Learn how native plants help restore rivers and habitats.

Locally gathered and grown.

From seed to sprout, our nursery nurtures up to 120,000 native plants at any one time. The plants are unique because they are grown from seeds collected along Oregon’s North Coast, making them locally adapted to thrive in our coastal ecosystems. After 3 years of growing, strong root structures have developed, and the plants are ready for their new homes in the watershed. Our partners, through the Northwest Oregon Restoration Partnership, are vital in distributing and planting the plants throughout the coast. Once planted, they play a critical role in restoring habitats to create cleaner water and better habitats for fish, birds, pollinators, wildlife and people.

Why Native Plants Matter

Shared knowledge on the challenges Central Oregon-grown plant stock face when planted on the Coast led us to collect seeds directly from local watersheds. The seeds are propagated at our Native Plant Nursery in Tillamook County where they face the same challenges they will encounter when planted: salty air, heavy rain and a more temperate climate.

Native Plant Benefits

Plants native to our coastal home have genetics that are specific to the area, making them more resilient to our temperate, salty and rainy backyards. Native, genetically appropriate plants:

Shade rivers/lower water temperatures
Filter out pollutants with their roots
Provide woody structure and habitat complexity for migrating fish
Improve soil health
Displace invasives
Are the backbone of the ecosystem: support insects, birds, fungi, lichens, and more

We Need Your Help

Photo Gallery

native plant nursery shade house

Supporting youth in our community.

The Native Plant Nursery is a successful program because of our unique partnership with the Oregon Youth Authority (OYA), a state youth detention facility located next to our nursery in Tillamook. The OYA crew provides essential labor to grow the plants. In return, the nursery provides on-the-job training, life skill development and a chance to build savings for release. The program serves as a bridge for these at-risk and incarcerated youth to transition from institutionalization to society and their contribution to the nursery is invaluable.

seed collection

Helping native plants spread the love.

Local seed collection is the only way to ensure our plants are native to the Oregon Coast. We work with restoration partners, youth crews, and community volunteers to collect seeds from over 50 different types of native plants. Plants work hard to grow their seeds and disperse them into the environment. We honor their effort by only collecting seeds from healthy plants, abundant plant populations, and with restoration projects in mind. Sedges and bushes stabilize riverbanks and filter water to create habitat for birds. Sitka spruce and maples produce shade to keep rivers cool for salmon. Flowering plants, like the early blue violet, create habitat for pollinators.

Accomplishing more together.

Our partners make it possible to restore about 500 acres of Coastal habitat every year. We distribute our native plants to habitat restoration projects through the Northwest Oregon Restoration Partnership (NORP). With a shared goal of restoring and preserving habitat, NORP is composed of over 30 agencies, nonprofits, and tribes. NORP’s work supports flood mitigation and habitat restoration by restoring thousands of acres of native plant communities in forested, riparian, meadow, dune, and wetland habitats across NW Oregon. Check out our events page to join planting work parties with our partners.

Pie Chart TEP Plant Stats