What on earth is a “nacho workshop” and why am I reading about it on SGI’s blog? The last place I would expect to find exciting new nacho recipes is on a blog spot for a conservation organization, right? Where’s the cheese, please?

One of the main goals of SGI’s new Native Seed Program is to perform seed collections across the region for the Seeds of Success (SOS) program. Despite the success and broad coverage of SOS, several states still have only a few or zero collections, especially in some of the southeastern states.

Jared Gorrell is a graduate student of Dr. Dwayne Estes, SGI’s Executive Director, at Austin Peay State University (APSU). Jared earned his Bachelor’s degree in Botany from Southern Illinois University Carbondale in 2019. As a graduate student at APSU, Jared is focusing on a botany and ecology at an SGI project site, the Sumter Farm, located in Geiger, Alabama. He’s hoping to achieve his Master’s degree by December 2023. Recently we sat down with Jared to learn a little more about him and his role at SGI.

August was an especially exciting month for us. In addition to all the usual field work, educational opportunities, and networking experiences, we were also involved with two major papers that were published this month and documented the second record of a globally threatened species in Tennessee.