A large group of staff, interns, and volunteers learns about native seed collection and preservation. Photo by Steve Henry, August 12, 2008, Helen C. Fenske Visitor Center pavilion at Great Swamp NWR.

Camille Joseph from the Greenbelt Native Plant Center leads a field exercise in collecting native seeds. Photo by Steve Henry, August 12, 2008, Helen C. Fenske Visitor Center grounds at Great Swamp NWR.

Camille Joseph demonstrates the finer points of native sedge seeds. Photo by Steve Henry, August 12, 2008, Helen C. Fenske Visitor Center grounds at Great Swamp NWR.

Twenty-two staff, interns, and volunteers from Great Swamp and Wallkill River NWRs and respective Friends groups participated in a successful workshop on collecting and preserving native plant seeds.  The workshop, hosted by Great Swamp NWR, was held on August 12, 2008 on the grounds of the refuge's new visitor center.  Staff from the Greenbelt Native Plant Center, a unit of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, led the workshop.  Greenbelt botanists provided a thorough explanation of the planning and considerations necessary to properly collect seeds and provided hands-on training in proper collecting techniques.  Participants focused on collecting two species of sedge native to the area and learned to identify many other unique and fascinating plants.  Seeds from local genetic stock are particularly valuable to the refuge for revegetation and restoration projects.  The Greenbelt Native Plant Center specializes in collecting seeds and propagating plants native to the New York City metropolitan area for use in seeds banks and restoration projects.  For the past two years, Greenbelt botanists have collected thousands of seeds from Great Swamp NWR, some of which have been banked nationally in the Bureau of Land Management's "Seeds of Success" program and internationally through Kew Garden's "Millennium Seed Bank Project".