institute (GBI) Seeds of Success (SOS) field crews showed up to the University of Nevada, Reno Native Seed Bank to deliver “the fruits of their labor (pun intended),” as SOS Program Coordinator Ceana Olsen says. The fruits in question were 285 pounds of 13+ million pure live seeds (PLS). These seeds were collected over a six month period by 14 different field members known as Native Seed Program Technicians.
Partnered with the Bureau of Land Management’s Native Plant Materials Development Program, the Seed Techs scoured high deserts and low valleys for wildland plant populations. Within the national Native Plant Materials Development Program, Seeds of Success (SOS) provides wildland collected seeds to researchers and land managers for native plant materials development projects. The National Seed Strategy stresses that “In 2012, more than 2 million acres of important sagebrush habitat burned in four Western States […] years later, many of these lands are still in need of basic stabilization, rehabilitation, or other restoration treatments” (Plant Conservation Alliance 2015). Seed availability in the Great Basin does not match the large numbers of seed needed for restoration. Furthermore, much of the previously available seed is not locally adapted to the Great Basin, not native to the Great Basin, or both. The Seeds of Success collection program is the first step in this process of developing native plant materials for increase and operational use that is genetically appropriate.
“GBI’s SOS field crews put in the hard work to begin bridging the gap between needed and available seed for restoration projects. After tracking a population’s phenology, collecting preliminary site data, and determining seed readiness, crews assessed seed viability before getting to work harvesting seed. Cumulatively, crews made 74 collections of 38 unique taxa. (nearly four million more seeds than the previous year).” The team handed their findings over to UNR’s Native Seed Bank Director, Shannon Swim and Elizabeth Leger. September 23rd was a day of celebration and commemoration to the hard work the field techs completed.
At the UNR Native Seed Processing and Storage Center, the seeds are then stored and processed through a rigorous routine. Seed processing (seed cleaning) consists of two main steps: extraction and finishing. Swim and Leger state that extraction breaks up plant material to free seed and removes the pappus, wings, hairs etc. Whereas finishing separates extraneous material from the viable seed. In order to perform these cleaning and testing processes, the Center utilizes cleaning, testing and storage equipment such as X-ray machines, germinators, laboratory threshers, moisture analyzers, screen separators and reach in refrigerators/freezers.
The seed deliveries mark a significant achievement in the ongoing effort to restore and stabilize Great Basin Ecosystems. The data counts for 24 forb species, 9 grass species, and 5 shrub species, with over 900 populations scouted. Through the dedication of GBI’s SOS crews and the BLM native Plant Materials Program, 38 unique taxa were collected. This collection emphasizes the growing momentum in addressing the seed shortage critical to native habitat restoration.
