[SOS-PCA] Welcome to the Seeds of Success Discussion List through the PCA

[Carol_Spurrier at blm.gov]

Thanks for signing up for the new Plant Conservation Alliance  discussion
group for the Seeds of Success program.  We will use this new discussion
group to keep everyone in all the different collecting programs up-to-date
on what is new with the Seeds of Success program.

Here is what's new  with the Seeds of Success Program in the Bureau of Land
Management.

BLM recently added a new task to an existing agreement with the Center for
Plant Conservation.  Through this agreement we are increasing the number of
botanic gardens participating in 2004 and 2005 in the program and
collecting seed for BLM.    New participants include the Center for Urban
Horticulture Rare Care program in Washington State; Rancho Santa Ana
Botanic Garden in Southern California; and the Arboretum at Flagstaff in
Northern Arizona.  BLM will be working with these Gardens to develop
species collecting lists.  In addition,  BLM is extending the collecting
programs already in place with Red Butte Garden and Arboretum in Salt Lake
City, Utah and Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona  and hoping to
add Santa Barbara Botanic Garden to list of participating Gardens before
spring collecting starts!

In 2003 BLM started working with  the National Office of  NatureServe on
determining the distribution by ecoregion of subspecies and varieties of
the plants important  for restoration, rehabilitation and  stabilization of
the public lands in the west.  78 species with subspecies or varieties were
chosen for work in the  first phase of the project.  That grew to over 400
taxa being analyzed for presence in over 20 ecoregions in the west.
Distribution by ecoregion is being determined on a scale of a) presumed or
probably present; b) possibly present; or, c) presumed absent.  In 2004 we
are refining the process to limit the number of species that end up in the
b) possibly present; category and applying the classification to more of
the target species in the Seeds of Success program.   As we get more
information back,  we will provide it to the PCA to update the species
lists on the web page.

Last year BLM collectors made 325 seed collections for Royal Botanic
Gardens, Kew Millennium Seed Bank.  We are on target to exceed that number
in 2003.  Many thanks to the Student Conservation Association teams who are
working with BLM at six locations for their collections.  BLM will be
extending the program with the Student Conservation Association in 2004.
We are working now to finalize locations for next years teams.



Carol Spurrier
Seeds of Success Coordinator
Botany Program Lead
Bureau of Land Management
Fish, Wildlife and Botany Group  WO-230
1849 C Street, NW  LSB-204
Washington, D. C.  20240
phone:  (202) 452-7736
fax:       (202)  452-7702
cell:      (202) 441-6869
http://www.nps.gov/plants/sos