Native Plant Society of New Mexico Native Plant Society of New Mexico

Tuesday, October 13 – Santa Fe chapter meeting with Mia Brann, Institute for Applied Ecology

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“A Decade of Seeds: Lessons learned through the Southwest Seed Partnership & goals for the future”

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6:30pm

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The Southwest Seed Partnership (SWSP) has been increasing the availability of native, locally sourced plant materials in the Southwest for over a decade. Through the growth of this partnership, we have learned countless lessons in how to collect wild plants, grow them in a production setting, and how to support farmers through the surprising twists and turns of native seed production. We are excited to continue being a bridge between restoration practitioners and farmers and gathering and sharing information that will support the native seed economy for years to come.

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Mia coordinates the Southwest Seed Partnership and manages wild seed collection and seed production with farmers in New Mexico and Arizona. In her previous role as a Restoration Ecologist at IAE, she supported restoration and recovery projects for a variety of plants, pollinators, and vertebrates; forecasted US Forest Service restoration needs through seed projection analyses and provided seed collection and cleaning support. She received her B.S. in Plant Science at Purdue University and her M.S. in Biology from Northern Arizona University, where her research was focused on disturbance ecology of the endangered forb Pectis imberbis in southeastern Arizona.