Native Plant Conservation Campaign

Strengthening the Native Plant Conservation Community

• NPCC welcomed Kayri Havens of the Chicago Botanic Garden, and Peter Raven of the Missouri Botanic Garden to the NPCC Advisory Council
• We welcomed five new Affiliate organizations. The 51 NPCC Affiliates now represent more than 250,000 advocates for native plant science and conservation
• New organizations signed the Equal Protection for Plants Statement calling to equal protection for plants and animals under the federal Endangered Species Act.
• Formed a U.S. Important Plant Areas Partnership with the California Native Plant Society, Botanic Gardens Conservation International – U.S., and the Plant Conservation Alliance Non-Federal Cooperators.
• Worked with Endangered Species Coalition to provide small grants for pollinator gardens for NPCC Affiliates
• Held two national conference calls for native plant conservation leaders (see report on December call below)
• Created online Affiliate Leaders Discussion Forum on Facebook NOTE: We are seeking a volunteer to help moderate this Forum. Please contact us if you are interested.
• Director Emily Roberson visited NPCC Affiliates the New Jersey Native Plant Society, Pinelands Preservation Alliance, Chicago Botanic Garden, Illinois Native Plant Society, Denver Botanic Garden, Colorado Native Plant Society and others. NOTE:  If you would like to schedule a meeting or presentation, please contact us.

Education and Outreach

• New brochure released for Earth Day. Affiliates can download a PDF to print and distribute at your venues and events. You can also request pre-printed copies from NPCC.
• Article on the NPCC and challenges and opportunities in U.S. Plant Conservation published by Colorado Native Plant Society. Read the Native Plant Conservation Campaign – a National Native Plant Society for the United States by NPCC Director Emily Roberson. See other NPCC Publications on the NPCC Publications Page
• The cover story of the Fall/Winter Issue of Native Plant News - the Journal of the NPCC Affiliate New England Wildflower Society – was Double Standard: How the Endangered Species Act Shortchanges Plants by Jane Roy Brown. The article includes an interview with NPCC Director Emily Roberson
• Worked with our partner the Endangered Species Coalition, a national network of several hundred conservation groups to promote native plant and wildlife conservation on Earth Day, Endangered Species Day, World Biodiversity Day and other events
• Endangered Species Coalition Top 10 report. NPCC worked with Affiliates to identify endangered plants to publicize in the Top 10 report, which calls attention to the importance of the Endangered Species Act.
• Distributed more than 50 news items and alerts about plant science and conservation through NPCC News, and doubled the number of NPCC News subscribers. Ask your friends and colleagues to sign up!
• Doubled the number of likes for NPCC Facebook page
• Created online review of information on native plant Ecosystem Services and Hurricanes
• Created Prezi (online interactive presentation) on Ecosystem Services
• Added tools to the NPCC Speak Out for Plants  web page to help advocates more easily communicate with elected officials and the media about the “Botany Bill”, the “Scientific Integrity Bill” and other native plant conservation issues.
• Other improvements to the webpage include a new Important Plant Areas Page, Plant Blindness Page and  Voter Registration Page and updates to the Native Plants in the News Page with native plant science and conservation ideas and news from around the world.

Comments

• NPCC Comments on Proposals to Down- or Delist Two Endangered New Mexico Plants.
• NOTE: NPCC offers technical support and referrals to experts for Affiliates developing comments on federal policies and actions. Please contact us to request assistance.

Proposed NPCC Action Plan 2018

(if you have comments or suggestions, Please contact us)

• Get Out The Vote for Plants and Science
• Continue to help native plant groups to meet and exchange ideas and information via conference calls, online discussion groups, web meetings, etc.
• Publish an online showcase of Important Plant Areas of the U.S.
• Work to strengthen and build support for the Botanical Sciences and Native Plant Materials Research, Restoration and Promotion Act, Scientific Integrity Act (aka “Botany Bill”)
• Publish national database of locally appropriate native plant resources
• Collect pro- native plant local and state laws (e.g. New Jersey’s roadside law) so other states can replicate
• Expand and improve tools on Speak Out For Plants page to help members more easily and effectively to advocate for native plants
• Defend conservation laws such as the Endangered Species Act
• Defend science
• Expand collaborations with national scientific, environmental, wilderness and wildlife conservation organizations to urge them to incorporate native plants into their advocacy and outreach

NPCC Affiliate Conference Call Notes

December 8, 2017

Themes:

• Many Affiliates having trouble with stagnant or declining membership. Others are expanding.
• Citizen science projects help engage younger people
• Paid employees (even part time) to work on membership, website updating, and establishing a Facebook page help attract new members, particularly younger people, as well as help with staying in contact with members
• Several NPSs (IL, CA, CO, FL, others?) have recently going through or are contemplating strategic planning.

Questions

• Do we want to joint fundraise for a national plant conservation advocate or administrator?
• Should NPCC have issue-specific conference calls bringing in experts on membership, rare plant ranking, Important Plant Areas, Facebook, etc?

Arizona Native Plant Society – Doug Ripley (jdougripley@gmail.com)

• Plant Atlas Project is a statewide partnership between the Arizona Native Plant Society, Grand Canyon Trust, Desert Botanical Garden, Northern Arizona University, Museum of Northern Arizona, and the U.S. Forest Service to document the diversity and distribution of Arizona's flora, particularly in areas that have not been previously mapped
• Conservation chair has done a great job of getting local and state government cooperation on tasks  such as removing weeds

California Native Plant Society – Greg Suba (gsuba@cnps.org)

• Developing Important Plant Areas for CA. Host data gathering and mapping sessions for local botanists that focus on specific regions at a time
• CNPS, with other groups that are local, regional and statewide, is part of a Public Lands Defense Coalition for CA to keep up to date with federal legislation and policymaking
• Rare Plant Program is working with US Forest Service ID & document rare plants on National Forests.  CNPS is doing vegetation maps for some BLM lands 
• Excellent tool to help find locally appropriate CA native plants for gardening and landscaping- Calscape.org
• partnered with universities and USGS scientists for genomics projects – Joshua tree species is an example. 
• worked on a state bill to improve conservation in off road vehicle situations.

Colorado Native Plant Society – Linda Smith, Amy Yarger (conpsoffice@gmail.com)

• Hired a part-time membership coordinator and raised membership from 750 to 1000. Six Chapters
• Their New website has been helpful in attracting people
• They are fundraising for a conservation advocate.
• Commented on 5 projects this year. Trying to expand this by creating an advocacy handbook for commenting.
• Working on a state statute for protecting native plants.  
• Formed a strategic planning team to update society. Please send info to conpsoffice@gmail.com if you have strategic planning experience you can share.
• Hold two native plant sales per year - very successful

Florida Native Plant Society – Juliet Rynear (Julietrynear@yahoo.com)

• New younger Board of Directors - very helpful.
• Two new citizen science initiatives – rare plant mapping. Good participation, particularly from younger people.
• Mapping identified high priority new area for conservation
• created six regional landscape brochures to encourage use of locally appropriate species
• Created a model landscape ordinance to assist communities to encourage use of native plants in the urban landscape, conserve water, and honor the natural heritage of Florida.
• With Developer interests controlling whole state, FNPS works with land trusts to donate land to save some remaining natural areas from development.
• FNPS did recently do a strategic plan. They identified need to hire fulltime staff, among other issues.

Illinois Native Plant Society – Chris Benda (botanizer@gmail.com)

• Recently updated website has helped in reaching new people and allowing people to join electronically
• Facebook group has allowed many people to post questions
• Illinois Botanists Big Year 2016: A contest to find the most plant species in Illinois in 2016. They use iNaturalist.org to allow people to catalog plants. 1374 species identified by over 400 people. This has helped engage young people. For 2017,  their goal was to identify over 2000 species.
• They are considering hiring an executive director and would like help with strategic planning
• One issues they face in plant sales is state sales tax – any NPS experience with this topic would be helpful

Montana Native Plant Society - Peter Lesica, Maria Mantas (lesica.peter@gmail.com)

• Commented on the Helena national forest plan in 2017
• Help pay for an Audubon lobbyist to help with state matters
• In February, 2018 we have a plant conservation conference where we discuss threatened and endangered plants and also consider latest IPA nomination (submitted to MNPS via online form).

New Jersey - Pinelands Preservation Alliance – Ryan Rebozo (ryan@pinelandsalliance.org)

• They are identifying rare plant occurrences that need management plans to be developed
• They are working to improve management of rare plants on state lands
• We are Involved with rare and native plant restoration projects with state of NJ
• Legislation was passed this year requiring use of native plants along NJ roads
• They are now making progress on legislation to require native plants in all state projects

Native Plant Society of New Mexico - Rachel Jankowitz (npsnmconservation@gmail.com)

• They commented on border wall, changes to borders of national monuments, delisting and downlisting of federally listed species, improved rare plant management on National Forests, and an integrated management plan for the New Mexico Department of Transportation
• They awarded ten grants to students, six to herbaria, and one to a school teacher who established a native plant curriculum
• They worked with New Mexico Magazine (NM department of tourism) to establish a native plant of a month feature

ABQ BioPark – Albuquerque Botanic Garden – Catherine Hubbard (Catherine.Hubbard@cabq.gov)

• Working with traditional healers to find what local native plants are most in demand – They are trying to identify seed sources so can grow high demand species to lessen adverse impacts from wild harvesting
• Working with local ranchers to source some of these medicinal species as well
• New exhibit in the botanic garden to help people better understand the native natural ecoregions of NM.
• Working with Denver Botanic Gardens on plant identification and to provide plants for restoration projects in northern New Mexico.
• Setting up native plant sale to support pollinator gardens

Virginia Native Plant Society – Nancy Vehrs (nvehrs1@yahoo.com)

• Award by the state of Virginia to our Society for the purchase of a significant piece of property adjacent to the Mount Joy Natural Area. One hundred and forty acres will now be protected and restored in a place that includes threatened species, 8,000 feet of headwaters streams and the rare sinkhole pond habitat. Read more in their newsletter Sempervirens
• Facebook page has 14,000 followers and is doing a great deal of good.
• Chapters maintain our Virginia native plant registry sites. The registry is a voluntary program designed by the VNPS to protect the plant treasures in natural areas of Virginia.
• Native plant conference was sold out this year. 
• Grant program disburse $15,000 each year. 
• Released an App on Flora of Virginia (covering the whole mid atlantic region) – available for IOS and Android. For more information see App
• Published 5 regional plant guides for gardens and landscapers
• Working on law requiring use of natives by Department of Transportation similar to New Jersey’s

Washington Native Plant Society – Clay Antieau (clay39@netzero.net)

• Celebrated 41^st anniversary in 2017
• They have two part-time paid staff and have a balanced budget for 2018 which is the first time in a while.
• They are actively trying to attract people of color and young people to the BOD.
• Just launched an electronic newsletter for time-sensitive news and are working on revamping the website.
• Facebook page is effective tool – has nearly 4000 followers
• For 20 years, their Flagship Stewardship program has educated volunteers about Washington’s native plant species and communities, and how to protect and restore native ecosystems
• They give out $8,000 in grants
• Plant sales are very big source of revenue.