Native plant conservation and research is severely underfunded. One report showed despite comprising 57% of federally Threatened and Endangered species, they got less than 4% of the federal funding.
If you love plants, call and email your representatives. Ask them to support increased funding for native plant conservation. Then consider donating to these organizations.
This is a time-sensitive fundraiser to protect an extremely rare ecosystem: Save Bell Bowl Prairie. An airport access road is planned to be built right through it, but there is a legal effort to alter the plan and protect its many rare plants:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/kt3ne-save-bell-bowl-prairie
Annotation and illustration by Liz Anna Kozik, learn more at https://www.savebellbowlprairie.org/
Look for a native plant society near you. The research and monitoring programs through the Illinois Native Plant Society have been expanding in recent years. Since INPS is completely volunteer-led, donations to the grant programs goes right to scientists here in Illinois to study our native plants and ecosystems with no overhead:
https://illinoisplants.org/about-membership/
Find a "Friends of [local nature park system]" near you. Friends of Illinois Nature Preserves is a pretty new organization with teams of volunteers working to protect and restore the highest quality native ecosystems throughout the state:
https://friendsofillinoisnaturepreserves.org/
And, of course, iNaturalist! Our observations help land managers and researchers learn more about ALL life. I've seen iNat data used in quite a few papers and reports. For example, the consultants tasked with assessing the threat of construction activities to the Bell Bowl Prairie's threatened/endangered species included iNaturalist in their list of resources to assess. What we share here has a real impact. But server space isn't free and community support is needed:
https://donorbox.org/inaturalist-community-fundraising/fundraiser/cassi-saari
Who am I missing? Please share your favorite native plant conservation or research organizations that are doing good work, and how best to support them.
Associated tweet: https://twitter.com/BOUCUR/status/1476229145734623238
評論
Thanks for championing this, cassi! You're a voice for thousands and thousands of organisms that seek out this spot as a refuge. :)
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