By Eve Allen, Geordie Elkins, Heather Liljengren, and Sefra Alexandra
Eve Allen is the US Northeast Regional Director at the Ecological Health Network. In this role, she co-coordinates the Northeast Seed Network. She is joined by Geordie Elkins, the Executive Director of the Highstead Foundation, Heather Liljengren, the owner and president of Local Land Consulting, and Sefra Alexandra- The Seed Huntress- co-founder of the Ecotype Project. Together, they share about the process of the Northeast Seed Network’s Standards and Protocols Committee coming together to develop wild seed collecting protocols for the US Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic States.
The collection of seeds and cuttings from wild plant populations is a critical first step in increasing the availability of cultivated seed and propagated plant materials for ecological restoration. Across nearly all regions of the world, the limited supply of native seeds and plant materials remains a persistent bottleneck, constraining the scale, effectiveness, and long-term durability of restoration efforts.
Seeds and nursery-grown plants are often a key part of carrying out restoration activities, typically through the reestablishment of native species to sites where they have been lost or depleted. This reintroduction is important for supporting recovery on heavily degraded sites and contributes to maintaining genetic diversity, providing wildlife habitat, improving resilience to climate change impacts and disturbance, and reducing the spread of invasive species. As restoration efforts scale up, so does the demand for native seeds and plant materials. Projects spanning hundreds to thousands of hectares can require vast quantities of seed and planting stock. For example, in Minnesota, more than 500,000 kg (1.1 million lb) of seed was used to restore 9,000 hectares (~22,000 acres) of northern tallgrass prairie. Similarly, restoration practitioners at the Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration report that individual projects restoring wetlands, streams, and sandplain grasslands may require between 5,000 and 50,000 native plant plugs per project depending on the size and the extent of degradation.
Meeting both current and future demand is challenging because wild populations are often the primary source of seeds and cuttings—a reliance that can place additional pressure on already fragmented and degraded ecosystems. A more sustainable and scalable approach involves bringing native species into horticultural and agricultural production systems to multiply seed and develop reliable sources of propagated plant materials. This step is paramount to building regional seed supply chains that can provide diverse, source-identified seed and plant materials for the range of activities across the Society of Ecological Restoration’s Restorative Continuum.
In this post, we share the story behind the Northeast Seed Network’s Wild Seed Collecting Protocols—why they were developed, how they came together, and what they aim to achieve. These protocols provide a practical framework to help land managers, land trusts, and seed collectors make thoughtful, ethical decisions that protect wild plant populations, maintain genetic diversity, and ensure that seed remains available for future restoration work. Developed with support from a Land Trust Alliance grant, they are designed both for our regional partners and as a model for others looking to build or strengthen seed collection programs.
While the guidance focuses on common plant species (and does not address the additional considerations required for threatened or endangered plants), the core idea applies broadly: when done responsibly, seed collection can be an important conservation action. This is especially relevant for land trusts, which steward and care for large areas of conserved land and are increasingly engaged in restoration and habitat management to promote conservation goals and objectives. At the same time, our experience across the seed supply chain has shown that collecting from the wild is not always the right first step. Throughout this post, we explore the “why, when, and how” of seed collection, emphasizing a key principle—wild seed collecting should be approached with care, intention, and restraint, and in many cases, considered a strategy of last resort rather than a default approach.
The Northeast Seed Network: A Regional Alliance of Seed Hubs and Partnerships
At the 2023 National Native Seed Conference, stakeholders came together to formally launch the Northeast Seed Network (NSN) and build a more resilient, region-wide supply chain. It was recognized that strengthening the region’s supply chain to meet the growing demand for ecological restoration activities is too big a job for any entity to tackle on its own. See our shared timeline of key efforts and activities that have helped spark a groundswell of support and enthusiasm for this collective work. The Ecological Health Network currently coordinates the NSN.
Our multi-hub and spoke network currently brings together more than 150 partners—from Virginia to Maine and into Atlantic Canada—including seed farmers, nursery professionals, land managers, Tribal Nations, restoration practitioners, home gardeners, seed bank curators, botanic gardens, land trusts, and regional academic institutions. Learn more about our partners on our Network Directory Map.
Our mission is to foster connection and knowledge sharing among those working to improve access to diverse, source-identified native seeds and plants for ecological restoration, as well as related efforts such as ecological landscaping and regenerative agriculture—activities that increasingly rely on native species to support biodiversity and ecosystem health, and strengthen connections to place and a culture of belonging and stewardship. Learn more about the NSN’s core activities and governance model in our Network Charter.
The Growing Need for Seed
In the eastern United States (US), research has shown that restoration practitioners often source seed from suppliers located an average of 584 km (363 miles) away. One of the clearest needs identified by NSN’s members has been a growing demand for locally sourced seed that can serve as a starting point for the production of bulk seed and native plant nursery stock. Without this initial material collected from wild populations, there is no pathway to scale up supply.
In response, network partners across the region have been working to coordinate wild seed collection and establish seed production fields, often sourcing from multiple populations within the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Ecoregional Level III boundaries to maintain genetic diversity and better reflect local conditions. Once established, these production plots, also referred to as “seed increase plots,” can remain viable for up to five years before farmers begin to see a significant decline in seed production or genetic variation for most species.
The Need for Shared Standards Across the Network
As the Northeast Seed Network (NSN) has grown, so has the recognition that coordination alone is not enough—shared standards are essential for building a functional and trustworthy seed supply system. With partners working across all stages of the supply chain, from wild seed collection to production and use, there is a clear need for consistency in how seed is collected, amplified, documented, and managed. However, developing and agreeing on a set of standards is not enough; we are also providing resources and guidance for those new to working with diverse, source-identified native seeds and plants.
In response to these needs, in December 2023, the NSN established a Standards and Protocols Committee. The goal of the committee is to bring partners together to develop guidance that supports consistency, transparency, and ecological integrity across the network, while still allowing for flexibility across our regional alliance of partnerships and hubs.
One of the committee’s first actions was to apply for and secure funding through a Land Trust Alliance grant. This support enabled the convening of a focused working group to develop wild seed collection protocols for land trusts and create landowner permission templates for organizations and individuals interested in seed collection. Wild seed collection was identified as an immediate and shared priority across NSN hubs and partnerships, given its foundational role in building initial seed supply.
Through this effort, partners from across the region contributed their experience and expertise to co-develop a set of protocols grounded in real-world practice. The process itself was as important as the outcome, helping to align approaches, identify regional challenges, and build a shared understanding of what responsible and effective seed collection would mean for our bioregion. This work represents an early but important step toward broader standardization through shared practices across the network, beginning with one of the most critical entry points in the supply chain.
Wild Seed Collecting Protocols
A working group with private, public, nonprofit, and Tribal partners met monthly from March 2024 to May 2026. Their process involved reviewing existing international literature and established standards, then adapting those approaches to the ecological, logistical, and cultural context of the U.S. Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. This was a critical step, as many existing protocols have been developed for different regions, species, or production systems, and yet none of them was entirely appropriate to the conditions and needs of our bioregion. For example, the Seeds of Success Protocols (SOS), which are widely used across the US and are derived from Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Millennium Seed Bank protocols, were designed to support the broader goals of the SOS program, including long-term conservation and storage, and largely assume collection from extensive federal land holdings with large plant populations. However, landscapes are much more fragmented across the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states, which do not support the same continuous large populations of species as in the US West. Adapting the protocols to reflect smaller population sizes was necessary to reduce the risk of overharvesting. For example, the SOS protocols broadly recommend a 20% “safe seed fraction” for collection. However, we recommend evaluating collection limits on a species-by-species basis to determine whether a 20% threshold is truly sustainable or whether lower collection levels may be more appropriate for certain species or populations. Collections in our region may not need to have an ideal target of 10,000 seeds, especially when collections are intended to provide starter material for seed increase plots. Our collections are also not slated to have a portion sent to a National Seed Extractory, in Bend, Oregon.
From this work, we drew two products:
1) Northeast Seed Network’s Wild Seed Collecting Protocols — a comprehensive guidance document designed to support land managers, seed collectors, and restoration practitioners engaged in ethical and sustainable wild seed collection. The document is intentionally adaptable, recognizing that approaches may need to be tailored to specific species, sites, and organizational goals. It is also intended to be a living resource that will continue to evolve as knowledge grows and the community of practice expands.
2) Wild Seed Collecting Best Practices: Key Messages and Protocols for Land Trusts — an adapted guidance document developed specifically to support land trusts in creating thoughtful policies, partnerships, and practices for ethical wild seed collection. Drawing from the Northeast Seed Network’s broader protocols, this publication provides practical language, decision-making frameworks, and field guidance to help land trusts protect the ecological integrity of their preserves while contributing to the development of a resilient regional supply of locally adapted native seed.
A central principle that we want to emphasize is that wild collection should be justified. Collectors are encouraged to first determine whether seed is already available from existing sources and to proceed only when wild collection is necessary to support restoration, seed increase, or conservation goals. Seed collecting should not be done to commodify a wild product or exploit our natural resources but rather as part of larger programs to strengthen ecosystem health and landscape interconnectedness, for public benefit and for future generations.
Supporting Land Trusts Through Wild Seed Collection
Land trusts are uniquely positioned to play a key role in building a sustainable and ethically sound regional native seed supply. Across the United States, most landscapes are fragmented, and land trusts represent a significant portion of conserved and protected lands. This is especially true in the eastern US, where there is less federally owned and managed land than west of the Mississippi. As a result, land trusts provide some of the best opportunities to collect, safeguard, and regrow native plant populations. These trusts exist to conserve and steward land for ecological, agricultural, and community benefit, with efforts focused on habitat protection, invasive species management, and ecosystem restoration. This places them in a strong position to support the responsible collection and use of diverse, source-identified seed.
Through collaborative seed networks and partnerships, land trusts have become important partners in advancing sustainable wild seed collection as part of broader conservation, restoration, and landscape connectivity strategies. There is growing recognition that seed collecting is not separate from land and landscape stewardship, but rather an extension of it. When done well, and especially where there is planning, protocols, and cooperation, wild seed collecting is a conservation and restoration action supporting conservation, restoration, and reintegration of fragmented landscapes at bioregional levels.
Our work with land trusts to date has demonstrated how seed collection can be incorporated into day-to-day stewardship. This includes collecting seed from healthy populations and, in some cases, growing and planting that seed back into the same landscape to bolster existing populations. It also helps to support restoration both on and off conserved lands.
Wild seed collection also creates meaningful opportunities for engagement. Many land trusts already rely on volunteers, and seed collection can bring people more directly into the work of restoration. It can become part of a full-cycle approach, where seeds are collected, cleaned, grown, and ultimately returned to sites and ecosystems where they are needed. In practice, this work often involves close collaboration among land managers, botanists, seed collectors, and seed bank curators, along with careful monitoring of plant populations to track their health, size, and changes over time. This sustained attention not only improves understanding of how plant populations respond to environmental change and disturbance but also supports more informed conservation, restoration, and land management strategies. At the same time, seed collection must be approached carefully. It should not be haphazard or extractive, but guided by clear policies, ethical frameworks, and strong relationships between land managers and collectors.
Conclusions and Looking Ahead
Protecting the long-term health of wild populations must remain the top priority, even as demand for native seed continues to grow. We hope that our new Wild Seed Collection Protocols will provide clear guidance for responsible collection, support ethical decision-making in the field, and help ensure that seed collection practices contribute to long-term ecosystem health rather than placing additional pressure on already vulnerable plant populations.
A next step for NSN partners across all hubs and partnerships is to establish a shared system for documenting wild seed collections and tracking what is currently in production. Improving visibility into existing wild seed collections, regional seed bank holdings, and species currently being increased in production fields can help reduce the need for additional collections from wild populations, thereby minimizing unnecessary and unhealthy pressure on ecosystems and plant communities. Better information sharing can also support more strategic planning across the network, enabling partners to coordinate efforts more effectively and avoid unnecessary duplication.
Meeting the scale and diversity of restoration needs across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic requires a coordinated yet largely decentralized approach. The region’s wide range of species, habitat types, and restoration priorities depends on many individuals and organizations contributing at different scales and across different geographies. The volatility of native seed markets further underscores the need for flexible, locally driven production and stewardship efforts. At the same time, this distributed model makes strong communication and shared planning even more essential. By using diverse, source-identified seed from local populations, working within appropriate ecological boundaries, and adopting a network-based approach, we can help ensure that restoration efforts place the right seeds and plants, in the right places, at the right time.
At its core, this work relies on building relational capital among a diverse constellation of partners and practitioners. These connections are the foundation needed to sustain wild plant populations over the long term and build the infrastructure for durable, ecologically sound restoration—supporting healthier, more resilient ecosystems and, in turn, healthier human communities.
Acknowledgements
We extend our sincere thanks to the Land Trust Alliance for their generous support in making this work possible. We are also deeply grateful to the Northeast Seed Network’s Standards and Protocol Committee members, as well as the many contributors and reviewers who helped shape and strengthen this work.
Contributors:
Geordie Elkins — Executive Director, Highstead Foundation
Heather Liljengren — Owner and President, LocalLand Consulting
Sefra Alexandra — The Seed Huntress – Co-founder, The Ecotype Project
Eve Allen — US Northeast Program Director, Ecological Health Network
Dina Brewster — Founder, The Hickories; Northeast Seed Collective; Co-founder, Ecotype Project
Lauren Shew — Director of Operations, Ecological Health Network
Matthew Garrambone — Principal Consultant at Beechwood Environmental LLC, contracted by Native Plant Trust
Seth August — Manager of the Seed Programs, NYC Parks Plant Ecology Center and Nursery
Lindsey Feinberg — Native Plants Manager, Hilltop Hanover Farms
Emily Baisden —Seed Stewardship Director, Wild Seed project
Brooke Fleischman — Conservation Nursery Seed Coordinator, Intervale Center
Linda Rohleder, , President, Wild Woods Restoration Project
Erin Camire — Ecological Landscape Consultant, Association to Preserve Cape Cod
Brigitte Wierzbicki — Plant Materials Program Coordinator, New York State Parks
Kate Rakosky — Volunteer / Rhode Island Wild Plant Society; Co-owner of Sagewood Botanical Sanctuary
Jay Richardson Grebe — Co-founder and Executive Director of Just Harvest
Ashley Senegal — Co-founder, Traditional Eastern Foodways Alliance
Jessica Raspitha — Land Resources Program Manager, Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe
Dan Brubaker — Director of Conservation and Outreach at Greenwich Land Trust
Mary Ellen Lemay — Director of Landowner Engagement, Aspetuck Land Trust
Lizzie Hunt — Trustee, Rhode Island Wild Plant Society, and a member of the ReSeeding RI Steering Committee
Alliy Gundlach-Massimino — Heritage Nursery Seed Program Manager, Tree Pittsburgh Heritage Nursery
Sue Theriault — Vice President, Rhode Island Wild Plant Society, chair of the ReSeeding RI Steering Committee
John Price — Native Seed Collection Coordinator, Mid-Atlantic Regional Seed Bank
Melissa Cullina — Vice President of Plants and Science, Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens