Conservation Seed Bank

There are many approaches that conservationists can take to conserve imperiled plant species and communities. The highest priority is always to conserve any given species in its natural habitat. Unfortunately, that’s not always an option—the site may be doomed to development, the landowner might have different ideas about how the habitat should be managed, or the habitat might be a small fragment of what it once was and may not be able to support a sustainable population of the species in question. Whether habitat management is an option or not, one way to preserve the integrity of any given plant population is to maintain an ex situ collection in a seed bank.

We established our Conservation Seed Bank to preserve the genetic integrity of our rare and declining grassland plant populations. Ultimately, our goal is for the seed to be used to support populations in the wild through reintroductions, augmentations, the establishment of ex situ collections, or research. From collection to storage, we follow science-based principles, such as those developed by the Center for Plant Conservation (see CPC Best Plant Conservation Practices to Support Species Survival in the Wild available here).

Some of our notable collections include the rare G1 and G2 species below:

·         Whorled Sunflower (Helianthus verticillatus)

·         Porter’s Goldenrod (Solidago porteri)

·         Harbison’s Hawthorn (Crataegus harbisonii)

·         Running Glade Clover (Trifolium calcaricum)

·         Cream tick-trefoil (Desmodium ochroleucum)

For more information, contact SGI’s Plant Conservation Manager Cooper Breeden.

An interactive map of our collections by county is coming soon…