![]() Seeds from the Fort Collins vaults have specifically helped scientists create wheat resistant to a harmful disease called Russian Wheat Aphid, more efficient corn and better harvests of sunflowers, corn and chickpeas. ![]() Some specific plants, like corn, have their entire evolution preserved in Fort Collins.Īs humans have domesticated seeds, they have gone from being small and dark to bigger and lighter. Rare wild ancestor plant seeds are stored and offer crucial genetic clues to researchers. A third of the requests for seeds come from outside of the U.S. The collection in Fort Collins serves as the basis of research for scientists around the world. “We work for scientists of the future but also with scientists of the past,” said research leader Christina Walters, who has worked at the Fort Collins vault for three decades. like the GMO varieties made by Monsanto - are also required to be stored in the vault. Test tubes containing those seeds are tested regularly and many have survived.Īll new seed patents in the U.S. Researchers then believed they could preserve a batch of seeds until 2307. Some seeds in the collection are nearly a century old - 90-year-old cotton seeds from the facility were recently grown as part of a research project.Ī famous 1940s experiment started in California is now housed at the facility. “And we are constantly refining our technique here.” “As you go from one species of a plant to another, it requires a different set of technique,” Blackburn said. Staff are continually testing the stored seed and plant matter to make sure they are still alive. Small portions of roots are saved from some plants, like strawberries. Some plants, like apples, have their twigs saved because those trees grow from grafting and not directly from seeds. The seeds and animal matter are preserved either in cooler rooms set to minus-18 degrees Celsius or submerged in liquid nitrogen inside of stainless steel tanks. “This building has the ability to handle catastrophes, and that’s really important,” said Harvey Blackburn, a scientist at the Fort Collins facility for the past 19 years. An actual vault locks in the country’s largest seed collection every night, and only a handful of the site's 40 employees know the combination. Mason St., has thick cement walls and is specifically designed to withstand natural disasters like tornadoes or severe flooding if Horsetooth Reservoir were to break.īackup generators are installed to guarantee complete climate control. The Choice City was chosen because of the dry climate and adjacent university. The Fort Collins seed vault was built by the federal government in 1953 - decades before the Svalbard Global Seed Vault opened in 2008 on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen. “The whole point is we are saving the resources for the world,” said Gayle Volk, a scientist at the Fort Collins seed vault for the past 19 years. More : 'Doomsday Vault' sees its first withdrawal More: Precious seeds in Norway's 'Doomsday vault' are safe - for now The facility, formally known as the National Laboratory for Genetic Resources Preservation, is run by the U.S. Like the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway - which needs a $12.7 million upgrade to combat melting permafrost - the Fort Collins vault is meant to preserve plant types in case they are wiped out by natural or man-made disasters. The modern-day Noah’s Ark, located on the campus of Colorado State University, houses more than 850,000 plant seeds and materials, as well as various DNA samples from about 160 breeds of livestock. ![]() Watch Video: A look inside Fort Collins' world seed vaultĪs climate change jeopardizes the world’s doomsday seed vault near the North Pole, a similar Fort Collins facility continues to stock up its collection.
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