The purpose of these policies is to provide ethical, rational, and practical guidelines for the varied activities of New England Wild Flower Society (the Society). The complex nature of the issues covered by these policies makes it difficult to define "absolute" principles to govern the Society's conduct. Although the intent of these policies is to guide actions by staff, volunteers, and, members, the policies may be useful in providing standards for others to evaluate their own conservation-related activities.

Note: These policies are for native plant species. The Society does not propose policies on collection of non-native species except to recommend that collection or use of non-native species-seeds, plants parts, or whole plants- should not aid in the dissemination of non-native invasive species in any manner. Because most states consider plants to be the property of the landowner, landowner permission and permits from public agencies are also likely to be required in order to collect non-native species.

New England Wild Flower Society Conservation Policies and Guidelines for Native Plant Collection, Native Plant Distribution and Invasive Plants.

Document is in Adobe Acrobat (pdf) format, 70.9 KB, 23 pages.

Approved by New England Wild Flower Society's Board of Trustees on May 29, 2002.

Guidelines for Ethical Field Research on Rare Plant Species.

Document is in Adobe Acrobat (pdf) format, 44.2 KB, 8 pages.

The need for research must be balanced with the recognition that manipulating rare species in the wild may have negative consequences for population viability. To minimize harm to native populations while encouraging the development of sound protocols and informative field studies, we have developed the following set of guidelines for performing research on rare plants.

Position Paper on Plants and Seeds Displayed and or Distributed by New England Wild Flower Society.

The Society promotes conservation through the use of plants native to temperate North America.