Living Seedbanks:

• Are areas of land converted to natural habitat using Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub (ESBS) plant species and replicating the ESBS ecosystem
• Act as ESBS seed production hubs and habitat for ESBS dependent wildlife

Overview:

• Located between North Head and The Royal National Park, Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub (ESBS) is Sydney’s oldest coastal plant community yet only 3% of it remains in small fragmented remnant patches
• ESBS is now listed as critically endangered by NSW and Federal Governments

Problem:

• The remaining remnant ESBS patches cannot supply enough seed for restoration or regeneration

• Traditional seedbanks were designed for holding seed stocks for disaster recovery and research, but not for restoration work

• Commercial horticulture prioritises easy-to-grow native species, hybrids and non native plants which limits the diversity of local endemic ESBS plants available for restoration and regeneration

• Loss of cultural burning knowledge and practices has reduced
  regeneration and ecosystem health

• Without intervention, ESBS will continue to decline, and restoration will become increasingly more difficult

IndigiGrow Solution:

Living Seedbanks are actively managed ecological production
systems designed to:

• Produce higher volumes of ESBS seed and cuttings
• Be populated with difficult to propagate ESBS species
• Restore degraded urban and peri-urban landscapes
• Function as long-term biodiversity infrastructure
• Embed Indigenous cultural land management practices
• Serve as scalable local restoration hubs for Sydney, NSW, and
  beyond

Each Living Seedbank functions as :

• A seed and cutting production facility,
• A restoration ecosystem
• A habitat for wildlife

All Living Seedbank locations will be established and managed by
IndigiGrow