I’m getting over the “what should I be doing” phase.  For the benefit of future interns or those that are still figuring it out, this how I got organized.

Like many others, my internship is focused on the Seeds of Success program; collecting “workhorse” species for research and restoration. Like many others I relocated for my internship and was/am unfamiliar with the native flora.  Before deciding what to collect there are a few necessary resources:

1. Previous SOS collection records in your area (you can’t repeat collections from last three years, older collection sites might be helpful)
2. A map showing land management (you can only collect from BLM land)
3. ID books/keys/online resources (to learn and ID plants)

I am organizing our previous SOS records and herbarium vouchers at our office for next year’s intern.  Maps and books should be relatively available at the office but if interns wanted to get one ahead of time as an intro, I’d recommend Sagebrush Country, by Ronald Taylor as a great introduction to and resource for common plants and communities.

The other main challenge that I’ve come across is deciding what to spend my time trying to collect.  Initially my “plan” was to collect anything native and abundant, assuming that it was a workhorse species that would potentially be useful.  The problem with this is that without prioritization and past records for reference, the same few dominant species risk being collected each year.  I suggest that early in the season interns talk to both their local mentor as well as their state botanist.  By doing this I came up with the following set of priorities for my office:

1. Whatever my office wants to collect for local purposes (fire restoration, sage grouse feed, etc).

2. POSE for USFWS project. This is a great basin wide effort where we will be collecting POSE across ecoregions and seed zones. Goal is 5-10 population collections per ecoregion and per seed zone. Each of these will get processed as SOS and the extra will be available for this project.

3. Statewide priorities species for restoration. Again the goal is 5-10 per ecoregion per seed zone. Process for SOS and collect extra seed:  POSE, bluebunch wheatgrass, great basin wildrye, idaho fescue, indian rice grass.

and

-Pollinator forbs: Three nesting and three nectar plants per season (spring, summer, fall). Some plants will be nesting and nectar plants.

4. Finally, target species that are on the long “target” list that have never been collected in our area before.

Obviously priorities will change from office to office, and may change by next year, but in each specific context, priorities allow the collector to focus their efforts on what will be most productive.  Instead of choosing native plants randomly or even randomly off the “target” list of 150 species I now know to focus on certain species that will go towards existing projects.  I am also organizing maps of seed zones and ecoregions for the following intern, as well as putting together a list of pollinator species to use alongside the more comprehensive target list.

I hope this, in conjunction with the indispensable SOS training in Chicago, will serve to cut down on the confusion/learning curve before getting out to start collecting next time around.  There’s a lot to catch up on for a new person and because of the time sensitivity of seed collection this can mean missing out on some species or wasting resources more generally.  There’s only so much time in the season so I’m hoping to use it well.

Good luck,

-Alejandro Brambila