BLM-WO, National Seed Strategy Assessment

a. Background: The National Seed Strategy for Rehabilitation and Restoration (Seed Strategy) provides goals and objectives for procurement and development of genetically appropriate native seed for the rehabilitation and restoration of public lands. Objective 1.1 of the Seed Strategy it to complete an assessment of the native seed needs of Federal Agencies and the capacity of private and Federal producers to meet this demand. The details of how this assessment should be conducted and who should be involved are unclear. There is a need to complete the national seed assessment of federal seed needs and industry capacity so the BLM and other federal agencies can (1) identify and take steps to improve deficiencies in the number of native species available, the provenance, the quality, and quantity of native seed that is commercially available. (2) Identify and take steps that will improve the effectiveness and efficiency of federal native seed procurement practices. (3) Identify and take steps to improve private sector constraints that currently limit the availability of native seed on the commercial market. b. Objectives: The principal objective of this project is to partner with a recipient to implement goals and objectives of the National Seed Strategy for Rehabilitation and Restoration including the planning and implementation of an assessment of federal native seed needs and federal and private industry capacity for meeting federal native seed needs. The recipient will work with BLM to develop a strategy for completing an interagency native seed need/capacity assessment and will begin any preplanning work. The resulting materials from of these projects will be made available to the public and used by the BLM to make management decisions on BLM lands. The results will also benefit other public and private land decision makers c. Public Benefit: The public will benefit through increased efficiency, effectiveness, wider species availability, improved genetic provenance and lower costs associated with government procurement of native seed. The public will benefit from commercial sector stimulation resulting from improved government practices associated with purchasing native seed. Procuring genetically appropriate native seed will improve the effectiveness of BLM projects as well as conserve and maintain ecosystem function and land health. This type of information will improve public land management. The BLM will be able to more effectively target their activities to gain the most benefit, making more efficient use of funds, which is clearly in the public interest.