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Fall 2009

Dear Friends,

As the fall colors fade and the field season winds down, I am delighted to send you the annual Take Action summary of the Society’s critical conservation initiatives throughout New England. At the same time, I want to encourage you to take action by generously supporting our efforts to protect New England’s native plants.

Your generosity is especially important for sustaining our core programs in the coming year. The wild plants we serve won’t directly feel the effects of a tough economy—unless our conservation activities shrink during what is shaping up to be a second year of economic uncertainty.

Our incredible staff and volunteers are addressing the threats to our region’s native plants from significant shifts in temperature and precipitation as the climate changes. Needing your support are projects to:

• Collect and store seeds—We collect and preserve seeds from both endangered and common plants to ensure native seed for restoration projects and long-term biological diversity. Priorities include species in alpine, cold water, and other habitats on the front line of climate change.

• Conduct plant surveys—Owners of both private and protected land throughout New England seek our help to identify rare, endangered, and invasive plants so that they can properly manage their holdings. In the process, we are learning more about plant populations and range shifts—critical elements for understanding how native plants and the insects, birds, and animals that depend on them might adapt to the warmer, wetter conditions predicted for the region.

• Control invasive plants—The voracious “Mile-a-Minute” vine poses an immediate threat to New England. It has already moved beyond the Mid-Atlantic region and into Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts, and it is heading northward rapidly—engulfing and destroying native plants along the way.

The Society is the only New England organization with the expertise and volunteer network needed for strategic action to conserve native plants facing a complex set of threats.

Take Action shows how much we’ve achieved this past year with your support, but there is still much to do. Your generous contribution will clearly make a difference, and I hope the flora of New England can count on you!

Sincerely,

Debbi Edelstein

Executive Director