 It's magic. It's that quick little solution that creates huge benefits. It's magnificent. It's awesome. It has such creativity because of our people, because of the knowledge that they have. We are inquisitive, steadfast and innovative. The plant materials program has been beneficial and green because you'll have plant resources. We do rely on that base of expertise. The plant materials program, part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service, shares the agency's rich 70-year history. The program uses plants to solve our nation's most critical resource concerns. Restoring stream banks, wetlands, coastal areas, native prairies, grazing lands and wildlife habitat. Preventing invasive species, using windbreaks to improve air quality. Providing vegetation for conservation reserve program lands. And restoring areas after road building, mining, drought and wildfire. Plants play a very important role in the conservation practices that we utilize. We can solve a lot of our problems with plants which are generally more environmentally friendly, less costly and they've become a major part of our conservation practices. Plant materials centers programed nationwide. I'm very impressed with the technology transfer and the dedication to the people to try and get the information out and help the landowners, help the county governments and help the natural resource to address the concerns that only plants can do. Plants are the basis for most of the restoration projects and it's a long-term objective and we need to build on a basis of good genetic material. Plants are it. Plants are that answer and many times they're the only solution. The program works through a network of 26 plant material centers and associated plant materials specialists serving all 50 states and U.S. territories. The NRCS plant material program really has its roots in the beginnings of the agency, the old soil conservation service. There was a lot of wisdom that went into the architecture of that agency based primarily on soil surveys, snow surveys, plant materials and conservation planning. Plant materials being one of the the basic programs that was originally authorized looked at the fact that if we were going to do conservation in this country we had to try to mirror what the good Lord did when he made this world and that is put a cover on the soil. It's a grassroots type program. We work with private landowners, we work with conservation districts in testing our plant materials and that technology is transferred on to the neighbor. The plant material center started during the Dust Bowl in the 1930s and the entire six, seven decades since so they've been involved with developing plant materials to solve conservation problems whether it's soil erosion from wind or water or restoring disturbed lands. We have developed plant materials and plant materials technology for wildlife, for streambank stabilization, conservation of natural resources such as water. The plant materials program collects, selects and releases grasses, legumes, wildflowers, trees and shrubs for conservation use and develops innovative technology to establish those plants on the landscape in cooperation with public private, commercial and tribal partners. In order to find those best plants it takes research, it takes growing those plants, it takes years of study to determine which plant is really going to be the best to meet all those conditions and needs and through this plant materials program we're able to determine that. That's what the plant materials program is about in our agency is to look for superior performing conservation plants that meet the needs of the resource out there. We're providing more diversity trying to make that plant community a native plant community that resembles some relic plant community prior to a disturbance. That's been a real challenge and I think our program has provided those materials. We have a large emphasis to try to find native plants that fit the role whenever possible and to look for specific cultural needs of those plants. How do you collect those plants, how are they propagated, how do you care for the seed and most importantly what is the best way to plant those plants in a fashion that they'll survive and do the job they're intended to do. We do a lot of work on the agronomics of seed production and what kind of irrigation regime, what type of harvesting equipment, what kind of germination do you end up with. That's another whole part of our program is to get that plant ready for commercial production and what kinds of technologies are going to be required for that producer to be successful with the production of that plant. The program's experts provide one-on-one technical assistance to farmers, ranchers and seed growers. They also share new plant technologies with NRCS range management specialists, biologists and agronomists and especially with local field offices. Well, plant materials program tries to provide the field offices information on plant sciences technology. That is what are the bright species to solve a particular conservation problem and how do you establish those species in the most cost-effective way. I try to use the plant material center as a training location for our staff people so they have an actual firm experience base when they're talking to land owner. I think it's extremely important. It's a link that we have to actual on-site experience with research and it's looked at very favorably with the farmers and ranchers. The research that they do there is so valuable to all of us in this area and to all of the people in the agricultural and the urban areas because they have so much expertise in this field. That's what we're turning to the plant material center now more is to help me manage the plant community and that's a very very complex exciting task. Plant material program helped me do my job by taking the guesswork out of what will work out there or not. They provide me the information the tools that basically so when I meet with the land owner I have the confidence that I can share with them that these plants will grow well out there. The technology transfer from the plant materials program goes especially to the private sector all of those people who are outside of us. Nurseries and commercial seed growers rely on the plant materials program to provide conservation plant releases not found anywhere else and the guidance on how to successfully grow them. I'm thrilled that they are there doing that research and doing a lot of the work that that we might have to do otherwise because we want to select the best of the natives so if they've selected them and we can use them and then promote them and get them out to the public that's a perfect situation. Our company specializes in the production and sales of native grasses and wildflowers. They act as filters for our water they create much cleaner water and they also filter the air and it's through the efforts of the plant material centers that we're able to develop these better native grasses. No no question if NRCS plant materials group was not here I probably would not have started into this native business. They had the first organized approach to making plant material available. Vermilion smooth coregrass has proven to be the most effective and the most superior smooth coregrass strain that is available. Vermilion can only be found at this facility that can't get anywhere else. We make it available free of charge to commercial growers. Let me tell you if we didn't have simple information such as california oak grass needs to be cold stratified most farmers would think that there there was a failure and in fact it's not a failure it's just inherent in the species and there's dozens of examples where information from NRCS is provided that little tidbit of information so that we make the proper choice. The plant materials program evaluates conservation plant performance in real-world situations a superfund site in the east a dairy farm in the upper Midwest a native landscaping project in the Rocky Mountains. Each plant materials center finds plant solutions for their region of the country for example the golden meadow plant material center in Louisiana is studying the ongoing disappearance of marshlands along the Gulf Coast. This center was developed a critical need to look at the coastal wetlands plants strictly for coastal wetlands and we're really the only plant materials center nationally that that deals strictly with coastal wetland plants or marshlands. When I was in West Virginia we had a plant material center that had a tremendous amount of mine spoils well in that plant material center they're specializing on plants that will help keep and address runoff and the soil that's moving from these mine spoils out in the west we're looking at native plants that can withstand drought activities. The program's ability to find plant solutions for specific resource concerns has provided private landowners more localized options for protecting their lands through national initiatives like the farm bill. The conservation in the farm bill dealing with all these issues out here in the landscape is so important that we have the tools to do that if we didn't have the plant solutions it couldn't be done. All of these programs have had a very heavy emphasis on ecological restoration and they've also had a very heavy emphasis on native plant uses and native plant communities for that ecological restoration and there's no better place to center that kind of information than the plant material centers. What the plant materials program has produced in the past in individual spaces is the background of what we're doing with the farm bill and so we're really putting it on the ground a big way. From the conservation programs of the farm bill to community responses to natural disasters the plant materials program provides plants and conservation technology to heal the landscape after droughts and floods, hurricanes and wildfire. Roughly a third of our ranch was taken the grazing area was burned off. During the time of the fire you have a sense of helplessness and total devouring of everything in its path is just incredible feeling. After wildfires the program works with private landowners, NRCS specialists and local agencies to inventory the sites, recommend a native plant mix and ensure it's successful planting. To us plant materials are very important because they basically allowed us not to do this as an experiment. Basically they did the work for us and allowed us to go ahead with this project knowing it will do well. It couldn't have come up better. I don't think there was a grain of seed that didn't hatch. It looked lavish, very lavish and it did a big boost to the bottom line. I love this place and I have a bond with the soil. You like to see that vital and healthy the grass seeding and stuff that was done after the fire. It improved the soil, it improved the grazing and it improved the general ambience of the entire operation. In New Mexico the program partnered with the Pueblo D'Cochiti tribe to restore an important stream corridor using tree species released by the plant materials program. We need these trees and all the vegetation to keep the area as pristine as possible to sustain our culture and we've been pretty lucky with the NRCS program. If it wasn't for them these trees would not be available. In the eight years since the planting occurred you can see almost a mature riparian forest community has been developed along this stream. In Montana along the Lewis and Clark Trail the plant materials program is helping to restore native grasses. The expertise that the NRCS has as far as species adaptability and the experience that they've had with native seedings in the past we wanted to bring all of that knowledge into this site to try to simulate what it looked like back in the 1800s so that when the public comes in that they could get a better experience of this as well as another objective which would be habitat enhancement riparian enhancement and watershed improvement. In Oregon the program cooperated with a private landowner the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and others to restore a large wetland complex. When we restore wetland we set the stage for a biological or ecological system to begin functioning and it's more complex than we ever guessed and I'm a district conservationist. I happen to be a wildlife biologist background but I'm a gender list and I can't know everything and what the PMC is is my in-house knowledge base. It gives us a cadre of staff who are very knowledgeable on plant propagation and species propagation techniques that we as practitioners in the field oftentimes don't have the time or the patience to develop and also then they can provide that seed source for commercial production which allows us to move these techniques out into the larger landscape. The people that are in the plant materials program from technicians all the way to the managers and the plant material specialists throughout the country that's the greatest asset to the plant materials program. I'm most proud of I guess the privilege and opportunity to work with people being able to take the technologies the research and take them to a landowner and help that landowner solve problems. I think that's the greatest contribution that I could have to society and to the ranching farming community. Planting grasses along the New Jersey coastline, improving grasses for livestock grazing in Georgia and biofuel production in Mississippi, establishing native wildflowers along Iowa Highways, restoring upland bird habitat in Texas, preventing invasive species in Glacier National Park in Montana and in Yosemite National Park in California. All across the landscape you can see the first 70 years of the plant materials program success. What about the next 70 years? It's gonna be a lot of challenges over the next 70 years. It's gonna be a real challenge for us to try to figure out how to establish natives to suppress invasive species in a landscape and we we haven't got there yet. In the future for the plant materials program we need to emphasize on the concerns that are happening now. For example, carbon sequestration, air quality is a big issue. We need to do a good job of recruiting new individuals with new ideas. As an agency we need to continue to promote the plant material centers program because without the ability to take that and let other people know what the program will do, we're not going to maintain the support that we have. We're not going to continue to have the centers out there, the staff out there, the plant material centers program will be up for the challenge for the activities are coming to the future.