[PCA] Assistance Needed For C0onservation Project

[Johnny Randall]

Dr. Covanes: While I very much appreciate your efforts and intentions 
for conserving threatened/endangered plants, your methods conflict with 
those of other groups and could jeopardize the very plants you seek to 
protect. The Center for Plant Conservation (CPC), for example, has 
coordinated ex situ rare plant conservation nation wide for over 20 
years and has developed researched based seed collection protocols that 
minimizes the impact to wild populations. (And I feel that CPC member 
institutions should be helping to coordinate the efforts you propose.) 
There is also the legal matter of required collection permits for public 
land and the permission required from private landowners...

Many would also challenge the idea that cultivation benefits 
conservation. The loss of genetic diversity that necessarily occurs 
through the cultivation process reduces the conservation value of such 
plants in addition to creating the real potential for selection to the 
cultivated environment. And suggesting that rare plant seeds and 
seedlings be scattered in rural and farmland areas is ecological anathema.

I hope that other discussions will occur among PCA members and 
cooperators who might also offer opinions.
Very sincerely – Johnny Randall



botresearchusa at academicplanet.com wrote:
> PCA Menbers and Cooperators,
>
> Botresearch USA has for the last 15 years been involved in research  
> involving plants of the Lamiaceae/ Labiatae family. We have also been  
> involved in the conservation of threatened and endangered species and  
> the esatblishment of a conservation garden for all speices in this  
> plant family.
>
> Several years ago we decided to open up a forum on the internet which  
> would educate the general public about these species and promote their  
> conservation.
> This year we have had an influx of members in this group which are  
> avid gardeners, master gardeners, and horticulturists. The group which  
> is composed of members from numerous states asked me if there was a  
> way that they could be more involved with the endangered species and  
> in our discussions, they came up with the idea that each one of them  
> would be a project leader and recruit other people in their area who  
> were interested in gardening and the plants in this family to be in  
> their individual groups.Each one of these groups would take seed
> which we could obtain from the threatened and endangered species,  
> germinate the seed and grow the plants to maturity.When the plants  
> proiduced seed, each group would harvest the seed from the plants  
> native to their state, and distribute
> part of them to botanical gardens, garden clubs and conservation  
> organizations, with the pre-condition that these organizations would  
> put some in their gardens and take the bulk of the seed and scatter  
> them in rural areas or farmland areas, or they could germinate the  
> seed and then take the seedlings and distribute them in these  
> areas.The group leaders of our project would also call together it's  
> members and likewise scatter the seed in similar areas.This would be  
> an ongoing project.
>
> We need those of you who are in posession of these species of seed to  
> donate about 50 seed of each specie so that we can initiate  
> production.We also need
> those of you who would be willing to take the seed that they produce  
> and your organization scatter the seed in the rural or farmland areas  
> or use them to grow seedlings to plant in these areas.Those of you who  
> would be willing to help in either or both aspects of this project,  
> please contact me at:
> botresearchusa at sbcglobal.net . Thank you for your time and consideration.
>
> Kindest Regards,
> J.N.Covanes
> Director of Research
> Botresearch USA
> www.botresearch.com
>
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-- 
Johnny Randall, Ph.D.
Assistant Director
North Carolina Botanical Garden
CB 3375 
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill  NC  27599
Phone - 919-962-0522
FAX - 919-962-3531
www.ncbg.unc.edu