[SOS-PCA] SAVE THE DATE & RSVP: Plant Conservation Alliance e-Meeting, September 11, 2024, 2-4pm ET, with speaker Wendy Hodgson

[Krone, Elizabeth C]

***SAVE THE DATE***

Please RSVP to attend our fifth PCA meeting of 2024 where we welcome Wendy Hodgson, Herbarium Curator Emerita, Senior Research Botanist, Desert Botanical Garden, who will discuss “Grand Canyon – more than stunning geology, vistas and strange squirrels – her Green Heart, the unsung legacy of plants.”

ABOUT THE PRESENTATION: Studying plants and plant communities within the vast Canyon is no walk in the park so to speak. It is extremely challenging, facing an array of obstacles rarely experienced.  Even more than grit and determination, studying the Canyon’s plants requires extensive collaboration involving the Park Service, Indigenous Peoples, outside researchers and community scientists, continually building on the work of previous intrepid plant explorers. Wendy will share reasons for the great diversity in the Canyon, introduce a few of its intriguing botanists that braved wild white water and steep cliffs to gather specimens, and spotlight some likewise charismatic plants.  She will also highlight collaborative work that has continued for years as well as new, exciting projects, all of whose goals are to better understand what occurs where, including identifying and mitigating threats to rare species, the quest to identify new taxa, understanding how certain plants evolved and dispersed in the Grand Canyon and the Canyon’s role as an important genetic reservoir and refugia.  And of course, how to get the public to wonder what plants occur down there.

ABOUT OUR PRESENTER: Wendy Hodgson has lived in the Sonoran Desert for 55 years.  She holds a B.S. in wildlife biology and an M.S. in botany from Arizona State University. This year Wendy celebrated 50 years of working at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, having started in 1974 as an assistant to famed agave expert Dr. Howard S. Gentry. Today she is the Herbarium Curator Emerita and Senior Research Botanist.  Her research focuses on the Agave family, particularly the systematics and role of agaves, yuccas and Hesperoyucca in pre- and post-contact cultures.  Wendy also focuses on Southwest floristics with a special emphasis on the Grand Canyon, where for 35 years she has searched for plants.  She has authored or co-authored nine species new to science, including three from Grand Canyon. Wendy also focuses on Sonoran Desert food plants, publishing Food Plants of the Sonoran Desert, winner of the Klinger Book Award presented by the Society for Ethnobotany. She is an advocate for collaboration, working closely with numerous federal agencies, conservation groups, academia, community scientists and Indigenous Peoples in the study and conservation of plants and their habitat.
This meeting is held remotely and open to all.

More information about the presentation can be found on our PCA Meetings page<https://www.plantconservationalliance.org/meetings>.

*** PLEASE RSVP TO ATTEND THIS MEETING ***

RSVP by Tuesday, September 10, to elizabeth_krone at fws.gov

The meeting login details will be shared with all respondents via calendar invite and email by Tuesday September 10.

This meeting will be hosted using Microsoft Teams. You will be able to join the meeting from the web or via the Microsoft Teams app<https://teams.microsoft.com/downloads>.

The PCA general meetings are open to everyone and follow this format:
>Updates on PCA Activities - learn about and get engaged in the Plant Conservation Alliance
>Invited Speaker – a topical presentation to explore any of the six focal areas identified in the PCA National Framework for Progress<https://www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/programs_natural-resources_native-plant-communities_national-seed-strategy_pca_Framework_6.11.2020.pdf>: collaborative conservation; education; restoration; research and development; sustainability; and information sharing
>Native Plants Roundtable - all participants are encouraged to share information on national native plant events and activities

— This meeting is brought to you by the Plant Conservation Alliance Speaker Organizing Team — Gary Krupnick (Smithsonian Institution) / Ray Mims (U.S. Botanic Garden) / Nick Jensen (California Native Plant Society) / David Lincicome (Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation) / Andrea Kramer (Chicago Botanic Garden) / Elizabeth Krone (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service)


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