Legislation to Protect our National Parks and Public Lands Will Save Plants
We are so close, but not quite finished.
On June 17, 2020, thanks in large part to advocates like you from across the country, the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) passed the Senate by a vote of 73-25.
On June 4, 2020, the companion bill (HR.7092) was introduced by a bipartisan group of 12 members in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Vote in the House is scheduled sometime before the end of July.
This legislation would fully and permanently fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund and address the critical backlog within national parks and other public lands, a majority of which are historic structures in need of repair. It would create jobs and bolster local economies through conservation and maintenance work on public lands. The Great American Outdoors Act is important for plant conservation because it contains language that requires native plants and natural infrastructure to be used in the projects funded by the bill.
If your Representative has cosponsored the bill, please call them and thank them and ask for their continued support for this important conservation legislation.
If they are not already a cosponsor, please ask them to sign on.
Take Action NOW
Find the contact information for your Representative. Call or Email them.
Let your Representative know that plant conservation is important to you and ask them to:
- Cosponsor and Vote YES for the Great American Outdoors Act (HR. 7092)
- Attend the vote in person
- Support a clean bill with no amendments
Ask your friends and family to contact their Representatives to support the Great American Outdoors Act and plant conservation.
For more information, see Center for Plant Conservation Advocacy page.
The Center for Plant Conservation Advocacy Committee tracks federal legislation that has direct impact on the safeguarding of rare and endangered plants. Please stay tuned for developments. We may need your voice to save plants.
Species Sponsorship
The Henry Shaw Cactus and Succulent Society Board of Directors donated $2,000 to the Center for Plant Conservation towards the sponsorship of two species – Navajo Pincushion Cactus (Pediocactus peeblesianus var. peeblesianus) and Short Leaved Dudleya (Dudleya brevifolia).
The Center for Plant Conservation plant sponsorship program is designed to provide support to the Participating Institutions providing the care or conducting research on the imperiled plants in the CPC National Collection. Currently, of the 1,600 plants in the National Collection, 276 are fully sponsored.