Barry wrote:
< I think it would be very nice to have a clickable map of the US, so
< every time you click on a state you would just get a list of the CP to
< be found in that state. Extremely coarse resolution that.
< Then, finer
detail might be added when appropriate. For example, in
< North Carolina there are a variety of CP boardwalks and so on.
Despite the ongoing controversy over level of site detail, both of these
proposals seem easy to agree on, no? (Even a county-level map). A
comprehensive inventory of state and national parks, reserves, wildlife
management areas and other protected localities that contain CP would be a
useful reference. Everyone wants to see these things in the wild, it seems,
even if they don't necessarily want to root them up and take them home.
Michael Chamberland writes:
>I am not entirely convinced by this call for trust, since it seems
>to be a one-way request (ie. hobbyists asking to be entrusted with
>locality data). What do the hobbyists offer to conservationists?
Ouch! I believe Michael to be a thoughtful and well-reasoned writer, but I
can't help but bristle at these kinds of comments. I believe that EACH
category (hobbyist and conservationist) has something to offer the other. Who
constitutes the vast bulk of most conservation organizations? Committed
volunteers. Who often carries out the conservation work (population and site
surveys, relocation and propagation efforts, etc.)? Committed volunteers.
After a tour of the Atlanta Botanical Garden's CP collection, and a
discussion of their CP (and other rare plant) rescue and relocation efforts
(BTW, thank you, Ron, David and Steve) Who was credited with doing at least a
portion of the work of micropropagation and general plant-tending? Committed
volunteers.
Granted, these are committed volunteers working for (with) a coordinating
organization .. and that's how it should be, in my mind (at least an attempt
to avoid this dreaded vigilante conservation I hear about <grin>).
One last thing (ok, not so brief, sorry):
I've heard concern about the ICPS working in concert with other
organizations, particularly local ones. I don't believe Rick (or anyone else)
believes that ICPS can become The Nature Conservancy for CP. We will have to
work with others. Perhaps a good first role of the ICPS is to publish a
"white paper" on the status of CP conservation efforts of other
organizations. ICPS can play an important coordinating role for CP in
particular, while at the same time complementing the larger efforts of
others.
Jay Lechtman (L235@aol.com)