Mojave Desert Seed Bank expansion offers insurance policy against state seed shortages, threats
MEDIA RELEASE
For immediate release
May 30, 2023
Contact: Jessica Dacey, Director of Communications
Phone: 760-820-2275, Email: jessica@mdlt.org
Mojave Desert Seed Bank expansion offers insurance policy against state seed shortages, threats
Joshua Tree - A $3.19 million expansion of the Mojave Desert Seed Bank in support of California's 30x30 initiative is poised to help conservationists tackle the urgent need for native seed to conserve the California deserts' unique biodiversity. The California Wildlife Conservation Board grant was approved on May 25.
Desert ecosystems make up approximately one quarter of the state and suffer from significant drought, severe weather, and precipitous loss of habitat and wildlife. Seed banking has been identified as key to ensuring the survival of our state’s ecosystems by making seed available for the restoration and enhancement of rare, threatened and culturally important species’ habitats. Seed banking also plays an important role in long-term conservation as the state aims to protect 30% of California’s land and water by 2030.
Yet the region needs more resources to build capacity and collaboration.
“Seed banks are a crucial tool for the conservation and management of ecosystems and the preservation of regional biodiversity, helping us safeguard our flora against species extinction and restore habitats and ecosystems with genetically-appropriate, source-identified seed. This project will expand MDLT's seed bank program and allow us, along with our partners, to better address the region's seed needs and the growing threats caused by climate change and habitat loss,” said Madena Asbell, Director of Plant Conservation Programs at the Mojave Desert Land Trust.
The Mojave Desert Seed Bank is managed by the Mojave Desert Land Trust from its Joshua Tree headquarters. The new funding from the Wildlife Conservation Board will enable the Seed Bank to collect, process and store seed representing 300 taxa over the next four years. This will expand the facility’s current capacity to 500 taxa - approximately 20% of desert flora. Over the next four years, the Seed Bank aims to collect over 2,000 pounds of seed and make it available for restoration across the region.
The four-year expansion effort will include creating an inventory of California desert seed for use in restoration projects throughout the region, ensuring tribal engagement in seed collecting methods and protocols, conducting research and developing protocols that can be shared with the larger conservation community, and developing and implementing outreach and education materials to further the public’s knowledge about the importance of California’s native plants and the role of seed banking.
The Mojave Desert Seed Bank’s purpose is to create a long-term, sustainable resource of native seeds that can be made available for research and restoration during increasingly uncertain times, and to conserve rare, threatened, and endangered plant species through partnerships with organizations like California Plant Rescue (CaPR). As the effects of climate change lash out unpredictably across the desert region, the seed bank will be better equipped to fulfill conservation and restoration needs when and where it is needed most.
In January 2023, the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s released "An Assessment of Native Seed Needs and the Capacity for their Supply: Final Report”, which concluded that there is a severe shortage of source-identified, genetically-appropriate native seed available for restoration, and that the need for such seed is urgent. The report recommends supporting regional programs and partnerships with seed banks and nurseries, supporting responsible seed collection and long-term seed banking, supporting basic research, and collaborating with private and non-profit partners on expanding seed storage and seed-cleaning cleaning infrastructure.
“This new project comes at an auspicious time and provides hopeful and significant new solutions to one of the pressing issues facing the California desert. This expansion of the Mojave Desert Seed Bank will help us in this work to protect biodiversity, improve climate change resiliency, and support the State Wildlife Action Plan priority habitats. We will help stabilize vulnerable native plant populations, make seed available for the restoration of natural landscapes that are carbon sinks, and provide an inventory of California desert seed for use in habitat restoration projects throughout the region,” said Kelly Herbinson, Joint Executive Director of the Mojave Desert Land Trust. “We are deeply grateful to the Wildlife Conservation Board for awarding this grant funding and look forward to carrying out this crucial work.”
The long-term expansion of the Mojave Desert Seed Bank also includes construction of a 2,500 square-foot facility made possible by an anonymous donor. The new facility will house a seed lab, climate-controlled storage, a processing room, and workspace for staff and volunteers.
The Seed Bank has made over 700 collections representing over 210 species since its establishment six years ago. The seed collection priorities include species with high restoration value, species that support state and federally threatened and endangered wildlife such as desert tortoise, and California Native Plant Society (CNPS) ranked taxa.
The collections, data, and knowledge gained are of value to scientists studying climate change in other regions. Desert plants have unique adaptations to allow them to survive harsh conditions, and genetic information on these adaptations is of particular interest to scientists as other regions of the world are becoming increasingly arid due to climate change, with factors such as drought, extreme temperatures, and salt in water and soil posing a significant threat to native fauna.
In 2020, MDLT's Seed Bank hit two major milestones: The seed bank joined California Plant Rescue, a collaborative of not-for-profit botanical institutions working under the auspices of the Center for Plant Conservation to conserve the flora of California and the California Floristic Province. That same year, MDLT entered a collaboration with the Bureau of Land Management to develop seed increase grow-outs for source-identified, native Mojave Desert seed to develop and document these protocols.
ENDS/
Note to editors:
For interviews and visits to the Mojave Desert Seed Bank, please contact Jessica Dacey by emailing jessica@mdlt.org or by calling 760-820-2275.
Photos of the Mojave Desert Seed Bank can be downloaded here.
About The Mojave Desert Land Trust (MDLT)
The Mojave Desert Land Trust (MDLT) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with the mission to protect and care for lands with natural, scenic, and cultural value within the Mojave Desert. Since its founding in 2006, MDLT has conserved over 110,000 acres, conveying more tracts of land to the National Park Service than any other nonprofit. MDLT established a conservation seed bank to ensure the preservation of native species and operates an onsite nursery at its Joshua Tree headquarters which has grown over 100,000 native plants for restoration projects and community landscaping. MDLT educates and advocates for the conservation of the desert, involving hundreds of volunteers in our work. For more information, visit mdlt.org.