Collecting Native Seed at Great Basin National Park

Written from an article by Suzana Bledsoe and Cassandra Workman, native seed technicians with Seeds of Success, first published in The Midden*, Great Basin National Park, Vol. 24, No. 2, Winter 2024.*

When the flowers fade

As the busy season winds down and the peaks cool, seed collectors see a different landscape from most visitors. When the blooms are gone and plants near the end of their year, the collectors get excited about what comes next: seeds.

Seeds of Success

2024 was the first year of a partnership between Seeds of Success (SOS) and Great Basin National Park.

• What: a national seed collection program of the Bureau of Land Management, working with other federal agencies, refuges, sanctuaries and Tribes.
• Why: to supply the best possible restoration material for public lands.
• The idea: Nevada and the Great Basin have highly varied climates and landscapes, and native plants have adapted to each niche. SOS aims to get the best-adapted plants to exactly the places they'll grow best.

What gets collected

Technicians handle the first step: collecting. From the first warm days, they go "wildflower chasing" for native plants that:

• repopulate disturbed ground, such as after mining reclamation or wildfire;
• stabilize soil, so fussier natives can follow;
• provide food and help hold water;
• can be grown on farms to multiply their seed.

Timing in the park: work there didn't start until mid-July. The park's high elevation means cooler temperatures and more precipitation, which delay or stretch out flowering — and so seed.

The prickly poppy

One population the team scouted and collected was Argemone munita, the flatbud prickly poppy, in the Lehman Flat area between the Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive and the park entrance road.

• It flourished on a prescribed fire site, part of a fuels reduction project burned in February 2024.
• Big, showy white petals that are surprisingly delicate, on a dusty green stem covered in thorns.
• It wasn't on the year's target list, but it fits the goals perfectly — as its success on burned ground shows.

From scouting to seed

1. Scouting: estimate the population's size and life stages, and plan a return.
2. Waiting — until late August.
3. Collecting: the otherworldly pods rattle when the seeds are dry and ripe, then burst open at the top and scatter seed like popcorn. Timing is everything: green seeds mold; overripe ones are lost to weather, pests or decay.
4. Treating seeds and pods so insects and pests don't travel.
5. Shipping to an extractory to separate the seed from plant material.

From there, these prickly poppy seeds may travel much farther than they ever would on their own — to help restore lands across the Great Basin.

Sources

Based on "A Summer of Seed Successes," by Suzana Bledsoe and Cassandra Workman, The Midden — Great Basin National Park, Vol. 24, No. 2, Winter 2024, published by the National Park Service and in the public domain; rewritten in hubnx's own words. The authors' photographs of the poppy are not reproduced. The source spells the area "Lehmen Flat."