Seedlings for Sustainable Habitat Restoration Act of 2025
Seedlings for Sustainable Habitat Restoration Act of 2025 would broaden the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s ecosystem restoration tools by authorizing the Secretary of Agriculture, through the Forest Service, to issue contracts, grants, or agreements with state forestry agencies, local private or nonprofit entities, colleges and universities, Indian Tribes, and multistate coalitions to support seed collection, seed maintenance (including material from seed orchards), and the production of seedlings for vegetation restoration. The bill also expands the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program to explicitly include seed collection and seedling production, and to allow institutions of higher education to participate. The overall aim is to boost native vegetation restoration and habitat rehabilitation by strengthening the seed supply and seedling production pipeline, and by widening the pool of eligible partners. Potential impact includes increased capacity for restoring habitats on federal lands and elsewhere using native species, more collaboration with universities and Tribes, and enhanced coordination across federal, state, and local entities. The changes would provide new or expanded funding and contracting authority to support seed collection, seed maintenance, and seedling production as core components of restoration efforts.
Key Points
- 1Adds new authority (Section 40804(g)) for the Forest Service to enter into contracts, grants, or agreements to collect and maintain native seeds (including seed orchard material) and to produce seedlings for revegetation.
- 2eligible partners include State forestry agencies, local private or nonprofit entities, institutions of higher education, Indian Tribes, and multistate coalitions.
- 3Expands the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program to explicitly cover seed collection/maintenance and seedling production, and adds institutions of higher education as eligible participants.
- 4Uses defined terms and references to the Higher Education Act to clarify eligibility and participation.
- 5Aims to strengthen habitat restoration by stabilizing and enlarging the native seed and seedling supply as part of ecosystem restoration activities.