[PCA] Norton Brown Herbarium may close

[Sylvan Kaufman]

At Elizabeth's suggestion, I've written a couple paragraphs that can be
used in a letter of support.  Please feel free to modify these as you see
fit.

Ongoing herbarium work is essential to our understanding of the natural
world, especially in these days of rapid change. The Norton Brown Herbarium
was started to support the Maryland Agricultural Experiment Station in 1901
and now has a collection of more than 87,000 specimens with a focus on the
flora of Maryland and mid-Atlantic, several plant families, and several
special collections including those of the University’s College Park
Arboretum and Botanic Gardens.  The herbarium serves as a repository for
state endangered and rare plant collections and serves to document changes
in plant distributions across the state.  It is used by state agencies
including the Department of Natural Resources and Department of Agriculture
as well as by researchers from around the world.  Students use the
herbarium to learn about plant taxonomy and to conduct research projects.
Herbarium specimens can be used to study everything from plant genetics,
crop diseases, and medical uses to climate change.


For this sort of research to continue, it is vital that the University
maintain support for the Norton Brown Herbarium.  It should be considered a
valuable asset to the University in attracting world class researchers and
funding, but instead it seems to be viewed as a financial burden. The
Herbarium needs to be able to maintain and update its collections and make
that information available to researchers and to the public.  It is an
irreplaceable resource.

On Mon, Oct 24, 2016 at 11:44 AM, Becky Erickson <
beckyerick711 at centurylink.net> wrote:

> Also try Crowd Funding or Kickstarter; open a new page on Facebook -
> explain
> the history, issue and ask for money.
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Steve Erickson
> Sent: Sunday, October 23, 2016 8:39 PM
> To: Sylvan Kaufman
> Cc: native-plants at lists.plantconservation.org
> Subject: Re: [PCA] Norton Brown Herbarium may close
>
> Public pressure is your best bet, along with the press.
>
> And reach out not just to the obvious (i.e. conservation groups,
> including those that are not necessarily focused on veg). Make a
> list of the obvious allies, from Natural Heritage to Audubon.
> Pick up the phone. Ask friendlies if they know who are good
> politicians and reporters to go to. Then expand the circle. Also
> go for scientists that are not botanists and ecologists. Get
> some cancer researchers to do a sign on letter and make sure it
> goes to the press and friendly legislators.
>
> Remember, the squeaky wheel gets the grease and the most
> obnoxious annoying loudest wheel gets the most lubrication. This
> isn’t science, its straight out politics. And don’t spare
> the hyperbole. An herbarium is a library of nature. Surely they
> wouldn’t burn a library or fail to repair a leaking library
> roof? Finding other funding is not your goal. Your goal should
> be to generate enough political heat so the university
> administration does its job and finds the funding.
>
>
>
> -Steve
>
> ===================================
>
> On 10/22/16 at 9:37 AM, sylvan.kaufman at gmail.com (Sylvan
> Kaufman) wrote:
>
> >I learned this week from the Director of the Norton Brown Herbarium at
> >University of Maryland that it will close unless the Director can find
> >$100,000 in operating expenses each year starting in 2017.  This herbarium
> >is the state herbarium for Maryland .
> >
> >Does anyone have advice about how to either find outside funding or
> >convince the University that they should fund the operating budget?  I
> have
> >put the message out to several Maryland conservation-related listserves in
> >the hopes that people will write letters of support to the Chair of the
> >Plant Sciences department and Dean of the College of Agriculture and
> >Natural Resources that house the herbarium.
> >
> >Thanks,
> >Sylvan
> >
> ---------------------------------------------
> Frosty Hollow Ecological Restoration
> Helping Nature Heal
> Box 53
> Langley, WA  98260
> (360) 579-2332   FH at Whidbey.com
> =======================================
>
>
>
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-- 
Sylvan Kaufman
phone: 410-310-0160
www.SylvanGreenEarth.com
www.InvasivePlantGuide.com
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