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My name is Brooke Fleischman.

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I'm the State Seed coordinator of Vermont

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based out of the Intervale
Center's Conservation Nursery.

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And I'm Jess Colby,

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the Riparian Lands Project Coordinator

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at NorthWoods Stewardship Center.

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Today we'll be talking about
the Vermont Seed Program,

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as a part of the Riparian
Lands Partnership.

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We will review our project
timeline, work to date,

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and discuss some challenges
and opportunities

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of this work in the future.

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This work wouldn't be possible

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without the financial support

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of the Great Lakes Fisheries Commission,

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thanks to Senator Leahy efforts,
Vermont Fish and Wildlife,

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and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

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Together, we collect, process,

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and store locally adapted,
native tree and shrub seeds

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for Riparian Forest Restoration
projects across the state.

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We work closely with local
conservation nurseries

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on native plant propagation,

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such as the Intervale
Conservation Nursery,

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and the Essex County NRCD nursery.

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In addition to working with nurseries,

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many seeds go towards
direct seeding trials,

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with Vermont Fish and Wildlife,

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as an experimental alternative
restoration approach

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to planting bare root tree stock.

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To track our collection information,

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the Intervale Center houses a database

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of map seeds, source
locations, and phenology data,

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compiled from NorthWoods,

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the Nature Conservancy,
and the Intervale Center.

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Every year we expand
our collection locations

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to keep genetic diversity at top of mind.

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In 2015, the first cornfield
replication experiments

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started at Willoughby Falls
Wildlife Management Area,

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with Vermont Fish and Wildlife,

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and Fritz Gerhardt of Beck Pond, LLC.,

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now with the Connecticut
River Conservancy.

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The experimental fields were prepped

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to allow natural regeneration of species,

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and recently abandoned,

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or disturbed agricultural
fields with bere soil.

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In 2017, direct seeding trials started

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at the LaPlatte Town Forest,

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in partnership with the Intervale Center,

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US Fish and Wildlife,
Vermont Fish and Wildlife,

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and the Nature Conservancy.

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While the principles were sound,

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and early trials looked promising,

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they struggled to identify
seed collection sites,

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and gather enough seed
to use in these trials.

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In 2020, like with many other projects,

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the direct seeding trials
were halted by COVID-19,

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and due to past issues
surrounding collecting enough seed

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to make the project work.

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This sparked even more conversation

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around a need for seed
collection efforts in the state.

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In 2021, NorthWoods Stewardship Center

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began collecting seeds

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for these direct seeding trials.

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And in 2022,

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NorthWoods housed its eight eight-month

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Riparian Lands crew,

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comprised of Rob Fitch and Rona Thompson.

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During their field season,

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they were able to develop protocols,

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and expand collection locations,
for each target species.

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By the end of the season,

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roughly 30 million seeds
from 19 different species

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had been collected.

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In January, 2023, I started my position

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as the state seed coordinator,

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based out of the Intervale Center,

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to coordinate more collaborative efforts

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among partners towards native seeds.

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Following the success of
2022's long season crew,

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NorthWoods once again housed
a Riparian Lands crew,

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between March and November.

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This year's crew members Alex
Sale, and Jake Gallinger,

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were able to continue
where Robin Rona left off,

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and expanded locations for collection.

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They also assisted with
fine tuning our protocols,

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and gathering information.

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With more refined cleaning protocols,

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we are able to get a more accurate count

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of seeds collected this year,

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which came out to be around 56 million,

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from 21 different species.

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Direct seeding trials have continued

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with our first fall
application at three new sites,

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in Canaan and Wilcott, Vermont,

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with Vermont Fish and Wildlife,

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and in Morgan, Vermont,

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with the Memphremagog
Watershed Association.

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At the Intervale Center
Conservation Nursery,

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approximately 70,000 propagules
were started in greenhouses,

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and later transplanted
into the production field.

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We've been expanding our
functions every year,

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and plan to continue this
trajectory in years to come.

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Our target species list was
chosen based on top sellers

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from the Intervale Conservation Nursery,

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overall con conversations with partners,

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and data from

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"Plant Material Sourcing
Needs for Riparian Forest,

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and Wetland Restoration in Vermont,"

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a report published by the
Watershed Forestry Partnership

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in 2021.

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We'll continue to expand
our target list as we grow,

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and build out capacity.

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By the first week in June,

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we are hectically coordinating crews

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to collect silver maple,
cottonwood, and balsam poplar.

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which are all dropping at the same time.

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Fall collections are a lot more relaxed,

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as the seeds tend to hold on a bit longer

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than the spring species do.

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September and October are spent
prioritizing speckled alder,

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birch, cedar, and viburnum.

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As we learn more about the
species on our target list,

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we have begun to use various types

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of seed cleaning equipment.

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We'll talk a little bit more

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about three of our most used methods.

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Our partnership began purchasing,

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and building out sea
cleaning equipment in 2021,

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when the Intervale Center
bought a Dybvig seed cleaner,

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Northwood Stewardship Center followed suit

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and bought their own Dybvig in 2022,

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along with a commercial
fridge to store clean seeds.

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This piece of equipment

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specializes in cleaning large
quantities of fruity material

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for species such as cherry,

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dogwood, and viburnum, by macerating them.

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There's a plate at the
bottom of the machine

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that separates and holds seeds

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while releasing any fruity pulp,

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or vegetative material,

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as with the chokecherry pictured.

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Both groups work together with the USDA's

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Plant Introduction Research
Center in Ames, Iowa,

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to construct an air column blower,

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to clean the fluffier spring
species such as willow, aspen,

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cottonwood, and balsam poplar.

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The air compressor forces
air to circulate seeds

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around a cylindrical container.

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We placed various size
screens at the bottom,

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so that seeds fall through
into a collection bin,

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while the fluff and pods
remain in the column.

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You can see Meg Carter,

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NorthWoods Conservation Science
Director, with the setup,

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in the bottom left hand
corner of the slide.

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This technique drastically
reduces storage space,

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makes propagation much
easier in nursery practice,

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and minimizes wind dispersal of the seeds

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in direct seed applications.

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To clean seeds from species
such as birch, alder,

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cedar, tamarack, and fur.

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the Intervale Center purchased
a Clipper seed cleaner,

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in 2023.

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The Clipper utilizes two
sets of vibrating screens,

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and a blower,

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to separate the seeds from
other plant materials.

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In the lower left photo, the
top bucket is pre-cleaned seed.

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Once it has run through the Clipper,

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you are left with the lower left bucket

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of mostly clean seed,

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and the lower right bucket,

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With bract, and other seed
bearing materials separated.

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In 2024, the Intervale Center
will host its first crew

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in the spring,

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expanding our capacity for
scouting, and collection efforts,

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during the busy spring season.

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There are two positions available,

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and the job will be
posted after the new year,

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so stay tuned for more information then.

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NorthWoods will host its third long season

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Riparian Lands crew,

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with Alex and Jake
returning as crew members.

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With a year of knowledge
already under their belts,

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they'll continue to boost
capacity within the program.

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Another direct seed application

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will be carried out in the
spring at the Canaan, Morgan,

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and Wilcott sites.

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In fall 2024, an additional two sites

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will be added to the
direct seeding trials.

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We are building out our network

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by connecting with folks
from local nurseries,

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the Northeast Seed Network,

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the Ash Protection Program,

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the Ash Protection Collaboration
of Cross Wabanonik,

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the USDA's National
Plant Germ Plasm System,

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Canada's National Tree
Seed Center, and many more.

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As we learn more about
seed collection, cleaning,

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and storage methods, we
are identifying equipment

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that we need to be more
efficient in our efforts.

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For example, we are prioritizing

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a different air column blower

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to separate full viable seeds

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from underdeveloped, or empty seeds.

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This can ensure that we are working

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with pure live seeds in our projects.

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Most of all, our hope is
to collect more seeds,

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to expand our ability to help
partners across the state.

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Shortly after the new year,

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partners will come together at
a strategic planning meeting,

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to discuss future visions and goals.

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From this meeting, we'll
come up with actionable items

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that we can take to meet those goals.

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To understand the demand,

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and work to support the overall

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native plant material supply.

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We have developed the
Vermont Seed Needs survey.

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If you work in a nursery,

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or as a restoration practitioner,

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please consider filling out the survey

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at the end of our presentation,

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by scanning the respective QR code.

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Responses will inform

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the strategic planning meeting in January,

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and help us further our development

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towards providing locally
sourced native plants

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for restoration purposes across the state.

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If you have any questions,

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or wish to connect over
native seed efforts,

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please don't hesitate to reach out

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to either Brooke or I, via
our emails listed below.

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Thank you so much for your time.

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We'll go ahead and pull
up this survey QR codes,

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and leave it open for questions.

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[Moderator] Great, thank you so much.

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We have about five minutes for questions.

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Yep?

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[Participant] I have two short questions:

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Can people buy seeds from you?

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And are you gonna do herbaceous
species in the future?

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We are not currently selling seeds

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to folks at the moment,

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just because we don't have
any protocols in place

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of how to sell seed.

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That's definitely something
we're working on at the moment,

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and it's gonna be a part of
our strategic planning meeting.

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Hopefully within the next year or two,

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we'll be able to start
distributing seeds out to people.

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But right now it's within
our direct projects.

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So sorry to say that, at the moment.

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I wish we could be selling seed.

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And we're hoping to be starting

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to mix in some herbaceous
plants in as well.

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I know that the Intervale
Conservation Nursery

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already wants to start
growing some herbaceous plants

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within our bare root stock
that we sell, not as bare root,

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but in flats.

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So it's going to be mixed
in as we build out capacity.

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We're really only working

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with a handful of people at the moment.

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So we'll start expanding our species lists

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once we get that build of capacity.

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[Momderator] You have a question?

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[Second Participant] Do
you account for varieties,

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or any sort of DNA type of thing?

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Yeah, so as a part of our seed map,

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everything is tracked from
where things were collected.

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And so we don't separate
individuals in collections,

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but we separate populations.

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So we'll only leave things separated

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if they're from a certain area,

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and keep that track throughout,

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into our application of those projects.

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[Third Participant] Brooke,
can you expand on that?

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Like what, what sort of
area are you talking about?

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Like how far out are you gonna go,

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with the planting site
versus the collection site?

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Right, yeah, so generally,

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if we're collecting from
somewhere in the Champlain Valley,

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we won't be applying that into a project

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that's in the very
northeast corner of Vermont.

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We like to keep things like,

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we go by the Northeast Seed Zones.

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That was something

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that was released by the USDA, I believe,

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out of the University of Pennsylvania.

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And so there's four
quadrants within Vermont

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that we stay within.

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So if a seed was collected
within one quadrant,

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it doesn't go outside of that quadrant

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for planting projects.

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[Fourth Participant] Yeah, I
apologize if I missed this,

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but I was curious, are
these seeds being collected

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and then propagated in
a nursery for planting,

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or are you also using them
in like a piece of equipment,

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such as like a seed drill
or something like that?

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Yeah, both.

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So since I'm based out
of the Intervale Center,

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we work really closely

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with the conservation nursery there,

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and provide all of the seed
materials for propagation

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that will later be sold
for restoration projects.

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But we also work directly
with Vermont Fish and Wildlife

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on direct seeding trials.

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So part of that is with hydro seeding,

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as well as just hand casting into fields,

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onto bare root or bare soil.

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I know that the Nature
Conservancy was using a seed drill

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at one point, but we currently
don't have that in practice,

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[Fifth Participant] I was gonna ask,

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if you are moving soil
during this whole process,

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and forgive me, I got
here a little bit late,

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so I maybe missed this,

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but do you take any precautions

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moving something like jumping worms

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when you're moving plant material

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from one place to another?

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00:15:49,950 --> 00:15:52,020
Yeah, that's a good question.

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I don't know if Pete is in
the crowd at the moment.

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Maybe he could answer that question?

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[Pete] We collect seeds only.

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[Fifth Participant] Okay.

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[Pete] So when we're there in this field,

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they're not collecting
plants, just the seeds.

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[Participant] And then they're
being propagated somewhere

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and then planted back out into the sites?

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[Pete] Yes.

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[Fifth Participant] Okay.

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And and that all bare root?

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[Pete] Mostly of these are direct seed.

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[Fifth Participant] Okay.

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[Pete] So we're caging in seed

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to put them right on the ground.

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[Fifth Participant] All right, gotcha.

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[Pete] But they also bring
them to two nurseries,

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one at the Intervale, and
the other one at at six NRCD.

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And so those sites also get seeds

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and they're planted.

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So they might be bare root, mostly.

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[Fifth Participant] All right.