Volunteer
Opportunities
The University of Washington
Herbarium is a magnificent botanical resource with over 500,000 dried plants,
algae, mosses, liverworts, lichens, and fungi. But it needs constant care
and maintenance!
We can use your help
to:
- prepare plant specimens
- enter data and prepare
labels
- organize archival material
- research and prepare exhibits
QUALIFICATIONS: Manual dexterity,
good attention to detail, and interest in plants. Training is provided. No
experience is necessary.
HOURS: The Herbarium
can use volunteers Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays, between 8:00 am and
5:00 pm.
COMMITMENT: The minimum
commitment is one 3-hour block of time, once a week, for three months. Greater
time commitments are of course welcome.
Internship Program
HERBARIUM PRACTICUM
In the University
of Washington Herbarium Practicum the student will become familiar with
the following herbarium techniques and resources.
CREDIT: Each credit
requires 3 hours per week, with a 2 credit minimum. Thus, for 2 credits
a student would work in the Herbarium 6 hours per week (60 hours in a quarter)
[3 credits, 9 hours/week, 90 hours/quarter]. At the end of the term the student
will write and turn in a 1 ÷ 2 page summary of their experience.
SCHEDULE: The schedule
will be arranged individually with the Collections Manager.
TOPICS OF INSTRUCTION
AND PRACTICE WILL INCLUDE:
- Vascular plant curation:
mount, strap, accession specimens, sort for filing, fumigate (freeze) specimens.
The student will gain familiarity and ease mounting many different kinds
of plants, including woody plants, herbs, grasses.
- Basic plant collecting
techniques.
- Loan and exchange program,
including how specimens are selected, packaged, sent. Record keeping.
- Type collection. Definition
of holo-, iso-, lecto-, para-, etc. types.
- Reference materials. Awareness
and use of, for example, Index Kewensis, Index Londinensis, Gray Index,
Internet resources. How to find answers for common types of questions (e.g.
how to find a common name from a scientific name and vice versa; how to
find out where is a plant native).
- Introduction to other
collections in the Herbarium: mosses, liverworts, lichens, algae, fungi.
Curatorial considerations and organization of these collections. (If student
is interested, any of these collections could be the focus of the practicum).
- Database usage in the
Herbarium.
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Recent Volunteer Activities
The Herbarium relies
on volunteers for help with specimen curation and processing. Without their
assistance, many specimens would remain unavailable for study and research,
and other projects would not get started, or completed. Volunteers work on
many different tasks depending on their interests, skills, and availability.
A major emphasis
for volunteers in 1999 was mounting the backlog of unprocessed plant material.
Members of the "Mounties" included Suzanne Bagshaw, Ken Davis, Michael Elliott,
Eli Gold, Jessie Johanson, Ruth M'Gonigle, Lauren Schachner, Barb Smith,
Cindy Spurgeon, and Laura Thel.
Several UW undergraduates
volunteered at the Herbarium, where they mounted, strapped, and sorted specimens,
and worked on other projects. They enjoyed learning curatorial skills, learning
about plants, and becoming more connected with the Department of Botany
while providing valuable service. Students finding time in their busy schedules
were Carol Brittnacher, Ada Chen, Gretchen Ionta, George Oswald, and Rachael
Watland.
UW graduate students
volunteered in a variety of capacities. Devin Malkin mounted specimens and
Laura Zybas organized the Herbarium's participation in the Burke Museum's
Native Plant Day. Suzanne Joneson took on more of a leadership role, in conjunction
with Gayle McHenry-Teller, in the Seattle Lichen Group.
The Seattle Lichen
Group continued to meet weekly. This group works on lichen specimens they've
collected to gain skills in identification. They also go on collecting trips
to document lichen diversity in Washington State and the Northwest, and
through their trips they have found several lichens outside the previously
documented range. Participants also help curate the UW Herbarium's lichen
collection.
In 1999 they identified
Kuril Island specimens to genus - a necessary first step before distribution
to specialists. They went through the Herbarium's holdings of Parmelia,
and brought it into accordance with modern taxonomy. The genera Parmelia,
Cladonia, and Physcia provided a focus for the group for
several weeks. Collecting efforts included trips to Deception Pass and to
Randall, and most of the group participated in the Northwest Lichen Guild
sessions at the Northwest Scientific Association meetings in March. Lichen
Group participants in 1999 included: Mildred Arnot, Ken Davis, Dana Ericson,
Shelley Evans, John Floberg, Katie Glew, Suzanne Joneson, Reese Lolley, Gayle
McHenry-Teller, and Barb Smith. For more information about the Seattle Lichen
Group, contact Suzanne Joneson
Evening work parties
were held January through March. With an average of six people participating
per evening, the volunteers mounted and processed vascular plant specimens
from Washington, Oregon, Far Eastern Russia, and elsewhere. Participants
included Arlene Bell, Barb DeCaro, Jai Hayden, Christie Isler, Evelyn Lester,
John Scheffer, Jeanne Schollmeyer, and Margaret Thouless.
For more information
about activities in the Herbarium, visit the Research
page.
