News Nugget

Could ‘Assisted Migration’ Save Rare Plant Species?

By Courtney Lowery, 11-10-09

	Lupine in Wyoming. Forest Service photo by Jim Hughes.

The New York Times has a fascinating piece this week exploring dwindling plant species and a new idea that could save them—or turn them invasive.

From Anne Raver reports that the Chicago Botanic Garden is launching a new program to collect seeds from 1,500 prairie species by 2010 in Midwest, West, Rocky Mountains and the Great Basin area. The point, Raver reports, is to save species by bringing them to areas that might better suit them in a changing climate.

Kayri Havens, the botanic garden’s director of plant science and conservation puts it this way in the story: “We recognize that climate change is likely to be very rapid and that seeds only disperse a few hundred yards, half a mile at most, naturally. They’ll need our help if we want to keep those species alive.”

It’s not a new idea—in fact, the BLM has since 2001 been collecting seeds from native plants across the United States as part of it’s Seeds of Success program.

But, the notion has become a controversial one, critics saying so-called “assisted migration” can be costly and could spread invasive species in place they weren’t meant to grow.

The whole story is here—it’s worth a read.

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