BLM WY Native Plant Materials Development - Seed Collection (CESU)

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A. Project Background Information: The Wyoming State Office of the Bureau of Land Management (WY-BLM) administers millions of acres of public land. These public lands contain diverse natural communities that support a large number of native plants and animals. BLMs resource protection mission, and associated strategic plan, calls for BLM field managers to create habitat conditions that enable biological communities to flourish. To help BLM complete the field level tasks associated with accomplishing this performance measure, and to provide local undergraduate students with opportunities to gain hands-on land management work experience, the WY BLM will offer work opportunities administered by the successful applicant. B. Project Objective: The Project objective is to provide opportunities for local undergraduate students to gain hands-on experience in natural resource management, specifically by assisting in the collection of a broad range of native plant species seeds. Collected seeds will be used to preserve local genetic diversity via both long-term storage and seed propagation and increase projects. This project will result in thousands of Wyoming seeds being made available for long-term genetic preservation plus increase and evaluation studies as well as direct habitat restoration / reclamation use. Youth Conservation Corps crews will work with BLM Seed Collection Teams or contractors during ten-day periods (one each in June, July, August), location to be decided based on where the crews are needed at the time (where seeds are ripe for collection). C. Period of Project: April 2010 through December 2010

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