Updates on the North American Botanic Garden Strategy for Alpine Plant Conservation

The North American Botanic Garden Strategy for Alpine Plant Conservation (the Alpine Strategy), published in 2020, is making progress towards completing several targets, and we’d like to share some of these exciting updates as well as highlight opportunities for researchers and organizations to participate. The Alpine Strategy is a blueprint for protecting alpine plants and ecosystems in the US, Canada, and Mexico, focusing on the role of botanic gardens in this effort. It is based on two existing templates: The Global Strategy for Plant Conservation and the North American Botanic Garden Strategy for Plant Conservation. The Alpine Strategy details a long-term plan to conserve the alpine habitat through ex situ and in situ conservation work, broken into four main objectives: understand and document alpine plant diversity, conserve alpine plants in their habitats, promote awareness of the alpine ecosystem and plant diversity through education and outreach, and build capacity for the conservation of alpine plant species and associated habitats. Nicola Ripley, Executive Director at Betty Ford Alpine Gardens in Vail, Colorado, will present a colorful talk to discuss the headway made so far on the Alpine Strategy and outline how others can join us in these conservation efforts.