See also: Botanical Guardians' Postcards from the Field, January 2004

BOTANICAL GUARDIANS DONORS These stewardship projects would not happen without their support. We thank them so! Crista Carrell, Down to Earth Foundation Mary and Sharon Denney Anne Frierson Peter and Julia Holt Mimsie Lanier Thomas H. Lanier Foundation Elaine Nash Patricia Turner, M.D. Pediatrix Medical Group, Inc. (corporate match for Dr. Turner) Lovat A. Wilkins Nick and Suzie Williams

The state of Georgia employs just two botanists to carry out the overwhelming tasks of documenting the flora, cataloguing what is rare and endangered, and designing recovery plans for endangered species and plant communities. Georgia's flora is diverse, with more than 3,000 species of vascular plants and numerous unusual and fragile habitats. Extending from the Atlantic Ocean into the southern Appalachian Mountains, the Georgia landscape supports a wide variety of mountain, piedmont, and coastal plain communities rich in endemic species. Georgia is home to one of the most critically endangered trees (Florida Torreya), some of the most botanically diverse habitats (pitcherplant bogs), and the fastest growing counties (Forsythe and Chatham) in the United States.

In 2001 some of Georgia's largest and most diverse pitcherplant bogs growing under powerline right-of-ways were heavily sprayed with herbicide, despite efforts to secure their protection. The application of herbicide was so intense that it killed trees with one application. Pitcherplants are carnivorous and especially adept at utilizing nutrients absorbed from decaying insects captured by their pitcher-like leaves. Because of this adaptation, they are highly sensitive to chemicals. The herbicide spraying decimated several bogs, destroying pitcherplants, sundews, orchids, and other wildflower species. Pitcherplant bogs are also home to large numbers of insect, amphibian, reptile, and bird species. As partial mitigation for the spraying of these rare habitats, the power companies have turned the management of these powerline right-of-ways over to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Heritage Program. This is a small, but active unit of the Georgia DNR, the same one charged with cataloguing the flora of the state. They are now charged with the task of monitoring and restoring 21 rare habitats under powerlines.

The Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance (GPCA) is creating a network of volunteers from throughout the state of Georgia to help locate lost rare plant populations, monitor known locations of endangered habitats, and serve as stewards for the 21 rare habitats under powerline right-of-ways. The State Botanical Garden's Plant Conservation Program is charged with the task of coordinating this network. The program, called the Botanical Guardians project, is modeled after a successful volunteer program developed by the New England Wildflower Society (NEWFS). New England's program, launched in 1999, has trained nearly 400 volunteers to monitor rare plant populations, assist in management of these sites, and identify and control invasive plant species.

NEWFS was one of the first to coordinate volunteers to monitor rare plant species. The notion that volunteers could provide reliable, repeatable results while maintaining the security of the rare plants was initially viewed with skepticism by many conservation professionals, but after ten years of successful volunteer monitoring, the Natural Heritage programs in New England have come to rely heavily on the data provided by the NEWFS Plant Conservation Volunteers (PCVs). NEWFS now coordinates over 350 well trained, amateur field botanists monitoring threatened plants and performing vegetation management for plant communities. In 2001, the Plant Conservation Volunteers donated an impressive 14,540 hours and completed over 500 separate field actions.

"The Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance has demonstrated its commitment to plant conservation, and the success of its programs has been recognized nationally. Initiating a volunteer rare plant monitor program such as those of NEWFS and other institutions is a logical extension of their already successful conservation program. I strongly support the GPCA in their new program, Botanical Guardians," William E. Brumback, Conservation Director, NEWFS.

Hugh and Carol Nourse, GPCA members and SBG Volunteers-Extraordinaire have already attended two New England Wildflower Society PCV training programs, drafted a training manual for Georgia volunteers, and piloted the program with six volunteers in 2002. A group of over 20 volunteers from the Georgia Botanical Society, a GPCA participant, is lined up to work in 2003.

The first priority for the project has been to hire a project coordinator to organize and train volunteers, prepare location and description information packages for each project, obtain landowner permission, and supervise data collection. Bill Brumback explains, "The key to a successful volunteer monitoring program, beyond the initial commitment of the institution itself to conservation, is a staff member whose position is dedicated to identifying, recruiting, training, and coordinating volunteers. In my experience, this dedicated staff position is the most critical piece of a volunteer monitoring program." In November 2002, SBG launched a letter campaign to raise money for the Botanical Guardian coordinator position. We were able to hire conservation biologist, Heather Alley, operating month-to-month on individual donations. Heather has done an exceptional job launching the program, organizing and training volunteers for the 2003 field season. Volunteers were interviewed and screened before selection, and they signed a site and data security agreement promising not to disclose rare plant locations. Volunteer training requires a half-day of classroom instruction and a practice site visit. Data collection is not complex, but it does require accuracy.

Two teams of Botanical Guardians have been created. The first is a group of surveyors who search for locations of rare plants. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources selects species for survey from their watch list of 609 species. Volunteers try to locate populations based on information from DNR files, herbarium labels, and local knowledge. They will cultivate relationships with landowners and educate them concerning the value and management of the rare plants on their property. The survey data collected will be important for prioritizing conservation activities, identifying what is surviving and what has been extirpated, and documenting the status of Georgia rare plant populations and the threats to their survival. Rare plant species are often indicators for rare habitats and rare animal species that rely on those habitats for survival.

The second team is the local stewards, volunteers who live near the 21 designated rare habitats located under powerline right-of-ways. Heather uses GPCA network connections to find and train local stewards who are willing to walk the sites monthly to look for signs of disturbance (e.g., herbicide application, ATV wheel damage, plant collecting from the site). Experience has taught us that even though we secure agreements from the powerline company executives that workers will not spray or otherwise harm these habitats, that information does not necessarily get to the people manning the herbicide trucks, airplanes, or back-pack sprayers on the ground. We need local stewards to watch over these sites.

Botanical Guardians have a daunting task searching for lost populations of rare plant species and watching over rare habitats. The searches require great sleuthing and perseverance. Hugh and Carol Nourse will tell you how difficult the search for rare plant populations can be, recounting stories of searches that began on herbarium labels, traveled through courthouse records and back country roads only to end with populations submerged under a lake created by a dam. But they will also tell you how very satisfying it is finally finding and documenting a rare plant population, realizing the plants are still surviving in Georgia, and sharing with the landowner the story of the very special plants they have on their property. Hugh and Carol said, "Our greatest thrill was when we found a site for Hartwrightia floridana that was not previously known. What a thrill to watch Tom Patrick (Georgia DNR Botanist) place the new site on the Natural Heritage Program maps."

If you would like to donate to the Botanical Guardians project, please send your contributions to the State Botanical Garden with "plant conservation" written in the memo line. All contributions support the project directly. If you are interested in applying as a volunteer for the Botanical Guardians project, please contact the Plant Conservation Program at 706-542-6448.