Statewide Implementation of Regionally Adapted Native Seeds
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2022-06-01
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Edition:September 2018–July 2021
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Abstract:Mandated by multiple federal executive orders and the Clean Water Act, native seeds must be used, when available, to prevent erosion following construction activities on highway rights-of-ways. Historically, native seeds have resulted in marginal performance across much of the state, and there have been insufficient commercially available native seed sources to fill TxDOT’s needs. Researchers from the Texas Native Seeds program obtained native plant collections including a number of different species of interest from throughout the state. Many of these collections were planted in common garden studies to determine which populations were adapted to commercial production. Selected populations were then farmed to produce sufficient seed quantities to supply to commercial seedsmen for the establishment of production fields. As these new releases were completed, recommendations were made to TxDOT for modification of Item 164, “Seeding for Erosion Control.” Over 1,100 native seed collections were made, resulting in 7 new seed releases. Additionally, seed production of 41 previously released selections was maintained, enabling additional distribution to commercial growers. As a result of these findings and the success of the seed source development efforts, TxDOT was able to revise Item 164 for all of the agency districts for rural areas. These specifications can now direct that only native plants be used for seeding after construction or maintenance activities on the right-of-way, and TxDOT can now meet federal mandates for erosion control under the Clean Water Act as well as existing and proposed federal directives to utilize native plants in remediation and restoration activities.
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