I have been in my internship for about 4 months now, which is primarily collecting seeds for Seeds of Success. My team and I have been collecting like crazy, for almost all of the time we have been here, and have made about 40 collections total thus far. While I have learned a lot about the plants and landscape of the Mojave, and knew my work was important for restoration, I didn’t fully understand why…didn’t get the “big picture”. Until now. I recently attended the CLM training and, shortly after, a Desert Restoration Workshop, where I learned how important native plant materials programs are. I also learned how programs like SOS are highly valuable for ecological restoration, as there is a “need for seed” in the Mojave (and elsewhere). Arid ecosystems in general are slow to recover from disturbances, which include land use for solar and wind projects, recreational uses, exotic species, and waste dumping, just to name a few. And things are also shifting due to climate change. Often the balance of these ecosystems is upset beyond the natural point of return, because the rate of change far exceeds the speed of ecological adaptation capabilities. This is where active restoration comes in to place, as well as a preventative-like type of restoration with the creation of adaptive communities. Native seed collecting, over a wide range of habitat in order to match specific plant types to their matching microclimates, is really at the basis of these restorations today. And this is what Seeds of Success is all about. I am excited and proud to be a part of such a movement.