Interagency Northern Great Plains Native Seed Increase Contracts

Interagency seed increase contracts will be developed for the Northern Great Plains including portions of MT, WY, N Dakota, S Dakota and CO. Since 2001, on a bipartisan basis, Congress has recognized the commercial market does not produce an adequate supply of native seed to meet the federal government’s need to manage native vegetation. In addition to meeting an immediate need to increase the seed supply for post fire and disaster recovery, seed increase contracts are part of a larger strategy to lower government seeding costs by creating a stable market and improving the effectiveness of seeding projects. These seed increase contracts improve the variety of species commercially available, help recruit local growers by lowering their initial production risk, and help prevent market volatility. Without these contracts DOI agencies will be forced to continue to rely on a handful of easy to produce non-native species, and cultivated varieties that, based on the best available science, do not restore and maintain functioning ecosystems. Native plants are not like weeds that can grow anywhere. Seed stocks for the Northern Great Plains are specifically developed for the local growing conditions and are targeted to improve rangeland health, restore habitat for wildlife, reclaim mined lands and sites developed for oil and gas.