- Author
- Smith, Sierra; Center for Natural Lands Management
- Publication Year
- 2018
- Region
- Puget Trough/Lowlands
- Topic
- Native plants, Plant production
- Author Contact Details
- Author Website
- http://southsoundprairies.org
The Center for Natural Lands Management’s Conservation Nursery Program is a cooperative conservation infrastructure project, which provides native grassland seed services primarily in Western Washington. Our core mission is the regional production of native seed for a coordinated set of land managers to recover listed species and enhance the habitat they depend on.
In additional to cooperative regional seed production, we provide custom seed increase services, greenhouse propagation of restoration plugs, wildland seed collection, seed cleaning and storing, and seed mix development for specific projects. In 2017 direct seed sales became a significant portion of our operations, allowing land managers to purchase locally adapted native seed “off the shelf”, significantly increasing the flexibility and responsiveness of regional habitat enhancement efforts.
This year we grew 950 pounds of seed from over 100 native ecotypes (species-region combinations). We expanded seed production to include coastal Oregon ecotypes to support the recovery efforts of the Oregon silverspot butterfly. Fields established under our previous expansion into the North Puget Sound are maturing and provided the first significant harvests of seed for San Juan Islands and Olympic Rain Shadow ecoregions. These harvests combined with coordination and partnerships with local nurseries have made seed from over 75 North Sound ecotypes available to restoration practitioners.