Starting as the only Seeds of Success intern at the BLM office was a bit of a rocky start. This particular program has not been run in at least 2 years and the staff that were familiar with it are long gone. However, this does leave a fresh start for me! Scrounging through old archives, I was able to find previous plants collected for seeds and where they might be. Calflora has become my best friend, as it is a necessary source on plant identification and conveniently has locations on where particular plants of interest may be. After making a tentative list of what plants I might collect, I was out in the field.

California has some beautiful landscapes. The photo below was taken near the Oregon border. Our mission that day was to find a rare lily, Fritillaria gentneri. We found two small different populations of this lily growing next to its look a likes, Fritillaria recurva and Fritillaria affinis

Blue oak woodland. Just south of the Oregon border.

Fritillaria affinis

After being at this job for about two weeks, I am able to get a better grasp on what is feasible and what I need to do. Right now I go out in the field on various pieces of land owned by Redding BLM to survey what is in mass. Collecting 10,000+ seeds per species is not an easy feat, so I need to find large populations of plants that will produce a lot of seed. So far so good, I have found about three species of plants that have a sufficient amount of plants to give me enough seed. These plants will be great for restoration and are pollinator friendly!

Not a collection plant, but one of California’s native succulent type plants! It grows on a rock face; this seeming difficult to achieve. However, the Lewisia thrive in this environment and I am thankful because this species makes for a beautiful picture.

Lewisia cotyledon

Redding Field Office – Bureau of Land Management