Bringing Native Seed to West Texas
The Trans Pecos Native Plant Material Initiative
by Colin Shakelford
E
veryone’s got a story to tell – people, landowners
and, yes, the land and its plants. Those stories
vary in style and color as much as they do in point
of view or need. They might even conflict a little
depending on the telling or the goals and beliefs behind
them, but all are true nonetheless. Let me tell you a true
story, one with a lot of diverse characters all looking for
the same thing: native seed.
This story begins in South Texas in the late 1990s. A
proposed interstate highway corridor was planned to
run through the region. Many landowners were troubled
by the planned use of non-native plants for re-vegetation
as part of the construction. New research findings in
South Texas were showing that non-native plants had
significant negative impacts on important wildlife
species. Landowners were worried about the possible
impacts these plants could have on the wildlife values of
their property. Realizing that non-native plants could
spread from right-of-way plantings onto private ranch-
land, landowners took action. In 2000, the Caesar
Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute (CKWRI) at Texas
A&M Kingsville, working in partnership with concerned
private landowners, formed South Texas Natives (STN)
with the goal of developing sources of native seed
endemic to South Texas and making them commercial-
ly available.
Move 500-plus miles northwestward, fast-forward 12
years and 20 successful commercial plant releases later.
In an effort to improve native seed availability in the
Trans-Pecos, the Borderlands Research Institute (BRI) at
Sul Ross University is partnering with CKWRI and the
Texas Native Seeds project (an expansion of the original
STN project). Modeled after STN, this work is spear-
headed through the Trans Pecos Native Plant Materials
Initiative (TPPMI). The goal is to provide economically
viable sources of locally adapted native seeds and
restoration strategies that can be used for the restoration
of native plant communities in West Texas.
Restoration is a growing story in West Texas.
Common restoration goals include providing habitat for
wildlife, re-vegetating highway rights-of-way and oil field
reclamation. Commercial sources of locally adapted
native seeds for these kinds of projects are critical for suc-
cessful restoration. Currently there are few commercial
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Map courtesy Trans Pecos Plant Materials Initiative
sources of native seeds available that originated from the
Trans-Pecos ecoregion.
Wait a minute, you may be thinking. Grass species
native to the Trans-Pecos are already available. Take
sideoats grama for instance, a plant found across large
parts of West Texas. Isn’t a sideoats grama just a sideoats
grama no matter how you slice it? If only it were that
simple. The plant species itself may be native to the
region, but the genetics of currently available seed
sources are not. The “El Reno” variety of sideoats
grama originates from central Oklahoma and the
“Vaughn” variety from central New Mexico, areas with
very different climates and soils from West Texas.
Experience has shown that many plants established out-
side of their range of adaptation may germinate and
perform well for several growing seasons but will not per-
sist over the long term.
Isn’t a grass just a grass and any old grass will do?
From research on wildlife habitat across Texas, we know
the answer is no. Without native seed to plant, exotic
grasses are often used to prevent soil erosion in reclama-
tion projects or following habitat improvements.
However, research clearly shows that they can have neg-
ative impacts on the ecosystems they are introduced into.
Exotic species disrupt the entire ecosystem by decreasing
native biodiversity. It’s not only that exotics use up the
water, space and resources native species need; native
Cenizo
Fourth Quarter 2012
critters most often prefer native plants for food and shel-
ter. For example, CKWRI scientists have documented a
50 percent decline in bobwhite quail densities on sites
dominated by exotic grasses compared to sites with
native species.
Additionally, the reach of non-native species goes
beyond the immediate area planted. Many non-natives
tend to spread to adjacent native grasslands. Look at
Lehmann lovegrass, a non-native plant used widely
across West Texas. It is better able to tolerate drought,
utilize winter rainfall and take advantage of the variable
summer rainfall that is typical of West Texas. As a result,
Lehman lovegrass occurs today in areas where it was
never intentionally seeded. This proliferation is an exam-
ple of one of the most important plot twists in this story:
Given the sheer quantity of acreage being reseeded in
Texas each year, it is important to do what’s right by the
land.
The Texas Department of Transportation is one of
the state’s largest seed users. In addition to looking for
ways to lower costs (like using lower-growing seed mixes
to cut back on mowing), they are federally mandated to
look for native seed. As a result, TxDOT has provided
significant support to CKWRI and BRI for this initiative
in order to help meet the agency’s long-term seeding
needs. Another agency heavily involved in seeding is the
Natural Resources Conservation Service. NRCS is a