[MPWG] Notes from 12 Nov 03 Plant Conservation Alliance (PCA) Meeting

[Plant Conservation]

Notes from Patricia DeAngelis about the meeting yesterday for those of you
who missed it.

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Announcements
- Upcoming Smithsonian Conference: May 7, 8, 9, 2004 - Cultural Changes
Affecting Horticultural Industry - Announcement to follow on listserve
- American Herbal Products Association Tonnage Survey - the 2002-2003
survey is being planned - input is welcome
- Philadelphia MPWG Symposium - very successful - MPWG listserve
announcements to follow
- 2nd Congress on Tibetan Medicine - held Nov 5-8 - also resounding
success - More info to follow on MPWG listserve

Discussions
- Making better connections between PCA members/cooperators
- Connecting aspects of PCA work to USDA-ARS programs - many overlapping
areas - mutual benefit
- Seeds and PCA - In a nutshell, PCA is involved in native plant seed
collection in (at least) three ways:
1.) Center for Plant Conservation (CPC) - a PCA Cooperator - A non-profit
organzation of 32 botanic gardens around the U.S. that are responsible for
collecting and maintaing propagules and/or seeds of rare and endangered
species from their region.  The "National Collection of Endangered Plants"
includes 620 plant species, 75 of which are being used for reintroduction
purposes.  The individual gardens maintain specimens for short-term
storage; the National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation (USDA-ARS
facility on the Colorado State University Campus, Ft. Collins, CO) houses
seeds for long-term storage.
2.) Native Plant Materials Program - PCA is reposnible for overall
organization - Congress established this program to focus on generating
native plant materails to be used for fire restoration
3.) Seeds of Success & Millenium Seed Bank - Royal Botanic Garden will
house a seed bank collection of "10% of the world's flora" - in the US,
they are working with PCA - focus in US is not on rare or agricultural
species because there are already programs to capture that germplasm - the
seed bank material will be avilable for research as well as posterity

Speaker: Drs. Kay Havens and Lara Jefferson, Chicago Botanic Gardens -
Conservation Land Management Mentoring Program
- Institute for Plant Conservation - Chicago Botanic Garden - comprised of
14 scientistis involved in education and research regarding rare and
endangered native plant species
- BLM has 262 million acres of land (primarily in Alaska and the Western
US) with approximately 1 botanist for every 5 million acres!
- Problem: Backlog of Section 7 consultations
- Solution: Conservation Land Management Mentoring Program (CLMMP): Trains
recent graduates with an interest in conservation to meet the needs of
specific jobs on BLM land where they are mentored by a BLM staffperson
- BLM funds 100 work months which equates to about 20 positions in 5-10
month internships
- Other entities can obtain interns (government/non-government) if they
provide funding
- Program began in 2002 with about 17 positions and has 25 positions for
2003
- State of Wyoming funded an additional 5 interns in 2003
- Info on selection process, training, etc. was given
- CLMMP provides: national recruitment, overall adminstration of the
program and 40 hour training session.
- For more info: Dr. Lara Jefferson - ljefferson at chicagobotanic.org

Potential speakers for next meetings:
- January: Marcello Penacchio, an ethnopharmacologist who will be visiting
from Australia
- March: ARS programs that overlap with PCA

Patricia S. De Angelis, Ph.D.
Botanist - Division of Scientific Authority
Chair - Plant Conservation Alliance - Medicinal Plant Working Group
US Fish & Wildlife Service
4401 N. Fairfax Dr., Suite 750
Arlington, VA  22203
703-358-1708 x1753
FAX: 703-358-2276