4. STORAGE AND DISTRIBUTION

Species can only be collected once for the Millennium Seed Bank.  Collections sent to RBG, Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank, are cleaned, tested for germination and divided in half.  Half of each collection stays in long term conservation storage at the Millennium Seed Bank and half is returned to the U.S.  

For BLM collections, long-term and working collection needs are being met by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service.  The National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation in Fort Collins, Colorado is managing long-term collections, and the USDA-ARS National Plant Germplasm System is maintaining working collections for distribution to researchers for native plant materials development.  Species currently available can be found at http://www.ars-grin.gov.  An accepted formal collections management strategy, which will include all SOS Partner collections, will be written and added to the protocol in early 2008.