What's Next? A proposal to plant Oregon Grape from native seed

My initial shock has diminished - at the broad loss of sword ferns to the north of Ground Zero, between the Hatchery enclosure and the sqebeqsed trail.  Some of that loss can be seen in this photo, looking northeast from near the sqebeqsed/Hatchery trail junction.  The original Ground Zero is out of frame to the right (south and a bit east).

Tim and Kramer have put in some observations plots, and Suzanne put in a 12-fern experimental planting,  north of (and to the left in) this photo.   Matt & co. planted perhaps 50 ferns just down-slope from the scene pictured here as part of (I hope I have this right) an eco-physiological study.

About 30 yards to the north of this site the forest understory gets healthy again.   Last week I went looking in that area for healthy ferns to monitor.  We do not yet have a detailed record of how fern fronds are affected, from health to first symptom to full death.   I figure that a photographic record of a few individual fronds on different plants may be useful.

While looking around for plants to monitor, I came across a few large areas dominated by healthy Oregon Grape, mahonia nervosa. At Seward, healthy ferns often appear in mixed communities with this species.  Salal can be  intermixed as well.  All three species appear in various ratios, with complete dominance by a single species sometimes occurring,  but often in mixtures on a sliding scale, of the three species.

I now feel that complete sword fern recovery at Seward Park is a distant prospect - at best.  There is little to no evidence of natural regeneration  - of ferns, or any other species.  The only exception to this which I have seen thus far at Seward is a large bloom of the invasive weed Herb-Robert - in an area (not quite visible here) at  the top left of the above photo.

This all leads me to suggest that

1. The next urgent task at Seward is restoration of native understory where the sword ferns have died off.
2.  Oregon Grape and Salal are the best candidates for planting
3.  Growing these from native seed, collected from this forest,  means that restoration will be inexpensive and low risk.

I bet there is a lot of practical knowledge and advice around on how to grow mahonia from seed.  Some casual web searching suggests that seeds are best collected in early September and then planted right away so that 'stratification' happens naturally over the winter.  Growth is slow in early years.  Maybe extra watering will not be needed.   Perhaps salal is similar?

I am eager to hear advice, suggestions, and comments on this plan.