Earth Conservancy representatives pass out promotional items at every conference and educational event.
It’s typically pens.
”They tend to be made of plastic. They're very disposable. So I wanted something that would stick around a little bit more, have a little bit more meaning,” said Elizabeth Hughes, director of communications.
In the future, Hughes will distribute native seed packets. She worked with Seed Needs, a Michigan-based company, to create a special pollinator blend targeted for native species in Northeast Pennsylvania.
"In order for them to manufacture it or put it together, they needed cover art for the seed packet design,” said Hughes, who has a background in the arts. “I was thinking about all the amazing artists that I know from previous work in this region, and then I started thinking 'well, why don't I just open it up to the community in general.'"
Earth Conservancy is a nonprofit whose goal is to restore and repurpose 16,500 acres of former coal company-owned land in the Wyoming Valley. Their mission is to heal the land and create opportunities for the future for people to live, work and play.
The seed-design contest is also an initiative for Earth Conservancy to help bring back native pollinators and plants to regions.
“There's so many issues with invasive species, you'll see them on roadsides. You'll see them on stream banks, kind of coming into our region. So we thought if we could establish more native blends, that would be a good thing for the environment,” she said.
Important plants
Earth Conservancy worked with Luzerne County Conservation District to come up with the seed blend.
"There’s things like the Black Eyed Susans, Butterfly Milkweed, which was really important to us, Bee Balm, which is another one on our stream restoration projects, we see a lot of that just growing naturally. Coreopsis, spiderwort, purple cone flowers,” said Hughes.
Hughes has planted wildflower seed packets in the past but nothing really grew.
“Most of them are … made of seeds that are for flowers for out on the West Coast, so they're not really native to this area,” she said. “They wouldn't germinate well in our soils, as well as with our climate.”
She hopes that those who receive the free seed packets plant them in their backyards, rural spaces or practice guerrilla gardening, where people disperse seeds in the middle of a city and watch what grows.
"I would love to see this be spread far and wide,” she said.
Anyone can submit 2-D art from any medium for the seed packets. AI imagery will not be accepted, she said.
“It's open to all ages and to students, to hobbyists, professionals,” she said.
The deadline to submit artwork is Friday, Nov. 21, at 3 p.m. The winner will be announced in December.
