"U.S. Native Seed Shortage Hinders Land Restoration - Report"

"The United States is facing a shortage of the native seeds it uses to restore natural habitats damaged by wildfire and other weather events made worse by climate change, according to a report released on Thursday by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM).

Extreme weather events, especially wildfires, are causing increasingly severe damage, something the Biden administration recognized last July when it tripled funding for U.S. Forest Service (USFS) reforestation efforts.

But the country's supply of native seeds, plants, and trees is insufficient to meet the needs of agencies like USFS or the Bureau of Land Management, the top user of native seeds, which commissioned the NASEM report.

"The federal land-management agencies are not prepared to provide the native seed necessary to respond to the increasing frequency and severity of wildfire and impacts of climate change," the report said."

Leah Douglas reports for Reuters January 26, 2023.

Source: Reuters, 01/27/2023