A worker spreads seeds of native plants to help stabilize sand dunes in Malibu, California.

(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

At a Glance

Native plants can be vital in restoring environmentally degraded areas. Many native plant seeds are in short supply.A new report suggests we need to build a national supply of native seeds.

This story originally appeared in the Morning Brief email newsletter. Sign up hereto get more stories like this and weekday weather updates from The Weather Channel and our meteorologists.

A new issued by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine suggests that there is an urgent need to build a supply of native seeds for our country. I talked with Julia Kuzovkina, a professor of Horticulture, University of Connecticut about why native seeds are so important.

Why are native seeds in demand right now?

The recent acceleration of climatic disturbances – wildfires, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, drought and heat, insect and pest outbreaks – leave areas deprived of vegetation, resulting in significant environmental degradation. In addition, land conversion due to the increasing rates of urbanization, overgrazing, mineral mining, and spread of invasive species, add to the disruptions of ecosystem services.

The problem is becoming even more challenging and complex as the climate changes. The ecological restoration of these degraded lands requires large amounts of native seeds to reintroduce native species. Notably, the importance of the ecological restoration of degraded land was captured in a UN initiative with the declaration in 2021 of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.

Why is there a shortage of native seeds?

The use of native plants is a relatively recent initiative, as introduced plants were utilized in various landscapes for decades. Consequently, the commercial seed supply of native seed in the USA is insufficient, and in some areas (for example, in the Northeast) was not ever developed. These days, the development of adequate supplies of native species is a national priority as current policies are shifting, giving preference to the use of native plants as the first choice in revegetation efforts. Now many federal and state agencies use native seed for plantings.

What are some of the ways that native seeds can help landscapes?

Native plants have evolved with local climates and soils, and once established, persist longer than species introduced from other regions. Native plants promote local biodiversity: they have co-evolved with local wildlife populations, which depend upon them for food, nesting and shelter. Thus, the reintroduction of the native plants into degraded land brings back the natural biological diversity and the original ecological functions of a disrupted system.

What are some success stories involving native seeds and ecological restoration?

One of the well-known examples is the sagebrush steppe restoration in the West. The sagebrush ecosystem is the largest contiguous ecotype in the continental United States, which serves as crucial habitat for a diversity of wildlife. The increasing frequency and severity of fire above natural levels due to climate change destroys enormous chunks of the sagebrush steppe. Intensive efforts of many agencies, organizations, and the public at large restore and preserve strategic areas within the sagebrush ecosystem using native seeds.

The use of native plants is gaining momentum in the other parts of the country. Our team at the University of Connecticut currently explores how the New England DOTs can shift the vegetation of the roadsides from introduced cool-season grasses to native species which include warm-season grasses and forbs. The use of native warm-season grasses, such as little bluestem, purple lovegrass, switchgrass and purpletop, requires less long-term-maintenance and less frequent mowing. The inclusion of native forbs promotes the abundance and health of native pollinators and other insect species. A newly formed regional was developed in recognition of insufficient local seed supplies limiting revegetation efforts in the region. The goal of this network is to promote all aspects of native seed production in the region and to create native seed enterprises through cooperative partnerships.

What is standing in the way of seed producers being able to provide enough native seeds?

Significant barriers to producing sufficient quantities of native seeds to meet restoration needs include unpredictable demand and insufficient lead time for producers to grow the required seeds. Therefore, the recently published document by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine addresses the need to increase the nation’s supply of native seed for ecological restoration and related purposes. The document makes recommendations on how to overcome key barriers to indigenous seed production through collaborative and expanded efforts.

What do you hope the future will bring, in regards to native seed production and use?

At present there is no commercial seed supply for native plants in New England and this is a major hurdle for the implementation of the recommended practices of ecological restoration and native plant establishment. Most organizations involved in ecological restoration projects in New England purchase their bulk seed from large wholesale producers in the Midwest while introducing non-local genetic material to the restoration sites. We hope that native seed enterprises will be developed through cooperative partnerships of the federal, state, and local government agencies, as well as the private and non-profit sectors, which will promote all aspects of native seed production in each region. These efforts will eventually result in proactive environmental stewardship and provisions for healthy local ecosystems.

The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, .