It is a joint project of the Horticulture and Conservation Committees of the Garden Club of America. It is a grass roots, hands-on volunteer initiative which focuses pm endangered plant needs on the federally managed public lands of the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the Tennessee Valley Authority.

A survey was done in 1990 by 12 GCA women who investigated endangered plant issues nationwide on our federally managed public lands. Federal funding of endangered plants was meager and on-staff botanists were few and far between. Because plants are the constituency of the Garden Club of America, the Partners for Plants idea seemed like a logical way to help fill a need and make a difference.

The chairman of Partners for Plants is the go between for the federal land management agencies and the members of the individual clubs of the Garden Club of America. Sometimes the initiative comes from the land agency and sometimes it comes from the individual member. Once the two have matched, the federal land manager designs the project based on endangered plants needs under his or her jurisdiction. Projects include inventorying, mapping, monitoring, transplanting or clearing habitat. The individual member of the GCA finds the volunteers to work on the project.

** 2002 Projects