[MPWG] Don't forget to submit your Cooperator form!

[Patricia_DeAngelis at fws.gov]

Dear MPWG Members!

As you may know, the Medicinal Plant Working Group is part of a larger
organization, called the Plant Conservation Alliance (PCA).  PCA, a
consortium of ten federal agencies and nearly 200 non-government
cooperators, works to protect native plants by ensuring that native plant
communities and their populations are maintained, enhanced and restored.
It was originally envisioned that the cooperators would form an important
leg of the PCA, the NGO Committee.  This year, PCA is ten years old.  We
hope to mark this milestone in several ways - one of which is to activate
the NGO Committee.  As a member of MPWG, I would like to encourage you to
become part of the NGO Committee.

Kathryn Kennedy, President and Executive Director of the Center
for Plant Conservation (www.centerforplantconservation.org), has
volunteered to activate the PCA Cooperators.  Kathryn will facilitate
the development of a group structure, organizing it into the PCA-NGO
Committee.

Kathryn will contact all PCA Cooperators directly. If you are not a
Cooperator
(as signified by being listed on the website), you won't be contacted. I
urge you to
consider becoming a Cooperator with PCA. Information about the what it
means to be a Cooperator is available on the at:
http://www.nps.gov/plants/faq.htm.
The list of current Cooperators is also available on this site.

To become a Cooperator, print out, fill in and mail this form:
http://www.nps.gov/plants/coopform.pdf. Also, you may request that
a packet of information about the PCA be sent to you. Send
this to Peggy Olwell at: Bureau of Land Management, 1849 C Street NW,
LSB-204, Washington, DC 20240, Phone (202) 452-7764, Fax (202) 452-7702. Or
send an e-mail to peggy_olwell at blm.gov. The packet will contain general
information about the PCA, including details on projects and funding.

This is your opportunity to join forces with others who share an interest
in the sustainable use and conservation of native plants and to devise
constructive ways to support the efforts of the Plant Conservation Alliance
by utilizing your expertise and collective drive.

Sincerely,
Patricia De Angelis
MPWG Chair