RUI: SWITCH: SouthWest Idaho: The Comprehensive Herbaria. An on-line database resource for botanical research and education

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This project will develop SWITCH (Southwest Idaho: The Comprehensive Herbarium), a virtual herbarium for Southwest Idaho and adjacent Oregon and Nevada, by imaging and databasing vascular and non-vascular plant and fungal collections in the region. SWITCH will provide internet access to an estimated 118,500 preserved plant, fungus, and lichen collections, and the resulting images and corresponding data will be made available through the Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria Portal. Plant specimens and data from this region are presently underrepresented in national efforts to understand and map plant diversity. SWITCH will provide a critical resource for research scientists, students, federal and state agency land managers, and citizens by: i) contributing directly to several national biodiversity projects currently underway; ii) assisting scientists and others in tracking rare plants and invasive species; iii) providing support for policy formulation in the region; iv) supporting a program in which citizen scientists may learn and contribute to ongoing study of botanical and ecological heritage in Idaho; and iv) stimulating further interest in Idaho plants, fungi, and lichens. In addition, several students will be trained at two primarily undergraduate institutions, the College of Idaho and Boise State University.