Last spring I wrote a post where I bemoaned the planting of potentially maladapted seed in my restorations, seed sourced from gentler climes, that would not be able to take the relatively cold, dry conditions of my gravel hills on the Prairie Coteau. I introduced the idea of starting a venture of increasing seed from my prairies in small production plots, both for my own use and potentially for sale or gift to other practitioners of prairie restoration. Here’s an update of progress that has been made, and an extension of the concept.

First, I am not going to be the main “farmer” of my prairie species. My physical resources are too limited to add another time consuming and strenuous activity. I am still trying to keep developing my own restorations, and even there I am relying on occasional help. I am fortunate that my young partner, Ben Lardy, has an interest in the concept, and the first plots will be on his place. While I certainly hope to use most of the seed on my fields, originally, if there is ever an actual business that comes from this it will be Ben’s business. I literally have no interest in making any money from the seed, and definitely have no interest in the sorts of activities that would be necessary to create such a business. There are many seedhouses specializing in native seed, and I’m sure we could find one that was interested in our product, should we have excess to sell.

There are many issues, though. We don’t really have a facility to process seed, getting it shelled out of seedheads/seedpods. We don’t have a setup for stratification of the seed, storing it in a damp medium in a refrigerator to mimic seed out on the land over winter , which is necessary for most species to germinate. We don’t have a way to easily scarify seed with a hard seed coat, scratching a break in the seed coat to allow water in. There is an infrastructure that every seedhouse has that we lack. So, to begin, we will beg for assistance. I am not proud. Dr. Lora Perkins at SDSU, who has a native seed project with a lab, greenhouse space and student labor, is providing advice and help. I had scored points by giving her seed that I had gathered to work with, and she has been very gracious in providing advice, and she will start seedlings of some of my selections which I shall buy to transplant. The saying is usually that “I have more time than money.” My version is that I have “more money than time and energy”. Gathering resources in my world is almost always more about supporting and cultivating friendships than any tangible resource. I feel very rich in those resources.

And there is so much more! I had a wonderful visit in Fargo recently with Marissa Ahlering and Nina Hill with the Nature Conservancy (TNC) and Juli Bosmoe, Sarah Hewitt and Jodi Meisch from Audubon Dakota (Audubon). Besides the joy it was to hang out with such an engaging, dynamic group of young women (with the added treat that I got to hold Sarah’s baby for half an hour) the topic that I went to Fargo to discuss was a database that TNC is putting together documenting native prairie species in a geographic information services program (GIS) with the stated purpose of creating a database of seed collection sites. There are many barriers to this developing its potential as a general resource to the conservation community, starting with privacy and access issues, but if that is resolved, there is the huge job to enter all of that data, particularly because it has to be done in the field to get the specific GPS tags on the various populations. However, what started as an in-house attempt to help their crews more efficiently find and gather seed has the potential to be so much more. If we are thinking big enough, including not only conservation non-profits such as TNC and Audubon, but public agencies and private citizens like me, we can create a restoration culture that supports the attempts of amateurs that might otherwise never dream to attempt such a thing.

I have been reading on the TNC website recently that a significant limiting factor in the plans to reforest millions of acres is the lack of tree seedlings to plant. The same is basically true for locally adapted prairie seed. I could see, for example, seed from two or three discrete sources being grown by us, perhaps at different sites to limit cross pollination. Or perhaps they should be grown together to provide for purposeful cross pollination. The very nature of the fragmentation of prairies means that there might need to be rejuvenation of the genetic base by jumping out of the narrow mindset that could allow genetic drift to impoverish the plants’ genomes. Small populations of any type lose traits, they lose genetic possibilities through random happenstance. Maybe we can combat that.

This post is definitely getting into the realm of “talking smart”. I know enough genetics to sound like I know what I am talking about when I really don’t know crap. Big topics need big talk, however. The loss of biodiversity is just as important and just as real for plants as it is for animals. I will bring that back to my humble restorations in another post.