Project Profile: Increase Native Seed for Northern Great Plains

Graduate students with South Dakota State University, Native Plant Initiative working in a Rocky Mountain blazing star (Liatris ligulistylis) seed production plot.

Photo courtesy of South Dakota University

Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
National Seed Strategy | FY23 $225,000

The National Park Service will support development of seed sources and restoration techniques to improve plant materials, including tribally important plants, and advance restoration in mixed-grass prairies in the Northern Great Plains. University students at South Dakota State will examine the effects of seed handling, treatments, and storage on germination and seedling establishment. Students will evaluate the advantages of establishing plants from seed compared to greenhouse-grown seedlings when used in plantings designed to produce seed, as well as when used for larger-scale field restoration projects. Additionally, protocols will be developed for seed increase plots for large-scale seed production.

Why? Developing seed sources and restoration techniques is essential to advancing restoration in the Northern Great Plains. Research is needed to inform best practices for the production, storage, and handling of seed and plant materials.

What else? This project builds on research funded by the US Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture and Natural Resources Conservation Services, and the Bureau of Land Management. The project also leverages the established capacity of the Native Plant Initiative at South Dakota State University to improve restoration of native and tribally important plants on which all other communities in the mixed grass prairie depend.

Bipartisan Infrastructure Law – Ecosystem Restoration

This project was made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law – Ecosystem Restoration, signed on November 15, 2021. It is a historic investment in the restoration and protection of the environment.