US Northeast Bioregional Restoration Program

The Ecological Health Network is focused on supporting ecological restoration and allied activities in the US Northeast to address climate change, support biodiversity, and improve human health and well-being.

Core Values and Approach

Collaboration is one of our core values. Addressing urgent social and ecological challenges requires teamwork across different sectors, disciplines, and ways of knowing. As a bridging organization, we help build and strengthen relationships among private, public, and non-profit institutions to help facilitate the exchange of thoughts, ideas, and resources among previously unconnected domains, support the generation of novel solutions, and enable collective action.

Focus on Native Seed and Plant Material Supply Chains

Since 2021, our efforts in the US Northeast have centered on strengthening native seed and plant supply chains through our Seed & Plant Supply Chain Program. The rapid expansion of reforestation, coastline restoration, urban tree planting, regenerative forestry, agroforestry, and pollinator pathways is creating a surge in demand for native seeds and plant materials. Unfortunately, chronic commercial shortages of ecologically appropriate, viable seeds of known provenance for the diverse plant species native to the region present a significant barrier to achieving restoration goals, both now and in the future.

Social-Ecological Impact Networks

Social networks are essential for tackling complex and urgent issues like climate change, ecosystem degradation, biodiversity loss, and social inequity. A social impact network consists of formal and informal institutions working together across various interests, sectors, and political contexts. These collaborations establish social norms, social capital, and trust to facilitate better collective information-sharing, decision-making, and action (Kapucu and Hu 2020; Ehrlichman 2021). When these networks operate at broader geographical and societal levels—including bioregions—and focus on ecological, environmental, and human health challenges that require integrated interventions, they become social-ecological impact networks (Ecological Health Network, 2024).

The Ecological Health Network co-leads two collaborative social-ecological impact networks: the Northeast Seed Network and the Restorative Landscape Coalition. These partnerships are working to improve access to native seed and plant materials, supporting ecological restoration, conservation, and regenerative agriculture activities across the US Northeast Bioregion and Northern Mid-Atlantic states.

In 2023, we launched the Northeast Seed Network (NSN) in collaboration with the Native Plant Trust, Highstead Foundation, and many other partners. This alliance of regional seed partnerships and hubs fosters communication, facilitates knowledge exchange, and promotes impactful research. NSN supports a vibrant community of practice dedicated to increasing the availability of ecologically appropriate, source-identified native seeds and plant materials for ecological restoration, ecological landscaping, and regenerative agriculture activities across the region. Read more about this network in our recent Barn Raiser essay and Natural History of Ecological Restoration blog post. See our growing network of collaborators on the Ecotype Project’s Network Map.

In 2024, Northeast Seed Network launched the Restorative Landscape Coalition (RLC) to help forge closer relationships with botanic gardens, arboreta, seed banks, and allied institutions (hereafter botanic gardens). The RLC seeks to harnessing the experience, expertise, and educational resources of the region’s botanic gardens to enhance the capacity and impact of the Northeast Seed Network and other emerging conservation and restoration-minded partnerships in the Eastern US. The region’s outstanding botanic gardens have expertise in numerous relevant fields, including plant taxonomy, horticulture, genetics, seed science, and environmental education, as well as knowledge from decades of botanical and ecological field, greenhouse, laboratory, and herbarium-based research (Aronson et al. 2014; Miller et al. 2016). Read more about the launch of the RLC at the Oak Spring Garden Foundation on the Natural History of Ecological Restoration blog.

These two initiatives are making significant strides in expanding the availability of native seeds and plant materials to support critical restoration activities across the region.

Adopting a Bioregional Approach

Our work emphasizes the importance of advancing ecological restoration and allied activities within bioregions. A bioregion is a geographic area defined by shared ecological, climatic, and cultural characteristics rather than political boundaries. Bioregional boundaries help strengthen social-ecological relationships by reconnecting human communities with the ecosystems they live in and depend upon.

For example, the US Northeast Bioregion spans from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean, encompassing diverse landscapes such as coastal plains, river floodplains, forested mountains, and alpine peaks. These areas are home to interconnected plant and animal communities. The Northeast Megalopolis, the region's most urbanized area, is home to over 56 million people. While we primarily work in the US, we are actively building relationships with partners in Atlantic Canada, as political boundaries between the US and Canada are irrelevant when working to protect and restore shared ecosystems, especially in an era of accelerating climate change.

Although the bioregion concept is often misunderstood and overlooked by public, private, and government institutions, we believe it offers a strategic framework. It helps connect individual and collective efforts to create meaningful change at the appropriate spatial scales, addressing biodiversity, climate, and human health and well-being goals more effectively (Pezzoli and Leiter, 2016.; Wearne et al., 2023). While it may seem complex and daunting at first, addressing the intricate environmental challenges of the 21st century—particularly at such a large scale—requires bold, innovative forms of social organizing (Scarlett and McKinney, 2016).

Image 1 (Top Left): Northeast Seed Network Spring Field Day 2024 at the Hickories Organic Farm in Ridgefield, Ct. Image 2 (Top Right): Members of the Restorative Landscape Coalition at an in-person workshop at the Mt. Cuba Center in November 2024. Image 3 (Bottom Left): Workshop participants at the inaugural Restorative Landscape Coalition meeting at the Oak Spring Garden Foundation in February 2024. Image 4 (Top Right): Workshop participants at a convening meeting at the Highstead Foundation in October 2022 that led to the establishment of the Northeast Seed Network in March 2023.

EHN’s Role in Network Building

Most organizations lack the scope or capacity to carry out the critical intertwined actions needed to build networks—for example, identifying social actors engaged across the supply chain and locating pathways to improve interconnections, build trust, and promote novel synergies.

Network Coordination

As a convener of a global network of ecological restoration sites and programs, EHN leverages extensive experience in bringing together diverse stakeholders, facilitating effective communication and collaboration, and aligning efforts to achieve greater collective impact. We lead efforts to organize in-person and virtual meetings, workshops, webinars, and working groups and conduct collaborative research projects and targeted outreach and communication.

Working Group Facilitation

As coordinators, we undertake substantial "behind-the-scenes" work and upstream preparations to ensure a well-organized and enriching experience for individuals from diverse disciplines or sectors who participate in working groups. A working group is a team of individuals formed to tackle a specific task or problem. These groups leverage the expertise of their members to develop solutions, recommendations, or reports collaboratively.

In 2023, in partnership with the Wild Woods Restoration Project and Native Plant Trust, we led a Species Selection working group. Over five months and eight meetings, 28 individuals participated, and together, we developed Version 1 of a Target Taxa List for the Northeast Seed Network.

In 2024, we teamed up with The Nature Conservancy in New York to develop a Targeted Tree Species List to support efforts to reforest 1.7 million acres of post-agricultural land in New York State. Learn more about the ongoing project here.

Image 3: EHN facilitating a discussion among the region’s botanic gardens, seed banks, and allied institutions on how they can better collaborate to address socio-ecological challenges, including climate change, land cover change, and pollution. Photo credit: Sefra Alexandra.