Save Plants
July 2020 Newsletter
Dig In, Sign Up, Save Plants
In the early days of CPC, 36 years ago, learning about the rare plant species in a region took quite a bit of effort – from gathering paper copies of recovery plans mailed from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to perusing five-inch thick volumes of three-ring binders with information from State Natural Heritage Programs. Today these resources are available through an easy search on the web. A key digital resource for determining the conservation status of a species can be found by visiting the Nature Serve website.
In this issue of Save Plants, we honor the State Natural Heritage Programs and the NatureServe Network. When all of us share our data, we generate great value that helps us accomplish efficient targeted plant conservation.
Photo: Beach False Foxglove (Agalinis fasciculata) at R. Hardy Matheson Preserve. Photo credit: Courtesy of Dr. Anne Frances.
July 2020 Newsletter
Dig In, Sign Up, Save Plants
In the early days of CPC, 36 years ago, learning about the rare plant species in a region took quite a bit of effort – from gathering paper copies of recovery plans mailed from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to perusing five-inch thick volumes of three-ring binders with information from State Natural Heritage Programs. Today these resources are available through an easy search on the web. A key digital resource for determining the conservation status of a species can be found by visiting the Nature Serve website.
In this issue of Save Plants, we honor the State Natural Heritage Programs and the NatureServe Network. When all of us share our data, we generate great value that helps us accomplish efficient targeted plant conservation.
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2020 Center for Plant Conservation National Meeting is Going Virtual
Given the continued uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, we have decided to hold our annual CPC National Meeting virtually this year to maximize participation and ensure the safety of our network. We thank our partners at Denver Botanic Gardens and National Laboratory for Genetic Resource Preservation for their help and flexibility in adjusting to our changing meeting plans. We hope to return to Colorado in the near future!
The virtual meeting will take place over two days October 8-9, 2020. The format will be similar to the in-person meeting, consisting of updates from the CPC National Office, Conservation Officer presentations, and small break out discussion groups. Like many of the virtual conferences you may have attended this summer, oral presentations will be pre-recorded, but there will be live Q & A, break out zoom calls, and real time engagement on presentations via our virtual conference platform.
Stay tuned for updates about registration and conference presentation guidelines.
CPC Rare Plant Academy
CPC Rare Plant Academy is a hub of learning, sharing, and discovery for the plant conservation community. CPC Rare Plant Academy brings the Center for Plant Conservation Best Practices to life by integrating instructional videos and community discourse with web-based interactive guidelines for plant conservation methods. This platform seeks to answer plant conservation’s most challenging “how to’s” by capturing the knowledge of Center for Plant Conservation’s network of expert botanists in modern, learning-friendly formats. As such, CPC Rare Plant Academy will be a training ground for the next generation of plant conservation scientists, who will be the first line of defense against plant extinction.
The Center for Plant Conservation is pleased to announce the publication of CPC Best Plant Conservation Practices to Support Species Survival in the Wild. For the first time we have consolidated our guidelines to cover plant conservation practice from soup to nuts. We urge practitioners to review the new guidelines that reflect updated knowledge about best scientific practice.
2020 Center for Plant Conservation National Meeting
Dear CPC Colleagues,
After careful consideration, we have decided to postpone the CPC National Meeting until October 8-9, 2020. We are especially grateful to Denver Botanic Gardens, who have agreed to be our host as was planned for May and are accommodating this change. We are awaiting word from the National Seed Lab (NLGRP) in Fort Collins, but anticipate that we will have a pre-conference field trip on October 7 to NLGRP.
If you have already registered and plan to attend the October meeting, you don’t need to take action. If you registered, but need a refund, please contact Jackie Tondreau (jtondreau@saveplants.org) and we will arrange to refund your money.
Our understanding is that airlines are being very reasonable to accommodate changes. We suggest contacting carriers and discussing the situation.
We are currently working with the hotel in Denver to shift the reserved rooms from May to October. It may be possible for reservations to shift, but please stay tuned for an update about that.
We will announce new deadlines for abstracts and new deadlines for registration as soon as we have worked out details.
Thank you for your understanding about this change in plans. Your health and safety is our highest priority. We hope to see you in Denver in October. Hey, maybe the aspens will be turning!
Best regards,
Joyce and the CPC National Office Team
CPC Rare Plant Academy
CPC Rare Plant Academy is a hub of learning, sharing, and discovery for the plant conservation community. CPC Rare Plant Academy brings the Center for Plant Conservation Best Practices to life by integrating instructional videos and community discourse with web-based interactive guidelines for plant conservation methods. This platform seeks to answer plant conservation’s most challenging “how to’s” by capturing the knowledge of Center for Plant Conservation’s network of expert botanists in modern, learning-friendly formats. As such, CPC Rare Plant Academy will be a training ground for the next generation of plant conservation scientists, who will be the first line of defense against plant extinction.
The Center for Plant Conservation is pleased to announce the publication of CPC Best Plant Conservation Practices to Support Species Survival in the Wild. For the first time we have consolidated our guidelines to cover plant conservation practice from soup to nuts. We urge practitioners to review the new guidelines that reflect updated knowledge about best scientific practice.
News from our Save Plants Digest
Conservation Champion: Anne Frances, Ph.D.
As the botanist coordinating the plant species information for NatureServe, Dr. Anne Frances has helped refine standardized methods and data structure that allow aggregation of national and international datasets to achieve a bird’s eye view of plant conservation in the United States.
A Rose by Any Other Name
Accurate plant taxonomy is important when keeping data, and especially when sharing data. Make sure that rose means the same flower to those receiving the data as it does to you! Database managers need to check the names of species in their datasets against up-to-date taxonomies regularly, because names change more often than you might think.
As Seen on CPC’s Rare Plant Academy – Documentation
The CPC Best Plant Conservation Practices to Support Species Survival in the Wild includes a section, “Documentation and Data Sharing” that covers a wide range of documentation needs, from propagule collection to propagation, experiments, and back to the wild for reintroduction.
Featured Plants from our National Collection
America’s flora is at risk, but it can be saved.
Today nearly 30% of the native flora in the United States is considered to be of conservation concern. Without human intervention, many of these plants may be gone within our lifetime. 80% of at-risk species are closely related to plants with economic value and more than 50% are related to crop species.
Plants in Peril.
CPC’s National Collection of Endangered Plants is composed of the most imperiled plants in the country. An important conservation resource, the Collection is a backup in case a species becomes extinct or no longer reproduces in the wild. Live plant material is collected from nature under controlled conditions and then carefully maintained as seed, rooted cuttings or mature plants.
BECOME A FRIEND OF CPC.
With your financial support, our future flora will be as diverse and green as future generations deserve. Please donate and join the CPC today!