The Mid-Atlantic Regional Seed Bank (MARSB) aims to increase the availability of genetically appropriate native seed across the Mid-Atlantic through targeted seed collection and active seed banking. We are also building a network of diverse partners to collaboratively meet the seed needs for region-wide, landscape-scale restorations. MARSB is a conservation program that was established by Edward Toth as part of the Greenbelt Native Plant Center program within the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. In 2022, MARSB incorporated as a Not-for-Profit within the state of New York. MARSB has always worked closely with Seeds of Success (SOS), a national effort that seeks to collect and bank the entire US flora. To date, SOS has made over 20,000 native seed collections across the country. As a partner in the SOS program, MARSB’s seed collections not only help meet the seed needs of the Mid-Atlantic region, but are also stored long-term for conservation purposes. MARSB currently has in excess of 750 seed accessions stored at the seed bank at the GNPC. These are mostly coastal mid-Atlantic species, but increasingly common, workhorse species, primarily from New York State.
The Mid-Atlantic Regional Seed Bank takes an ecosystems approach to conservation that results in seed collections across every ecoregion in the Mid-Atlantic. Because wild, genetically appropriate native seed is the raw material needed for ecological restoration projects, we believe this critical resource should be properly safeguarded and managed using sound scientific principals