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From page 41... ... If this challenge is to be met, the agencies will need to move quickly toward an expanded, proactive effort to develop a supply of native seeds for emergency stabilization and long-term ecological restoration. Conclusion 3-3: Existing native plant communities on public lands that are managed for multiple uses are an essential resource for developing a native seed supply, but those plant communities are at risk, and their conservation has not been a priority relative to other uses. Read the entire page →
From page 42... ... 2022. National Seed Strategy Progress Report, Fiscal Year 2021. Read the entire page →
From page 43... ... It put forward the hypothesis that the seed market in the West was strongly affected by decision making of BLM and the US Forest Service, and wanted to know if state governments, which also purchase native seed for land-management activities, were experiencing shortages, and if so, whether this phenomenon was limited to the western states or was more widespread. The Committee felt that a survey of state departments that use native seed or plant materials might shed light on some of the Committee's other preliminary observations about native seed needs, such as how the timeframe in which seeds are needed and the objectives of users affect availability, among other factors (Box 1-2) Read the entire page →
From page 44... ... . FIGURE 4-2 State departments' use of native and non-native seed and plant materials. Read the entire page →
From page 45... ... When asked if their states have programs to assist private landowners with the use of native seed or plant materials, about half (46%) of the state respondents indicated that they did. Read the entire page →
From page 46... ... . FIGURE 4-4 State departments' use of wild-collected seed from state land. Read the entire page →
From page 47... ... Departmental representatives were asked if there were other sources of information used to obtain information about native seed and plant materials availability. Responses included direct calls to vendors, annual meetings with registered suppliers, online vendor postings, other state departments, state crop associations, state university extension offices, native plant databases, BLM seed buys, and state seed bank. Read the entire page →
From page 48... ... By contrast, production contracts specify the desired type, quantity, and delivery date of native seed and plant materials, while mitigating production risk by sharing some production costs or by providing flexibility on the quantity delivered and/or the delivery date. They may or may not specify a price. Read the entire page →
From page 49... ... In addition, approximately 10 percent of the state respondents were unable to provide an estimate of the amount their department spends on native seed and plant materials, and some respondents skipped this question. TABLE 4-2 Timing of When State Departments Usually Establish a Contract with Seed Suppliers Contract is Usually Established Percent of Departments Before the supplier begins seed production 37 After the supplier begins seed production 24 Unsure of timing of contract 39 Total 100 Read the entire page →
From page 50... ... . In general, the results show that using native seed was more important to states than using native seed sourced from a specific geographic location or certified seed (in which the geographic source of the originally collected seed was verified FIGURE 4-9 Importance of certain seed attributes to state departments, by annual seed expenditures. Read the entire page →
From page 51... ... of source specificity, e.g., weed-free, with genetically appropriate mentioned most often. Seed Substitutions State representatives were asked questions about how often their departments substituted other kinds of seed or plant materials when their preferred native seed or plant material was unavailable, specifically substituted with non-native seed or plant material, native seed or plant material of another species, or native seed or plant material from a different geographic region. Read the entire page →
From page 52... ... Other Reasons for Substituting with Non-natives In an open-ended question, state staff were also asked if there were other reasons besides the three offered by the survey that explain why non-native seeds and plant materials were substituted when preferred natives are not available. Table 4-4 provides a summary of the reasons given, grouped into categories. Read the entire page →
From page 53... ... As shown in Figure 4-13, 42 percent of the respondents stated that they frequently substitute with native seed or plant material of different species, and this was similar for eastern and western states. When the responses were examined by the level of annual expenditure on seeding projects, 50 percent of state departments with $100,000 or more in expenditures indicated that they frequently substitute with TABLE 4-4 Other Reasons Provided by State Departments for Substituting Non-Natives for Preferred Natives Reason for Substitution (Categories) Read the entire page →
From page 54... ... This suggests that those departments with larger projects may have more difficulty getting the quantity of natives they need. As shown in Figure 4-14, 29 percent of state representatives responding to the survey indicated that their departments frequently substitute with native seed or plant materials from a different geographical source location when their preferred native seed or plant materials are not available. Read the entire page →
From page 55... ... . It is possible that buyers in western states have smaller windows of time for purchasing seed FIGURE 4-16 Typical reasons for substituting with natives having different characteristics, by region. Read the entire page →
From page 56... ... about the biggest barriers or disincentives to using native seed and plant materials in the state departments' work, approximately half of the respondents mentioned availability of plant material (48%) Read the entire page →
From page 57... ... Role of Policy in Decision Making Most respondents said that a variety of specifications and guidelines apply to their projects that involve native seed and plant materials, including technical specifications (91%) , federal regulations, guidelines, and policy (71%) Read the entire page →
From page 58... ... Desired plant materials are often unavailable in the quantities needed, and buyers' project timelines do not allow for the time that it might take suppliers to obtain and/or propagate these materials. High-quality native seed may also be prohibitively expensive, and even when state departments have a policy of using it, their project contractors may substitute lower-cost seed. Read the entire page →
From page 59... ... A high-level summary of responses to perspectives in the short term is provided in Table 4-6 and in the long term in Table 4-7. TABLE 4-6 Reasons for Anticipated Increase or Decrease in State Departments' Near-Term Use of Native Seed or Plant Materials Reasons Native Seed and Plant Materials Use Is Likely to INCREASE Number of in the Near Term (Category) Read the entire page →
From page 60... ... The survey showed that there is growing recognition of native seed and plant materials by states as being valuable for their environmental benefits, from improving water quality to providing wildlife habitat, and the use of native seeds by states is expanding. Although the survey found that virtually all state departments say it is important to use natives, not everyone in state departments agrees that native plants are the best choice for their restoration projects. Read the entire page →
From page 61... ... Finally, some states have a good supply of existing native plant communities which, if maintained, can be the basis of a seed supply for restoration, and there is hope to be able to use those native stands effectively, without needing to buy seeds. CONCLUSIONS Conclusion 4-1: Virtually all state departments prefer to use native seeds in their seeding projects relative to nonnative seeds, with a few exceptions, and most states have policy guidance requiring natives to be used. Read the entire page →

From page 41...

... If this challenge is to be met, the agencies will need to move quickly toward an expanded, proactive effort to develop a supply of native seeds for emergency stabilization and long-term ecological restoration. Conclusion 3-3: Existing native plant communities on public lands that are managed for multiple uses are an essential resource for developing a native seed supply, but those plant communities are at risk, and their conservation has not been a priority relative to other uses.