[SOS-PCA] September Collector Call Notes

Thu Sep 7 14:22:25 CDT 2023

Hello SOS teams and support people,

Thank you all for joining us on our September collector call! Some teams are winding down for the season while others are looking forward to what some fall rains will provide. The folks at both the Bend Seed Extractory and the Dorena Genetics Resources Center said that the collections that have been sent in for cleaning are looking top-notch, so thank you all SO MUCH for your attention to detail while collecting, drying, packing, and shipping your collections!

Thanks again 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> and Kristy Snyder ksnyder at blm.gov<mailto:ksnyder 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

  *   Remember to submit clearance forms for collections you know will be requested back after cleaning. There are separate forms for collections sent to Bend and Dorena, both are available on the SOS website.

  *   The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) and National Park Service joined forces with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) on the national Seeds of Success native seed collection program, with the signing of an interagency Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on August 4, 2023. This MOU provides an opportunity for the three agencies to leverage expanded SOS funding through BIL and coordination to collect, conserve, and restore native plant communities across Department of Interior lands. Read the full story written by Anna Lindquist, BLM Botanical Communications Manager: Seeds of Success expands across DOI Agencies<https://doimspp.sharepoint.com/sites/blm-portal/SitePages/Seeds-of-Success-expands-across-DOI-agencies.aspx?CT=1692471294658&OR=OWA-NT&CID=ac2b0e7d-27c2-5cbe-b2c8-637ca00d632c>.

Data QC time is upon us! A few tips and reminders:

  *   There is an end of season checklist

     *   This document on the SOS website details 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 Dashboards

     *   Instructions for cell highlights are in the dashboard help documents or in your group. You cannot edit in the dashboard yet; this is the first iteration and we are open to any changes.

     *   In general, if you see a red text, cell, or alert symbol, please double check that data has been entered correctly.

     *   Things the dashboard DOES NOT check for:

        *   Spaces in a number field (Collection Number, Date, etc.)

        *   Coordinates are in the correct state (checks for country)

        *   Unique identifier in the collection equation form has more than 2 characters

        *   If the date in the collection equation form is entered incorrectly (should be YYYYMMDD)

     *   If you have any questions about the QC dashboards, please do not hesitate to ask!

COMMON DATA ERRORS

General

        *   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 the import/export process - 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.

  *   If using Munsell soil chart Chroma/Value scales data should look like this: 10YR 4/3

Geoplatform specific

  *   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.

SOS Partner Announcements

  *   Sarah Garvin/Bend

     *   Bend has received just over 200 collections and more than half have already been processed! The data sheets and seed shipments have been looking really good, so keep up the good work!

  *   Haley Smith/ Dorena GRC

     *   Shipments that have been received have also been looking wonderful!

  *   Erika / Smithsonian

     *   All the voucher specimens and labels that have been received have looked great! One thing to note is to make sure that supervisors are reviewing/double checking quality of vouchers before sending.

     *   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.

Agency Specific Breakout Sessions

BLM

  *   It's time to start planning for 2024! If you haven’t already, please notify Sarah Hill if you are coordinating a collection crew for 2024.

FWS

  *   Please give any feedback on the digital data collection forms: https://forms.office.com/r/PtkZyq8KP8.

  *   So far, FWS teams have sent in a total of 26 SOS collections to Bend.

  *   Refer to “Taking quality photos for SOS” form on BLM SOS website- be sure to scrub/clear all location information before submitting photos.

  *   Presentation given to regional refuge managers on 8-16. Thank you to everyone who supplied photos. We discussed how refuges and those coordinating SOS teams can work together to catalyze SOS efforts in the future – including refuge managers not only providing access to refuge lands, but also any available plant locality information and conveying importance of botanical expertise on Refuges in workforce planning.

  *   Please email Bend clearance forms to Kelly and she will send all FWS forms to Sarah Hill.

NPS

  *   NPS collections should still have three associated voucher specimens even though they will not be sending the third voucher to the Smithsonian yet.

     *   Crews should make labels according to the SOS template and file them with the third, retained copy of the voucher. These will be submitted in the future once the NPS/Smithsonian policy is finalized.

Cheers,

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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