[SOS-PCA] SOS Call March 2019 Notes

[Prescott, Leah]

****IMPORTANT – The April call is rescheduled to Monday, April 1 at the
same time as usual, noon eastern****

*Seeds of Success was mentioned in **The Food and Agriculture Organization
of the United Nations (FAO) 2019 report: “The State of the World’s
Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture,"** see page 30 of the report for
more details: **http://www.fao.org/3/CA3129EN/CA3129EN.pdf
<http://www.fao.org/3/CA3129EN/CA3129EN.pdf>*

·         2018 Update – There were 38 teams last year. There are currently
~815 collections in our SOS data portal. These collections cover 62 plant
families and were made across 36 ecoregions and 18 states. There were 437
unique taxa, and 68 of these taxa were brand new to the SOS program! Both
the Medford District Office & Borderlands team out of the Arizona State
Office each made 9 collections of new taxa not previously collected by the
SOS program.

*SOS Training* is coming up!

·         DOI Course: Seed Collecting for Conservation and Restoration: May
14 – 16, in Boise, ID

o    This training is for mentors and team leads, contractors can attend
but they need to pay to attend. It’s not too late to sign up. Contact Lori
Young for more details (lyoung at blm.gov). If you will be training interns,
contractors, or any new seed collector you need to attend this training if
you have not in previous years.

·         Chicago Botanic Garden: June 10 – 14, in Chicago, IL

o    This training is for CLM Interns and CBG employed seed technicians

·         Great Basin Training: April 8-12 in Reno, NV

o    This training is for Great Basin crews (Great Basin Institute)



·         *BGBase update* – Each team will receive a new password for the
data portal each year. I have updated the 2019 passwords & will be sending
out new passwords to active teams that have someone trained in using the
portal. Please email me if you have not received your password yet.

o    All interns attending the CLM training and anyone else attending the
DOI course in Boise will be trained in the data portal.

o    If you need a training before then or will not be attending either of
these trainings, send me an e-mail.



*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 is 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.

·         Components of an SOS collection:

o    Seed – we’ll go over guidelines for collecting seed in April

o    Photos – each collection should have 3 photos (plant, habitat, seed) *more
are always welcome, especially photos of people collecting seed or working
in the field*.

o    Herbarium specimens - local, regional, national herbarium (Erika will
review tips for making good herbarium specimens and how to ship them on our
April call)

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 – we will go over all data entry related things and the SOS
portal in May.

·         *Target Species Lists*:

o    Target species lists are required and *this year we have a new
template online, please use this format when submitting to the National
Office*. Visit blm.gov/sos on the right side of the page under “DOWNLOAD
THE SOS FORMS” for a copy

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. Interns should NOT be developing these lists.

o    Species EXCLUDED from the program include rare and threatened species,
known recalcitrant species (species with seeds that do not survive
conventional methods of drying and freezing) (i.e. Quercus), non-native
species, and species that were seeded on restoration or reclamation sites,
post-fire, etc. We want wild populations.



·         *Planning for success* – proper planning is fundamental to a
successful field season. Once you’ve developed a target species list there
are many tools out there to help you plan for where to go and when to
collect.

o    Exporting your SOS data from the portal may be useful in understanding
what species or areas have already been collected within your office.
Associated species from past collections can also help give you an idea of
where you might be able to collect

o    You can use herbarium data to help find populations of your target
species (but beware of older voucher specimens as the population may not
exist anymore).

o    Some teams are using ecological site description information and maps
to help locate some target species; be sure to talk to resource specialists
to know where those seeded sites are and what species they planted and
avoid these.

o    Get to know your target species – what kind of fruit do they have,
what materials do you need to harvest them? Smugmug is a great resource for
familiarizing yourself with your target species (seedsofsuccess.smugmug.com)

·         Your team may experience loss of populations due to fire or seed
predation, so always keep an eye out for opportunistic collections and
include any setbacks like* fire or drought in your annual report at the end
of the season.*

·         Permission to collect - Written documentation of permission to
collect on non-BLM land (state, private, wildlife refuges, etc.) is
required.

·         Reminder – this listserv is a tool for you! If you want some
advice on collecting a particular species, send an e-mail.

o    If you have been having difficulty with the listserv please let me
know. There are tricks to prevent messages from going to spam.

·         Next month – we will talk about how to assess a population and
the collection of seed, caring for seed including shipping and packaging;
specialist identification; and herbarium vouchers. In May we’ll focus on
the data portal and the distribution and requesting of seed.


**NEW CLEARANCE FORM* – this new form includes a section to request seed
test results back. A limit of 25 seed lots can be requested for 30 day turn
around each month, this includes both seed testing and shipping of seed
lots for the entire SOS program. We will review this form again on the
following calls, please email me with any questions. The form can be found
at blm.gov/sos


****IMPORTANT – The April call is rescheduled to Monday, April 1 at the
same time as usual, noon eastern.****


Thanks everyone, and please always contact me with questions, concerns, or
suggestions for future calls!

Leah

-- 
Leah Prescott
Seeds of Success
National Collection Curator (Contractor)
202-912-7232

Seeds of Success
<https://www.blm.gov/programs/natural-resources/native-plant-communities/native-plant-and-seed-material-development/collection>
National Seed Strategy for Rehabilitation and Restoration
<https://www.blm.gov/programs/natural-resources/native-plant-communities/national-seed-strategy>
Plant Conservation Alliance <http://www.plantconservationalliance.org/>
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