Alaskan landscapes get help to keep unique qualities through seed strategies supported by Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds

Decades of successful research to be scaled up through wide ranging partnerships

Dwarf fireweed in Denali National Park and Preserve.

NPS / Mary Lewandowski

Alaskan landscapes can be altered quickly but recovery from disturbances such as mining or road development, even from construction of national park facilities can take decades. It’s important to have native plants and seed stocks on hand to seed roadsides and ditches after a new road goes in and new park buildings are completed, and mining has ended.

A new project, funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, is underway and it will help Alaska parks increase their capacity to collect and raise native seed for restoration and revegetation projects throughout the state.

The National Park Service’s coordinator for this project in Alaska, Anna O’Brien, said healthy native plant communities are the foundation for healthy ecosystems which benefit people, plants, animals, and our shared environment. “The vastness that is Alaska means there are many areas with unique native plant communities,” she said. “Alaska has six different zones for native seed, so we need to be collaborative on a statewide level. The newly formed Alaska Native Plant Materials Working Group will smooth information sharing and project work across the federal, state, private, tribal and other entities that make up the group and have restoration projects that benefit from native plant communities and healthy ecosystems,” O’Brien said.

Alaska has six different seed zones because of its size, 663,000-plus square miles. A seed zone is an area where plant materials can be transferred with little risk of being poorly adapted to their new location. 

Courtesy of Justin Fulkerson, University of Alaska Anchorage.

Because the availability of native seeds in Alaska is limited, it’s important to have a team that represents the entire state and one large enough that there is dedication of time and resources to meet the goals of building increased seed capacity and availability of native vegetation. This project will help park staff with collection, cleaning, storage, and potential propagation of plants and seeds for use in restoration projects, including riparian restoration around salmon habitat.

O’Brien said the first priorities are to use local native seed for restoration of disturbed freshwater systems and hazard mines sites. This includes riparian restoration around salmon habitat. For years, most seed used for revegetation and restoration projects in Alaska came from the lower 48 states. Because of the difference in climate and growing seasons, that seed doesn’t produce plant material that can survive more than one growing season. There is also a danger that seed from the lower 48 can contain invasive and other non-native species.

SCA intern collecting seed of dwarf fireweed (also called river beauty willowherb). It is a widespread arctic-alpine species found in Alaska, Canada, and the western US, Greenland, Iceland, China, and Siberia. It is a low growing herb with a woody base.

NPS Photo

“Native seed and seed free of non-native species are important reasons for this project,” O’Brien said. “Increasing the varieties of plant species collected, and number of seeds collected for each species will support a more sustainable method for native seed management in Alaska. This also supports the National Seed Strategy focus on native plant communities.”

In addition to infrastructure law funds, the project takes advantage of decades of work at Denali National Park & Preserve, a 4.7-million-acre landscape where park plant ecologist Carl Roland said the park has 20 years of research and another 20 years of practical application of native plant species to degraded ecosystems. “I think our practical experience over several decades will be helpful for this new project,” he said. “We know what’s worked and what hasn’t and why. That should translate for other parts and parks in the state.”

As of fall 2023, Infrastructure Law funds have provided personnel from the Student Conservation Association, training, assistance from the University of Alaska at Anchorage, and a great season for seed collection.

Dwarf fireweed seeds are small – between 0.3 milligrams and 0.15 milligrams. There are more than a dozen seeds in this small bit of the flower.

NPS Photo

One of the workhorse species ecologists favor is dwarf fireweed, Chamerion latifolium. It establishes early in disturbed areas and is a prolific seed producer in the wild and in raised bed gardens. O’Brien said a small, raised bed garden just a few meters square this year produced 7.5 grams of seed. That equates to just over a quarter of an ounce or 50,000 seeds. 

The next season will include more training and collecting and work with the Palmer (Alaska) Plant Material Center for seed cleaning and storage. The seed collected will be available for upcoming riparian area restoration projects around salmon habitat in disturbed areas along Alaskan rivers and creeks.

The Alaska Native Plant Materials Working Group: Alaska Center for Conservation Science, Alaska Department of Fish & Game, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, Alaska Native Plant Society, Natural Resource Conservation Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, Red Mountain Consulting, University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service, Salcha-Delta Soil and Water Conservation District, Kodiak Soil and Water Conservation District, Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Anchorage Soil and Water Conservation District, Fairbanks Soil and Water Conservation District, Georgeson Botanical Garden, Alaska Botanical Garden, Alaska Plant Materials Center, Palmer Soil and Water Conservation District, Wasilla Soil and Water Conservation District, Knick Tribal Conservation District, Eklutna Tribal Conservation District, Tanana Chief’s Conference.

About the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law makes critical investments in the resilience and restoration of America’s lands, skies, and waters, and enhances conservation and recreation opportunities. Visitors will see tangible results such as repaired and upgraded trails and campgrounds, removal of invasive species, as well as healthy wetlands, grasslands, and forests.