The Community Environment Network has been collecting seed from various projects since 2006 to build our Regional Seedbank as part of our commitment to preserve the flora of the Central Coast and Lake Macquarie. We now have over 100 species of Australian native plants that are indigenous to the region.

These seeds have been gathered by staff and volunteers from various projects using the Florabank guidelines for seed identification, collection, cleaning and storage. The guidelines set down by Florabank endeavour to preserve the natural bushland by not over-sourcing plant material from any one area or individual plant or causing harm to any flora or fauna in the process of collecting the plant material, while also leaving behind a habitat and food source for our wildlife.

We are constantly expanding the range of species and collection areas for our seedbank, thanks to our growing membership numbers and diverse plant communities held by private land owners. We welcome any donation of native seed from our members; however, species will need to be positively identified beforehand. We have qualified staff and volunteers who are willing and capable of identifying, collecting and cleaning seed for storage at our seedbank.

The regional seedbank is also available for use by community groups wishing to collect and store seed for their own purposes. Seed can be weighed, stored, labelled and kept solely for individual groups until needed for their future use.

Land for Wildlife members can collect seed when available and store it at the CEN regional seedbank until it is required. Nursery staff and volunteers can even sow and germinate seeds as requested and pot them up into growth tubes for replanting by LFW members as requested (with prior arrangement).