11/08/2023
Its Giving Day! Donate today to our one day fundraiser to help us save Santa Cruz's unique plants from extinction!
Give here: https://givingday.ucsc.edu/amb/RarePlants
We are fortunate to have an anonymous donor who has generously pledged to make a matching gift for our campaign. Your gift today will be doubled!
Santa Cruz County is home to some of the highest plant biodiversity on the planet. Unfortunately, the impacts of human land use, invasive plant competition, and climate change have put many species at risk of extinction. Saving these plants in the wild can be complicated and political—but saving their seed in seed banks is a doable and important safeguard against permanent extirpation!
The UCSC Greenhouses are working to grow and save seed from local plant species that are on the brink of disappearing. We do this in collaboration with local botanists and ecologists, and involve UCSC students in the entire process! These seeds are conscientiously collected in line with conservation protocols, and will be frozen in seed banks for future restoration, reintroduction, or research projects.
This is our third year running the Plant Conservation Internship, which propels students deep into plant conservation projects. Interns receive a stipend for their work, and learn horticultural skills which prepare them for future careers in this field. Last year’s Giving Day fundraiser enabled us to do meaningful conservation work while providing in-depth hands-on learning opportunities for seven undergraduate student interns. With your financial support, these students grew hundreds of local plants (including some rare ones!), collected thousands of seeds, and gathered data to inform future growing efforts of these plants. This has been a life-changing and meaningful experience for these students, who represent the future of conservation in California.
With your support, we can continue this work to conserve many more local rare plants in seed banks, and we can elevate a new crop of budding plant scientists into passionate conservationists. Please support our work today!
