I have talked to a few people at the park and said this might be a possibility but I just don't know if you can return cyps back to the wild.
Yes, but not good to introduce them to a site where there is no documentation they were ever growing. The species is already at the site and you would be growing from seed provided to you by the land stewards which is absolutely ideal- local genotype which is exactly what that site needs.
I didn't see as many as I did in the past and thought this would be a good way to give back.
Time is considerably more valuable than money in my opinion. Flasking the seed and watching over it for the next few years before planting it back is worth more to that site than money so please don't sell yourself short by being concerned about not being made of money. Throwing money at a situation is no substitute for a loving hand. Can you clone yourself please
My only comments would be to attempt to determine why there is a population decline. The obvious is that somebody has found the spot and is collecting based on the plant missing that used to grow by the stream. Removing so much as one robust mature plant from an already stressed plant community can have a tremendous impact on the entire population. That plant no longer exists to reproduce itself or to provide habitat to the wildlife that depended upon it. Good that you noticed one had been dug up. Be on the look out for any of those tiny metal surveying flags. This is what they look like but they come in other styles, pastels and neons, and in an assortment of sizes-
http://www.berntsen.com/GoShopping/Surveying/FlaggingTargets/MarkingFlags/tabid/1864/Default.aspx
Sometimes people who are too cheap to buy their own plants or are collecting for resale try to mark the spots that they want to come back to. Preference seems to be for green neon surveying flags or stakes with surveying tape stapled to the top for some reason. They have done this by me in remote areas by placing surveying flags near the plants they want to come back for. They find the area but aren't in position to walk around with a shovel lest they be questioned but the surveying flags are easy enough to hide under one's jacket or sweatshirt. X marks the spot and all I guess. When I find these types of markers that I have confirmed were not put in place legitimately, I relocate them. Let them come back with their night goggles and traipse around trying to find the plant they wanted to come back and dig up. I don't know that it helps but I'd like to think it does. This marking practice has declined with the price drops in gps units. Spade marks are always a good clue that someone has been there and once these people find a good source, they generally come back again and again. For this reason, when re-introducing plants to a site, we generally try our best to spread them out a little bit from where the greatest concentration exists and we also try to locate another area in close proximity to the original site that might be accommodating to the species. Premise being that they will always steal a few but they might not get them all. Next thougths would be for you to try to take photos of the vegetation growing at the site where the parent plants of your seed are growing. Invasive species take a toll on native plant communities. Many are allelopathic. You would want to try to identify any exotic plants that have taken root in the area where you would be planting your seedlings and get permission to eradicate them if possible- doubt you'd have any one stand in your way. The land steward for the park or the park specialist should be able to help you identify any and all introduced species growing at the site. If the park is spread too thin with personnel resources and if you are in a position to take good photos of other plants growing at that site, I would be more than happy to try to help you identify the invasives and would probably be in a position to suggest appropriate ways to get rid of them that you could run by your land steward. Sites become degraded over time frequently due to foot traffic and sometimes simply removing a few undesirable species can be enough of a boost to lend a much needed helping hand to the natives that struggle to compete for limited resources to survive and thrive.
