I am typing to you all from the Pinedale BLM Field Office in Wyoming. Pinedale is nestled between Omernik Level III ecoregion’s 18 and 17. It oversees the management of 912,000 acres of federal surface/federal minerals and almost 300,000 acres of private surface/federal minerals. Of those acres that are disturbed from oil and petroleum use   reclamation and restoration plans exist to prevent invasive and noxious weeds from out-competing and dominating the native vegetation. I have learned a lot about the procedures for restoration in Pindale. While learning I came to see how vital Seeds of Success (SOS) is for this area.
The month of May is coming to a close and almost all of the native forbs are still dormant. Aside, from a few like the perennial Phlox hoodi. The climate is so harsh in this northwestern part of the United States of America they only have a total of 19 frost-free days. So if you all thought you were having a hard time growing your tomatoes… Here the word for a functioning garden is considered a greenhouse. Stepping back from that tangent, however; a lot of the  seeds available  for restoration have genes that predispose them for the South or Central Western areas of the United States. Alas, when they are planted here they tend to be a cause for unsuccessful restoration or a bottleneck population with low genetic abundance.
SOS can open a lot of doorways for more successful restoration here in Pinedale. Bend Seed Extractory, our national seed bank, will be able to hold these seeds and supply them to operators within the Wyoming Basin. Securing these seeds is vital to maintaining a genetically diverse community of plants in the field. The time period we have to collect these seeds here in at the Pinedale BLM is roughly two months so preparation along with training is what I have been up to so far. When I am not working, however; there are thousands of things to do here in Pinedale. Most of the land out here is owned by the government, which means there is public access to most of the lands. You can go boating, biking, hiking, hunting, ATVing, fishing, camping, climbing and running. Not to mention, that Jackson, the Tetons and Yellowstone are about 1-2 hours away.
I know that I probably did not do my current geographical location justice. However, I am loving it here and cannot wait for SPRING SEEDS!