Most universities with a botany department already have botanists and herbaria
engaged in documenting locality data and floristic associations. These
institutions often have good data on local plant distribution, less data on
non-local distributions. Universities work with local chapters of the
Nature conservancy and state/federal organizations engaged in conservation
projects.
There is no need for the ICPS to duplicate what is already being done in
herbaria and botany departments. Instead it might be the a good role for
the ICPS to make available to CP enthusiasts a description of the existing
conservation tools and agencies, and how interested CP enthusiasts can
get involved with existing local conservation groups.
It might also be nice if the ICPS could gather together reports of ongoing
conservation work on habitats which contain CP.
Last year there was a discussion of a "world CP distribution map", to be
distributed over the internet. The intent seemed to be to allow anyone to
click on a CP species and learn exactly where plants can be found in the
wild. I'm opposed to such a distribution map. Conservation agencies already
know what plants grow where, in thier area of jurisdiction. If they don't
know about certain plants on their land, then it's probably a case where
nobody knows; a checklist hasn't been made yet. The world CP map would
not aid these conservation agencies and local conservation efforts. It
WOULD aid people who fly in from afar to collect plants. The map would also
aid in "plant sightseeing". This is a delicate situation. Ideally, seeing
plants in habitat will increase appreciation of plants in the wild.
Unfortunately, too much traffic results in trampling of the habitat and
inadvertant destruction of plants. Notoriety of the site may then lead to
collectors. So I'm in favor of distributing information on sites which
have been maintained for visitation--parks, preserves, and botanical
gardens which have displays of CP habitat. Here CP fans and the general
public could see CP from a trail or boardwalk. Admission fees would
help maintain the site and the plants. I'm not discouraging people from
looking for CP in their local area--here local knowledge can aid local
efforts--and local votes! But if CP habitat information is distributed only
among the locals, I don't have a problem with that, and I think it'll help
the plants in the long run.
Michael Chamberland