Conserving Plant Diversity in New England is an innovative new report resulting from a two-year collaboration between Native Plant Trust and The Nature Conservancy. The report provides a scientific framework and detailed roadmap for conservation action and land protection that, if implemented, could effectively sustain plant diversity in New England as the climate changes.
The goal of the study was to assess the region’s status in meeting targets in the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (CBD 2012). As a step towards reaching those goals we develop time-bound New England targets based on representation and resilience, and we defined conservation as a specific mixture of areas permanently securement against conversion, embedded with core areas of protection for nature.
To determine progress toward these goals, the team:
- delineated the regional distribution of New England characteristic forests, wetlands, and other unique habitats.
- identified 234 Important Plant Areas (IPAs)—climate-resilient areas with a relative abundance of rare and endangered plant species.
- assessed the current protection status and likely losses to development for those habitats and IPAs, and identified the areas and acreage needed to meet the targets
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Native Plant Trust is an organization devoted to “conserving and promoting New England’s native plants to ensure healthy, biologically diverse landscapes”.
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Northeast Terrestrial Habitat Map was developed by The Nature Conservancy with support from the Northeast Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
Convention on Biological Diversity. 2012. Global Strategy for Plant Conservation: 2011-2020.
Botanic Gardens Conservation International, Richmond, UK.
