{"id":78648,"date":"2017-10-21T22:01:34","date_gmt":"2017-10-22T05:01:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev-clm-blog.pantheonsite.io\/?p=78648"},"modified":"2017-10-21T22:01:34","modified_gmt":"2017-10-22T05:01:34","slug":"where-do-the-seeds-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/?p=78648","title":{"rendered":"Where do the seeds go?"},"content":{"rendered":"

My purpose in central Oregon over the summer was to collect seed. Specifically, as much seed as possible from species that have never been collected before. I needed a minimum of 10,000 seeds for the seed bank, and a surplus of 30,000+ seeds for restoration projects across the district. Our district database has 255 species that have already been collected, so those 255 species were off limits – I had to find something else to collect.<\/p>\n

Within a few months of starting my seed collection \u00a0mission,\u00a0I had 10 new species in the bag (literally). But\u00a0all that seed takes up space, and my cubicle was starting to get a little cramped.<\/p>\n

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Mapping, monitoring, and collecting 50,000+ seeds for a single species<\/em>: 40 work hours.<\/p><\/div>\n

So,\u00a0what do you do with all that seed? It has to get cleaned, sorted, tested for viability, packaged, and stored properly so it doesn’t get contaminated or expire. Enter: The Bend Seed Extractory!<\/p>\n

The Bend Seed Extractory<\/a> is a facility owned and operated by the US Forest Service in Bend, OR. They receive, catalog, clean, test, and store all the seed that we Conservation & Land Management Interns collect and send to them. The facility houses equipment designed and built over the years by Forest Service engineers, as well as specialty equipment crafted in Denmark specifically for seed cleaning. On my first trip to the extractory\u00a0I got a tour from Sarah Garvin, Assistant Manager and former Conservation & Land Management Intern.<\/p>\n

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Custom equipment built expressly for seed cleaning: decades of work by ingenious engineers<\/p><\/div>\n

Whenever we ship seed to Bend, they receive the shipment into a catalog system like a library. Each collection is identified by the unique code and collection number for the sending office.<\/p>\n

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One week’s worth of seed shipments from across the US: I estimate 4,500 work hours<\/p><\/div>\n

I got to see boxes of a yucca species shipped from the crew in Nevada – good work, Nevada team! Your 70 lb boxes of seed were impressive!!<\/p>\n\n\t\t