Texas Master Naturalist chapters have recently received the following information.
The Texas A&M Forest Service is expanding our Urban Tree Improvement Program to include more tree species. We need to collect seed for testing in the urban environment. Ideally, trees would be collected from their natural range in their natural habitat. We received a permit to collect seed from Texas State Parks and Natural Areas.
I am hoping the Texas Master Naturalists will be able to help collect seed. I imagine that Master Naturalists know tree specimens that are ‘stately’ or otherwise display ‘proper form’ that would be good trees to collect seed from.
Is it possible to get TMN Chapters across Texas to help collect seed?
We know that some species have already dispersed their seed this year. However, we are hoping we could still get a few. I have adapted a few presentations (attached) for the TMN to get started.
We have a permit to collect on Texas State Parks and Natural Areas. However, you must give each park prior notice before collecting and keep a copy of the permit (attached) with you.
We are hoping that each TMN ‘region’ can help collect seed for each species available in that region. Once collected, please ship the seed to our office in College Station. We can provide shipping costs with prior notice.
We will need the Seed Collection Form (2020).pdf filled out for each tree that seed is collected from. This will require GPS coordinates. Any smartphone should be able mark GPS locations. Also, we want to label each individual trees with an aluminum tag. We can provide these as well.
I hope this is a simple and straight forward project. Please let me know any questions you have.
With Appreciation,
“Trees grow where they’re planted”
Benjamin D. Bartlett
Western Gulf Forest Tree Improvement Program | Texas A&M Forest Service
Forest Science Laboratory | 2585 TAMU
1042 Agronomy Rd. | College Station, TX 77843
c – (228) 326-5739 | o – (979) 862-3906
Read this overview first:
Please view slideshow for information on collecting seeds:
Use this form for collecting seeds:
Always get permission before collecting seeds. Use this form to explain the program: