National Native Plant Materials
Development Program:
Current and Future Strategies
Ecological Society of America
August 2, 2009
Peggy Olwell
Bureau of Land Management
Plant Conservation Program Lead
National Native Plant Materials
Development Program
• History of the Program
• Need for the Program
• Native Plant Materials Development Process
• Funding
• Leveraging Investment
• Accomplishments
• Future Direction
National Native Plant Materials
Development Program
2006 Burned Acres
24%
50%
2%
1%
4%
19%
House of Representatives’ FY2001 Conference Report
• Directs “…the agencies to develop a long-term program to manage and
supply native plant materials for various Federal land management
restoration and rehabilitation needs.
• Recommends “… the interagency Plant Conservation Alliance lead this
effort.”
BLM
FWS
NPS
BIA
FS
ST/OT
Effects of Climate Change:
•Drought
•Fire
•Invasive Species
•Phenology
•Species Redistribution
•According to the models, flowering of Sonoran Desert shrubs might
have advanced by 20–41 days from 1894 to 2004 (Bowers 2007).
• Change in flowering effects migratory hummingbirds and population
dynamics of shrubs.
• In the Southwest, the most widespread example of species
redistribution is the movement of woody plants like creosote bushes
and mesquite trees into native grasslands.
Ten-Year Budget Strategy
Needs vs. Funds Received
National Native Plant Materials
Development Program
Leveraged Funds (2001-2007)
Great Basin NPSIP (20+ partners)
$3.0m
Royal Botanic Gardens Kew
$2.3m
Chicago Botanic Garden
$2.1m
Native Seed Network
$1.7m
Center for Plant Conservation
$1.5m
Pacific Northwest (OR/WA)
$1.5m
Uncompahgre Plateau Project
$1.4m
PCA/NFWF Grant Program
$1.3m
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
$0.8m
$15 million
Eco-regional Native Plant Programs
Established
• Great Basin Native Plant Selection & Increase
Project
• OR/WA Native Plant Program
• California Native Plant Program
Initiated
• Colorado Plateau Program
• Mojave Desert Restoration Initiative
Planned
• Sonoran & Chihuahuan Deserts
• Wyoming and Permian Basin
8,000+ Collections
65 Collecting Teams
>300 people work on SOS every year
Seeds of Success Collections
Evaluation and Development
Common Garden Studies
Partners:
• Research
• Seed regulatory
agencies
• Tribes
Developing
Seed and Seeding Technology
Native Plant Materials Development
Field Establishment
Conducted:
738 Agricultural Practices Studies
295 Seeding Strategy Studies
474 Operational Seedings
579 Harvesting, Cleaning
& Seed Storage Studies
Provided foundation seed for 193 species to growers
Made 122 native species commercially available
National Native Plant Materials
Development Program
Connecting Seed Growers with the Land
www.nativeseednetwork.org
Supported by: BLM, FWS, NRCS, FS
BLM CONSOLIDATED
SEED BUYS QUANITY
Non-Native Seed
5,000,000
4,500,000
4,045,000
4,486,650
Native Seed
1,890,000
2,521,395
2,396,000
1,535,000
530,000
1998
660,055
674,500
1997
493,550
534,650
500,000
230,400
169,590
1,000,000
238,450
135,330
1,500,000
972,235
1,053,255
2,000,000
Average Seed Buy
1,318,400
1,484,295
2,500,000
1,803,750
2,089,245
3,000,000
701,650
327,670
LBS OF SEED
3,500,000
3,020,000
2,920,000
4,000,000
0
1996
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
Future Seed Storage Capacity
National Seed Warehouse
Boise, ID
3.5 million pounds storage
100,000 pounds cold storage
UT Div. of Wildlife Res.
Ephraim, UT
700,000 pounds storage
100,000 pounds cold storage
New Seed Warehouse
Ely, Nevada
800,000 pounds storage
100,000 pounds cold storage
National Native Plant Materials
Development Program
Field Trials
Studying Post-fire Vegetation Change and Ecological
Restoration of Semi-arid Grasslands
Desert Botanic Garden SOS Collector at
Agua Fria National Monument
Changes in USDA Hardiness Zones
1990 Map
2006 Map2006 Map
USDA
Arbor Day
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9 10
2006 National Arbor Day Foundation
Strategy for Native Seed Increase
• Increase seed storage capacity to 5M lbs.
• Establish eco-regional native plant
materials development programs
• Expand seed collection and curation to
15,000 accessions
• Develop seed transfer zones for 250 species
• Provide programmatic leadership &
infrastructure
National Native Plant Materials
Development Program
How can this program work to ensure
that we have the genetically
appropriate native plant materials to
restore native plant communities in the
future?
National Native Plant Materials
Development Program
Contacts for more information
• Peggy Olwell
peggy_olwelll@blm.gov
202-452-7764
• Mary Byrne
Seeds of Success
mary_byrne@blm.gov
202-452-7767