International Nature Preserve: Difference between revisions

In the northwestern corner of the Northern Wilderness Area sits the International Seed Redundancy Facility. Mostly underground, this large structure serves as secure backup facility for the world's crop diversity. It maintains all agricultural products widely used as well as most types of flora currently known. The Facility provides security of the world's food supply against the loss of seeds in genebanks due to mismanagement, accident, equipment failures, funding cuts, war, sabotage, disease and natural disasters. Constructed between 2018 and 2020, most of the structure sits 500 ft within a sandstone mountain in the preserve. It was designed by [[Urcea|Urcean]] engineering firms to be able to withstand a direct hit from a 200kt nuclear bomb. The complexity and robustness of the site lead to significant construction issues, as all of the equipment and materials had to be flown in via helicopter. Sitting far above sea level and far from major tectonic activity, the area is considered safe from most natural and manmade catastrophes. The seeds are stored in sealed three-ply foil packages and then placed into plastic tote containers on metal shelving racks. The storage rooms are kept at −18 °C (−0.4 °F). Many of the principles of seed preservation and the methods employed by the Facility were based on procedures perfected at the [[Polar World Archive]], a facility operated by [[Metzetta]].