American Seed Trade Association chair Risa DeMasi voices the seed industry’s support for the Department of Interior Bureau of Land Management’s National Seed Strategy for Rehabilitation and Restoration.
“The seed industry, in particular the conservation and reclamation seed sector, has a long and successful history of cooperation with the federal government,” DeMasi says. “These partnerships have been in place for decades, and we look forward to many more years of close cooperation.”
The strategy is part of a comprehensive, science-based approach to address the threat of wildfires that are damaging landscapes across the West. According to the Department of Interior, the strategy will help foster resilient and healthy landscapes important to wildlife and to our economy by guiding ecological restoration, especially for those lands damaged by large rangeland fires.
ASTA participated in numerous open and constructive dialogues fostered by the BLM staff throughout the formulation process.
“ASTA supports the National Seed Strategy’s focus on continued research in identifying appropriate, regionally-adapted species, and the development of protocols to transform those materials into seeds and plants that can successfully restore the thousands of acres of land impacted by wildfires — like those currently devastating Oregon, Washington, Idaho and California,” DeMasi says.
“ASTA members want to ensure the seeds that government and private land managers need are available when disaster strikes. We want to continue to provide high-quality seeds which have been trialed and proven adept at reclamation and conservation. This strategy will be an effective tool to improve and continue that collaboration between the private seed industry and the federal government both at high levels in D.C. and the field-level offices across the western United States.”
