by Joslyn Rose Trivett, SPP Network Manager

Prepared by Carl Elliott, Evan Hayduk, Jaal Mann, Brianna Morningred, and Drissia Ras.

I am super impressed by the hot-off-the-press, 4th edition  SPP Conservation Nursery Manual. The 4th edition represents the cumulative knowledge and effort of Carl Elliott, Conservation Nursery Manager, four Graduate Research Assistants, and suggestions and observations of numerous inmate technicians. All have worked together to make the nurseries SPP’s largest, most productive conservation program.

The nursery manual serves primarily as a reference for the inmates who propagate and care for rare and endangered species of prairie plants. For each of 50 species, the manual provides detailed, illustrated instructions for how to prepare, sow, water, fertilize, manage pests, and keep excellent records. With approximately 18 inmate technicians working at three nursery sites growing thousands of plants, such a reference is essential to success.

Beyond that, though, the manual  serves as a field guide, ecological text book, and provides the basics of botany and plant identification. Clearly, it is intended to link inmate technicians’ nursery work to the bigger pictures of ecology and restoration in the region. It is a gorgeous educational resource.

A typical species overview in the new nursery manual.

Many of the photos in the species descriptions, especially those of seeds and seedlings, have been taken by SPP’s Graduate Research Assistants.