NATIVE PLANT CONSERVATION

Plants give us everything — food, medicine, shelter, water, and air, not to mention beauty. They’re also the foundation of healthy wild ecosystems, providing crucial habitat for wildlife.

But native plants are disappearing fast. Urban sprawl has consumed enough U.S. wildland acreage to comprise a small state, leaving us with less than 5 percent of our ancient forests and less than half of our native wetlands intact. Thanks to poor land management, introduced species, roads, excessive logging, and other threats, we’ve lost more than 100 million acres of irreplaceable habitat.

Still, native plants are second-class citizens in conservation law and policy, receiving almost no federal protection — even under the Endangered Species Act. Federal funding and staffing for botanical research and plant conservation are grossly inadequate, leaving many plant recovery plans to be implemented poorly or not at all.

To create a strong national voice for native plants, in 2002 the Center and the California Native Plant Society formed the first American advocacy group devoted to native plant conservation and science: the Native Plant Conservation Campaign. Through a national affiliate network of native plant societies, botanical gardens, and other organizations, we exchange information with thousands of scientists and activists and provide education about native plants to the public, legislators, and agency leaders. We advocate for improved staffing and funding for botany programs, stronger laws for conservation of native plants and ecosystems, prevention and control of invasive plants, use of local natives in restoration, and increased support for botanical research and education.

EQUAL PROTECTION FOR PLANTS

To confront the problem of plants’ second-class status in conservation laws and budgets, we launched a campaign to amend the federal Endangered Species Act, improve funding, and change other laws to provide plants with the same protection as other species. We produced a report detailing the Barriers to Native Plant Conservation in the United States and regularly provide Congressional testimony presenting recommendations for policies to improve plant protection. In September 2007, we led a number of scientific organizations in submitting a letter to Congress protesting the exclusion of plants from HR 3221, a bill aimed at protecting wildlife from climate change.

INTERNATIONAL PLANT CONSERVATION

International plant groups provide examples of thoughtful approaches to plant conservation based on regulation and collaboration. In 2002, we worked with PlantaEuropa, a European native plant conservation coalition, to draft a Global Strategy for Plant Conservation and secure its adoption by the Global Convention on Biodiversity. This historic strategy set non-binding but quantitative conservation targets to protect the world’s imperiled plant species and important plant areas.

LOCAL ADVOCACY

We provide free or low-cost toolkits to grassroots native plant advocates, including letter templates, brochures, Web resources, and key legal, political, and scientific information. We also encourage people to take action for plants on a local and national level.

IMPORTANT PLANT AREAS

Our partners at Plantlife International Britain have already completed a multi-year project to identify and designate “important plant areas.” Here in the United States, we work with botanists to identify and advocate for areas where plant protection is a priority — whether this is due to the presence of high diversity, rare species, or simply intact and healthy native plant communities.

CONSERVATION ECONOMICS PROGRAM

We perform and publish research to debunk the myth that conservation is bad for the economy. Our reports Ecosystem Services and Environment vs. Economy: Fact or Fiction? review some of the positive economic impacts of conservation.