The number in each of the oval boxes on this map represents the number of rare plant populations in each county which New England Plant Conservation Program (NEPCoP) volunteers and Plant Conservation Volunteer (PCV) Corps volunteers and staff pledged to survey during the 2009 field season.

The population data for each of these populations is held by the state natural heritage programs, and Society volunteers visit the populations and gather data to update these records. Some of the populations have been observed fairly recently, in the last five to ten years, others are quite old records which may have been last observed eighty to one hundred years ago.

There are 438 active trained PCVs and NEPCoP volunteers throughout New England. In addition to rare plant surveys, volunteers can take part in the many botanical inventory and invasive plant management days which take place every year. On the map, these days are represented by the numbers in the ovals in the counties in which the activities take place.

These activities include glossy buckthorn (Frangula alnus) removal on the Society’s Arbutus Sanctuary in Winchendon, MA, adding to the botanical inventory list for the Society’s Plainfield Sanctuary in Plainfield, NH, and removing Himalayan jewel-weed (Impatiens glandulifera) at a site in Farmington, ME, among many others. Many of the management projects involve removing invasive plants in order to save rare plants and habitats.

Click here for a full size map.

Map prepared by Jessica Korecki, New England Wild Flower Society’s New England Plant Conservation Program (NEPCoP) Administrative Coordinator