[PCA] NEWS: Climate Change Policy from New England Wild Flower Societ

[Olivia Kwong]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2007 14:39:03 -0400
From: Debra Strick <dstrick at newfs.org>
To: WEbmaster <plant at plantconservation.org>
Subject: News Story - Climate Change Policy Earth Day Story New England Wild
     Flower Society

Dear ,

Happy Earth Day!  I hope you'll be able to share this  information with your audience, and consider making a link available.  Please let me know if you have questions, or if you need images.

NEWS RELEASE:

  New England WIld Flower Society, America's oldest plant conservation institution,  announces a new CLIMATE CHANGE POLICY in a fuller description below, with a link to a PDF of the policy.

Let me know if you'd like me to arrange an interview our Director of Conservation, Bill Brumback, or our Executive Director, Gwen Stauffer on this important issue.

Stauffer answers CLIMATE CHANGE POLICY questions at the Society's free EARTH DAY celebration at Framingham headquarters at Garden in the Woods, 12-4.

  To view the document in full, please visit www.newenglandWILD.org/conserve <http://www.newenglandWILD.org/conserve> .




Contact:  Debra Strick

dstrick at newenglandWILD.org <mailto:dstrick at newenglandWILD.org>

Marketing and PR Director

508-877-7630 x 3501 to arrange interviews

Plant images available at x 3502 or lmattei at newenglandWILD.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

News, Science, Nature, Earth Day, Conservation, Climate Change, Plants, Business

EARTH DAY MESSAGE: Conservation Leaders Ask --Will Maple Syrup, Christmas Trees, Fall Foliage Season, and Other New England Icons Fall Victim to Climate Change?



   Framingham, Massachusetts - Maple/beech/birch and spruce-fir forest types are very likely to be completely displaced by more southern forest types by the end of the 21st century in New England. The disappearance of these regional icons, and the tourism, products, and ecological communities that depend on them, are considered in New England Wild Flower Society's new POLICY ON CLIMATE CHANGE, the group announced today. The Society, America's oldest plant conservation institution, and the leader in New England plant conservation s, prepared the comprehensive initial review, incorporating research of multiple groups, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).  To download a free copy of the policy, visit www.newenglandWILD <http://www.newenglandwild/> /conserve.

  "Climate change is a complex and serious plant conservation issue with a profound impact on plants and ecosystems," said Gwen Stauffer, New England Wild Flower Society's Executive Director. "This initial policy sets a course of action for our own organization and a large network of collaborators, as it begins to frame our response."

   "The native flora concept will change as native plants from the south move northward into new regions," said Bill Brumback, Conservation Director of New England Wild Flower Society. "This initial policy represents a "sea change" in how we will look at plant conservation in the future. Up until now, plant conservation strategy began by first protecting land and then managing it. Climate change requires us to review our concepts of what actually constitutes a natural community in our region, and adapt conservation efforts to the best scientific rationales, as these comprehensive changes take place."

The Policy includes plans for collaboration with multiple scientific groups to develop strategies to respond to the complex challenges of climate changes and effects on plant health and natural ecosystems in New England. Important ecological shifts include the possible elimination of most regional bog ecosystems, the likely extirpation of multiple northern forest types, and the increase of invasive plant activity.  New invaders to our area, formerly not species of concern because of their lack of hardiness in our climate, such as kudzu, are likely to take greater hold because of their competitive advantage. The Society is committed to an "early detection-early response" action through its conservation programs and collaborative actions, such as the Invasive Plant Atlas of New England (IPANE) and the Plant Conservation Volunteer Program (PCV). The PCV program has garnered international recognition and next week represents New England at the Global Botanic Gardens Congress in Wuhan, China. The Society's delegate, Ailene Kane, will be sharing the PCV model and plant conservation training with conservation leaders from other countries around the world.

             The Society began stepping up related initiatives over the past few years.  In 2006 it joined the Seeds of Success program as the Northeast leader in a U.S.- led effort that is part of the Millennium Seed Bank project initiated by Royal Botanic Garden in Kew, U. K. The project's goal is to collect and bank seed for 10 percent of the flora in the northeastern U.S., thereby creating an insurance policy against ecological loss or damage to the bioregions of the Northeast.  New England Wild Flower Society recently completed a design for a Native Plant Center at its Nasami Farm Native Plant Nursery location in Whately, Massachusetts. In addition to its role in supplying native plants for gardens and restoration, the proposed Center will be used for seed bank work, as an educational resource, and, eventually, to supply native plant material for "green corridors," as a response to the fragmentation of our green spaces. The Center is designed to meet the LEED Gold standard for sustainable design and construction.  Says Director Stauffer, "For all of us, lightening our footprint on the land is an important part of our response to climate change." The building is expected to be one of the first 200 in the United States to receive this designation from the U.S. Green Building Council.

The Society's new publication, Invaders...We're Fighting Back, a resource for updates and plant identification, is available by calling 508-877-7630, ext. 3601, or online at www.newenglandWILD.org <http://www.newenglandwild.org/> . Discuss the Climate Change Policy at New England Wild Flower Society's April 22 FREE Earth Day Celebration, 12-4 p.m., at Garden in the Woods, 180 Hemenway Road, Framingham, MA.        ######END