spring 2008 plant conservation newsletter

8/9/2019 Spring 2008 Plant Conservation Newsletter

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Recovering Americas Vanishing Flora

Sng 2008 l V 21, Nb 1

VoluNteerS SurVey BaSalt DaiSy oN a WeekeND trip

Growing on the steep terrain of the

basalt cliffs in Yakima Canyon, the

basalt daisy ( Erigeron basalticus) provided an excellent training

opportunity for a group of edgling

surveyors.

Thirteen volunteers from the

University of Washington Botanic

Gardens Rare Plant Monitoring

(RPM) team traveled to south

central Washington state as part of

their rst-ever group monitoringtrip. Because RPM volunteers

typically work independently,

UW Botanic Gardens RPM team

took this monitoring trip as a great

opportunity for a group surveyingweekend. Tim McCracken of the

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

contacted the Garden for assistance

in updating population census data

for review of the species Candidate

status. The last time the daisys

population was surveyed was in

2000.

The RPM staff, Sarah Reichard,director, Wendy Gibble, program

i f a t f i r S t yo u D o N t S u c c e e D . . .b: ed Gn p.D., cnsvn D. nd and rvn, cnsvn Sns, B Bn Gdn

As important as success stories are,

not all projects lend themselves to

such clear cut accounts. Indeed,

less than warmly satisfying results

can be very instructive. In this vein,

two of our older projects have at

times given us pause, and we have

revisited them. One is a long term

seed viability study we recently

unearthed and the other is our rst

rare plant reintroduction.

Found only in a small area in

central Oregon, Pecks penstemon

( Penstemon peckii) occurs in the

sparsely vegetated areas between

patches of woody vegetation in the

ponderosa pine forests. Succession to

shrubs is both a natural phenomenon

and a threat to extant populations of

this plant.

The presence or absence of a

viable soil seed bank might have

a signicant impact both on the

species survival prospects and

management strategies. To address

Please see Success, Page 7p Pecks penstemon (Penstemon peckii)

Please see Monitoring, Page 10

p The steep cliffs of Yakima Canyon

provided a challenge for the daisy surveying

team. Photographer: W. Gibble


2/12

The Center for Plant Conservation

is a national not-for-prot

organization hosted by the

Missouri Botanical Garden in

St. Louis and governed by an

independent Board of Trustees.

A network of 36 botanical

institutions, the Centers mission

is to conserve and restore the rare

native plants of the United States.

Telephone: (314) 577-9450

E-mail: [email protected]

www.centerforplantconservation.org

Plant Conservation is published

quarterly. If youd like to

reproduce any newsletter material

please contact CPC at (314) 577-

9450 or [email protected]. Or mail

requests to CPC, P.O. Box 299, St.

Louis, MO 63166.

Board of Trustees

Emmy White Seymour, Chairman

Kathryn L. Kennedy, Ph.D.,

President and Executive Director

Andrew S. Love Jr., Vice President

Janet Meakin Poor, Vice President

Ann Coburn, Secretary

Hooker Talcott Jr., Treasurer

Robert Breunig, Ph.D.Patricia R. Bush

David DeKing

Ann Frierson

Julia Bissell Leisenring

John McPheeters

Shirley Meneice

Ladeen M. Miller

Sara Oldeld

C.W. Eliot Paine

Polly H. Pierce

Patti Schleuning

Edward Schneider, Ph.D.

Kenneth Schutz

Jocelyn Sladen

Mary Ann Streeter

Frank ThibodeauPeter S. White, Ph.D.

Charles Chipper Wichman, Jr.

Peter Ashton, Ph.D., Trustee Emeritus

Bill Truslow, Esq., Trustee Emeritus

Participating Institutions

Amy B.H. Greenwell

Ethnobotanical Garden

The Arboretum at Flagstaff

Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum

The Arnold Arboretum

of Harvard University

Atlanta Botanical Garden

The Berry Botanic Garden

Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Chicago Botanic Garden

Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden

Cornell Plantations

Denver Botanic Gardens

Desert Botanical GardenFairchild Tropical Botanical Garden

Harold L. Lyon Arboretum

Historic Bok Sanctuary

The Holden Arboretum

Honolulu Botanical Gardens

Lady Bird Johnson Wildower Center

Mercer Arboretum

and Botanic Gardens

Missouri Botanical Garden

The Morton Arboretum

National Tropical Botanical Garden

New England Wild Flower Society

The New York Botanical Garden

The North Carolina Arboretum

North Carolina Botanical Garden

Rancho Santa Ana Botanic GardenRed Butte Garden and Arboretum

Regional Parks Botanic Garden

San Antonio Botanical Garden

Santa Barbara Botanic Garden

The State Botanical

Garden of Georgia

University of California

Botanical Garden

University of Washington

Botanic Gardens

Waimea Valley

Afliate Institution

St. George Village Botanic Garden

Science Advisory Council

Barbara A. Schaal, Ph.D., Chair

Marie Bruegmann

Michele R. Dudash, Ph.D.

John J. Fay, Ph.D.

Gary Knight

Tiffany Knight, Ph.D.

Richard Koske, Ph.D.

Eric S. Menges, Ph.D.Clifford Morden, Ph.D.

Larry E. Morse, Ph.D.

Peggy Olwell

Bruce Pavlik, Ph.D.

Jackie Poole

Vincent Tepedino, Ph.D.

Warren L. Wagner, Ph.D.

Christina Walters, Ph.D.

George Yatskievych, Ph.D.

National Ofce Staff

Kathryn L. Kennedy, Ph.D.,

President and Executive Director

Anna Strong,

Conservation Projects Coordinator

Rick Luhman,Technical Information Coordinator

Maria Bradford,

Development Manager

Jo Meyerkord,

Communications Coordinator

Volunteers

Lois Batchelder, Marie Bergmann,

Lori Calcaterra, Nada Granberry,

Benjamin Kennedy, David Kennedy,

Mary Serbi, Sue Slivka, Patrick

White

One of the things I most enjoy at

CPC is the Plant Conservation

Course we offer periodically. We just

completed a week long session in

Honolulu, and youll be able to readall about it in a few pages. I enjoy

the camaraderie with other faculty

who are friends and colleagues, and

soaking in the science again.

I also get a great sense of hope from

the bright scientists who enroll in

the class. They are dedicated and

concerned about plant conservation,

and want to do a good job. Whenyou look out at a class like that,

you know weve got something

really good going for the future. I

like being a part of that transfer of

knowledge and experience to others

who will go even further and do

better and better work.

This week of teaching about the

issues in plant conservation that are

unique (and some that are universal

to all conservationists) is intense.

The days are long. So are the hours

that the faculty (institution scientists,

Science Advisory Council members,

and agency partners) log in advance

with calls ne-tuning curriculum,

preparing their presentations, andtraveling. This is a labor of love.

CPC is all about partnerships,

and these are some of the best.

The National Fish and Wildlife

Foundation helped us develop the

curriculum, and the entire network

and most of our partners were

involved over an entire year. The

Department of Defense Legacy

Resource Management Program

2 Plant Conservat ion, Spring 2008

DirectorS letter: teachiNG iN the preSeNt for the future

This newsletter

is printed on

recycled paper

with soy ink.

Please see Directors Letter, Page 5


3/12

www.centerforplantconservat ion.org 3

Volunteers are the heart and soul

of many of CPCs Participating

Institutions work programs. Without

the countless hours donated, many of

the networks projects would lag farbehind where they are today. Ranging

from ling papers in an ofce to

counting seeds in a laboratory to

surveying native populations in

the eld on overnight treks, CPCs

volunteers contributions are

immeasurable.

At the University of Washington

Botanic Gardens, volunteers are moreimportant than ever. With over 200

volunteers the UWs Rare Care team

depends heavily on this dedicated

group of individuals. Wendy Gibble,

program manager, relies on their

volunteers to access remote areas

of Washington for monitoring trips

her regular staff doesnt have time to

make.

Without the Rare Care volunteers,

Gibble is condent there would be

no program to monitor these species.

We would not be doing the rare plant

monitoring at all our volunteers are

the backbone of that project. I also

dont know how we could get all

the seeds cleaned and packaged for

the seed vault they do it all! said

Gibble.

Gibble and the Rare Care team

recruit many of their volunteers

from the Washington Native

Plant Society and the native plant

stewardship programs. These types

of organizations are gold mines

for nding individuals devoted to

CPCs mission. Often times these

individuals also have the skills

needed for scientic assignments.

Volunteers are recruited by word of

mouth as well. Recently the team

enlisted 43 new volunteers, from

central and eastern Washington, to

build capacity in their more remote

areas.

When recruiting your own volunteers

it is important to be exible. The

same thing doesnt motivate each

individual, so it is crucial to have a

number of different types of projects

for them to complete. Some may

want to conduct eld work in a

solitary setting, while others are

more motivated by group activities in

an ofce or laboratory environment.

Also, it is important to offer varying

levels of commitment; while a retiree

may be able to devote three days a

week, others may be able to provide

just one day every few months.

Above all else, we must remember

these volunteers are precious to our

cause and treat them with the utmost

respect. Many of our programs would

suffer a severe setback without them;

letting them know their work is

appreciated and valued is crucial for

retention.

If you are located in the Washington

state area and are interested in

joining the Rare Care team contact

Wendy Gibble at 206/543-8616. If

you are interested in volunteering

to help save imperiled plants in a

different location contact your local

botanical institution or visit www.

centerforplantconservation.org.

V o l u N t e e r S : t h e B a c k B o N e o f o u r p r o G r a m S

q Rare Care volunteers learn techniques to estimate population size. Photo by W. Gibble


4/12

The effects of herbivores and

invasive plants on native plants

are well known, but few studies

have addressed their impacts

on rare plants. Threatened orendangered plant species may

be more susceptible to negative

effects of biotic factors due to their

already low distributions. My study

quanties the interactions between

deer, an invasive plant, a rare herb

and its associated plant community

to assist in the conservation of native

plants.

Trillium reliquum is an endangered

spring ephemeral herb that is native

to three states in the southeast. It is

threatened by the encroachment of

Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera

japonica) and white-tailed deer

(Odocoileus virginianus) herbivory.

I selected ve sites in Georgia to

examine the impacts of deer and

honeysuckle on T. reliquum across

its Georgia range. Four treatment

combinations were established

within each population, including:

1) deer excluded, honeysuckle

present 2) deer excluded,

honeysuckle removed 3) deer

accessible, honeysuckle present

4) deer accessible, honeysuckle

removed. I measured deer and

honeysuckle impacts on T. reliquum

and plant community structure in

2005 and 2006. Trillium reliquum

was found in both species rich and

species poor habitats. Deer and

honeysuckle did not negatively

impact species richness. Levels of

deer browse intensity varied across

sites and honeysuckle was the

most frequent vine at most sites.

White-tailed deer decreased fruit

production and increased dormancy

in T. reliquum. Honeysuckle was

associated with small but stable

trillium populations. Empirical data

and matrix models demonstrated

that removal of honeysuckle results

in signicant population increases.

This suggests that honeysuckle

suppresses T. reliquum emergence.

Conservation efforts forT. reliquum

should focus on long-term deer

population management and the

control of invaders. Also, the

conservation of subadult (three

leaf) and reproductive individuals is

important to T. reliquum population

growth.

Jacob Thompson won the Catherine

Beattie Fellowship in 2005

Currently, he is a vegetation

ecologist with the Georgia

Department of Natural Resources,

Nongame Conservation Section

Thompson works out of Brunswick,

Georgia and focuses on the mapping

of vegetation on the Georgia coast.

p Thompson sets up plots to examine

the population dynamics of Relict trillium

(Trillium reliquum). Permanent plots were

established in each treatment area to study

the interactions between white-tailed deer,

invasive Japanese honeysuckle, and the

federally-endangered Relict trillium.

h e r B i V o r e S a N D i N V a S i V e S a f f e c t i N G N a t i V e Sb: Jb tsn, cn B fws Wnn nd Vgn egs, Gg D. N rss, Nng cnsvn Sn


q Thompson takes measurements on Relict trillium (Trillium reliquum) plants. For each

individual plant censused, life stage (seedling, one-leaf juvenile, three-leaf non-reproductive, and

three-leaf reproductive), as well as plant size were observed to determine the effects of white-

tailed deer herbivory and invasive Japanese honeysuckle.


5/12


In March, CPC presented their Plant

Conservation workshop hosted by

the Bishop Museum and Harold

L. Lyon Arboretum in Honolulu.

The workshop was funded by theDepartment of Defense Legacy

Resource Management Program.

The reviews were excellent. Of the

36 attendees 100% of them would

recommend the workshop to others

and said the information would help

them with their career. CPC looks

forward to the next workshop in

Phoenix in the fall.

The curriculum presented an

overview of key conservation topics

with pragmatic tips, information

resources, and contact lists of

experts. The course taught over 17

topics through the week, including:

Systematics, Plant Conservation

Genetics, Demography, Population

Viability Analysis (PVA), Plant

Protection and Legislation, InSitu and Ex Situ Restoration and

Management, Tools and Partnerships,

and Inventory and Monitoring.

Faculty from CPCs Participating

Institutions and Science Advisory

Council included Wendy Gibble,

Kay Havens, Kathryn Kennedy,

Tiffany Knight, Joyce Maschinski,

Bruce Pavlik, Johnny Randall, Pati

Vitt, Stuart Wagenius, and Warren

Wagner. The faculty got great

evaluations. Jane Mallory from the

Department of Defense assisted

with planning the event. The help

of many dedicated people made this

workshop a success.

The attendees consisted mostly of

DoD civilian contractors, but also

included professionals from the

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,

local Botanical Gardens, Plant

Extinction Prevention (PEP)Program, the National Park Service

and Hawaii state contractors. One

of the greatest benets of the class

was the networking and supportive

relationships formed among these

professionals.

plaNt WorkShop helD iN aloha State

p Knight, assisted by Randall, teaches the Interactive PVA session at Bishop Museum.

funded the Honolulu session. Our

institutions provided facilities. Our

staff and volunteers in the National

Ofce put all the materials together

and coordinated myriad details. Inthe course, each scientist shares

their area of expertise and we show

how all the pieces complement

each other. Agency partners came

in for an evening and talked about

their careers, and working for plant

conservation.

Attendees lled the room, and

responded appreciatively. Over thecourse of the week we saw new,

supportive professional relationships

emerge and a commitment to helping

one another.

At the end of the week, we gathered

evaluations and comments. I was

struck by one comment in particular.

One student noted, Absolutely

wonderful. I feel a part of somethingbigger and special. Thats the spirit

of CPC!

Sincerely,

DirectorS lettercontinued from page 2

q Department of Defense workshop

participants look on as Steve Evans

practices an inventory and monitoring

technique at Harold L. Lyon Arboretum.


6/12


Holly Forbes grew up in San

Francisco and got interested in plants

at a young age from family camping

trips. She received her B.A. from

the University of California at SantaBarbara and went on to work in

the herbarium of the Santa Barbara

Botanic Garden. She became

curatorial assistant at the University

of California Botanical Garden at

Berkeley in 1988 and was named

curator in 1997.

Your interest in plants came from

camping; what drew you to plantsand not animals? Oh, I am a

conrmed animal lover. Perhaps it

was that the colorful owers didnt

run away!

How long have you been active

in CPC? Twenty years. The

CPC network members are an

inspirationthey make me want to

do more too, and I feel supportedby the national ofce personnel. We

also get some funding, especially

via contract opportunities, which

have been important to us.

What has been your best moment

as a conservationist? Rarely does

anything happen in just a moment. I

was really pleased when we got good

germination of seeds ofDelphinium

bakeri.

How about a really horrible

experience? (If youve had one)

Arriving just after a county road

crew scraped most of the population

of Delphinium bakeri off the

roadbank.

How has your work impacted

conservation? Our work at the UC

Botanical Garden has received

attention from other members of

the local conservation community

such that we are asked to partner

in many conservation projects, in

particular where we can use our

propagation expertise. Nationally

and internationally, we are known

as a source for endangered species

materials across a broad spectrum of

plant research.

What changes have you seen in

conservation at your institution?

Conservation was in a nascent phase

when I started here. We collected

seeds of a few endangered species

that year and have built on that ever

since. I have pushed our staff time

commitment for conservation to

increase as much as funding can

allow, but it is never enough.

What plant are you focusing on now?

We are still focused on Delphinium

bakeri. Only one plant owered in

habitat in 2007. We have hundreds

coming along in our nursery, though

they are slow to ower (usually

takes three years), and are working

with local land managers to prepare

for an introduction project in fall

2008assuming all goes well.

What dont most people realize about

the importance of plant conservation?

They dont realize that it is difcult

to succeed in creating a new self-

sustaining population of any plant

species in habitat. People make

unwarranted assumptions based on

garden experience that we can just

transplant them somewhere safer.

What do you do in your spare time?

I serve on the board (currently as

treasurer) of the East Bay Chapter of

the California Native Plant Society

and I am helping the state ofce of

CNPS get its publications program

started again. I enjoy gardening at

home with my husband and our two

dogs, Elsa (German shepherd) and

Buddy (golden retriever).

meet the NetWork: holly forBeS, uc BotaNical GarDeN

q Holly Forbes looking for seeds of El Dorado bedstraw (Galium californicum ssp. sierrae) near

the top of Pine Hill, El Dorado County, California, for a federally-funded seed banking project.


7/12

the potential for a soil seed bank,

we collected seeds from more than a

dozen populations in 1992. We then

placed many seeds in our seed bank

and buried 120 dacron packets of

100 seeds each, distributed among

three locations in their range. The

packets were placed in hardware

cloth cages and covered with a thin

layer of soil and two layers of weed

cloth. We withdrew packets and

examined seed germination in 1993,

1994, 1996, and then not again until

2007.

There is indeed a soil seed bankfor Pecks penstemon, even after

15 years. Between a quarter and a

third of the seeds that were recently

excavated have germinated. Less

emotionally satisfying, however, is

only about a fth of the seeds stored

for fteen years in Berrys ex situ

seed bank have germinated, which

could be a concern.

While the apparent germination

rate of stored seed appears to have

declined, previous germination trials

with this species have revealed not

all viable seed germinates the rst

time it is exposed to appropriate

conditions. In the past, we saved all

rm seeds that did not germinate

during a trial and allowed them to

dry completely. We have discoveredpersistence pays off: seeds continued

to germinate following a second and

even a third moistening cycle. So,

in the nal analysis, we will have

to run whatever survives the initial

germination trials through one or

more follow up cycles to get an

accurate view of seed survivorship

in the soil and ex situ seed banks.

The results are consistent with the

idea that the dormancy status of

a seed can be affected by dry cold

storage.

The second story involves Malheur

wirelettuce (Stephanomeria

malheurensis), an annual plant

known only from one site in eastern

Oregon. The reintroduction of this

plant was one of the earliest rare

plant reintroductions conducted

under the Endangered Species

Act. When Malheur wirelettuce

apparently became extinct in the

wild in the mid-1980s, a multi-

partner working group formed and,

by the late 1980s, planted more than

1,000 wirelettuce plants at the site.

The project was initially successful

and resulted in a population that

continued to reproduce year after

year. A decade after the initiation

of the project, however, population

numbers were in decline without

recovery; by 2003, Malheur

wirelettuce appeared again to have

gone extinct in the wild.

Some of the challenges we face as

conservation scientists are biological

in nature. In this case, we do not

know the specic biological causes

of either the decline in wirelettuce

numbers or its re-extinction. This

is due in part because of turnover in

agency personnel and the difculties

associated with insecure long-termfunding. There was a commitment

on the part of the working group to

monitor the wirelettuce population

size on a yearly basis, but little

funding beyond that. It is clear in

this case that long-term monitoring

alone did not ensure the success of

this reintroduction.

Working within a world with

limited resources and short-term

funding cycles, it might have been

more effective to have established a

minimum threshold population level

that when crossed would signal the

working team to take action. This is

especially important when working

with plants with annually uctuating

population sizes, like Malheu

wirelettuce.

In 2005, we reinvigorated the

working group by adding several

new partners. The Berry Botanic

Garden and one of the new

partners, the Oregon Department

of Agriculture, grew plants in 2007

using stored seed and placed those

plants at the original site and a

new site. Additional plants will be

reintroduced over the next several

years.

These stories remind us not all

projects move smoothly toward

success, at least at rst. Sometimes,

initial results can be inconclusive.Have seeds fared less well in our ex

situ seed bank than they have in the

wild, or have we just not tried hard

enough to germinate them? In others,

apparent initial success, even over a

period of ten to fteen years, may not

persist indenitely. But, persistence

on the part of conservationists can

in the end produce a more satisfying

nal product.


SucceSS

continued from page 1


8/12


The Garden Club of AmericaScholarship Committee and CPC

has enthusiastically endorsed

the selection of Melissa Caspary

from the University of Georgia

and Kelsey Glennon from George

Washington University as the 2008

recipients of the Catherine H. Beattie

Fellowship.

The fellowship grant enables

graduate students in biology,

horticulture, or a related eld

to conduct research on a rare

or endangered U.S. plant in the

Southeast. Fellowships serve

as compensation for work done

by graduate students, often at a

botanical garden jointly serving

CPC and that students curricular

studies. Applications for the 2009

award are due Dec. 31, 2008. Pass

the word to partners and colleagues

in the Southeast.

NetWork

G c a a N D c p ca N N o u N c e 2 0 0 8Beattie WiNNerS

p Matthew Albrecht (right) points out the Running Buffalo Clover (Trifolium stoloniferum) at the

Cuivre River State Park as CPC Board members scour the foliage to locate it.

cpc BoarD meetS iN miSSouri & GeorGia

The Missouri Botanical Garden

played host to Octobers CPC

Board meeting. With over 20 in

attendance, the Board of Trustees

worked throughout the day

discussing an update for the CPC

Strategic Plan and eshing out ideas

for activities centered around CPCs

25th anniversary in 2009. With all

this work there was a little bit of

fun had too. Matthew Albrecht,

Conservation Ofcer from the

Missouri Botanical Garden, gavea presentation on his work in

conservation and guided a tour of

Cuivre River State Park, home to

the imperiled running buffalo clover

(Trifolium stoloniferum).

In February, the Board of Trustees

met at the State Botanical Garden

of Georgia. As one of the newer

Participating Institutions, the Garden

served as a beautiful backdrop for

the meeting. The Board examined

CPC nances for 2009 and

continued their strategic planning

discussion. After the meeting, the

group went on a eld trip to the Rock

and Shoals Natural Area that has

granite outcrops supporting several

state-listed rare species includingthe glade windower (Anemone

berlandieri), dwarf hatpins

( Eriocaulon koernickianum), and

granite stonecrop (Sedum pusillum).

After the trip, the board also packed

in a tour of the Atlanta Botanical

Garden as they headed back to the

airport.

Clement Hamilton was recently

named the new director at Holden

Arboretum in Kirtland, Ohio. Clem

was previously the director ofthe Univ. of Washington Botanic

Gardens and Rancho Santa Ana

Botanic Garden. While at Rancho

he also served on CPCs Directors

Advisory Council. He is leaving the

Morton Arboretum where he served

most recently as their vice president

of arboretum programs and director

of research

N e W D i r e c t o r

at h o l D eN


9/12


aND NoteS

The 2008 edition of the Plant

Conservation Directory is

completed and available for sale

at $15 per copy. You can also

access the directory online at www.

centerforplantconservation.org.

The directory is compiled and

distributed to serve practitioners

working for plant conservation

in the United States. It provides

contacts for professionals in

botanical, governmental, and non-prot organizations nationwide who

can assist with plant conservation

questions and provide botanical

expertise for different states or

regions of the country. It also

includes resources to locate rare

plant laws, plant societies, and

organizations, maps of regional

boundaries and lands of various

federal resource agencies. A new

feature has been added. For the rst

time the directory includes contacts

for academic researchers who are

currently working with imperiled

species.

This edition of the directory is

compiled by the Center for Plant

Conservation (CPC) and is the resultof a spirit of cooperation. It has been

supported in part by a grant from

the Bureau of Land Management.

Countless practitioners nationwide

made valuable submissions and

reviews.

2 0 0 8 c o N S e r Va t i o N D i r e c t o r y N o W aV a i l a B l e

Patricia (Patti) Oling Schleuning

has accepted a position on the Board

of Trustees. Patti enjoys botanizing

in the Columbia River Gorge and

in the mountains of the west, an

avocation reecting her passion for

native plants. She has been actively

involved in the Garden Club of

America, serving as an ofcer and

national Horticulture Chairman. As acommunity volunteer she has served

on the Oregon Symphony Board,

the Oregon State Board of Licensed

Dietitians, and is a past president

of the Portland Youth Philharmonic

and Junior League. She is a graduate

of Stanford University.

p a t t i o l i N G S c h l e u N i N G J o i N S

t h e c e N t e r S B oa r D o f t r u S t e e SCPCs 2008 National Meeting

will be held on April 24-26 at the

Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden.

In conjunction, the garden will also

host the Joint Meeting with Florida

Rare Plant Task Force. The schedule

is packed with great information.

Saturday a workshop on monitoring

focuses on this essential component

in the process of conservingendangered plants. Throughout the

conference there are multiple eld

trip opportunities including trips to

Bill Sadowski Park, Luis Martinez

Army Reserve, North Shore Open

Space Park, and Everglades National

Park.

q Patti Schleuning in the backwaters of the

Amazon River in Peru pictured with

Victoria amazonica.

p To order your copy of the 2008

Conservation Directory contact CPC at

314-577-9450 or [email protected]

2 0 0 8 N a t i o N a l

meetiNG at ftBG


10/12

manager and staff members Jennifer

Youngman and Ellen Kuhlmann,

knew this would be a great species

for a group monitoring trip to get

volunteers together from all around

the state. There is little opportunity

for the RPM volunteers to meet

each other because typically the

volunteers work on individual

assignments. This would be a great

chance for them to build experience

and condence for future solitary

monitoring trips. Many of the

volunteers on the group trip were

new to the RPM program, had just nished their one-day RPM

training and hadnt yet completed

a monitoring assignment on their

own.

Setting off on a sunny Saturday

morning, the group traveled to

Yakima Canyon in south central

Washington. The basalt daisy

lives exclusively in the cracksand crevices of basalt cliffs in the

Yakima Canyon. The species was

listed under the Endangered Species

Act by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife

Service as a Category 1 species in

1980 and as a candidate species in

1996.

To avoid damaging the species, the

large group split into small teams to

survey the ten known populations.Very few plants grow on the basalt

cliffs of the canyon (total vascular

vegetative cover of the cliffs is less

than one percent.) The trip was

made when the plant was owering,

making the species easy to spot.

However, the groups couldnt get too

close to most of the plants because

the steep cliffs cut straight down to

the Yakima River. In many cases

they were forced to use binoculars

and scopes to inventory the species.

Most likely, they underestimated

the population sizes because the

smaller non-reproductive plants

were probably overlooked. Because

of the unmanageable terrain, it was

simply impossible to accurately

inventory the entire site.

After a long day of surveying, the

team camped at a BLM campground

along the Yakima River. They rose

early to complete their inventories

before returning home Sunday.

The team was able to relocate all

populations recorded from the census

in 2000. Five had less than 500

individuals, and ve had between

1,500 and 6,000 individuals. Two

of these populations had never been

counted before, resulting in new

information since the last census.

Overall, population sizes were

generally comparable to or greater

than previous population estimates

that were done in 2000, so most

populations appear to be stable.

After USFWS reviewed the results

of the monitoring weekend, they

removed the daisy from the candidate

species list in December of 2007.

The populations will continue to

be monitored every three to four

years as part of the post delisting

monitoring activities.

In addition to the positive botanicresults, the trip was a great success

for the morale of the RPM team.

The volunteers all had a great

time. It boosted their condence in

reporting and enthusiasm for other

assignments. The staff is planning

on making this group trip a yearly

event, featuring a new species each

year.

m o N i t o r i N Gcontinued from page 1


q Most of the Erigeron basalticus

populations sizes were comparable to or

greater than the population estimates from

2000. Photographer: R. Ramsden

p Because of the steep terrain the team was forced to use alternative methods to count daisies.

Here Wendy Gibble uses a scope, an unusual tool for a botanist. Photographer: J. Youngman


11/12


The Center for Plant Conservations efforts are made

possible by the Friends of CPC. All Friends receive a

complimentary subscription to CPCs newsletter, PlantConservation. Friends also receive our Friends benets,

with distinctive botanical illustrations of the imperiled

plants that your gifts support. The benets feature artwork

by renowned botanical illustrator Bobbi Angell.

Please use the form below either to renew your support

or enroll as a new Friend. Your gift will contribute in an

important way to the vital work of saving Americasmost imperiled plants.

Please send this completed form and payment in the

enclosed envelope, or mail this form to: Center for Plant

Conservation, P.O. Box 299, St. Louis, MO 63166

GiVe the Gift that keepS o N GroWiNG!

q $35...........Friends

q $75...........Family Friends

q $150.........Sustaining Friends

q $250.........Benefactorsq $500.........Preserving Donors

q $1,000......Conserving Donors

q $5,000......Presidents Circle Donors

q This is a gift membership for a new Friend.

(Please list name, address and phone number of

recipient on the form at right.)

q Enclosed is my check for $ _______________

payable to the Center for Plant Conservation.

Please charge my: q VISA q Mastercard

Card No.

Name on card

Expiration datePlease print your name as you wish it to appear in the

newsletter Honor Roll.

Your name

Friends name (if needed)

Address

City State

Zip Telephone

Last July CPC mailed an appeal

to raise matching funds for plant

sponsorships. Thanks to our

incredibly generous supporters we

raised a total of $15,545 from 83donors! We are very grateful for

because these funds will enable us to

bring long-term funding to on-the-

ground plant conservation work.

These dollars are hard working. The

funds raised will match or supplement

funds raised separately by CPC or

our Participating Institutions. The

rst allocation from these fundsis to complete the sponsorship of

sand food ( Pholisma sonorae) at

the Desert Botanical Garden. After

receiving donations from two donors

for this sponsorship CPC was able to

complete the sponsorship with funds

from the Plant Sponsorship Appeal.

Matches raised are being tallied, and

the other species benetting will be

announced soon.

CPC institutions invest signicant

resources and effort in securing and

holding imperiled plant material in

trust for the nation. They work hard

to learn how to grow and restore

them.

A sponsorship provides steady

funding for the long-term workneeded to save our most imperiled

plants. Sponsorship funds are placed

in an endowment which generates an

annual stipend to the institution(s)

working with the sponsored species.

The endowment also supports

related data management and

conservation activities at CPCs

national ofce. To nd out more

about plant sponsorship call MariaBradford at 314-577-9457.

plaNt SpoNSorShip fuNDS SupplemeNt curreNt DoNatioNS

p One of the benets of becoming a CPC

Friend is receiving limited edition note cards

featuring the work of artist Bobbi Angell.


12/12

Koehlers rock cress (Arabis

koehleri var. koehleri) a member of

the mustard family, stands in stark

contrast to the rocky outcrop it calls

home. This plant blooms amethystand provides a touch of beauty to

its surroundings of muted cracks

and crevices on the rocky bluffs and

cliffs where it resides.

Native only to Oregon, the rock

cress has decreased in populations

since its discovery in the mid

1800s. Road construction, livestock

grazing, herbicide drift andindustrial development are just a

few of the threats the species faces

on a regular basis.

The team at the Berry Botanic

Garden has partnered with the

Roseburg District of the Bureau

of Land Management to augment

the declining population. BLMstaff gathered seed from the wild,

while the Berry Botanic Garden

propagated it in their greenhouse.

Once the seedlings were ready, they

were placed back onto the cliffs that

are their natural habitat.

At the time of restoration the

researchers carefully recorded

the details of the micro habitat foreach of the plants. This data will be

compared after subsequent visits

to the site to survey the status of

the plants.

plaNt profile: koehlerS rock creSS (ArAbiS koehleriVar. koehleri)

NonproftOrg.

U.S.Postage

PAID

St.Louis,MO

PermitNo.1039POBox299

St.Louis,MO63166-0299

AddressServiceRequested

q Koehlers rock cress is not sponsored. To

sponsor or help sponsor this plant, please

contact CPC at 314-577-9540 or

[email protected]

spring 2008 plant conservation newsletter

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