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<span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Apologies for the delay in sharing this summary of our March 2020 Plant Conservation Alliance General Meeting. There was a lot of good discussion
at the meeting, as follows. (Pardon cross-postings).</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The meeting was chaired by the Plant Conservation Alliance Federal Committee Chair, Patricia De Angelis/U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) and was hosted at NatureServe (Arlington,
VA). Introductions were made.</span><o:p style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"> </o:p><br>
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<b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">Featured speaker:
</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">Dr. Peter Marra, Director of the Georgetown Environmental Initiative (GEI), Laudato Si’ Professor in Biology and the Environment, and Professor in the McCourt School of Public
Policy at Georgetown University, spoke about the Decline of North American avifauna and the role of native plants in protecting birds, based on his October 2019 multi-authored publication in Science Magazine revealing a startling cumulative loss of nearly
three billion birds since 1970 across most North American biomes. <o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">A summary along with links to his presentation and the Oct. 2019 publication are available on the
</span><a href="https://www.plantconservationalliance.org/meetings"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif">PCA Meetings Page</span></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black"> (under “Previous Meetings”).
Following are key excerpts from “3 Billion birds lost—The disappearance of North American Birds and what we can do about it:”<o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">**In which habitats were the bird losses greatest?
<i><o:p> </o:p></i></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black;mso-color-alt:windowtext;background:white">Looking across biomes, we see a net loss in nearly all habitats, including habitat specialist and generalist bird species. The largest losses
seen were of grassland birds (700 million; more than half of all birds lost since 1970). Boreal and Western forests had the second largest loss while notably, there was a net increase in wetland birds.</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;background:white"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;background:white"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">**Does plant origin matter?<o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black;mso-color-alt:windowtext;background:white">Non-native plants support lower herbivore diversity, fewer insect species, and fewer specialist species. The reason for this is that many herbivorous
insects, like caterpillars, have formed tight evolutionary relationships to a particular host plant in order to overcome plant chemical defenses. The exotic plants we introduce have different chemical, phonological and structural defenses that make them very
different from our native plants.</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif">
</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black;mso-color-alt:windowtext;background:white">We also learned that native plants are much more likely to have delicious caterpillars, providing evidence that the diversity differences
found in other studies are translating into differences in food abundance, which matters to birds.</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif"></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black;mso-color-alt:windowtext;background:white">TAKE
HOME MESSAGE: Exotic trees are not a replacement for native trees because they support fewer caterpillars and reduce the quality of a territory for breeding and foraging</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">.
</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">**How can this research inform land management?
<o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">The authors incorporated their results into the
</span><a href="https://www.stateofthebirds.org/2019/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/2019-State-of-the-Birds.pdf"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;background:white">2019 State Of The Birds report</span></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#333333;background:white">
</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black;mso-color-alt:windowtext;background:white">(SOTB) to underscore the urgency of the bird crisis, and the importance of state wildlife agencies in addressing that crisis, by including
non-game bird species in state wildlife action plans and to identifying dedicated funding sources (such as new legislation Recovering America’s Wildlife Act)—See legislation section under the Native Plant Roundtable, below.</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
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<span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">**7 Actions that individuals can take to make a difference<o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black;mso-color-alt:windowtext;background:white"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>-Action # 1: Reduce mortality from glass windows.</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;background:white"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black;mso-color-alt:windowtext;background:white"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>-Action # 2 Reduce populations of outdoor cats (controversial)</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;background:white"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black;mso-color-alt:windowtext;background:white"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>-Action # 3 Use native plants in yards and parks / reduce the amount of lawn
</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;background:white"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black;mso-color-alt:windowtext;background:white">--40 million acres of cultivated lawn in U.S--</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;background:white"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black;mso-color-alt:windowtext;background:white"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>-Action # 4 Reduce the amount of pesticides and other chemicals</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;background:white"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black;mso-color-alt:windowtext;background:white"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>-Action 5 Drink coffee that’s good for birds</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;background:white"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black;mso-color-alt:windowtext;background:white"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>-Action #6 Protect our planet from plastics</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;background:white"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black;mso-color-alt:windowtext;background:white"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>-Action #7 Watch birds, share what you see</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;background:white"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;background:white"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black;mso-color-alt:windowtext;background:white">**</span><b><i><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#006600;background:white">UPDATE:
</span></i></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">The September 8, 2021 PCA meeting will feature Sam Droege, who will be talking about “Replacing lawns with native plant communities.”**<o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">Updates on PCA activities<o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
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<b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
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<b><u>-Non-Federal Cooperators Committee Updates: <o:p> </o:p></u></b></p>
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<o:p> </o:p></p>
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NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES (NAS) RELEASED INTERIM REPORT ON NATIVE PLANT SEED NEEDS:
<o:p> </o:p></p>
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Dr. Kayri Havens, NFCC Chair, is a member of an NAS Study Committee that is assessing public/private sector needs and capacity for supplying native plant seeds for ecological restoration and other purposes (see the NAS website:
<a href="https://www.nationalacademies.org/our-work/an-assessment-of-native-seed-needs-and-capacities">
An Assessment of Native Seed Needs and Capacities</a>). Dr. Havens summarized the results of the first
<a href="https://www.nap.edu/download/25859"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri">Interim Report</span></a><span style="mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;color:black">
of the study (free to download or read online), which describes the participants in the native plant seed supply chain, makes preliminary observations, and proposes an information-gathering plan for the second phase of the assessment.</span><b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:black;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-alt:none windowtext 0in;padding:0in">
</span></b><a href="http://nas-sites.org/dels/4979-2/" target="_blank"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-alt:none windowtext 0in;padding:0in">For updates, subscribe to the NAS study
email listserv here</span></a><o:p> </o:p></p>
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PLANT CONSERVATION ALLIANCE COOPERATORS: Developing a flyer for outreach to explain what a Cooperator is and why organizations should join the PCA collaboration. See the
<a href="http://www.plantconservationalliance.org/cooperators">PCA Cooperators page</a><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<o:p> </o:p></p>
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<b><u>-Federal Committee Updates:</u> </b><o:p> </o:p></p>
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NATIONAL SEED STRATEGY PROGRESS REPORT: Molly McCormick/USGS is leading the effort to develop a progress report on the first 5 years implementing
<a href="https://www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/docs/2020-12/NationalSeedStrategy_2015-2020.pdf">
the National Seed Strategy for Rehabilitation & Restoration</a><i>.<span style="background:yellow;mso-highlight:yellow">
</span></i><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<span style="background: yellow;"><o:p style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span></o:p></span></p>
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<b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">Native Plant Roundtable<o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
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<b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
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<b><u>-Conferences with a nexus to native plants<o:p> </o:p></u></b></p>
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<b><u><o:p> </o:p></u></b></p>
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<a href="https://atlantabg.org/conservation-research/outreach-education-and-training/2020-conference-summary/">Southeastern Partners in Plant Conservation (SePPCon) 2020</a> March 2-6 at the Atlanta Botanical Garden
<o:p> </o:p></p>
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<a href="https://earthoptimism.si.edu/">Earth Optimism Summit</a>: April 22-23, hosted by the Smithsonian Institution
<b><i><span style="color:#006600">UPDATE</span></i></b>: A 102-hour livestream was accessed by more than 55,000 devices in over 170 countries.<o:p> </o:p></p>
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<a href="https://www.natureserve.org/connect/events/biodiversity-without-boundaries-2020-postponed">Biodiversity Without Boundaries</a>: Hosted by NatureServe
<b><i><span style="color:#006600">UPDATE</span></i></b>: was cancelled due to COVID-19.<o:p> </o:p></p>
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<a href="https://naturalhistory.si.edu/research/botany/news-and-highlights/smithsonian-botanical-symposium-archive">Smithsonian Botanical Symposium</a>:
<b><i><span style="color:#006600">UPDATE</span></i></b>: was cancelled due to COVID-19.<o:p> </o:p></p>
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<a href="https://saveplants.org/2020-national-meeting/">Center for Plant Conservation Annual Meeting</a>
<b><i><span style="color:#006600">UPDATE</span></i></b>: was held virtually on October 9-10.<o:p> </o:p></p>
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<b><u>-Legislation with a nexus to native plants<o:p> </o:p></u></b></p>
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<b><u><o:p> </o:p></u></b></p>
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<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/1572"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;background:white">Botanical Sciences and Native Plant Materials Research, Restoration, and Promotion Act</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#333333;background:white">
</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:black;mso-color-alt:windowtext;background:white">(“The Botany Bill”): To promote botanical research & sciences capacity, generate demand for native plant materials, & authorize
related federal activities. This bipartisan legislation directs the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service (NPS), among others to support a program of intramural and
extramural botanical science research to support the land management responsibilities of the Department of the Interior, including hiring additional personnel to augment its expertise in the botanical sciences. See also:
</span><a href="https://botanybill.weebly.com/?fbclid=IwAR3c3xiFTSKIHP4e-6raKA6QlrcQaLCqMjzTfh2PmMJJAeVb5bvQ8iQ83Ss"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">Botany Bill</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#333333;background:white"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#333333;background:white"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/5179/text"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">Tribal Wildlife Corridors Act</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:black;mso-color-alt:windowtext;background:white">
(H.R.5179</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">): Introduced in October 2019, will provide funds to Tribes to restore corridors for animals
<i>and plants</i>! <o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">**<b><i><span style="color:#006600">UPDATE:</span></i></b> The July 14 2021 PCA Meeting will feature Dr. Ellen Damschen, who will speak about "The role of habitat corridors on plant
diversity."**<span style="background:white"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;background:white"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/3150"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">Native Plant Species Pilot Program Act of 2020</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">
(S.3150): Introduced on Jan. 6, 2020 by Senator Collins. establishes a pilot program in 2 or more National Park Service regions for native plant species and a study on the cost-effectiveness of using native plant materials to carry out land management activities
on federal lands.<o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/3742"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">Recovering America’s Wildlife Act</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">
(RAWA): This Bill <span style="color:black;mso-color-alt:windowtext;background:white">
would create a new dedicated funding stream ($1.4 billion/yr) for state agencies to implement their State Wildlife Action Plans (SWAPs) with a focus on non-game wildlife species – which currently receive < 10% of all agency spending for wildlife.</span><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<b><u><o:p> </o:p></u></b></p>
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<b><u>Other Plant News<o:p> </o:p></u></b></p>
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<b><u><o:p> </o:p></u></b></p>
<ul style="margin-bottom:0in">
<li>Collaboration among southeastern PCAs: There was a side meeting at SePPCon 2020 of representatives of several southeastern state-level PCAs who discussed forming a regional PCA for the Southeast. Among their priorities would be to build on two topics addressed
at SePPCon 2020: <a href="https://academy.saveplants.org/video/regional-species-greatest-conservation-need-plants-southeastern-us">
developing a regional list of plants of greatest conservation need</a> (video) and
<a href="https://academy.saveplants.org/video/promoting-plant-conservation-species-greatest-conservation-need-state-wildlife-action-plans">
adding plants to SWAPs (State Wildlife Action Plans)</a> (video). <b><i><span style="color:#006600">UPDATE</span></i></b>: See
<a href="https://atlantabg.org/the-southeastern-plant-conservation-alliance/">Southeastern Plant Conservation Website</a>
<o:p> </o:p><br>
<br>
<o:p> </o:p></li><li>The 25th meeting of the CITES Plants Committee (PC25) was scheduled for July 20-23. The
<a href="https://cites.org/eng/com/pc/25/index.php">agenda</a> is online. CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) is an international treaty of more than 180 countries to regulate certain species of animals
and plants so that international trade does not threaten their survival in the wild. Topics that may be of interest to U.S. native plant folks include trade in medicinal plants, plant nomenclature issues (e.g., synonyms being used in trade).
<b><i><span style="color:#006600">UPDATE:</span></i></b> The meeting was postponed due to COVID-19, some work continues virtually in hopes of meeting next year.<o:p> </o:p><br>
<o:p> </o:p></li></ul>
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<b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">Plant Conservation Alliance Resources:
<o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
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<b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
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<a href="http://www.plantconservationalliance.org/welcome">PCA Nonfederal Cooperators website</a><span style="color:black">:
<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>To join as a non-federal cooperator, go </span>
<a href="http://www.plantconservationalliance.org/join-us">here</a><span style="color:black">. You can see the meetings page
</span><a href="http://www.plantconservationalliance.org/meetings">here</a><span style="color:black">.
<o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<a href="https://www.blm.gov/programs/natural-resources/native-plant-communities/national-seed-strategy/pca">PCA Federal Committee Website</a><span style="color:black">: Read about the
</span><a href="https://www.blm.gov/programs/natural-resources/native-plant-communities/national-seed-strategy/pca">National Seed Strategy</a><span style="color:black"> and the
</span><a href="https://www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/PCA%20MOU%202019%208%20signed%20FULL.pdf">current MOU</a><span style="color:black">.</span><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<o:p> </o:p></p>
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<a href="http://lists.plantconservation.org/mailman/listinfo">PCA Discussion Lists</a><span style="color:black">: The PCA has several discussion lists focused on different topics that are free to join and open to all.
<o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<span style="color:black">**Share your native plant information! We encourage PCA listserv members to post meetings, webinars, and research on the PCA listserv as we continue our collaborative mission to protect native plants by ensuring that native plant populations
and their communities are maintained, enhanced, and restored.**</span><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
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<b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
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<b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">Next Meeting<o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
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<b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
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<span style="color:black">The next Plant Conservation Alliance Meeting was held May 13, with Ms. Katrina Outland presenting findings from her research on Venus flytrap poaching and the challenges of enforcing legal protections for plants.
<o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<span style="color:black">**Announcements of upcoming PCA meetings are shared via the
</span><a href="http://lists.plantconservation.org/mailman/listinfo">PCA Discussion Lists</a><span style="color:black">.**<o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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