*Please limit to one pre-conference session per attendee due to limited space.*
Field Trips
Tucson Botanical Garden
Capacity: 38
Ticket cost (includes guided group entry rate and transportation): $40
Time: 9am – 11:30am need to confirm guided tour
Visit the Tucson Botanical Garden, a lush oasis in the heart of Tucson, offering mature trees and expertly cultivated foliage, specialty gardens such as the Cactus & Succulent Garden, Barrio Garden, and Herb Garden, highlighting the diversity of native plants.
University of Arizona Herbarium
Capacity: 15
Ticket cost: $15
Time: 10am – 11am
Tour the University of Arizona’s Herbarium! The University of Arizona Herbarium is the oldest herbarium in the state, with rich traditions and high levels of activity in research, education, service, and outreach. Established in 1890 with the initiation of the University, the museum now holds nearly 450,000 plant specimens. Participants can walk from the University Park Marriott to the Herbarium, please plan accordingly. The walk is about 10 minutes one way.
Mission Garden
Capacity: 56
Ticket cost (includes transportation and donation to Mission Garden): $25
Time: 9am – 11:30am
Come explore the four acres of Mission Garden with a 90-minute guided, outdoor walking tour. Mission Garden is a living agricultural museum of Sonoran Desert-adapted heritage fruit trees, traditional local heirloom crops and edible native plants. The garden contains over a dozen distinct multi-cultural heritage plots, each representing one of the many ethnic groups that farmed the Tucson Basin over the last four millennia. Crops from these plots have proven to be productive, sustainable and well-adapted to this climate and location.
Mission Garden paths are not paved but are made of compacted material that is ADA compatible, relatively flat, and suitable for wheelchairs and walkers. Please dress for the sun with a hat, water, and walking shoes.
Native Seeds/SEARCH
Capacity: 38
Ticket cost (includes transportation and donation to Native Seeds/SEARCH): $30
Time: 12:30pm – 3pm
For over 40 years, Native Seeds/SEARCH has conserved and shared arid-adapted and traditional crop seeds of the Southwest US and Mexico. Tour the Native Seeds Seed Bank with over 1,800 unique collections of domesticated crops and wild crop relatives including rare varieties of corn, beans, squash and chilis and the Conservation Center Farm where seeds are regenerated. Meet with staff to learn about seed access programs that promote seed conservation amongst regional Indigenous communities, farmers, and community gardens.
Arizona Native Plant Society Waterman Mountain Restoration Site Visit*
Capacity: 30
Ticket cost (includes transportation, bring your own snacks & water): $35
Time: 7:00 am to 12:00 pm
*This will be a strenuous hike on sloped, rocky ground with minimal shade so please come prepared with sturdy walking shoes, at least 16oz of water, snacks, sun protection, and wear appropriate hiking clothes.
Join Arizona Native Plant Society board members John Scheuring and Jack Dash for a visit to the foothills of the arid Waterman mountains to visit the AZNPS’s Waterman Restoration site. This site is on BLM land on the northern bajada of the Waterman Mountains on Ironwood Forest National Monument. In the early 2000s this disturbed site had become an 18-acre buffelgrass monoculture known locally as “the Mother of all Buffelgrass patches”. An AZNPS-led restoration effort started in 2010. AZNPS has engaged in 12 years of focused restoration efforts including:
Multiple-year spot spray buffelgrass control
Hand seeding of desert trees
Construction of water harvesting features
Generous amendment of tree branch mulch
Over 7000 volunteer hours
This site is now a recovering upland Saguaro-Palo Verde landscape with over 110 native plant species and fewer than 150 buffelgrass plants still emerging per year. The rapid but stepwise establishment of native plant species has driven the restoration process. The Waterman restoration site is a prime example of community-led restoration work and one of the few examples of successful habitat rehabilitation in the Sonoran Desert.
Borderlands Restoration Network
Capacity: 25
Ticket cost (includes transportation, bring your own water & snacks): $35
Time: 9am – 1pm
Borderlands Restoration Network works towards growing a restorative economy by rebuilding healthy ecosystems, restoring habitat for plants and wildlife, and reconnecting our border communities to the land through shared learning. Borderlands Nursery & Seed, the Native Plant Program of BRN, works to promote and protect biodiversity and ecosystems in the Sky Islands by providing restoration-quality native plant materials. A visit to the BRN nursery will include a tour of the facilities including the seed barn, greenhouse and seed fields.
Workshops
***all workshops have a $20 registration fee***
Native Seed Mix Design
Organizers: Dr. Stephanie Frischie, The Xerces Society; Dr. Olga Kildisheva, The Nature Conservancy; International Network for Seed-Based Restoration
Capacity: 60
Time: 9am – 12pm
Planning, sowing and stewarding native seed mixes involves decisions around project goals, budget, species selection, seed quantities, and ecotype preferences. This workshop offers an overview of general concepts, case studies as real-world examples, guided small group exercises, and time for questions and discussion. The goals are to help participants increase their skills and confidence for greater success of seed-based projects. We also hope to build an ongoing community of learners and educational resources for seed mix design. The case studies will cover a range of project types and locations. Case studies will likely represent many of the following project types: Tribal, Bureau of Land Management, solar development, pollinator habitat, Arizona NRCS conservation practices, or corporate campuses.
The workshop will cover general concepts for seed planning and seed mix design; case studies and how-to tutorials; guided seed mix design exercises in small groups; discussion and synthesis.
Digital materials including spreadsheet seed mix calculators and links to online tools and resources will be provided.
The workshop will be recorded and edited into video segments. The segments will be posted online and available as free, on-demand videos for self-guided learning. The details of where the recordings will be hosted are to be determined.
A Native Seed Production Primer – Special Session
Organizers: Mark Fiely, Ernst Conservation Seed and Tyler Wayland, Roundstone Seed
Capacity: 100
Time: 12:30pm – 3:30pm
Drawing upon the experience of two well established native seed companies, this special session will provide a detailed overview of native seed production from nursery to commercial scale. This session will address decisions related to determining species to grow, how and when to collect germplasm, the increase of that germplasm to commercial quantities, and insights on breaking seed dormancy. Also addressed in this session are harvest, drying, and conditioning/ processing technologies and seed storage. Insights will be shared on business models and marketing. Other insights will be provided on challenges to native seed production and why some species these companies have grown were discontinued. This will be a great opportunity to connect with and ask your questions to two native seed producers with a combined 40+ years of experience.
Crunch Therapy: Low-Tech Seed Cleaning Techniques for Small-Scale Seed Producers
Organizers: Tuula Rebhahn and Kyle Poling, The Understory Initiative
Capacity: 12
Time: 1pm – 2pm
Get hands-on and learn simple strategies for turning harvested material into pure, live seed. First, you’ll learn how to identify tricky seeds within the chaff, and how tell good seeds from bad. We’ll spend time shaking, sifting, crunching and screening seeds by hand. Then we’ll look at some examples of more advanced seed cleaning machines that are suitable for wild collected lots or small farm-grown lots, including some that can be built by DIY-ers!
Methods and Practice of Rewilding At-Risk Plant Species
Organizer: Dr. Tom Kaye, Institute for Applied Ecology
Capacity: 25
Time: 8:30am – 12:30pm
Are you interested in reintroducing at-risk plants to increase their population sizes or numbers on the landscape and improve their conservation? Then this workshop is for you! The Institute for Applied Ecology has been involved in rare species reintroductions for 25 years, and these efforts have contributed to the recovery and removal from the federal endangered species list of golden paintbrush, Nelson’s checkermallow, and Bradshaw’s lomatium, as well as the downlisting of Fender’s blue butterfly through restoration of its threatened host plant, Kincaid’s lupine. We are excited to share some of the practices we have employed to successfully reintroduce rare plant species and host plants for at-risk butterflies. The workshop will cover many of the steps in a successful reintroduction program, including forming partnerships, setting clear and achievable goals, collecting from the wild, increasing and propagating seeds and plants, genetic management, site selection and preparation, plant establishment, monitoring, habitat maintenance, and communicating results with stakeholders. The workshop will also emphasize the importance of experimentation in the reintroduction process and explore the impacts of climate change. During the workshop, participants will have the opportunity to outline a reintroduction plan for a species of their interest and share the outline with the workshop for feedback.
Braiding Sweetgrass: Nurturing Indigenous Knowledge Seeds of Success Partnerships
Organizer: Dr. Cristina Eisenberg, Oregon State University
Capacity: 60
Time: 1pm – 3pm
This workshop will focus on the importance of ecocultural restoration based on Indigenous Knowledge (IK) and building and sustaining relationships with Indigenous Nations that lead to effective and respectful partnerships. We will explore best practices for partnering with Indigenous Nations in a manner that honors sovereignty rights, self-determination rights, and data sovereignty, with a focus on US policies. We will present policy perspectives from US Federal agency experts. We will share examples of work being done in the US as part of the Plant Conservation and Restoration Program (PCRP) using Seeds of Success (SOS) protocols to help ensure a stable and economical supply of native plant materials for restoration and rehabilitation efforts on public lands. We will discuss next steps for partnering ethically and effectively with Indigenous Nations and the barriers and opportunities in doing this work. We will also present basic principles for such partnerships that apply globally. We will share methods for building trust across cultures that can lead to co-management of natural resources, and the role of Two-Eyed Seeing as an epistemological approach to adaptive management based on Traditional IK. Participants will have reflective exercises at the end followed by a Q&A session with presenters.
Increasing native plant availability through partnerships with seed libraries: exploring the potential
Organizer: Danielle Carlock, Maricopa Native Seed Library
Capacity: 40
Time: 1pm – 3pm
Seed libraries give away seed, often, but not always, through a brick and mortar library and usually offer cultivated food crops such as tomato or corn. These seed libraries are vital seed distributors, helping to address food insecurity and equitable access to seed. However, seed libraries can also play an instrumental role in increasing native seed availability and demand. By incorporating wild native plants into seed libraries along with education and outreach to the public, seed libraries can inspire and equip the community to develop wildlife friendly spaces while conserving native plants. These urban restoration efforts are increasingly important as threats to our wildlands escalate. In this workshop, participants will engage with the concept of urban restoration and become familiar with all aspects of seed library operations, including seed procurement, processing, storage, distribution, marketing, outreach, education and assessment. Participants will then brainstorm, given their unique communities and circumstances, how they might promote, partner, support, collaborate or otherwise engage with seed libraries and their communities to help increase the availability of native seed and public awareness of its importance.
