BLM Seeds of Success Program
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collect • evaluate • establish • grow • store • restore Seeds of Success (SOS) was established in 2001 by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in partnership with the Millennium Seed Bank Project (MSB) to collect, conserve, and develop native plant materials for restoration across the United States. The initial partnership between BLM and MSB quickly grew to include many additional partners, such as botanic gardens, arboreta, zoos, and municipalities. These SOS teams share a common protocol to coordinate seed collecting and species targeting efforts. SOS is a vital part of the Native Plant Materials Development Program. To date, SOS has over 12,000 native seed collections in its National Collection. This material is used for restoration projects, native plant materials development projects such as germination trials, common garden studies, and protocol establishment. Portions of each collection are also held in long-term storage facilities for conservation. 2010 was an especially productive collection year, made possible by an influx of $1.25 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds. These funds put an additional 43 collectors on the ground, allowing SOS to nearly double collection capacity. 3,000 ~2,700 SOS has partnerships nationwide for permits to collect on 40 USDA Forest Service National Forests, 10 U.S. Fish & 2,500 Wildlife Service National Wildlife Refuges, 6 Department 2,000 of Defense areas, The Nature Conservancy’s lands and 1,474 1,504 1,500 multiple state and local lands. Non-federal SOS partners 1,235 1,208 1,012 1,044 1,058 have made significant collections in the Midwest, Texas, 1,000 685 447 Eastern U.S., and San Diego County. Since becoming 500 involved in SOS, they have contributed non-federal 0 matching funds totaling over $3.3 million. Below are 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 highlights from SOS partners. Seeds of Success yearly seed collection numbers. Western United States: BLM Collecting Teams Over 40 BLM offices have or are participating in SOS. These collecting teams cover the 14 BLM states, and have made over 7,000 collections that have gone towards native plant materials development. A portion of all the collections have gone to Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and USDA Agricultural Research Service for long- term storage. Great Lakes, Midwest, and Prairie Regions: Chicago Botanic Garden The Chicago Botanic Garden (CBG) is involved in all phases of the native plant materials development process. The CBG SOS team has made over 1,500 collections. CBG has conducted: 26 seed zones and genetic variability studies, 26 pollinator biology and management studies, 19 cultural practices studies, and established plant propagation protocols for 24 species. CBG also manages the Conservation and Land Management Internship program which has placed hundreds of interns in BLM offices to work on public land natural resource issues, including native seed collection. BudBurst is another program that CBG manages. BudBurst is a national citizen science effort to record bloom dates for plant species in a centralized database, which will be used for climate change research. CBG has contributed over $2.5 million in matching funds to SOS. http://www.nps.gov/plants/sos 2010 Seeds of Success Collecting Teams http://www.nps.gov/plants/sos/ OR930-RC OR130 WRPIS OR931 MT060 OR090 OR050 OR120 MT932 OR030 MT050 ID931 OR014 OR020 OR110 OR010 ID100 WY010 NEWFS OR100 GBNSIP CA330 ES030 CA320 CA360 NYCDPR-BBG CBG NV930 WY040 WY030 CA930 CA180 UT931 UT080 WY930 CA930B NV030 GBPMC PSSL CA170 UCBG NV040 CO932 MCC UT933 CA190 UP VNPS CA650 AZ130 UT030 C0810 NV052 AZ010 CP NCBG CA690 CA610 NANSA CA930A AZ932 LLPMC ZSSD/CA930C AZ930 AZ320 NM930 UAH LBJWC AK052 AK020 AK930 Map of the Seeds of Success collecting teams and Federal lands. The blue stars are teams that are using American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to hire interns; red stars denote teams with other funding. Texas: Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Taking on the entire state of Texas, the SOS team at Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center (LBJWC) has recruited hundreds of volunteers who have put in over 4,000 hours. LBJWC has been working very closely with over 100 private landowners, growers, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Wildlife Refuges to make about 600 collections. LBJWC has made 275 native species commercially available to the public. LBJWC has contributed over $1 million in matching funds. Eastern United States: NYC-DPR Greenbelt Native Plant Center, New England Wild Flower Society, and North Carolina Botanical Garden In 2006, SOS expanded its coverage to include the Eastern U.S. With Federal, state and local partners, the SOS Eastern U.S. collecting teams have been able to collect over 200 species. Without these collecting teams, much of the eastern flora would not be conserved in long-term storage for use in restoring native plant communities. San Diego County: Zoological Society of San Diego San Diego County has a rich flora, and the Zoological Society of San Diego (ZSSD) is working with local and Federal partners to ensure that its flora is banked. To date, the ZSSD SOS team has made over 300 collections and is also working on propagation, germination and cleaning studies with its partners including the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians. http://www.nps.gov/plants/sos .