Native Seeds for Post-Fire Recovery in Southern California Parks

Members of Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area's Restoration Program at work. NPS / J. Algiers.

California's range of landscapes and climate supports more plant and animal species than any other state, which makes it a biodiversity hotspot. Extreme wildfires, invasive plants and climate change all put that richness at risk.

The funding

In 2024 the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provided $816,000 for a native seed program in Southern California, aimed at areas badly damaged by recent wildfires. The goal is to collect and process more native seed, so that the land can better withstand future fires.

Why native seed matters after fire

Invasive species are spreading as fires become more frequent and the climate changes. They threaten native plants, pollinators, the health of whole ecosystems, and what visitors come to see. Native plants are what compete with them and keep ecosystems working.

The approach combines two steps:

1. remove the invasive plants, and
2. replant with native species, which resist fire better.

Together, the National Park Service says, these can produce an ecosystem resilient enough to recover on its own after a wildfire.

Who is involved

The project brings Department of the Interior bureaus together to collect and grow the right native seeds for restoring burned vegetation. The National Park Service manages it, and it supports wildfire-resilience work at:

• Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area,
• Channel Islands National Park, and
• Cabrillo National Monument.

Plans for 2025 included expanding to nearby wildlife refuges run by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Work under way at Santa Monica Mountains

The park's 1-acre seed farm at Paramount Ranch after planting. NPS / J. Algiers.

At the time of the report, Santa Monica Mountains staff were:

• building a seed collection team;
• improving the infrastructure of a 5-acre seed farm at Rancho Sierra Vista, where they were growing 27,000 native plants; and
• hiring more biological science technicians to collect and process seed, so the park is ready for future fires.

Sources

• National Park Service: "Expanding plant materials capacity for national parks and refuges in the Southern California/Northern Baja Coast Ecoregion."