Living Seed Bank
Status:
current Seed banks are genetic stockpiles that safeguard the future of important plants by preserving and reproducing their seeds. Camino Verde's Living Seed Bank goes a step further, by planting and protecting living trees that provide seeds each season for future reforestation efforts.
The ongoing Living Seed Bank project (LSB) has the following goals:
- To act as a botanical garden representing the broadest variety possible of useful trees _ for medicine, fruit, timber, crafts materials, ornamental horticulture, and more. To date the LSB includes over 250 tree species.
- To emphasize key trees including over-exploited and endangered Amazonian species, especially those that have not been reforested in the past. These Heritage Trees are planted in large numbers (50 or more) to ensure a diverse genetic stock from which to draw seeds, as wild populations dwindle and suffer genetic erosion.
- To study the growth and characteristics of these species in a cultivated setting, identifying trees that show promise for widespread or commercial reforestation. This includes the domestication of wild fruits.
- To research and develop multi-species agroforestry systems that provide local subsistence farmers with an economically viable tree-based alternative to slash-and-burn.
The Living Seed Bank at a glance:
- over 250 total tree species planted to date (as of 6/2011)
- over half of the top thirty timber species from the region represented
- 7 hectares (17.5 acres) of trees planted to date (as of 6/2011)
- nearly 70 different fruit tree species
- over 40 ornamental flowering species
For more information on the trees we plant and protect, please visit our Trees Database.