[SOS-PCA] Reminder - Smithsonian Voucher Guidance

[Hill, Sarah E]

Hello everyone,

Since some crews are winding down for the season, I wanted to remind folks of a few things about packing and shipping your herbarium specimens to the Smithsonian. Erika Gardner, a Collections Manager with the Smithsonian and the person who receives our SOS specimens will also join our October call to talk about voucher importance and preparation.

Reminders

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Ideally, each collection should have at least 1 voucher that will either be sent to the Smithsonian at the end of the season or for NPS teams, will be stored for future accessioning. Some crews may also be collecting vouchers for regional or office herbaria. If you are collecting extra vouchers, check in with that office or Herbarium to see what specific needs they have for submitting specimens. If your team was unable to collect a voucher for a collection, it must be documented as missing in the annual report, and NO VOUCHER should be selected in the data set.

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Once collections pass data QC, an herbarium label template can be exported from the data management site.
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Once you have generated labels, you will need to edit them to make the information readable. Instructions for creating and editing labels are in the "All Digital Data Guides" document.
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Labels should be printed on acid free paper.
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Occasionally the label generator gets stuck and exports data sheets instead of herbarium labels. If this happens log out of your account, clear your cache and cookies and log back in. If it is still stuck, try a different browser, and clear the cache and cookies on the new browser as well. If you are still having trouble after trying these actions, email Kristy Snyder, Ksnyder at blm.gov for further assistance.

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Vouchers should be sent unmounted with a label (no glue, staples, etc.)

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When shipping, follow the guidance in the document " Guide to Herbarium Specimens for SOS,  https://www.blm.gov/sites/default/files/docs/2021-10/Guide%20to%20Herbarium%20Specimens%20for%20SOS.pdf . There are specific instructions for how to package vouchers so they arrive safely.

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Send a Notice of Transmittal along with the vouchers, either in the box with the vouchers or by directly emailing it to Erika. Download the transmittal letter (either federal or non-federal) from the SOS website sidebar, blm.gov/SOS, under "Download the SOS Forms", or from the GeoPlatform Help Documents.

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Vouchers are an official scientific record of a plant at a specific place and time. Only high quality specimens should be submitted.

If you have any questions about submitting vouchers please let me know, and I look forward to talking more about vouchers at the October collector call!


For the seeds,

Sarah


Sarah Hill

Seeds of Success National Curator
Bureau of Land Management - Contractor


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>

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.
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