1. Conservation
    2.   >  
  2. The North Coast Regional Seed Bank

The North Coast Regional Seed Bank

Building on decades of work in seed banking the Friends of the Botanic Garden became a founding partner of the North Coast Regional Seed Bank in 2023 along with the North Coast Regional Landcare network and NSW Local Land Services. This seed bank network collects the seed of over 100 native plant species from Kempsey to the Queensland border to grow seedlings for ecological restoration programs. 

The seed is collected by trained volunteers of the Friends of the Botanic Garden and the Landcare network, as well as by the staff of Local Land Services and other partner organisations. The seed is then processed, stored and tested for viability at the Botanic Garden. Seed bank network members are able to then withdraw seed to grow in plant nurseries. This includes to Landcare nurseries and other nurseries growing seedlings for ecological restoration programs including for fire and flood recovery, carbon storage and other community-based regeneration projects.

Details about the North Coast Regional Seed Bank at: https://northcoastseedbank.com.au

The Friends of the Botanic Garden fund the maintenance of a seed bank storage and testing facility located in the Botanic Garden. NSW Local Land Services assists this facility and database management with grant funding. To learn more the work of the Friends of the Botanic Garden and the North Coast Regional Seed Bank contact the Seed Bank Coordinator at: seedbankNCR@gmail.com

Seed Bank Origins and the Botanic Garden Conservation Collection

Seed storage and testing facilities were first established in the North Coast Regional Botanic Garden in the 1980’s to produce seedlings to plant in the garden and for other conservation purposes. This included special plantings of rainforest species, eastern Australia heathlands and of rare and endangered plants using wild sourced seed which was collected under a scientific collecting licence in the NSW North Coast region. 

From the early 1990’s to 2020 the role of the seed bank expanded to supply native plant seed from the NSW North Coast to other botanic gardens and conservation organisations in Australia and around the world. This role of seed supply for research and conservation is now largely taken over by larger institutions such as the Australian Plant Bank in Sydney.  

The Friends of the Botanic Garden still maintain a documented conservation collection of the seed of over 250 native plant species. This is used to propagate plants for the Botanic Garden and for other conservation work.