Behind the Long Center for Plant & Environmental Science at Holden Arboretum in Kirtland, a modest shipping container houses an initiative with a lofty goal: to support forest restoration efforts across the region.

The Holden Seed Bank, now celebrating its first anniversary, has laid a strong foundation and is already expanding its reach to better aid forest conservation across northeast Ohio and beyond.

The impetus for the new seed bank was to support large-scale forest restoration efforts in the region by providing locally sourced native tree seeds. Research has shown that locally sourced natives have better survival rates than those from farther away—especially when faced with extreme weather events like heat waves or bitter cold. And when it comes to natural solutions to climate change, large-scale reforestation is number one.

Seed Bank manager, Kim LessmanBut the bottleneck for large-scale tree planting is often supply—there just aren’t enough trees ready for planting. The goal of the seed bank was, and still is, to bridge that gap—supporting reforestation at scale by collecting, processing, storing, and distributing native tree seeds.

During the bank’s first seed collection season last fall, seed bank manager Kim Lessman and teams of volunteers brought in about 150,000 seeds of 30 different native species.

“Those numbers feel so insignificant compared to what we are going to be able to accomplish this year,” Lessman says.

About half of the collection so far will support the disease resistance and plant breeding work of the Great Lakes Basin Forest Health Collaborative, headquartered at Holden under forest health coordinator Rachel Kappler.

When she isn’t collecting seeds, Lessman is focused on building relationships with organizations who might use the seeds—conservation and restoration organizations; universities; and local, state, and federal agencies.

Throughout these conversations, a pattern emerged: Few partners have capacity to deal with seeds. But they’d buy seedlings.

Luckily, Holden Forests & Gardens (HF&G) is one of the few organizations with the capacity to germinate and grow a large number of seedlings. The Arboretum finished building three new polyhouses this month, one of which will serve as the new space for growing the seed collection into ready-to-plant tree seedlings.

Drying seeds collected by volunteersThe organization is also hiring two new positions. One is a seed bank technician, who will support seed collections and work in the facility itself—collecting, processing, and storing seeds; managing the digital records; and working with volunteers. The other is a grower to oversee the new seedling initiative.

The seed bank is also expanding its purview to supply native tree seeds and seedlings not just for large-scale plantings, but for smaller efforts, too. In fact, 88% of Ohio’s forests are on private properties, which means a big part of the conservation and restoration opportunities in the state lie with landowners.

Holden recently received $1.8M through the Inflation Reduction Act to expand forest landowner support in the region, and the seed bank will serve as a key resource for this new program.

“We need the hearts and minds of those folks, because that’s the only way we can protect forests here,” says Katie Stuble, plant biologist and research chair at HF&G. “If we want healthy forests, we need to support private landowners.”

Overall, Lessman says, the seed bank’s first year involved a lot of learning, and a lot of listening. The seed bank also has its first official restoration partner: The Cleveland Museum of Natural History. The museum will receive 1,000 seedlings for a restoration project.

“The thing that really makes me the most excited about the seed bank is the tangible connection it makes with the conservation and restoration community in this region,” says Stuble. “We’ve always had ties to our community on a more intellectual level—sharing ideas. But now we’re working together in really tangible ways to achieve our shared goals.

“If we were the only ones doing something, we wouldn’t get anywhere,” Stuble continues. “It really takes a bunch of organizations working together to grow healthy forests.”

The Holden Seed Bank's first year has laid a solid foundation for future growth, and with the continued support of the community, it will play a pivotal role in conserving and restoring our region's forests for years to come.

Volunteers collecting seeds in 2023Get involved

Holden Forests & Gardens will host “A Celebration of Seeds” at the Cleveland Botanical Garden, this Thursday Aug. 8 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Experts from HF&G, Pollinator Partnership, Cleveland Metroparks, and Wild Ones Greater Cleveland will discuss the value and joy of native seeds in a panel moderated by Eco Speaks CLE podcast host Diane Bickett.

The event begins at 6 p.m. with drinks (credit card bar) and socializing with fellow plant-lovers while learning how to get involved in conserving native plants in your community. The panel discussion begins at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 per person.

Seed Exhange and Working Woods

Also launching this Thursday, Aug. 8 is Holden’s new community seed exchange program. If you’ve ever seen a Little Free Library, this is the same thing—except for seeds.

There will be one cabinet at the Cleveland Botanical Garden, 11030 East Blvd. in University Circle,  and one at the Holden Arboretum, 9550 Sperry Road, Kirtlan. Both cabinets were custom-built by Holden Arboretum police officer Tony Piotrowski.

The program is for backyard gardeners and other community members excited to participate in the exchange of native seeds at their own scale. Bring your seeds, take some seeds!

If you’re a forest landowner interested in tree seedlings—hold tight! The tree seedling program is still under development. To stay in the loop, sign up for the Working Woods email newsletter.

To volunteer with the seed bank, visit Holden Forests & Gardens’ volunteer page, and keep an eye out for more seed collection trainings this fall.