From elizabeth_krone at fws.gov Wed Sep 4 16:37:52 2024 From: elizabeth_krone at fws.gov (Krone, Elizabeth C) Date: Wed, 4 Sep 2024 21:37:52 +0000 Subject: [SOS-PCA] SAVE THE DATE & RSVP: Plant Conservation Alliance e-Meeting, September 11, 2024, 2-4pm ET, with speaker Wendy Hodgson Message-ID: ***SAVE THE DATE*** Please RSVP to attend our fifth PCA meeting of 2024 where we welcome Wendy Hodgson, Herbarium Curator Emerita, Senior Research Botanist, Desert Botanical Garden, who will discuss ?Grand Canyon ? more than stunning geology, vistas and strange squirrels ? her Green Heart, the unsung legacy of plants.? ABOUT THE PRESENTATION: Studying plants and plant communities within the vast Canyon is no walk in the park so to speak. It is extremely challenging, facing an array of obstacles rarely experienced. Even more than grit and determination, studying the Canyon?s plants requires extensive collaboration involving the Park Service, Indigenous Peoples, outside researchers and community scientists, continually building on the work of previous intrepid plant explorers. Wendy will share reasons for the great diversity in the Canyon, introduce a few of its intriguing botanists that braved wild white water and steep cliffs to gather specimens, and spotlight some likewise charismatic plants. She will also highlight collaborative work that has continued for years as well as new, exciting projects, all of whose goals are to better understand what occurs where, including identifying and mitigating threats to rare species, the quest to identify new taxa, understanding how certain plants evolved and dispersed in the Grand Canyon and the Canyon?s role as an important genetic reservoir and refugia. And of course, how to get the public to wonder what plants occur down there. ABOUT OUR PRESENTER: Wendy Hodgson has lived in the Sonoran Desert for 55 years. She holds a B.S. in wildlife biology and an M.S. in botany from Arizona State University. This year Wendy celebrated 50 years of working at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, having started in 1974 as an assistant to famed agave expert Dr. Howard S. Gentry. Today she is the Herbarium Curator Emerita and Senior Research Botanist. Her research focuses on the Agave family, particularly the systematics and role of agaves, yuccas and Hesperoyucca in pre- and post-contact cultures. Wendy also focuses on Southwest floristics with a special emphasis on the Grand Canyon, where for 35 years she has searched for plants. She has authored or co-authored nine species new to science, including three from Grand Canyon. Wendy also focuses on Sonoran Desert food plants, publishing Food Plants of the Sonoran Desert, winner of the Klinger Book Award presented by the Society for Ethnobotany. She is an advocate for collaboration, working closely with numerous federal agencies, conservation groups, academia, community scientists and Indigenous Peoples in the study and conservation of plants and their habitat. This meeting is held remotely and open to all. More information about the presentation can be found on our PCA Meetings page. *** PLEASE RSVP TO ATTEND THIS MEETING *** RSVP by Tuesday, September 10, to elizabeth_krone at fws.gov The meeting login details will be shared with all respondents via calendar invite and email by Tuesday September 10. This meeting will be hosted using Microsoft Teams. You will be able to join the meeting from the web or via the Microsoft Teams app. The PCA general meetings are open to everyone and follow this format: >Updates on PCA Activities - learn about and get engaged in the Plant Conservation Alliance >Invited Speaker ? a topical presentation to explore any of the six focal areas identified in the PCA National Framework for Progress: collaborative conservation; education; restoration; research and development; sustainability; and information sharing >Native Plants Roundtable - all participants are encouraged to share information on national native plant events and activities ? This meeting is brought to you by the Plant Conservation Alliance Speaker Organizing Team ? Gary Krupnick (Smithsonian Institution) / Ray Mims (U.S. Botanic Garden) / Nick Jensen (California Native Plant Society) / David Lincicome (Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation) / Andrea Kramer (Chicago Botanic Garden) / Elizabeth Krone (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From kelly_thomas at fws.gov Fri Sep 6 13:21:05 2024 From: kelly_thomas at fws.gov (Thomas, Kelly M) Date: Fri, 6 Sep 2024 18:21:05 +0000 Subject: [SOS-PCA] JOB OPPTY: GA Native Seed Network Program Manager// State Botanic Garden of GA (Athens) Message-ID: Overview: full time, 2-year contract with opportunity to extend if funding is secured Duties: The successful candidate?s primary role will be to serve as the Program Manager of the Georgia Native Seed Network. This position will entail extensive program development and management, partner cultivation, coalition building, fundraising, grant writing, and travel. This position will supervise the GNSN Coordinator and 3-5 technicians implementing field work. The Program Manager will work closely with other team members at SBG and partner organizations. The Program Manager will report directly to the SBG Science & Conservation Director. Requirements: * Work in a variety of outdoor and indoor settings. * Hike over rugged terrain and various landscapes (wetlands, grasslands, rugged hills, slopes, etc.) * Lift 50 pounds. * A baccalaureate degree in the field. Compensation: $50,000-$60,000 annually See the full announcement: https://www.ugajobsearch.com/postings/397276 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From sehill at blm.gov Fri Sep 6 14:09:43 2024 From: sehill at blm.gov (Hill, Sarah E) Date: Fri, 6 Sep 2024 19:09:43 +0000 Subject: [SOS-PCA] September SOS Monthly Call Notes In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Happy September! Thanks to everyone who joined us at the monthly SOS collector call on Tuesday! Since some crews are starting to wrap up for the season, we spent a good chunk of time going over the data QC process in Geoplatform, and also reviewed a new herbarium label export tool. We recorded that section of the meeting and it is now available in your GeoPlatform help documents, as are several new written guides: a Geoplatform User Guide, SOS Data QC Guide, and directions for herbarium label exports. See the condensed notes about the September call, and let me know if you have any questions. Our next collector call will be Oct 1, 10am MST. See you there! For the Seeds, Sarah Hill National Office Announcements Third Party Recording/Transcription Prohibited Reminder that third party recording/transcription of our SOS Monthly calls is not allowed. We want to make sure that meeting participants have the resources they need to have the best information for the collecting season and have a few ways of capturing the meeting information: * We have internally recorded this meeting and are going to be making it available via the GeoPlatform help documents. * We always send out written notes of each meeting via the collector call email list and the SOS list serve, which also has an archive of old notes as well (https://lists.plantconservation.org/pipermail/sos_lists.plantconservation.org/ , accessible from step three on the SOS getting started page). * We will begin recording meeting transcripts which will be included with the summary notes after every meeting. If there is anything else we can do to make our SOS Collector Call more accessible for you, please let Sarah Hill know. 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 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. * 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 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. Seed cleaning / shipping update * Only ship seed when collection is complete (no more visits to that site). Make sure the box you are sending your seed in has a data sheet, and that the correct collection number is assigned. If you change collection number AFTER you send the seed in, you must contact Sarah Hill so she can update info with the cleaning facility * FILL OUT YOUR SEED TRACKING FORM AS YOU SHIP SEEDS. If you are giving the seed to someone else to ship, make sure they know to fill out the seed tracking form. * IF THEY DO NOT HAVE ACCESS TO THE SEED TRACKING FORM/GEOPLATFORM ACCESS and they will ship it in a few days, you can fill out the form for them. If its going to be more than a few days, they should email Sarah Hill to let her know. * We are working out plans for if we go over our capacity with our current cleaning facilities. Our backup plan might involve storing uncleaned seed at a facility for a period of time. We can triage seed cleaning needs to make sure that anything that would lose viability if not cleaned quickly. If your crew is planning a late season Artemesia or fleshy fruit collection, tell your Agency Coordinator ASAP so we can ensure there is room for those collections to be cleaned quickly. * Current cleaning facility assignments - These could change throughout the fall. FWS teams who have been asked to hold seed should continue to do so until they hear otherwise from Kelly Thomas. * Palmer Plant Materials Center * All Alaska collections * Dorena Genetics Resource Center * All NPS Crews (Crews with collector codes starting with 'NP') Except NPSD00 and NPNM00 * FWS0300 * FWS0202 * FWS0400 * FWS0401 * FWS0402 * FWS0403 * FWS0404 * Bend Seed Extractory * NPSD00 and NPNM00 * All DOI crews (collector codes starting with 'D') * All BLM agency funded teams * All other USFWS teams New voucher label template export in Survey123! * You can now export your Smithsonian vouchers from Survey123 like you do with your data sheets. You will still need to do some review/editing to complete the labels, but this should save you a significant amount of time. Instructions for creating the labels and a recorded walk through of how to export the labels have been added to your GeoPlatform help documents. New Data QC Guides and Tutorial in GeoPlatform Help Documents During the September meeting, we spent a lot of time reviewing the QC process in Geoplatform. This was recorded and has been added to your geoplatform help documents. There are also two new written guides, a GeoPlatform User Guide and a SOS Data QC Guide. Below are some general reminders about data QC, please watch the recording for more detailed information. * The first thing you should do when beginning data QC is to make sure that your lat/long coordinates and location information match your mapped point. If they do not match, follow the flowchart in the Data QC Guide to determine how to edit your data. * Remember that data updates between Survey123 and the Data Management Site only go one way. Anything changed on your mobile device form in Survey123 will update/overwrite data in the data management site. Anything changed in the data management site is not backwards updated to your survey123 forms. If you have started editing in the data management site, continue editing there. If you have not started editing in the data management site, you can update your Survey123 forms on your mobile device. * Common fields to check for data errors * Dates, the second collection date should be after the first collection date * Number of plants sampled from should match in the Viability tab and Collection tab * Number of plants sampled is less than or equal to the number of plants found * Coordinates are entered correctly and match where the point is * Source- if using GeoPlatform point, it is a Geopoint * Associated species does not include the species you collected * Geology * If there is no slope, aspect should be flat * Consistent entry ?No Voucher? you did not collect a voucher * Rescouting form editing - if you used the rescout hyperlink, there isn't much to review, but this is how you can see the data from your rescouting forms: * Look at the Survey123 app on your device or on your computer. Double check that the scouting ID matches, the correct revisit date is present. * Double check the location of the point and make sure it is in the correct location. * * What do I do if I can?t I find my sent Survey123 forms on my device? * When you submit the forms, its stored temporary file on your device and can be found in your sent folder in Survey123. If you cannot find the forms in your sent folder, your device has likely had an organization specific update that has overwritten the temporary files. In this case use data management site to edit and if you need to change the location of your mapped point, email Kristy. Partner Updates (Bend Seed Extractory, Dorena Genetic Resource Center, USDA-ARS, Smithsonian) * No updates for the group Agency Specific Breakout Sessions BLM breakout session Notes * To help prioritize late season collection cleaning, please let Sarah Hill know via email if you anticipate a crew collecting a fleshy fruit, Artemesia, or a collection that folks will want back for use in early 2025. USFWS breakout session Notes * For those that haven't already, please send your mid-season team updates as a reply to the email "SOS mid-season check in" Kelly sent on 8/26 as soon as possible. Thanks! NPS/DOI breakout session Notes * Katie revied the drying/shipping process for NPS and DOI teams being coordinated through Katie. Crews should reach out to her if they have any more specific questions. 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 National Seed Strategy Plant Conservation Alliance Subscribe to the PCA and SOS listservs Why I list my pronouns 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: From sehill at blm.gov Tue Sep 10 11:24:10 2024 From: sehill at blm.gov (Hill, Sarah E) Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2024 16:24:10 +0000 Subject: [SOS-PCA] SOS QC Guide update now in GeoPlatform help documents Message-ID: Hello, A quick note to let you know that we have added a little more information to our SOS QC Guide, clarifying some processes and adding a few more common errors to keep an eye out for. The document has been updated in your GeoPlatform Help Documents, and the current version is marked "revised 09.09.2024" at the bottom. Please take a look at this updated version and make sure you are referring to it as you are conducting your QC. We're up to 919 collections across the country - keep up the good work!! 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 National Seed Strategy Plant Conservation Alliance Subscribe to the PCA and SOS listservs Why I list my pronouns 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: From ksnyder at blm.gov Wed Sep 11 17:56:37 2024 From: ksnyder at blm.gov (Snyder, Kristine (Kristy)) Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2024 22:56:37 +0000 Subject: [SOS-PCA] Login.gov Sign In to GeoPlatform is Down Message-ID: Hello everyone, GeoPlatform login.gov sign in is currently down. Please do not log out of GeoPlatform on your mobile device or web browser if you are currently logged in. This only impacts GeoPlatform accounts and BLM-EGIS accounts will still allow login. [cid:7142216d-e431-4b9c-88e9-3c22b3ca3923] Kristy (Kristine) Snyder (she/her/hers) GIS Analyst- Plant Conservation & Restoration Program Bureau of Land Management - Contractor PCRP Story Maps National Seed Strategy Plant Conservation Alliance (PCA) 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. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image.png Type: image/png Size: 7576 bytes Desc: image.png URL: From ksnyder at blm.gov Thu Sep 12 13:59:00 2024 From: ksnyder at blm.gov (Snyder, Kristine (Kristy)) Date: Thu, 12 Sep 2024 18:59:00 +0000 Subject: [SOS-PCA] GeoPlatform is back up! Message-ID: Hello everyone, GeoPlatform sign in is working again. Happy Collecting and Data QC-ing! Kristy (Kristine) Snyder (she/her/hers) GIS Analyst- Plant Conservation & Restoration Program Bureau of Land Management - Contractor PCRP Story Maps National Seed Strategy Plant Conservation Alliance (PCA) 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. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ksnyder at blm.gov Wed Sep 18 11:28:49 2024 From: ksnyder at blm.gov (Snyder, Kristine (Kristy)) Date: Wed, 18 Sep 2024 16:28:49 +0000 Subject: [SOS-PCA] GeoPlatform Duplicate Account Issue Message-ID: Hello everyone, There is currently an issue, stemming from GeoPlatform being down last week, that is creating a duplicate GeoPlatform account for some users. 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. If you need to collect today, 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 me the Seed Collection Reference Number's of the reports you need created. I will create these reports and email them to you. Let us know if you have any questions and thank you for your patience. Kristy (Kristine) Snyder (she/her/hers) GIS Analyst- Plant Conservation & Restoration Program Bureau of Land Management - Contractor PCRP Story Maps National Seed Strategy Plant Conservation Alliance (PCA) 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. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From sehill at blm.gov Wed Sep 18 16:36:45 2024 From: sehill at blm.gov (Hill, Sarah E) Date: Wed, 18 Sep 2024 21:36:45 +0000 Subject: [SOS-PCA] PLEASE READ: SOS Seed Tracking Forms, Shipping Seeds, and Submitting/Synching Data Message-ID: Hello everyone, A few quick reminders as we enter the fall. Reach out to Sarah Hill if you have any questions about these, and thank you all for your hard work this season! * Submit your forms and sync your data ASAP when you have service. You can still update and edit forms on your mobile devices and resubmit forms if you are not done with a collection. The only way to have data be backed up and protected is to submit your forms. If they only stay on your device, the data can be lost. We also use the submitted data to help forecast and organize seed cleaning needs, and to get a jump on data QC. If you have collected on paper, but are supposed to using digital data tools, please DO NOT WAIT to transfer that data onto a digital form. * YOU MUST fill out a seed tracking form (either on your mobile device or through the data management site) when you ship seeds to a cleaning facility. This is how we are tracking our capacity at each cleaning facility, and how we will know when we need to have people change what location they are shipping to. Aren't sure if you have submitted all the seed tracking forms you need to? The first tab of the Data Management site will tell you which collections have corresponding seed tracking forms. * YOU MUST send a completed data sheet for each collection that is sent in for cleaning. * The bags and boxes must be labeled with the collection number, species, and bag 1 of 3, 2 of 3, 3 of 3, etc. so that the cleaning facilities know what bags/boxes go together under the right collection number. Also, for anyone who missed Kristy's email about a bug with Geoplatform login information, here it is again: There is currently an issue, stemming from GeoPlatform being down last week, that is creating a duplicate GeoPlatform accounts. There is generally an extra number added to the end of your username (found in the upper right hand corner when you log in) and it is only happening for some folks. This means that you may not be able to log in or see your groups or any of the associated forms and maps in those groups. If you are having trouble, please send Kristy your new username so she can pass this along to GeoPlatform for role modification. The folks at GeoPaltform will be the ones who will re-add you to the groups and give you the correct permissions, Kristy does not the ability to elevate roles. After sending your new username to Kristy you will need to periodically try to log in and see if the issue has resolved. Let Kristy know if you have any questions and thank you for your patience. If you need to collect today, * 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 the Seed Collection Reference Number's of the reports you need created. She will create these reports and email them to you. 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 National Seed Strategy Plant Conservation Alliance Subscribe to the PCA and SOS listservs Why I list my pronouns 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: From sehill at blm.gov Mon Sep 30 10:03:52 2024 From: sehill at blm.gov (Hill, Sarah E) Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2024 15:03:52 +0000 Subject: [SOS-PCA] URGENT! Seed Shipping Freeze, and Action Needed Message-ID: Hello seed enthusiasts, As you know, the 2024 collection season has been an ambitious one! 118 collection teams across three agencies are on track to make over 1, 200 seed collections, many of which are large enough to go into seed increase projects. For folks in the lower 48, we've been talking all season about our cleaning capacity and the need to re-assign cleaning facilities when we get close to reaching our collection cleaning cap. We have reached that point, and need to get some information from all of you so we can provide direction for the rest of the season. If you are a collector in Alaska * You can continue as normal shipping things to the Palmer PMC. All other collectors * There will be a shipping freeze from Oct 4 - 15 while we work through new cleaning facility assignments. DO NOT send seed to any cleaning facility during this time. After the 15th, new cleaning/shipping assignments will be send out and you may resume shipping to the specified locations. * Each team must fill out the following form by ASAP, no later than October 7th estimating the number and sizes of collections you will be shipping in October, November and December. For October collections, list anything shipped after this week. * Fall 2024 Seed Shipping form We will discuss this form and seed shipping at the monthly collector call tomorrow. If you have any questions please let me know. 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 National Seed Strategy Plant Conservation Alliance Subscribe to the PCA and SOS listservs Why I list my pronouns 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: