Plugging in baby plants, rescuing plants in peril, harvesting seed and later sowing it . . . learn from the best about native plants while helping to boost diversity in our preserves by volunteering with the Pluggers/Seed Collectors!
Pluggers/Seed Collectors Workdays
No seed collecting workdays are scheduled at this time –
please check back!
Our Seed Collectors program improves habitat restoration efforts on our preserves by improving their botanical diversity.
The program involves collecting the seeds of target species and sowing them in appropriate locations that are “in need” of some supplemental seed. This could be especially helpful for natural communities that are being restored – such as the oak savanna at Wolf Tree Nature Trails – where we expect that invasive plants will keep coming back after their removal if native plants are not reintroduced to take their place.
In areas where we have introduced native seed from commercial sources, plant diversity is often limited by the number of species included in the mix, so we’d also like to give those areas a boost by using other native species known to grow in those plant communities.
Seed collection complements our existing stewardship work on SWMLC preserves. For example, if glossy buckthorn (a particularly nasty invasive) is removed in one patch by the SWMLC stewardship crew or volunteers, we can target that area for introduction of good native seed that we’ve collected throughout the year as the next step in the habitat restoration process.
