[SOS-PCA] Notes from Oct SOS Collector Call & Reminder to fill out Fall Seed Shipping Form!

[Hill, Sarah E]

Hello everyone,

Below are the notes from out October 2024 SOS Collector Call. Please let me know if you have any questions about topics covered and thank you as always for your all of your hard work!

  *
Sarah Hill

National Office Announcements, October 2024

Seed Shipping freeze and cleaning

  *
Seed shipping freeze in lower 48 Oct 4-15! We are close to our cleaning capacity and need to briefly pause shipping seeds until we can assign cleaning facilities for the rest of the season.
     *
Fill out this form about remaining seed shipments by Oct 7 https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=urWTBhhLe02TQfMvQApUlO5xs5-TlYlFs7RN2H4GSnZUREI2MzUwMElNWFg5QkNBTEgyRlJNSEhGOC4u
     *
Indicate on this form if you will be sending fleshy fruit, Artemisia, or have a collection with a need to be returned by spring 2025 for a project.
     *
Sarah will use these responses to assign cleaning facilities and shipping can resume after announcement on Oct 15.
     *
If you are handing your seeds off to someone else to ship, MAKE SURE THEY KNOW THERE IS A SHIPPPING FREEZE. They should also know to fill out a seed tracking form / email Sarah if they don’t have access to GeoPlatform when they ship.



  *
Some collections without an immediate need will be sent to the National Lab for Genetic Resources Preservation in Ft. Collins for safe keeping while we finalize agreements with new cleaning facilities.
     *
If assigned to ship to Ft. Collins, there will be a small change to the way you fill out the seed tracking form. Instructions on this shipping process will be sent out with the cleaning assignments.


 Clearance forms *CORRECTION FROM WHAT WAS SAID ON COLLECTOR CALL*
On the collector call, Sarah Hill said that it was possible to send seed to multiple locations via a clearance form. After speaking with the cleaning facilities, it sounds like they can only be sending seed from a clearance form to one location. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused.

  *
2024 Forms are on SOS website, blm.gov/sos
  *
Forms are due by Jan 30th, with a last return by date of May 1, 2025. Send in one form per collector code, per facility. Entire balance of seed must be sent to receiving location.
  *
Cleaning facilities need at least 30 day notice, requesters need to have a fedex shipping account or an interagency agreement if seed is at BSE, they can’t bill shipping to a credit card.
  *
Send to your agency coordinator, who then sends it to Sarah Hill (who is also the BLM agency coordinator)

Improvements for next season
End of season feedback

  *
We are gathering feedback on ideas to improve the program for 2025 – ideas on training, digital data collection forms, and program workflows are all welcome. You can email your feedback directly to Sarah, submit it anonymously through the Geoplatform, give it to your agency coordinator, or schedule a meeting with Kristy and Sarah.


Information storage

  *
We are looking at ways to condense where SOS information lives in order to make it easier for collectors to find information they need throughout the season. Because we work with three agencies and a variety of non-federal partners, and also want to share a large amount of material, we have limitations on the kind of information we can keep on different platforms, but if you have any ideas on tools that we could use next season, please email Sarah Hill, sehill at blm.gov<mailto:sehill at blm.gov>.


Seed collection techniques

  *
We are beginning to compile information on tools/techniques that are useful for certain species, genera, or seed types. If you have a document with this information, or are interested in documenting your efforts this season, please send the document out on the SOS listerv so that others can benefit from it. Additionally, please send it to Sarah Hill, so she can compile the information and make it available for collectors in the future.


 Onboarding new people or if you were forwarded this meeting notification

  *
All those involved in SOS should sign up for the collector call and mailing list to stay up-to-date on program logistics and updates throughout the season. The listserv and collector call list are how we communicate with everyone throughout the season, so it is critical you have signed up through the right channels.
  *
If you are new or are onboarding new people make sure they visit the Getting Started page on the SOS website and sign up for the mailing list, collector calls, training, and GeoPlatform access: https://www.blm.gov/programs/native-plant-communities/native-plant-and-seed-material-development/collection/sos-getting-started
  *
Please remember to complete the GeoPlatform Sign Up form if you will be collecting data on a mobile device
  *
You can see an archive of collector call notes through the SOS listerv (bookmark this page) https://lists.plantconservation.org/pipermail/sos_lists.plantconservation.org/



Offboarding / End of season

  *
When you are finished for the season and you have finished reviewing your data (check the QC guide in the GeoPlatform help documents for more info) send your final materials (Annual report, photos, permits) to your agency coordinator for review. Once everything is finalized, people will be removed from their GeoPlatform group.
     *
Please let Kristy know if folks are done for the season
  *
Review the End of Season Checklist to ensure you have sent everything to the right place!
     *
https://www.blm.gov/sites/default/files/docs/2024-04/SOS-End-of-Season-Checklist-2024.pdf
  *
New QC documents and QC tutorial in Geoplatform help documents
  *
New herbarium label export and tutorial in GeoPlatform help documents


GeoPlatform Announcements

  *
Duplicate account issue - what happened, and how to resolve if it happens again in the future
     *
>From GeoPlatform: “We believe the issue is impacting folks who created their account within the last two months. We had to update the backend software and migrate our user lists. The list was not completely synced with the current list of users before it was migrated, and thus some of the emails are being recognized as new accounts.”



     *
If you log in to GeoPlatform and you do not see your groups anymore, this could be the problem. There is generally an extra number added to the end of your username (found in the upper right-hand corner when you log in).
     *
If this is happening to you, please send Kristy (ksnyder at blm.gov) your old and new username so she can pass this along to GeoPlatform for role modification.  They have been modifying accounts within an hour before 4pm MT.



     *
If you need to collect today and do not see your groups, please use paper scouting and collection forms.
        *
Collection form: https://www.blm.gov/sites/default/files/docs/2024-04/SOS-Data-Form-2024.pdf
        *
Scouting form: https://www.blm.gov/sites/default/files/docs/2024-04/SOS-Backup-Scouting-Rescouting-Form-2024.pdf
     *
 If you need to print reports for shipping seed, please send Kristy (ksnyder at blm.gov<mailto:ksnyder at blm.gov>) the Seed Collection Reference Number's of the reports you need created. I will create these reports and email them to you.



  *
Submit your forms as soon as possible once you have service!
     *
Please submit your forms even if the collection isn’t completed for the season (You will be revisiting the population to collect more seed, you still need to enter geology info, etc.) so that we can back up the data. If you do not submit your forms, the data only lives on your mobile device and if something was to happen to your device, you would lose all of your data. You can always edit forms on your device (saved in your sent folder) and re-submit them.
     *
Submitted forms are also used for collection tracking throughout the year. If you do not submit the forms, we do not know that the collections have happened!





For the seeds,

Sarah


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, as well as other indigenous tribes who traveled through the area known as Idaho who have stewarded this land throughout the generations.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.plantconservation.org/pipermail/sos_lists.plantconservation.org/attachments/20241003/67fab277/attachment.html>