[cdntomato]

Carole, first and foremost, thank you for introducing yourself and providing some of the critical background that is of interest to me and others. You have made clear exactly what your motives and commitment are. They are tremendous, it seems. And your welcoming of positive/negative feedback is refreshing. I salute you.

At some other time I will respond directly and in more detail. For now I will return the public favour by outlining my background and why I asked the simple question in the first place. Heads up, Tom.

I have several degrees in Classical Archaeology and Paleoethnobotany. I trained as a book and paper conservator, ending up as head of preservation at the Law Society of Upper Canada then as head of Preservation and Technical Services at the National Library of Canada (now merged with National Archives of Canada). If you understand the dynamics of modern libraries then you will understand that preservation of library material now includes all media, including machine readable formats. In the latter position I increasingly dealt with institutional as well as national issues involving disasters. I was asked to give disaster and preservation policy workshops at both the Smithsonian and the Library of Congress in addition to institutions and organizations across Canada. After leaving NL, I became the first person to certify as a Continuity Planner of Cultural Property. A consultancy in Continuity Planning took me all over the northern USA until 9-11 closed borders. If you are not familiar with the term, then please know that Continuity Planning has replaced Contingency Planning and frequently now Disaster/Emergency Planning in any business context and many government contexts, where loss of funding and loss of key personnel can be as great a 'disaster' to the affected organisation as a fire or flood. For these reasons, this broad term will likely not have a place amongst medical facilities or first responders. Please note that I now work as a researcher in the former.

While studying in Toronto, I worked for the Toronto Historical Board at an historic house with intact/restored gardens over 5 acres. I became very aware of issues in ag/hort preservation. I worked peripherially with my partner at the time who was an historical landscape architect. A long chain of events has led me to establishing a seeds trust specializing in Canada-bred and Canadian heritage materials. I, of course, bring my 'preservation head' as well as my formal research training into this project.

May I correctly assume that if you have a storage site in Saskatchewan, that you are in contact with Jim Ternier?

Thank you,
Jennifer