PCA 2006 Meeting Summaries

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Notes from PCA Bi-Monthly Meeting
8 November 2006
NatureServe, Rosslyn, VA
(Notes taken by M. Haidet)

Events and Annoucements

There is a great article about medicinal plants in the fall 2006 Wildflower magazine, a publication of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

NatureServe has recently released their Strategic Plan for 2007-2011. This plan focuses on the network of Natural Heritage Programs that inform much of NatureServe’s work. Goals from the plan include: 1) Informing natural resource decisions, 2) Advancing scientific understanding, and 3) Building conservation capacity. This report will be available on the NatureServe website and an announcement will be sent over the PCA listserve.

Updates on Activities

APWG (Jil Swearingen)

MPWG (Patricia De Angelis)

The MPWG was involved in HerbDay on October 14 at the US Botanic Garden. The day was filled with herbs! Cooking demonstrations, lectures, and displays by various organizations including the PCA. This was the debut of our new PCA exhibit and it was received well.

NPMD & SOS

Mary Byrne reported that the current seed collection season is wrapping up. About 400 collections have been conducted. The New England Wildflower Society, North Carolina Botanic Garden and Mt. Cuba Center will be adding collection teams next year.

NWFW (Ellen Gabel)

Fourteen projects, worth $300,000 will be funded from this last funding cycle; these funds will be matched by more than $500,000 by grantees.

NFWF is undergoing organizational restructuring. This has a few implications for PCA:

In 2007 there will only be one funding cycle.

NFWF will likely distribute fewer but larger grants that are habitat and ecosystem focused.

The draft strategic plan notes that plants, pollinators, reptiles and amphibians are not part of their keystone initiative.

Megan Haidet presented some preliminary analysis of the NPCI program. This includes distribution of funding by type of grantee, type of project and location.

Outreach (Flo Oxley)

They are working on a website at the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center that will start with information targeted at 3 audiences: educators, gardeners and professionals.

The display made its debut at HerbDay (see above). It can be made available for borrowing at your event. Call Olivia (202-912-7232) for more information.

Don’t forget about the Native Plant Events Directory, located on the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center website (http://www.wildflower.org/?nd=native_cal). It’s a great resource – use it and encourage your partners to use it.

RWG (Greg Eckert)

Pam Bailey discussed prairie and grasslands program on Army Corps land. The Corps program, beginning in 2004, examines prairie management as related to species mixtures, maintenance costs, sediment and runoff, invasive species, etc. The results from this program are published in an Army Corps technical note entitled "Status and Importance of Prairie Ecosystems on Corps of Engineers Projects" (http://el.erdc.usace.army.mil/elpubs/pdf/si30.pdf). The Corps can have a positive impact on prairies as they hold 800,000 acres of prairie land. They also hosted a 2-day prairie workshop in Manhattan, KS in July 2006.

MOU

NGO

ASTA – American Seed Trade Association: Bob Escheman would like to set up a conference call to discuss the upcoming ASTA meeting in DC. We would like the PCA to be involved in their work.

Speaker (Presentation)

Brad St. Clair – Managing Genetic Resources: Seed Zones for Native Plant Restoration

Simply choosing the right species is often not enough to ensure success in restoration. Understanding "seed zones" or areas of natural adaptation with exemplar conditions will help promote the conservation of genetic diversity while adapting to future environmental changes.

"Local" seed is often the best. Supported by many reciprocal-transplant studies indicate the superiority of local seed sources.

USFS proposed native plant materials policy and strategy suggests the use of "the best available information to choose genetically appropriate native plant materials for the site and situation."

Big Question: Is local still local given changing environments (such as invasives, fire frequency, people, climate change)?

Important things to remember when using provisional "seed zones": realize that seed zones differ by species, microsites are important for the species, and research is needed to construct seed movement guidelines based on real genetic data.

Seed zone research benefits include improved adaptability, increased efficiency, decreased costs, and improved seed supplies.

Notes from PCA Bi-Monthly Meeting
13 September 2006
NatureServe, Rosslyn, VA
(Notes taken by M. Haidet)

Events

Women in Agriculture Conference– Thursday September 14, 2006 at the University of Maryland College Park.

ARS Interagency Rangeland Pasture Meeting – September 28, 2006. For more information contact Evert Byington at (301)-504-4625.

Pollinator Symposium (FREE) – Wednesday, October 18, 2006 in Washington, DC at the USDA Jefferson Auditorium. Agenda topics include the importance of pollinators, threats to pollinators, global conservation efforts, managing resources and public interest and support. The new U.S. Postal Service Pollination Stamp Series will also be unveiled. For more information contact Kim Winter at 301.405.2666 or KW at nappc.org.

The Botanical Society of Washington will support a field trip on Oct. 28, 2006 to hunt for pumpkin ash at Piscataway Park, MD. This trip is great for all ages. For more information visit the BSW website at: http://www.botsoc.org/bswfieldtrips.html.

Announcements

NPS is trying to better coordinate Weed Awareness Week, Invasive Species Week and Celebrating Wildflowers. Discussion about PCA interest/involvement in exhibits at DOI building, reception at the USBG, and magnet and book giveaways. Rita Beard and Megan Haidet will coordinate on PCA's role.

The PCA will be present at the American Public Gardens Association (APGA) annual meeting in Washington DC, June/July 2007. There will be a reception on June 28th.

The American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) has asked ARS to partner for their annual meeting for native plant growers across the U.S. Suggestion for this meeting to coincide with the March PCA meeting; it would also be a good venue to unfold the CPC/CBG annotated bibliography on genetic ecotypes. Dates suggested: March 14-15, 2007.

NatureServe announced that 400+ invasive species assessments have been posted on NatureServe Explorer and they will be refreshing again soon. Additionally, Dr. Bruce Stein has accepted the position as Chief Scientist at NatureServe.

The PCA will not change its meeting name from the Plant Conservation Alliance Bi-Monthly Meeting however a couple of sentences will be added to the meeting announcement to explain the purpose of the meeting, that all are invited, etc.

Updates on Activities

APWG (Jil Swearingen)

No updates

MPWG (Patricia De Angelis)

The "Spotlight on Members" series has been launched. Check it out: http://www.nps.gov/plants/medicinal/.

The Elder Circle had a successful meeting at the end of Aug. Eight Native American elders came to Arlington to meet for the first time in 3 years to reenergize and reorganize.

Unfortunately the Conservation Committee had to cancel 2 field studies this year.

MPWG and NAPPC have partnered on a NFWF funded project to create fact sheets on medicinal plants and their pollinators. Jolie Lonner will coordinate the fact sheets.

NPMD

No updates

NWFW (Ellen Gabel)

Seventeen awards were recently announced for the Native Plant Conservation Initiative grant program.

Thirty-three pre-proposals were submitted for the next round of funding.

POWG (Flo Oxley and Bonnie Harper-Lore)

Take advantage of the Native Plant Events Directory http://www.wildflower.org/?nd=native_cal. People who submit to it should also link to it.

Discussion about reinvigorating "Planting Foundations" newsletter

RWG (Greg Eckert)

Website improvements are being discussed

MOU

DOD has signed!

NGO (Kathryn Kennedy)

The first round of materials from last year’s Cooperator Conference has been sent out and more are on the way.

Speaker (Presentation)

"Seed Collection Program: Collection, Study and Conservation for Seeds for Native Plant Species" by Mary Byrne, SOS Data Manager

Mary manages collection data for the Seeds of Success program, an interagency program that collects native seed from around the United States. The seed collected may be sent either to the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew as part of the Millennium Seed Bank Project or to the USDA ARS as part of the Native Plant Germplasm Collection. The goal of SOS is to increase the number of species and the amount of native seed that is available for use in stabilizing, rehabilitating and restoring lands in the United States.

For more information, visit: http://www.nps.gov/plants/sos/index.htm.

Notes from PCA Bi-Monthly Meeting
12 July 2006
NatureServe, Rosslyn, VA
(Notes taken by M. Haidet and O. Kwong)

Events

APGA will meet in DC next year, June 26-July 1 at USBG.

ARS is scheduling a meeting for September

EPA Chicago workshop on amendments and residuals in restoration. Will include the use of native plants for landfills (short sheet), jumpstarting ecosystem restoration (workshop) and compiling a list of native plant source.

Mid-Atlantic Exotic Pest Plant Council meeting, "weed busters training," for more info visit http://www.ma-eppc.org/

Announcements

Nancy Brian is the new NPS national botanist

Botanical Society of Washington fieldtrips

NatureServe online Explorer data has been refreshed and the new addition of selected I-Rank information on invasiveness potential assessments has been added with the ability to comment on the data used for assessments. I-Ranks have been done for a little over 400 species. More funding is needed for additional assessments.

Updates on Activities

MOU

EPA wants to sign

Native Plant Materials (Peggy Olwell)

No updates

Alien Plants (Jil Swearingen)

New web updates and fact sheets

Medicinal Plants (Patricia De Angelis)

Restoration (Greg Eckert)

Money for redesigning RWG website

Curiosity about policy implications regarding restoration

NGO (Kathryn Kennedy)

Megan continues to work on meeting follow up materials

Where is the Money for natives in the federal budget?

Outreach (Flo Oxley)

Bonnie Harper-Lore will be co-chair with Flo

Speaker

Sara Tangren (Chesapeake Natives) – Promoting and Preserving Native Plants in the Chesapeake Watershed

Notes from PCA Bi-Monthly Meeting
10 May 2006
NatureServe, Rosslyn, VA
(Notes taken by P. De Angelis)

Announcements

Chicago Botanic Garden Internship Program is seeking more college grads to apply for positions. Please get the work out to college grads or professors who might grads who would be interested. These are paid positions with the BLM and NPS.

Next Week is Celebrating Wildflowers Week. The USFS will host 4 brown bags talks from 12-12:45 (Yates, MTWR - Bogs/Carnivorous, Wildflowers of Blue Ridge, Pollinators)

USBG and BGCI sponsoring Plant Conservation Day Thurs, May 18th. Specifically they are promoting Target 14 of the Global Strategy for plant Conservation, which aims to incorporate the importance of plant diversity into communication, educational and public awareness programs.

Idea for next year: Charter buses and go to Roosevelt Island 0as a PCA-sponsored field trip. Each Fed agency could charter a bus and adopt a school in DC.

Update from Botanist meeting in Mojave Desert Native Plant Annual Mtg: Apr 18-19, Las Vegas. BLM, FS native plant materials workshop 1.5 days. We have all the powerpoints but some are huge; Friday field trip (Bruce Lund Humboldt NF – Mojave Desert); 1st time the two land management agencies coincided their meetings.

Proposal to speak at PCA: Restoration of mine sites for past ten years; writing a paper that describes the process, etc. Scott Fredericks – propose presentation; draft papers will send around

Larry: Native crops stamp series

BSA – Field trip to chain bridge flats; meet on VA end of bridge at 2pm. June 4.

Proposal to rename this meeting the "Washington Plant Conservation Roundtable"

National Endangered Species Day - May 11

Updates on Activities

Alien Plant (Jil Swearingen)

Oriental bittersweet fact sheet updated

Swallowwort fact sheets – blacktail and pale – 2 wks ago

Working with LBJ Alien plant invaders into a searchable database

Changing fact sheet format to include PCA logo and a pdf file so it’s more printer friendly

Medicinal Plant (Patricia De Angelis)

NNFP Meeting – Apr 27 PNW Forest Practitioners’ Forum Trilateral Invasives

NPMD

Table top exhibit is being worked on.

NFWF (Ellen Gabel)

Invited 24 proposals thru Native Plant Conservation Initiative; review committee will review within the next couple weeks; will announce July 1.

Second round deadline: August 25. <http://www.nfwf.org>

Outreach (Flo Oxley)

No updates

Restoration (Greg Eckert)

NPS was at the Mojave Symp; Greg is NPS contact FWS: Steve Keiko; sending Olivia a CD with the powerpoints to put on PCA website

Hiring new National Office botanist Loyal Meierhof is leaving NPS for USGS

Circulating draft ideas for NPS to formalize a plant materials program that will involve NRCS and NPS cooperation.

Wants input as to what they want from RWG; sending surveys to fed contacts

Discussing RWG participation with NRCS Soil Survey

Has funding to help update RWG website; plans to post directives regarding restoration

State wildlife action plans – each state had to develop the plans by November; plans are almost universally ignored.

There are regional and national efforts to consolidate the plans; there may be an opportunity to include plants.

Opportunities to work on plants; get familiar with the state plans; 5yr plans; International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (now AFWA)

Got a botany session at IAFWA about 15yrs ago; but their membership doesn’t want to deal with plants

MOU

USGS signed EPA – new office director – getting closer; Scott will reach out/coordinate with various offices

Speaker (Presentation)

Randy Gray (NRCS, National Wildlife Biologist) - Farm Bill and Fish and Wildlife Conservation

Summary: Fifty percent of the 900 mill acres in the US are cropland, pastureland, and rangeland. These private lands are critical to conservation of biological diversity; we can’t maintain biological diversity without getting involved in private land. Gray reviewed many aspects of the following bills that give aid to private land owners for conservation practices. Specifically, the US Farm Bill, Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), Wetland Reserve Program (WRP), Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program (FRLPP), Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program (WHIP), Grasslands Reserve Program (GRP), and the Conservation Security Program (CSP), were discussed. The advantages and challenges to these programs were addressed as well as how they can contribute to preventing the spread of invasives and encouraging the development of native plant materials.

Q: What benefit does the Farm Bill program have toward natives?
A: About 2 mill acres of wetland has been restored to natives

Q: What is the role for native seed harvest in the CRP?
A: FSA sees it as not producing a crop – no haying, no seed harvest
-Larry: in Ill., convinced state conservationists to produce switchgrass; argued over whether harvesting seed would be economic

Q: If area is designated as a priority what are the capabilities under farm bill to target upstream portions and a corridor to the watershed?
A: We need to get landowners to participate – it’s done BUT once you exclude a certain part of the world, people call their Congress-folks and say being excluded

Q: How long do you have to own the land after restoring?
A: No time, the government buys all rights – except right to fee title, property taxes, right to hunt/fish, thus each participant must get special permission for building, etc.

Q: Is there a mechanism of ramping up the native requirements gradually?
A: The states negotiate with the nurseries. Problem is these programs could disappear and may lose the market.

Q: What if contractor can’t get the seed it needs?
A: EPA – trying to project ahead of time; contract growing with plant materials centers – if can predict 1-1.5 years ahead and can sign contract and give advance money.

For more info on the Farm Bill http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/farmbill/2002/.

Notes from PCA Bi-Monthly Meeting
8 March 2006
NatureServe, Rosslyn, VA
(Notes taken by P. De Angelis)

Events

5th Annual Native Orchid Conference: Ashland, OR June 8-12

Mojave Desert Native Plant Symposium & Workshop: Las Vegas, Apr 18-19, FWS, USGS, BLM, FS\

20TH Lahr 20th Annual Lahr Symposium, "Native Plants: Cultivating a Sustainable Future," March 25, 8:30am-3:30pm, U. S. National Arboretum, Washington, DC

Smithsonian Botanical Symposium: Island Archipelagos: Cauldrons of Evolution. April 21-22. Washington, DC. Smithsonian Institution, Natural history Museum. Register online at: http://persoon.si.edu/sbs/.

Chapter for Association for Women in Science – Symposium – Mentoring, making the most of scientists – 25th March (Ester Stein) - several speakers dealing with mentoring at all levels.

Workshop on land restoration in DC, a 2-day event, no funding yet, will announce later.

Announcements

Medicinal Plants of Southern Appalachians – new book by Patricia Kyritsi Howell provides detailed instructions for using 45 native medicinal plants.

Botanical Society of Washington – full field trip schedule this year

Apr 1 and 8 – Dan Nicholson – Billy Goat Trail – Great Falls

Tentative Apr 22 – Larry Stritch – WV

June 4- Chain Bridge Flats – DC

August – Sara Tangren’s wildflower garden

Weekend trip to serpentines

Oct-Sept – freshwater tidal area on Potomac

EPA: CLU-IN (Hazardous Waste Clean-Up Information) free internet seminars. These include live webcasts where instructors will address questions, such as alternative covers to landfills and wetland restoration. For more information check out cluin.org or send Fredericks an e-mail.

EPA is also developing a number of fact sheets on native plants and restoration. If you want to be on a review committee contact Scott.

Pam – Idaho seed bank info – sagebrush seed – have a district interested in using it in restoration – the contact is Scott Lambert.

Stritch, Byington and Olwell met with American Seed Trade Assn last week and introduced the idea of working more closely with PCA. They also discussed having industry groups come to the Hill each year. They will present at PCA March 2007 meeting.

Larry Morse announced his retirement from NatureServe and presented his new path as L.E.M. Natural Diversity. Peggy thanked him on behalf of the Plant Conservation Alliance. "We couldn’t have done the past 10 years without you, you’re at one of the founding ngos, we appreciate all the work you’ve done with us and for us, we know we’ll continue to work with you and we wish you the best of luck in your new endeavor," she said.

Updates on Activities

MOU

NRCS signed on!USGS soonWorking on the EPA

Native Plant Materials (Peggy Olwell)

Peggy out in San Diego with San Diego zoo (SOS partner), used the brochure at the meeting Olivia is working on the exhibit

Outreach (Flo Oxley)

Working with Mark Barnett at CPC to pull together a piece as a newsletter for Feds/NGOs – will talk with K. Kennedy – would like it to be quarterly – highlight particular orgs. E-mail Olivia with comments. Will run these by the new docent class to make sure they "get it."

2 new brochures – will be available on the web but website not currently accessible to make updates – several updates waiting to be added

Alien Plant (Jil Swearingen)

Jil at gypsy moth meeting

Fact sheets coming – updated English ivy fact sheet, black swallowwort and pale swallowwort

Annual calendar highlighting invasive species organizations

Plant Invaders of mid-atlantic natural areas – invasives cd

Olivia and Carol Dawson put together an exhibit for Weed Awareness Week

Medicinal Plant (Patricia DeAngelis)

Germplasm report

Restoration (Greg Eckert)

How can the new CD be obtained? Not completed yet – still in draft – out for comments on programming and data – make sure John gets this

NFWF (Ellen Gabel)

44 pre-proposals which Peggy and Larry will review – invitations full proposals will go next week – deadline will probably be at the end of April

NGO Committee (Kathryn Kennedy)

Info from Cooperators Conference should be out soon

Speaker

P. J. Harmon - Federally Threatened and Endangered Plants of WV

P.J. Harmon works with the West Virginia Natural Heritage Program, which conducts ongoing statewide ecological inventories of rare plant and animal species, wetland and other ecological communities. West Virginia has no endangered species law - thus, if it's not on federal land, there is no legal protection for the species. Part of the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources, the Heritage program works closely with federal agencies to monitor and manage the state rare, threatened and endangered plants and animals. An important part of this includes maintaining complete and accurate statewide assessment of rare species and ecological communities, much of which information is available to the public through the NatureServe Explorer database. Today's talk focuses on the six endangered plant species ranking among his top priorities as a Natural Heritage Botanist.

For more on WV's Rare, Threatened and Endangered Species, see: http://www.wvdnr.gov/Wildlife/Endangered.shtm
For more on the NatureServe database, see: http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/

Notes from PCA General Meeting
11 January 2006
NatureServe, Rosslyn, Va.
(Notes taken by P. De Angelis)

PCA Chair, Peggy Olwell (BLM) opened the meeting with introductions. Sign-up sheet passed around.

New/returning participants
Anne Abbott - Herb Society of America; Volunteer Coordinator for MPWG Field Site in Pisgah (NC)
Ev Byington - USDA-ARS
Bob Escheman - USDA-NRCS
Rob Fiegner - Native Seed network
Liz Ley - Consultant
Bruce Stein - NatureServe
Ester Stein - Association for Women in Science
Damon Waitt - Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
Sarah Wakamiya - NAPPC intern
Rickie White - NatureServe

Events

Planting the Wild: Links between Cultivation and Conservation. March 11, 10-3:30, University of Richmond. Richmond, VA. Virginia Native Plant Society annual workshop. Registration and coffee at 9:00. Featuring William(Bill) Brumback, Conservation Director, New England Wildflower Society; Stanwyn G. Shetler, Ph.D., Curator of Botany Emeritus Botany, Smithsonian Institution; and Rick Myers, Stewardship Manager, The Virginia Natural Heritage Program. Open to all. http://www.vnps.org/programs.html#meet

Summit V Native Plants Meeting. March 27. Boise, ID. Inter-mountain region meeting to focus on native plant material development and to exchange ideas between industry and agencies. Open to anyone and free.

Smithsonian Botanical Symposium: Island Archipelagos: Cauldrons of Evolution. April 21-22. Washington, DC. Smithsonian Institution, Natural history Museum. Register online at: http://persoon.si.edu/sbs/.

Announcements

Chair of North American Plant Specialist Group, Peggy Olwell, recommends that NatureServe (<http://www.natureserve.org/>) be named the Red List Authority for North American Plants North of Mexico (Bruce Stein) - Background: NatureServe developed comprehensive assessment criteria for State and Global rankings and has over the past many years assessed a large number of North American plants. These rankings compare similarly to the IUCN rankings. NatureServe has collaborated with IUCN in the past, for example, on the IUCN Threatened Plants of the World.

This project would formally assess plants using IUCN criteria. This will be an opportunity to update Natureserve's database, which will benefit organizations that use this information. This will contribute to the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation goals and will also be an opportunity to carry out a preliminary worldwide conservation status assessment. The agencies that depend on NatureServe data can also benefit by working together on this.

There are two steps to formalizing the appointment of NatureServe as the North American Plant Red List Authority. First, the North American Plant Specialist Group (NAPSG) has to make a recommendation. PCA is the NAPSG and has already sent a letter to the IUCN SSC to recommend this. Next, the Plants Subcommittee must concur with the appointment. Once the appointment is finalized, NatureServe will then start fundraising.

DISCUSSION

Q: How different will the Red list differ from NatureServe's G rankings? Concern that common plants that are rare at the edge of range will get ranked rare.
A: Difference between NatureServe and IUCN criteria - Larry Master compared the criteria used in Florida (Journal of Conservation Biology). Found that, with the 1994 revisions to IUCN red listing, the two processes were brought closer together. IUCN focuses more on trends; NatureServe has focused more on absolute rarity. The GH-G2 ranks relate well to IUCN categories, G3 is the "swing" category. Talking about global assessments - not national or regional.

Q: What is the process for entering more info into the database?
A: Generally, needs to be contracted. With the growing citizen science efforts, exploring NSF funding opportunities. Plants are a great opportunity and may team up on an NSF proposal for plants. Would like to see PCA involved.

Q: Several plants in the NatureServe database that are being used on BLM and FS lands but don't have much information in the species account. Is there a process for the government agencies to add/share info with NatureServe?
A: FS working on a database to make data exchange with Heritage programs work more easily.

Peer-reviewed article: "Roadside revegetation of forest highways: new applications for native plants."
Landis, T., K Wilkinson, et al. 2005. Native Plants Journal - Volume 6, Number 3, Fall 2005, pp. 297-305. <http://muse.jhu.edu/cgi-bin/access.cgi?uri=/journals/native_plants_journal/v006/6.3landis.html>. Per Larry Stritch: Peer-reviewed article about a federal highway restoration project using native species. The more peer-reviewed literature we can get, the more credibility native plants get.

BLM/FS Joint Meeting in Nevada. BLM/FS Botanists and FS Geneticists will meet concurrently in Nevada. This will be great step toward coordination at a local level on native plant material. Will report results back to PCA.

Annotated bibliography of US natives and pollinators. (Kim Winter) Sarah Wakamiya has joined NAPPC as an intern from the Chicago Botanic Garden intern program to work on developing this database.

USDA-ARS is starting a new planning cycle. (Ev Byington)
Developing the next five-year plan for research, with a commitment of about $225 million. Half the effort will go into natives, with about 60 plants total (primarily grasses). Customer meeting January 24-25 (Denver, CO). Even if can't make it to the meeting, can still have opportunity to comment on it. Let Ev know you are interested. Projects are broken into several units (poisonous, pollinator, sheep unit) which rarely get a chance to come together in one place.

New NRCS Plant Material Center: "The Great Basin Plant Materials Center is closer to reality. The NRCS has signed an agreement with the University of Nevada, Reno, to locate the PMC at the University's Newlands Field Laboratory in Fallon, Nevada." http://www.nv.nrcs.usda.gov/Great_Basin_PMC.html

NatureServe President and CEO departing. (per Larry Morse) Mark Schaefer is leaving. Mary Klein will be Acting President while searching for replacement. An international executive search will be initiated soon.

New Publication: Canadian Species Report (per Bruce Stein) October 2005. Examined the global conservation status of Canadian species. Concluded that Canada's entire list of GX-G3 species represents approximately 5.9% of Canadian native flora.

What is Science according to a judge? (per Larry Morse) Washington Post - 12/21/05 - Article about the intelligent design court case. Summary of the decision discusses "what is science."

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is seeking to expand participation in Invaders Citizen Science Program - Citizens helping scientists combat invasive species. (per Damon Waitt) Several PCA Cooperators, including LBJ Wildflower Center, Missouri Botanical Garden, and the Sonora Desert Museum, are participating in the effort to train citizens to help scientists combat invasive species.

"The Invaders Citizen Science Program was developed by a consortium of Botanic Gardens, Natural History Museums, Zoos, and Aquaria in partnership with Sea Studios Foundation, National Geographic and Vulcan Productions and launched on April 20 when National Geographic's Strange Days on Planet Earth TV series premiered its opening episode about invaders on PBS."

This program uses citizens to collect data, share the data with local authorities, and then send the data to the citizen science database. "Citizen scientists" are trained using a specially developed Invasive Species Early Detection and Reporting Kit. With this kit, volunteers can help detect invaders' arrival and dispersal in their own local areas. They deliver that information into a national database and to local regulatory agencies that can do something about it. The premise is simple. The more trained eyes watching for invasives, the better our chances of lessening or avoiding damage to our native landscape. The kit has been field tested by several of the Invaders consortium partners which include Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower, Missouri Botanical Garden, New England Aquarium, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, and Woodland Park Zoo. A summary report is available at <http://www.texasinvasives.org/Citizen_Science/citizen.html> and <http://www.desertmuseum.org/invaders/> for program specifics at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.

The program partners are looking to expand consortium with IMLS funding. We are seeking to expand the consortium in 2006 to include 4-6 new partners who are interested in launching citizen-science based early detection and reporting programs at their institutions. If you are interested in participating or want more info, contact:
Damon E. Waitt, Ph.D.
Senior Botanist
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
4801 La Crosse Ave. Austin, Texas 78739-1702
email: dwaitt@wildflower.org
web: http://www.wildflower.org
phone: 512.292.4200
fax: 512.292.4627

Plant Wise: Seeking native alternatives for non-natives - (per Damon Waitt) LBJ Wildflower, National Park Service, Garden Club of America, and Center for Plant Conservation - national program to educate home-/landowners about invasives in the urban landscape as a source of invasives in the wild landscape. This program is similar to "Fire Wise." If you have any suggestions, contact Damon Waitt (above).

Building a Strong Strategy for Native Plants. (per Peggy Olwell) PCA tri-fold brochure under development. Passed around a draft. Demonstrates how PCAs native plant strategy relates to the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (See Jan 2005 PCA Meeting Summary).

Finding Solutions for Native Plants. (per Peggy Olwell) Another PCA tri-fold under development. Discusses working groups, etc.

DISCUSSION: Talking with Canada and Mexico about bringing them into the fold more. Need to consider developing a showpiece brochure to attract new participants.

USDA, BLM, and FS are sponsors of the Fourth Annual ASTA Meeting (per Bob Escheman) American Seed Trade Association meeting that includes growers and federal agencies. Will be held Feb. 28-Mar. 1. Closed meeting (for ASTA members and federal partners).

Roadside Summit. (per Flo Oxley) Friday, January 13. Reinstituting a program to encourage the use of natives on roadsides and ecologically sound roadside management practices, to achieve the goals of having more natives and also roadside goals (safety, fiscal responsibility, etc.). LBJ Wildflower Center has invited DOT, FWS, NGOs to discuss challenges to ecological maintenance and how to address those challenges while encouraging the use of natives. Minutes from this meeting will be sent over the PCA listserves and put on website. This info will be used to develop a 2007 national conference hosted at the center, which PCA will be involved in developing.

Native Seed Network. (per Rob Fiegner)

On the brink of launching a new website.

Summer internship programs for plant collection and monitoring. Will send announcement over listserve.

National Park Service National Botanist Position Still Vacant. (per Greg Eckert) No job announcement yet, but will be opening it to folks outside the government.

Farm Bill comments sought. Public comment period on Farm Bill programs.

Updates on Activities

Alien Plant (Jil Swearingen)

Medicinal Plant (Patricia De Angelis)

2006 Field Projects - Leaders are setting dates for this year's projects. Thanks to Anne Abbott for her continued work and dedication on these projects.

Native Plant Materials (Peggy Olwell)

Today's talk

NFWF (Ellen Gabel)

Second round of projects were selected. Announcements will be sent out in early February.

Pre-proposals were due Feb 17

Outreach (Flo Oxley)

Gearing up and will be in touch to start the work!

Restoration (Greg Eckert)

Trying to recruit more federal members and initiating contacts with folks in the field doing applied work.

MOU

NRCS is on board

Speaker

Peggy Olwell (BLM) and Larry Stritch (USDA FS) - Native Plant Materials Development

Summary: Efforts to fulfill federal agency needs for native plant materials has focused on collecting the germplasm and growing the industry. Native plants require different machinery than traditionally-used materials. Germination protocols were needed. Locally-adapted genotypes mean smaller customer base. These are just some of the issues that are being overcome. Private industry is stepping up to work on the needs of their state and federal agency customers.

Meeting Adjourned.

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Last updated: 30-Jul-2009