NV Native Seed Partnership awarded $3.74 million for habitat restoration in the Great Basin

Press Release

Nevada Native Seed Partnership awarded $3.74 million for habitat restoration in the Great Basin

May 14, 2024

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The Nevada Native Seed Partnership announced in May 2024 that it was awarded $3.74 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) is a once-in-a-generation investment in the nation’s infrastructure and economic competitiveness. We were directly appropriated $455 million over five years in BIL funds for programs related to the President’s America the Beautiful initiative.

Learn more about Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL)/Burned Area Rehabilitation (BAR) funding to increase native seed collection, production and use in restoration across the Great Basin.

"A lack of readily available native seed and plant materials prevents us from successfully restoring ecosystems,” said Sarah Kulpa, botanist and restoration ecologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Reno, Nevada. “This funding will help us, in the Great Basin, increase the supply of native seeds to meet the growing restoration demand, as these seeds are one of our most powerful tools for conserving and restoring healthy and resilient ecosystems."

Across the Great Basin there are 3,189 native plant species. The right native seed exists on the landscape, unfortunately, much of the infrastructure and resources needed to collect, grow, clean, and store native seed doesn’t. The Nevada Native Seed Partnership will use this funding to jump start new or shore up existing projects or initiatives to help bridge gaps in the native seed supply chain.

“I am so excited about this project, as it is going to create the resources in Nevada to tackle all parts of the restoration cycle,” said Elizabeth Leger, foundation professor and director of the University of Nevada Reno Museum of Natural History. “Historically, we have relied on surrounding states for some of these steps, and not surprisingly, the native plants that grow naturally in Nevada haven’t been their main targets. Now, we will be able to collect Nevada’s plants, clean and store seeds in-state, move them to growers for increase, and then get them back out on Nevada’s wild lands!”

Thirty-three million dollars were made available in fiscal year 2024 to support BIL/BAR habitat restoration needs across the Department of Interior, and additional funds are anticipated in fiscal years 2025 and 2026.

This year’s funding will be distributed to various partners across the Great Basin in support of the following efforts:

$1.4 million for seed collection
$1.2 million for seed production
$548,831 to establish an equipment network to support native seed growers
$536,188 for seed cleaning and storage

"There is an ever-growing demand for native seed in order to address the threats and restoration needs of our natural habitats," Utah Division of Wildlife Resources Great Basin Research Center coordinator Kevin Gunnell said. "The information to facilitate the production of native seed at the needed quantities is as important as the seed itself. This funding will help to ensure we can empower seed producers with the knowledge and resources needed to meet and sustain active restoration efforts across the Western U.S."

Funding to support the use of BIL/BAR to proactively develop plant materials was approved by the Department of Interior Fire Directors. This funding was focused on landscapes that are unlikely to recover naturally from large-scale high-severity wildfire by ensuring plant materials, like native seeds or nursery plugs, are available to revegetate and restore habitat impacted by wildfire. By focusing investments now on developing the infrastructure necessary to collect and produce native seed, land managers across the Great Basin will be able to procure and use the right, locally-adapted native seed in post-fire restoration projects in the future.

This news release was originally published by The Nevada Native Seed Partnership on their website on May 7, 2024.

About the Nevada Native Seed Partnership

Inspired by the National Seed Strategy, the Nevada Native Seed Partnership was established in 2017 to help Nevada increase the availability of locally-adapted native seed to restore diverse plant communities and sustainable landscapes across the state. The NNSP is guided by the Nevada Seed Strategy and is made up of the following agencies: the Bureau of Land Management, Nevada Conservation Districts Program, Nevada Department of Agriculture, Nevada Department of Wildlife, Nevada Division of Forestry, Reno-Sparks Indian Colony, University of Nevada, Nevada Division of Natural Heritage, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, The Great Basin Institute, U.S. Geological Survey, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Walker Basin Conservancy, The Nature Conservancy and the Nevada Department of Transportation.

For more, visit our website: https://www.partnersinthesage.com/nevada-native-seed-partnership