[SOS-PCA] August Collector Call Notes

[Hill, Sarah E]

Hello SOS teams and support people,

We had a really good August collector call, and it seems like things are humming along nicely. We had a variety of important announcements (including a new job opening on the BLM PCRP team) and went over details of how to start QCing collection data, see the summary below. I will also be sending out additional materials via email to our SOS collection teams and mentors. As always, reach out if you have any questions.


Thanks for all you do to steward our public lands and ciao for now,

Sarah Hill




National Office Announcements, Sarah Hill shill at blm.gov<mailto:shill at blm.gov>

General Announcements

  *   We’re looking for the next Botanical Communications Manager to help support the SOS program and the Plant Conservation and Restoration Program, could it be you?

     *   Read the job announcement and apply on the Chicago Botanical Garden Website here: https://workforcenow.adp.com/mascsr/default/mdf/recruitment/recruitment.html?cid=21ef98a3-d325-4110-a85a-7729320b6f80&ccId=19000101_000001&lang=en_US&selectedMenuKey=CurrentOpenings&jobId=445448



  *   Native Seed Supply Chain Series is live! Share this with you families, friends, and anyone else who has ever said "oh? what do you mean?" when you explain what you do for a living! Episodes are posted weekly starting at ser-insr.org/native-seed-film<https://ser-insr.org/native-seed-film>.



Seed Cleaning Update – Dorena GRC ready to receive shipments

  *   If you have been instructed to hold onto a collection to send to the Dorena GRC, go ahead a ship! As with Bend, only send packages early in the week, and please send an email to Dorena staff so they know to look for the package.

  *   Haley Smith, Haley.smith at usda.gov

  *   Nicole DeWeese, Nicole.L.deweese at usda.gov<mailto:Nicole.deweese at usda.gov>



  *   Mailing address

Dorena GRC

Attn: Haley Smith

34963 Shoreview Rd

Cottage Grove, OR 97424



Time to begin Data QC! A few tips and reminders:

  *   There is an end of season checklist

     *   This document on the SOS website etails how data should be delivered to your agency coordinator at the end of the season. Please download and review this checklist.





  *   Webportal Data QC

     *   For data collected on paper data sheets and entering that data in the web portal

  *   Download .csv, filter for current year, review data is complete. If data is missing, add to the online form in the data portal and hit ‘submit’.

  *   Check locations are entered correctly with the map feature – button is located by lat/long corrdinates.



           *   Geoplatform Data QC

              *   For data collected through tablets and survey123

                 *   To review your data, go to Groups, then the collection feature layer, and click on the data tab

                    *   Good for looking for spaces in free text fields – double click on the entry and delete all trailing spaces

                    *   Can edit any of your crew’s points



                 *   You can also review and edit in survey123

                    *   Click on Survey123 icon from the dot grid on the top right, then select the collection form, and click on the data tab, filter by crew

                    *   Good for review things spatially

                    *   Can only edit points you create, not a team member’s



PLEASE LOOK FOR THE FOLLOWING COMMON DATA ERRORS



        *   Extra enters or tabs at the end of the free text fields.

           *   The cursor should always be snuggled up to the last character entered. Extra spaces mess up our data import/export process!

        *   Most common in locality, field notes, habitat description

        *   Common when copy/pasting data



        *   DO NOT COPY/PASTE data directly from another source. There are often hidden symbols embedded in the text that we can’t see until we go through and import/export process and it can get messy.

           *   If you MUST copy/paste, paste first into notepad or some other clean source, paste as plain text, then copy/paste into data field.


  *   Slope should only be a positive integer, no negatives



  *   In the web portal, make sure you are not entering a negative in front of the westing coordinate, this will cause errors on our data exports.






GIS Announcements - Kristy Snyder, ksnyder at blm.gov<mailto:ksnyder at blm.gov>

  *   There was a bug where the date collected was incorrect. I have manually changed all these dates in the “adjusted_date” column. Please double check that the date field is correct when submitting forms to Bend.

  *   Please remember to complete the location calculations instead of typing in those fields! It is not optional to run or enter the calculations. There are codes used for bg-base that autofill (like ecoregion code-not the name)

     *   Please remember to complete the location calculations instead of typing in those fields! Make sure you are clicking on the map portion of the location details, and typing the correct coordinates in from there. Coordinates should be blue, if you type them directly into the lat/long fields and they are black, the location calculations will not work.

     *   Location calculations are used to:

        *   Enter the ecoregion into BG-Base- on the form you see the name but in the data review table in the Geoplatform you’ll see the BG Base code (#E)

        *   Enter the correct state/county into BG-Base

           *   Easy to misspell a county or use a different state format

        *   Filter the state for the state/ecoregional botanists

           *   If formats are different, they will not be recognized (Idaho, id, ID, and idaho all are different entries)

        *   Correctly create the reports

           *   If you type in the ecoregion, the ecoregion code will not fill in and it will not autofill when you generate reports


  *   Enter the elevation and units of elevation after generating reports if using Meters, the default entry is feet


  *   Locality descriptions for scouting/collecting-not an option, one of the most important fields on the datasheet


  *   Don’t forget to enter the unique identifier at the end of the collection equation scouting ID, I recommend just keeping a running list of scouting populations if you are not scouting a lot.


  *   Let Kristy know of any glitches or suggested improvements to the digital data collection, we are always open to constructive feedback: Please let us know if you/your crew is willing to meet to give feedback!



SOS Partner Announcements

  *   Sarah Garvin/Bend

     *   Smokey and warm in Bend, received about 95 SOS collections and things are looking really good! Lots of berries have been sent in this year and folks are really making sure that it arrives in good condition. Reminder for a good way to sent material. Double bag fleshy fruit in a ziplock that is half filled to avoid it exploding in transit. One ice pack is usually enough to get through the mailing process. Wrap the ice pack in multiple layers of newspaper to absorb any condensation or liquid and fill the rest of the space with newspaper. For all other collections, make sure to double check that seeds are secured by double folding and taping the outside of the bag, and making sure bottom cracks are sealed on the outside as well.

  *   Erika / Smithsonian

     *   As always, use the label template on the SOS website to create your herbarium labels, and refer to the Guide to Herbarium Specimens for SOS quick guide for voucher related information! Feel free to contact Erika at GardnerE at si.edu<mailto:GardnerE at si.edu> if you have any questions.


  *   Dorena GRC

     *   Ready to receive seed!






Sarah Hill

she/her

Seeds of Success National Curator
Bureau of Land Management - contractor

Currently working from home - contact me for my cell #


Seeds of Success<https://www.blm.gov/programs/natural-resources/native-plant-communities/native-plant-and-seed-material-development/collection>

National Seed Strategy<https://www.blm.gov/programs/natural-resources/native-plant-communities/national-seed-strategy>

Plant Conservation Alliance<https://www.blm.gov/programs/natural-resources/native-plant-communities/national-seed-strategy/pca>

Subscribe to the PCA and SOS listservs<http://lists.plantconservation.org/mailman/listinfo>

Why I list my pronouns<https://pronouns.org/what-and-why>

I respectfully acknowledge that I live and work on the unceded ancestral, traditional and contemporary lands of the Nuwe/Nume (Paiute, Shoshone, Bannock) people who have stewarded this land throughout the generations.
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