Lists recently posted include these from St. Lawrence County by Anne Johnson and Nancy Eldblom:
Indian Creek Nature Center
Grass River Wild Forest
Wolf Lake State Forest
Yellow Lake State Forest
Click the Google map of plant lists in the links section on the right side of the page.
Maps recently posted include:
Whiteface Mountain plant list.
Plants of Long Island by Jelliffe 1899.
Click the Google map of plant lists in the links section on the right side of the page.
The Chicago Botanic Garden and Botanic Gardens Conservation International ‘s U.S. office have been working with partners across the country to assess current and future botanical capacity in the United States. The aim of this grant-funded project is to understand the resources we currently have to conserve and manage native plant species and habitat, identify gaps in capacity and highlight opportunities to fill them in the future. You may download the final report HERE. Below is an excerpt from the preface:
“Plants are central to the future of scientific discovery, human well-being, and the sustainable use and preservation of the nation’s resources. The botanical community in the United States plays a mission-critical role in researching, conserving, and sustainably managing our plant diversity and resources. Botanical expertise is required to address current and future grand challenges and issues, including climate change mitigation, land management and wildlife habitat restoration, understanding the provision of ecosystem services, management and control of invasive species, and the conservation and recovery of rare species. Despite the fundamental role botanical capacity
plays in tackling each of these issues, this report outlines where botanical capacity, particularly human capacity, is lacking across all sectors government, academic, and private). In the United States over the past two decades, the botanical community has experienced significant changes in
the demands placed upon it and the resources available to it. Since the early 1990s a series of published and anecdotal reports have outlined declining botanical capacity in many facets of this sector. This includes declines in human resources like botanical training and expertise, financial and management-level support for research, education and application, and the loss of infrastructure
such as herbaria. The nation’s science and land management agenda is suffering as a result.”
In light of New York’s decreased state funding for botany, this report is very timely. We need more botanists and botanical funding to protect our flora in New York.
Maps recently posted include:
Sortable Rare Plant List 2010
Ferns in the Vicinity of Poughkeepsie 1890
Vassar College Herbarium List 1890
Mud Pond Dryden List 1926
Access the map on the links sidebar.
If you would like another option for looking at topo maps of New York or other places in the US you can use this new map from ESRI on Arcgis.com. If you click on Basemaps on the top of the map you can look at different maps including aerials and USGS maps. Its very helpful when planning botany trips. Go to the map HERE.
Sample Map
The concept of Novel Ecosystems is gaining traction in the conservation community and will have implications with how preserves and other natural areas are managed (less management of invasive species for example). In the words of one ecologist, “Novel systems will require significant revision of conservation and restoration norms and practices away from the traditional place-based focus on existing or historical assemblages.” If you are interested in how many conservationists are thinking about the future you should become familiar with this new philosophy. It has many implications about the future of our flora in New York.
For more information go to the Google search page for this topic HERE.
A new map of the ecoregions of New York is available to use with ArcMap GIS and will soon be available in print. This was a joint effort of the EPA, New York Natural Heritage Program, USGS, NYS DEC, and NRCS. Two of the principal authors are Greg Edinger from the NY Natural Heritage Program and Doug Carlson from NYS DEC.
You can download the files for GIS as a zip file at:
ftp://ftp.epa.gov/wed/ecoregions/ny/
The printed maps will soon be available for $10 at the USGS store at:
Ecoregion Map from GIS
A portion of the printed map.
The 2010 Rare Plant Status Lists, edited by Steve Young, are now available from the New York Natural Heritage Program Botany Program. Go to www.nynhp.org and click on Rare Plant Information on the left side. The 2010 list will be a .pdf file at the top.
Local botanists Nancy Eldblom & Anne Johnson have just published the Plants of St. Lawence County, New York.
Contains write-ups of over 1,300 plants growing wild in St. Lawrence County–
Documents flora of rarely-botanized area, based on 27 years of field work.
“With its concise and detailed yet plainly worded entries, this book will help us all to better appreciate the plants in our woods and meadows and also those right outside our doors. I truly wish it had been available years ago at the start of my plant observing” —Martha Grow, Certified Naturalist.
263 page paperback available for $22.95 at local bookstores, and from the publisher, Bloated Toe Publishing, PO Box 324, Peru NY 12972 (http://www.bloatedtoe.com/)
For inquiries call (315) 322-4058.
New York Flora Association Blog 