Resource Links
General
Environmental Protection Agency
The ecoregion maps provided on the NSN website have been derived from the Environmental Protection Agency's Level III Ecoregions of the Continental United States (USEPA, 2000 revison of Omernik, 1987). NSN utilizes the EPA maps because they incorporate spatial variation in climate, mineral availability (soil and geology), vegetation and physiography and relate well to what is encountered "on the ground." Omernik and other EPA staff at the Corvallis office have generously provided the Native Seed Network with ecoregion maps, ecoregion descriptions, and guidance in understanding how these maps were developed.
As the premier land conservancy organization in the world, The Nature Conservancy’s mission is to preserve the plants, animals and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive.
NatureServe's mission is to develop, manage, and distribute authoritative information critical to the conservation of the world's biological diversity. NatureServe provides the context, analysis, and interpretation that transforms biological data into conservation knowledge. The Ecological Systems being developed by NatureServe have assisted NSN in developing plant communities and species recommendations.
North American Grouse Partnership
The North American Grouse Partnership (NAGP) is a coalition working to promote the conservation of Grouse and the habitats necessary for their survival and reproduction. The Native Seed Network is working with NAGP to be an additional conduit for the information they discover and to facilitate the education and public relations mandate of both organizations.
The Native Seed Network is a program of the Institute for Applied Ecology, Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization established to conserve our natural environment and educate the public about issues of conservation concern.
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
Oregon State University Seed Laboratory
The Oregon State University Seed Laboratory is the official laboratory in Oregon State. The laboratory, along with the OSU Seed Certification Program, forms part of the larger Seed Services Program of Oregon State University. The lab provides valuable seed testing services to organizations and individuals that produce, clean, preserve, market or use seeds in commercial production and reclamation activities. Testing services are for a broad range of species including grasses, cereals, legumes, vegetables, flowers, trees, shrubs, and native species. Tests available are purity test that indicates the level of pure seeds, inert material and crop or weed contaminants; viability by TZ that indicates the number of seeds that are alive; germination test, X-ray test to examine the internal tissues of seed; seed count to determine the number of seeds per pound; seed moisture content test to determine it needs further drying etc. E-mail Seedlab@orst.edu, Phone 541-737-4464 and Fax 541-737-2126.
Federal Highways Roadside Vegetation Mangement
Botany
The Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN)
The Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN) taxonomic data provide the structure and nomenclature for the accessions of the National Plant Germplasm System. GRIN is managed by the Database Management Unit of the National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Agricultural Research Service, USDA. The Native Seed Network plant database was designed to be able to cross-reference with GRIN.
Native Plant Network - Propagation Protocols
The Native Plant Network is a tremendous resource for information on how to propagate native plants of North America (Canada, Mexico, and US). The database also enables users to upload protocols of species that they have grown successfully. Many recommendations are from the USDA NRCS Plant Materials Centers.
Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Plant Materials Program
Plant Materials Centers have been developing native plant materials and technology for many years. See the NRCS Plants Database Fact Sheets for restoration use, cultivation, and descriptions for a number of native species. The NRCS Plant Materials Center in Corvallis has partnered with the Native Seed Network in performing a common garden study for the native grass Festuca roemeri, an important, vastly diminished component of upland prairie systems in the Willamette Valley of Oregon.
Manual of Grasses of North America
The Oregon Flora Project is developing an extensive database of plant occurrences based of Herbarium voucher specimens. Currently, there is no modern flora of Oregon. Nearly four decades of biosystematic research and plant exploration have rendered the most recent flora (Peck 1961) out of date. In addition to a Flora of Oregon (with keys, descriptions, and illustrations), the OFP will produce a checklist of Oregon’s native and naturalized vascular plants and an Oregon Plant Atlas.
Oregon Natural Heritage Information Center
Natural Heritage Programs gather, manage and distribute detailed information about the biological diversity found within their jurisdictions. Detailed, credible science combined with standardized data collection and management allows information to be shared. Currently, the Oregon Natural Heritage Information Center is assembling species lists from plot data in Southeast Oregon for NSN. These species lists will be integrated into the National Vegetation Classification System’s plant associations and ecological systems, forming the basis for Community Classifications and Focus Lists in the NSN website.
Native Plant Policies
1995 Executive Memorandum on Landscaping Guidance
"Federal agencies, Federal projects or federally-funded projects shall incorporate regionally native plants in site design and implementation where cost-effective and to the maximum extent practicable. Federal agencies shall strive to avoid or minimize adverse impacts of proposed actions or projects on existing communities of native plants."
Alberta Native Plant Council: Guidelines for the Collection and Use of Native Plants
Alberta Government: Native Plant Revegetation Guidelines
California Native Plant Society
Guidelines For Landscaping To Protect Native Vegetation From Genetic Degradation
... and many more
Colorado Native Plant Society
Sierra Club: Wildlife and Native Plants
Society for Range Management: Position Statement on the Use of Native and Introduced Plant Species
Washington Native Plant Society: Policy on Collection and Sale of Native Plants
Wild Ones: Local Ecotype Guidelines
Restoration
PCA Restoration Working Group
Society for Ecological Restoration
Great Basin Restoration Initiative
Revegetation Equipment Catalog
Seed Certification
Seed certifying agencies provide an independent third-party oversight of seed production through a process of documentation, inspection, sampling, testing, application of standards, and final tagging of seed lots. Each state assigns responsibility for seed certification to a member organization. The programs below have active native plant programs.
Association of Official Seed Certifying Agencies (AOSCA)
Arizona Crop Improvement Association
Colorado Seed Growers Association
Georgia Crop Improvement Association
Idaho Crop Improvement Association
Indiana Crop Improvement Association
Iowa Crop Improvement Association
Michigan Crop Improvement Association
Minnesota Crop Improvement Association
Missouri Crop Improvement Association
Nebraska Crop Improvement Association
New Mexico Crop Improvement Association
North Carolina Crop Improvement Association
North Dakota State Seed Department
Ohio Seed Improvement Association
Oregon Seed Certification Service
South Carolina Seed Certification