The Native Seed Program at Austin Peay State University’s Southeastern Grasslands Institute was established in 2021 to address the need for a coordinated infrastructure to supply native plant materials for grassland restoration across the southeastern US. The Native Seed Program’s team collects, processes, and stores local ecotype seeds and supplies these seeds for restoration projects. In this presentation, we discuss some of the science behind what we do and how our work fits into the native seed supply chain in the US. In the second part of the talk, we cover some of the ethical and genetic considerations associated with collecting native seeds from wild populations.