for immediate release

Chicago Botanic Garden’s Plants of Concern Program Receives Illinois Wildlife Preservation Fund Grant

Grant of $28,000 to go toward protecting Illinois’ rare plants

Media Only:
Melissa Schuler
(847) 835-6829, direct
mschuler@chicagobotanic.org

GLENCOE, Ill. (September 25, 2009) — The Chicago Botanic Garden’s Plants of Concern (POC) program was recently awarded a $28,000 Wildlife Preservation Fund Grant from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, which will be distributed over a two-year period. This grant is designed to preserve, protect, perpetuate and enhance nongame wildlife and native plant resources of Illinois through preservation of a satisfactory environment and an ecological balance. POC is a regional rare plant monitoring program designed to assess long-term trends in rare plants species.

Co-founded in 2000 by Susanne Masi, manager of regional floristics at the Chicago Botanic Garden, POC monitors plants in eight counties of northeastern Illinois including Cook, Lake, DuPage, McHenry, Kane, Will, Kendall and Kankakee. It is a collaboration of trained volunteers, “citizen scientists,” working together with land managers and scientists. The data collected provides land managers with information that helps them set management goals for species within a community context and evaluate management practices.

“POC was created to meet the needs expressed in Chicago Wilderness’ Biodiversity Recovery Plan (1999) to monitor endangered and threatened species throughout the region,” said Ms. Masi. “Nothing of this scale and scope had been done before. We rely on our citizen scientists to leverage the scarce resources of public and private agencies.”

The POC program is founded on four core tenets:

• Monitor endangered, threatened, and locally rare plant species using standardized protocols.

• Assess long-term trends in rare plant populations in response to management activities and/or threats to populations.

• Train volunteers as citizen scientists to monitor rare plant populations and become conservation advocates.

• Provide information on population trends and potential threats to the populations to public and private landowners, land managers, and agencies as feedback to help determine future management practices.

Since its inception in 2000, the program has grown exponentially. POC has trained more than 450 citizen scientists; accumulated 9,281 volunteer hours; coordinated with 83 landowners; and monitored 203 endangered, threatened and rare species. The importance of POC’s citizen scientists can not be stressed enough. It is because of the dedication and perseverance of the volunteers that the program continues to thrive.

The opening of the Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Plant Conservation Science Center will enhance the visibility of the program and help it continue to grow. The Plant Science Center will also showcase the program as part of the multifaceted approach to plant science undertaken by Garden scientists, which includes ecology, population biology, genetics, and soil science. Additionally, the Plant Science Center’s expanded Herbarium will help POC with identifying monitored species and their associate species.

Admission to the Chicago Botanic Garden is free. Select event fees apply. Parking is $20 per car; free for Garden members. For more information about the Garden’s Plants of Concern program visit www.chicagobotanic.org/research/plant_conservation/rare_plant or call Susanne Masi at (847) 835-8269.

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Editors, please note: The Chicago Botanic Garden's newsroom is online at www.chicagobotanic.org/pr. For digital images, contact Julie McCaffrey at (847) 835-8213 or at jmccaffrey@chicagobotanic.org.

The Chicago Botanic Garden, one of the green treasures of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, is a 385-acre living plant museum featuring 24 distinct display gardens surrounded by lakes, as well as a prairie and woodlands. With events, programs, and activities for all ages, the Garden is open every day of the year. Admission is free; select event fees apply. Parking is $20 per car; free for Garden members. The Garden is located at 1000 Lake Cook Road in Glencoe, Ill. Visit www.chicagobotanic.org or call (847) 835-5440 for seasonal hours, images of the Garden, and commuter transportation information.

The Chicago Botanic Garden is managed by the Chicago Horticultural Society. It opened to the public in 1972 and is home to the Joseph Regenstein, Jr. School of the Chicago Botanic Garden, offering a broad array of adult classes in plant science, landscape design and gardening arts. Through the Division of Plant Science and Conservation, Garden scientists work on plant conservation, research and environmental initiatives that have global impact. The Center for Teaching and Learning brings the wonder of nature and plants to children, teens and teachers. The Garden's Horticultural Therapy and Community Gardening programs provide nationally recognized community outreach and service programs. A program of the Chicago Botanic Garden, Windy City Harvest is an organic vegetable and plant production enterprise that provides instruction in sustainable horticulture and urban agriculture to residents of Chicago’s North Lawndale and West Side neighborhoods.

The Chicago Botanic Garden is accredited by the American Association of Museums and is a member of the American Public Gardens Association (APGA). The Chicago Botanic Garden is also host to Botanic Gardens Conservation International-U.S., and a member of the Center for Plant Conservation. In 2006, the Chicago Botanic Garden received the Award for Garden Excellence, given yearly by the APGA and Horticulture magazine to a public garden that exemplifies the highest standards of horticultural practices and has shown a commitment to supporting and demonstrating best gardening practices.