The Hawaiʻi Island Seed Bank is a public seed bank on Hawaii Island that was initiated in 2008. It provides seed banking services for landowners, farmers, growers and agencies. Services include: seed storage, seed cleaning and germination trials for seed collections. It provides storage space for native Hawaiian species and agricultural crops in Hawaii. It is also used as a back-up storage facility for seeds from other seed banks throughout the State.

The seed bank provides services that are important for the proper storage of seeds. Seeds are cleaned from their skins or husks and dried to the appropriate moisture levels so they can be packaged and stored either refrigerated or frozen for 1-20 years. The seeds are then added to our database. The collections are housed in bins that are rented by the partner landowner, organization or agency.

Seed banking is a very important ex-situ tool for conservation. Saving seeds for the future helps to mitigate projects when unforeseen problems arise such as drought, fire, or bad seed collecting years. Partners use their seed for broadcasting seed, performing restoration work, creating living fuel breaks, and conducting research.

Seed banking provides land managers a stable resource that would otherwise fluctuate on a year to year basis. It also preserves genetic diversity that is critical for healthy species. It is one of the least expensive conservation tools. Seeds are small and millions of seeds can fit in relatively small storage spaces, and represent massive biodiversity that will be available in the future.