Building a Washington Native Seed Coalition
Washington is a state of diverse landscapes- from the temperate rainforests of the Olympic Peninsula to the arid shrub-steppe environments east of the Cascade Range. This diversity necessitates an equally diverse and robust ‘native seed economy’ to support restoration practices statewide. The Washington Native Seed Coalition (WNSC) was created in response to this need.
The WNSC, founded in 2024, is coordinated by Ecostudies Institute with funding from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Coalition brings together a diverse network of public and private stakeholders and provides a framework for them to identify seed needs and collaborate to find, and implement, solutions. The coalition is made up of individuals from tribal, state, Federal, local, and private entities, and anyone who has an interest in creating a resilient seed economy in Washington.
cultivating a washington seed strategy
Seed Coordinator Cindy Nguyen presents a poster on her work coordinating a Washington Native Seed Strategy in collaboration with Emily Orling, Erin Gray, and other partners, at the 2025 CPOP Conference in Tacoma, WA. Image courtesy of Elspeth Kim.
Mission
Getting the right seed, in the right place, at the right time to ensure resilient, diverse ecosystems in Washington.
Vision
To strengthen communication and collaboration to promote the availability of genetically and ecologically appropriate native seed across Washington.
Interested in plugging into a network of seed producers, collectors, researchers, land managers, and other seed stakeholders across Washington State?
JOIN WNSC* by signing up for the Listserv!
Listserv members can share and receive seed-related news, opportunities, research, and more.
*joining the listserv does not subscribe you to the WNSC newsletter. To subscribe to the newsletter, sign up in the form at the bottom of the page.
Developing a Washington Native Seed Strategy
In 2014, the Carlton Complex wildfire burned 256,108 acres in Okanagan County, surpassing the 1902 Yacolt burn as the largest wildfire in Washington State History. Increasingly intense and frequent natural disasters such as the Carlton Complex burn, as well as human disturbances including habitat modification and land overuse, are putting large swathes of Washington landscape at risk and in need of restoration interventions more than ever before.
The creation of the Washington Native Seed Strategy arose in response to these conditions. It seeks to build a resilient ‘seed industry’ by providing a coordinated approach for stabilization, rehabilitation, and restoration treatments between public and private partners in Washington.
The Washington Native Seed Strategy is being developed as a reflection of the perspectives, needs, and concerns of the Washington Native Seed Coalition, who are taking guidance from the existing National Seed Strategy while adapting to the unique challenges and needs of our state.
A handful of lupinus spp. seeds grown at the Violet Prairie Seed Farm in Tenino, WA. (Anika Goldner 2024)
How Can I Get Involved?
The WNSC is currently in the process of creating the draft Washington Native Seed Strategy. Throughout the Fall of 2025, we will be holding multiple working group meetings to get further input from coalition members on the proposed action items for the Goals and Objectives that the coalition determined through their meetings in the winter and spring. If you would like to be involved in Working Group Meetings, reach out to Cindy Nguyen cnguyen@ecoinst.org.
Be sure to sign up for the WNSC Quarterly Newsletter to keep up-to-date on the latest seed news, get information about past and upcoming Coalition meetings, and be notified once the Washington Native Seed Coalition Website is live!