Seeding our Forested Future: The Holden Seed Bank

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Holden Forest & Gardens is seeding Ohio's forested future through the Holden Seed Bank at the Holden Arboretum, which will soon celebrate its first anniversary. In this episode, we speak with Seed Bank Manager Kim Lessman about how this "restoration" seed bank works, how she became its manager, and how her work forms the core of new climate-fighting reforestation efforts across the region by eliminating a bottleneck in local tree planting efforts - the need for seeds. The Holden Seed Bank collects and processes seeds from native "workhorse" tree species like hickories, oaks, and hemlocks, which local nurseries grow into seedlings to support regional restoration projects and tree planting efforts. The work of the Holden Seed Bank is helping build resilient, biodiverse forests that can face our changing climate by providing thousands and thousands of seeds of local ecotype collected in our region. A Celebration of Seeds event will be held on August 8 at the Cleveland Botanical Garden and feature panelists from Holden Seed Bank, Cleveland Metroparks, the Pollinator Project, and Wild Ones Greater Cleveland to celebrate its one-year anniversary. Join us for all the tree-loving details.
Guest:
Kimberly Lessman, Manager, Holden Restoration Seed Bank - [e-mail]
Resources:
About Holden Forest & Gardens
About the Holden Seed Bank
Celebration of Seeds - August 8 at the Cleveland Botanical Garden
Visit the Cleveland Botanical Garden and the Holden Arboretum
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Chapters

1. Seeding our Forested Future: The Holden Seed Bank (00:00:00)

2. Episode and Guest Introduction (00:00:23)

3. What is a Seed Bank and What is the Holden Seed Bank? (00:01:06)

4. Supporting Local Tree Planting Efforts (00:04:09)

5. Seed Turn Around (00:11:40)

6. Local Partners (00:12:40)

7. Trees and our Local EcoType (00:14:52)

8. What is an Ecotype? (00:15:13)

9. Kim's Journey (00:17:28)

10. Celebration of Seeds Event (00:22:03)