Refuge employee David Peters collects prairie cordgrass seed. - FWS photo by Steve Kahl

Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge has initiated a project with the Saginaw Correctional Facility (SCF), the Saginaw Bay Watershed Initiative Network (WIN), and refuge volunteers to develop a perpetual source of native plant seed. 

The refuge’s Comprehensive Conservation Plan calls for restoration of 1,115 acres of current cropland to prairie and emergent marsh. Restored habitats will be comprised of diverse native plant communities consisting of scores of species.  However, the purchase of seed for such a diverse assemblage of plants is cost prohibitive. 

Moreover, the commercial availability of seed is often limited to sources that are of distinctly different ecotypes and genotypes than those that occur on the refuge.  This project will use staff, facilities, and inmates at SCF to develop a seed source for refuge habitat restoration projects.

SCF has an established gardening program under the direction of a certified horticulturist.  In fact, this program produces 1,500 to 2,000 flats of annual flowering plants per year.  SCF has the acreage, labor, expertise, and supervision available to expand its gardening program to meet refuge needs.  However, the facility required additional equipment and supplies.

Grants from the Fish and Wildlife Service’s Challenge Cost Share program and Saginaw Bay WIN helped secure the necessary equipment and supplies. 

Refuge staff and volunteers have been collecting seeds of native plants from the refuge and directly adjacent sites.  Inmates have been sorting, storing, and germinating these seeds and cultivating the plants.  Seeds and plugs from these plants will then be used in refuge habitat restorations.  Species currently being propagated include prairie cordgrass, New York ironweed, tall sunflower, and Indian hemp.