Native Plant Conservation Campaign News: In an unprecedented collaboration, nine groups join in letter to President Biden urging update and expansion of U.S. native
plant conservation programs
plant conservation programsApril 13, 2021
In January, the following organizations sent a letter to then incoming President Biden’s Transition Team. The letter outlines the native plant conservation community’s priorities for conserving and restoring plant species and communities, and the ecosystems and ecosystem services they support.
The organizations were:
- Plant Conservation Alliance, Non-federal Cooperators Committee
- Native Plant Conservation Campaign (Native Plant Society of the U.S.)
- The Garden Club of America
- Botanic Gardens Conservation International, U.S.
- Center for Plant Conservation
- Institute for Applied Ecology
- Western Watersheds Project
- NatureServe
- Southeastern Plant Conservation Alliance
The letter proposed seven key actions to promote effective plant conservation
- Fully support federal implementation of the National Seed Strategy (NSS) for Restoration and Rehabilitation
- Strengthen federal policy supporting the use of locally-adapted native plants in land and facilities management
- Establish a chief botanist in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), National Park Service (NPS), Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
- Support the “Botany Bill” and the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act, including RAWA’s incentives for plant conservation in State Wildlife Action Plans
- Support the Bureau of Indian Affairs efforts to conserve and restore native plant communities in Native American communities
- Create and expand grant programs to cities to grow native plants, create and restore habitat, and provide long-term community-based stewardship for native urban trees and ecosystems, particularly in low- income communities and communities of color
- Promote and expand the work of the interagency Plant Conservation Alliance and expand similar successful initiatives to other appropriate agencies
This is the first time such a coalition has joined forces to support a comprehensive native plant conservation platform.
Further, there are indications that both the Biden Administration and the 117th Congress may be open to considering these ideas!
Contact the Native Plant Society of the U.S. (formerly Native Plant Conservation Campaign) for more information.
