MNPS Monthly Program: The National Seed Strategy for Rehabilitation and Restoration

Registration is required. After you register, you will receive a registration confirmation email with a link to the Zoom program and information on the in-person location.

Speaker: Peggy Olwell, BLM Plant Conservation and Restoration Program Lead

The National Seed Strategy for Rehabilitation and Restoration

How do we get the right seed in the right place at the right time? Come learn about the National Seed Strategy for Rehabilitation and Restoration, the first of its kind in the world, and the collaborative efforts taking place across the country to increase the supply of locally adapted native seed for restoration.

This will be presented both via Zoom and In Person.

IN PERSON LOCATION: Hilton Garden Inn, 7810 Walker Drive, Greenbelt Maryland, 20770. Limited to 50 people to allow for COVID distancing guidelines.

ZOOM: Login will be provided to all who register. We can accommodate 300 viewers on Zoom. First come first served. 

The program is free and open to the public.

The National Seed Strategy for Rehabilitation and Restoration outlines a collaborative, science-based effort to increase the supply of locally adapted native seed for the restoration of resilient ecosystems. In 2021, the Plant Conservation Alliance released a progress report for the National Seed Strategy to highlight implementation efforts between 2015 and 2020. Nearly 500 projects were submitted for the report, representing progress made by over 380 partners (including 17 Federal agencies and more than 20 Tribal Nations) across 52 states and territories. During that five-year period, Seeds of Success crews made roughly 9,000 native seed collections, bringing the national project’s 20-year total to more than 26,000 collections from 43 states. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine began their national Assessment of Native Seed Needs and Capacities (final report expected early this year), and researchers published more than 170 scientific reports and articles on native seed development and use. Thousands of native seed crops were developed in more than 32 ecoregions through collaborations with at least 21 regional seed partnerships and 65 nurseries, farms, growers, and botanic gardens. Over 17 million sagebrush seedlings were grown and planted throughout the western U.S. In total, these projects affected more than 10 million acres of public and private land. Since the report was released, the National Seed Strategy has been recognized in the Department of the Interior 2021 Climate Action Plan as a critical tool for tackling the climate crisis, and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law allocated $200 million to the DOI and U.S. Department of Agriculture to implement the National Seed Strategy. Increased collaboration and implementation are key to harnessing momentum to get the right seed in the right place at the right time.

Peggy Olwell is the National Plant Conservation and Restoration Program Lead for the Bureau of Land Management. Peggy built the BLM's nationally recognized Native Seed Program, which promotes the development and use of native plants in habitat conservation and restoration projects. She was instrumental in developing the Plant Conservation Alliance in 1994, a partnership of about 15 federal government agencies and over 400 state, tribal, and private organizations. She historically served as chair of the PCA Federal Committee and led the effort on the 2015 National Seed Strategy. Peggy is Vice Chair of the IUCN SSC North American Red List Authority and co-authored the book Seeds of Restoration Success: Wild Lands and Plant Diversity in the U.S. In 2021, Peggy was named a Conservation Trailblazer in the Department of Interior's Natural Resource Conservation Achievement Awards and received the Hutchinson Medal of the Chicago Horticultural Society.

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