Northeast Seed Network News & Updates

Spring Check-in Meeting Follow-up

April 2024

Dear Northeast Seed Network Community,

Thank you to all who joined our spring network-wide meeting on April 11th. Here are links to the Meeting Slide Deck and Zoom Meeting Recording if you’d like to revisit our discussions.

Least trillium (Trillium pusillum) in bloom at the Mt. Cuba Center. Credit: Eve Allen.

We were excited to share and receive feedback about our mission and vision to enhance communication, knowledge and know-how sharing, and collaboration among partnerships, hubs, and networks across the Northeast and Northern Mid-Atlantic regions.

We firmly believe that by highlighting the accelerating community of practice already underway among subregional efforts, we cannot only improve the accessibility of source-identified genetically diverse native seed and plant material for healthy, biodiverse landscapes within our shared ecoregions but also achieve the following:

Pooling of knowledge and expertise (no need to reinvent the wheel).
Development of regional standards and protocols (seed collection, handling, cleaning and storage, propagation, harvest, labeling, data tracking, ethics, etc.).
Forming a trusted brand backed by research and best practices.
Better positioning for federal and state funding opportunities.
Safeguarding the regional work for the future.
Developing a presence within national and international conversations.

Our Next Steps

Looking ahead, the Steering Committee and Northeast Seed Network at large will focus on the following steps:

Understanding the spatial distribution of subregional efforts to guide outreach initiatives.
Listening to the needs of participants across all scales.
Identifying shared priorities and program areas, including restoration and horticulture.
Providing technical assistance along the seed supply chain.
Building capacity to ensure the success of our collective efforts.

Lightning Presenters

A special thanks to our lightning presenters who highlighted the wonderful subregional work taking place across our shared ecoregions:

Mid-Atlantic Seed Partnership and Seed Users’ Network (SUN)
Élan Alford, Plant Conservation Scientist, Mt. Cuba Center, ealford@mtcubacenter.org
The Nature Conservancy in New York State Reforestation Pilot Project
Mandy St. Hilaire, Reforestation Manager, amanda.sthilaire@tnc.org
Riparian Lands Native Seed Partnership
Brooke Fleischman, Vermont Statewide Seed Coordinator, brooke@intervale.org
Jess Colby, Riparian Lands Project Coordinator, jess@northwoodscenter.or g
Ecological Communities Project
Sophie Ploegh, Coordinator, ecologicalcommunitiesproject@gmail.com

Northeast Seed Network Map

We were also thrilled to launch the Ecotype Project’s new Network Map! Explore the overlays and discover who is working on key steps of the seed supply chain in your ecoregion. We have nearly 80 Network members represented on the map! If you want to be listed on the map, please fill out our Network Intake Surve y . You can also update your listing with a photo or a species list. We will do our best to keep this map updated quarterly.

Save the Dates!

Upcoming Committee Meetings

Scientific Research Committee

1st exploratory meeting on May 12th at 12 pm

Protocols and Standards Committee

1st exploratory meeting is being scheduled for either late May or June

To participate in these meetings, please email eve@ehnglobal.org.

Spring Field Day at Eco59, Ridgefield, CT

June 12, 2024

Come tour the hub of the Eco59 Farmer-Led Seed Collective. Learn more about seed increase plots as we tour the beautiful grounds and participate in seed-cleaning demos. Meet your fellow members of the Northeast Seed Network in person! If you plan on coming, be sure to RSVP to info@ecotypeproject.org.

Workshop at the American Public Gardens Association Annual Meeting - June 27, 2024

Join the Northeast Seed Network at the American Public Gardens Association’s Annual Meeting in Boston, June 24 to 27, 2024. We will organize a 90-minute workshop, entitled Fostering regional collaboration among public gardens to address native seed and plant material needs, on Thursday, June 27th, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Northeast Seed Network in the News!

Eve Allen and Sefra Alexandra, members of the Northeast Seed Network's Steering Committee, recently published an essay in the Natural History of Ecological Restoration blog about the launch of the Restorative Landscape Coalition—a new initiative aimed at supporting the Northeast Seed Network and ecosystem and landscape restoration in the Eastern United States.