Dear ­­­Colleague:

Re:  Native Seed Banking

The Dixon National Tallgrass Prairie Seed Bank at the Chicago Botanic 
Garden is working to conserve the genetic diversity of our native vascular 
flora by collecting and preserving seeds from across the tallgrass prairie 
region in long-term cold storage. Banking seeds is an efficient way to 
preserve plant populations because seeds store the breadth of genetic 
diversity present in a population in small packages and, for most species, 
can do so for a very long time. These tiny packages once dried to 15% 
humidity and stored at -20º C can be preserved, on average, for 200 years. 
Long-term storage of native seeds can serve as insurance that a species’ 
genome is protected against extinction in a rapidly changing world. For 
instance, we can predict where climate shifts may occur due to the effects 
of global warming, collect seeds in these critical areas and bank them for 
future reintroduction into suitable habitats at a later date. The alarming 
reduction of native plant populations across the tallgrass prairie region 
signifies now more than ever the importance of seed banking.

 - Ultimately seeds of multiple populations will be collected for over 
3000 plant species of the tallgrass prairie. 
 - Initially 543 species important for habitat restoration will be 
collected across twelve ecoregions. 
 - A stipend of $90 will be provided for each collection. 
 - In addition to long-term storage, the collections will be used as a 
resource for research and restoration projects. 

Preserving native plant diversity of the tallgrass prairie region in a 
seed bank means collecting multiple populations of more than 3000 species 
across the Midwest. This enormous task cannot be accomplished with out 
lots of help from organizations like yours. Where and how do we start?  We 
began by creating a list of species that are considered “characteristic” 
of common plant communities in the region and integral to habitat 
restoration. To determine the list, we searched the literature for native 
species that met set criteria reflecting their importance in a community 
for each of twelve ecoregions (Omernik level 3) strongly represented in 
the tallgrass prairie region. From that data, 543 species were selected 
for our “Restoration Collection Target Species List”, of which 156 are 
considered high priority.   The goal is to collect seeds from one plant 
population (if it exists) in each of the twelve ecoregions for all 543 
species.   

We need your help to collect the species from our target list within your 
ecoregion. You can view our Restoration Collection Target List, with 
ecoregions, at http://cbgseedbank.org/restorationspecies.html.  Omernik’s 
level 3 ecoregion map is included on our website to aid in locating your 
ecoregion. You can also find our seed collecting protocols 
(http://cbgseedbank.org/contractors_forms_protocols.html). We provide a 
stipend of $90 dollars for each collection and shipping to CBG with our 
FedEx account.  If there is a species in your ecoregion that you feel is 
important for preservation that does not occur on our list, please contact 
us so we can add it.  The more seeds secured in the bank, the more 
valuable the collection will be. The collection will be divided with one 
part remaining in the seed vault for long-term storage, another part held 
in at least one redundant storage facility off site and still another held 
in the seed vault as a resource for research and restoration projects.  

If you can help, please feel free to contact us so that we can get you 
started.  Also, if you have colleagues in your ecoregion or the others 
listed that may be interested in participating, please pass along this 
invitation.

Sincerely yours,

David Sollenberger
Seed Conservation Specialist
Dixon National Tallgrass Prairie Seed Bank
Chicago Botanic Garden
dsollenber...@chicagobotanic.org

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