Advancing Rare Plant Recovery in Kentucky: Recent Conservation Initiatives and Collaborations

The Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves (OKNP), Kentucky’s natural heritage and natural areas program, leads numerous in situ and ex situ plant conservation projects across the state, with the goal of conserving Kentucky’s rare plants in their natural habitats. We accomplish this through targeted surveys, population monitoring, species and community level management, land acquisition, education, research, seed banking, propagation, and restoration. This lightning talk will highlight recent projects that have significantly advanced rare plant conservation and strengthened Kentucky’s botanical capacity. Highlighted projects include recovering globally rare plants, long-term monitoring and management of rare plants and remnant grasslands, statewide roadside/pollinator habitat inventory, statewide forest biodiversity and medicinal plant inventories, and the integration of iNaturalist with Kentucky’s natural heritage database and assessments. These initiatives rely on broad partnerships—collaborations with state and federal agencies, non-profits, universities, botanical gardens, and the Kentucky Native Plant Society which has bolstered the state’s plant conservation alliance and community.