[SOS-PCA] March SOS Call - NOTES

[Hosna, Rachel]

March 6, 2018 SOS Call

There were 18 teams present on the call.

Thank you to everyone who called in!

·         2017 Update – There were 55 teams last year. There are currently
1750 collections in BGBase right now this will likely go up to
approximately 1900 collections. Those collections currently cover 22
states, 41 ecoregions, 80 families, 353 genera, and 681 species.

·         BGBase update – Each team will receive a new password for the
data portal each year. Rachel will be updating the 2018 passwords soon and
will send out new passwords to active teams that have someone trained in
using the portal. All interns attending the CLM training and anyone else
attending the DOI course in Fort Collins will be trained in the data
portal. If you need a training before then or will not be attending either
of those trainings, send me an e-mail. Also, the data portal has been
updated with the most current nomenclature from USDA plants.

·         Reminder that the DOI Course: Seed Collecting for Conservation
and Restoration will be in Fort Collins, CO May 15-17. It’s not too late to
sign up. Contact Lori Young for more details lyoung at blm.gov.

·         Bend 2017 Update – Will be finished cleaning all 2017 lots by the
end of the month. Final test results should be in early April. Rachel will
distribute test results.

·         Smithsonian 2017 Update – If shipping via USPS please us the P.O.
Box address to avoid your specimens being irradiated. (See Page 5 of
"Voucher Specimen Techniques" on the SOS website). Also, please be sure to
include labels with each specimen and a transmittal notice for each
shipment. A template label and transmittal notice are available on the SOS
website.

--------2018 Season--------

·         SOS Collection Goals: The goal of SOS is to establish high
quality, accurately identified, genetically representative and
well-documented native plant seed collection. This seed will be used to
support the development of geographically appropriate native plant
materials. Additionally, a small portion of each collection is set aside
for conservation and long-term storage.

·         Elements of a collection:

o   Seed – we will discuss guidelines and rules for collecting seed in April

o   Photos – each collection should have 3 photos (plant, habitat, seed)

o   Herbarium specimens (3)- local, regional, national herbarium. Erika
Gardner of the Smithsonian Herbarium will talk to us next month about tips
and tricks for making good herbarium specimens and how best to ship them.

o   Specialist identification of the species you are collecting. This is
required and absolutely fundamental to each collection. Taxa must be
identified to at least the species level though subspecies and variety is
always preferred. A specialist can be a field office botanist or someone at
your local or regional herbaria

o   Data form – A complete data form is required for each collection. We
will discuss all things data entry and SOS portal related in May.

·         Target Species Lists:

o   Collection focus of SOS is on species needed for restoration and
rehabilitation projects so common, workhorse species.  Each team should
coordinate with state and ecoregional botanists to identify priority
species.

o   Target species lists are required and should include a short
description of why that particular species has been selected (i.e. forage
for desert tortoise or sage grouse; early seral species that is competitive
with non-native annual grasses). Target species lists will be due May 15.

o   Species EXCLUDED from the program include rare and threatened species,
known recalcitrant species (i.e. Quercus), non-native species, and species
that were seeded on restoration or reclamation sites, post-fire, etc.

·         Planning for success – proper planning is key to a successful
field season! Once you have your target species list, there are many tools
out there to help you plan for where to go and when to collect. The better
you plan and strategize your season before it starts, the more set yourself
up for success.

o   SOS data from past collections may be useful in understanding what
species or areas have already been collected from.

o   Use herbarium data to help find populations of your target species.
Rachel is working on a help guide for exploring online herbarium data and
will post to the SOS website when it is finished.

o   Some teams are using ecological site description information and maps
to help location some target species. If anyone has a write up of how they
utilize this information, please send to Rachel.

o   Talk to resource specialists to find out what areas have been seeded
and what species were planted.

o   Get to know your target species – what kind of fruit do they have, what
materials might you need to harvest them?

o   Some teams are targeting their collections within specific provisional
seeds, which also helps focus target collection areas.

o   The Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden team uses this resource to target
areas that have received precipitation http://water.weather.gov/precip/

·         Teams are using a wide variety of apps and tools to collect data
and navigate in the field. These include: Collector for ArcGIS, Survey123,
custom geodatabases created via ArcGIS, Avenza maps and GAIA (phone apps).

·         Reminder – this listserv is a tool for you. There is a wealth of
knowledge in the greater SOS community so I encourage everyone to reach out
to one another!

·         Next call – we will talk about assessing populations and the
collection of seed; caring for seed including shipping and packaging; and
all things herbarium vouchers. In May, we will focus on all things data
portal/data entry and the distribution and requesting of seed.
If you have any topics that you would like to see covered in future monthly
calls, please e-mail Rachel Hosna.

Best,

Rachel

-- 
Rachel Hosna
Seeds of Success
National Collection Curator
202-912-7233
rhosna at blm.gov

Seeds of Success
<https://www.blm.gov/programs/natural-resources/native-plant-communities/native-plant-and-seed-material-development/collection>
Plant Conservation Alliance <http://www.plantconservationalliance.org/>
National Seed Strategy for Rehabilitation and Restoration
<https://www.blm.gov/programs/natural-resources/native-plant-communities/national-seed-strategy>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.plantconservation.org/pipermail/sos_lists.plantconservation.org/attachments/20180308/53050925/attachment.html>