San Francisco Botanical Garden - Gardens - From the Executive Director

Associate Curator David Kruse-Pickler
David has worked at SFBG for almost 4 years, first as Plant Collections Manager, and currently as Associate Curator. Prior to that he volunteered for 2 years as a Docent, Nursery, and Plant Collections volunteer. Currently, he is working on a graduate degree in Plant Systematics of California Native Flora at San Francisco State University.

Plant Preservation – A Continent-wide Approach

We often hear the words conservation and preservation in botanical garden circles, but what do these concepts really look like in action? Together they are the most important mission we have as a botanical garden. We achieve this mission by growing, protecting and propagating plants, many of which are rare and endangered in their native habitat. Luckily, we aren't alone in our endeavors, and as active members of the North American Plant Collections Consortium (NAPCC) we work together with botanical gardens all over North America acting as one giant 'living museum' to protect and save plant species.

The NAPCC's main goal is to create a network of botanical gardens and arboreta working to coordinate a continent-wide approach to plant preservation, and to promote high standards for plant collections management. NAPCC Collections may serve as reference collections for plant identification and cultivar registration. Collection holders make plant material available for taxonomic studies, evaluation, breeding, and other research. Participating institutions compare holdings with others to identify duplications and gaps. This makes efficient use of available resources, strengthening collections through combined collaborative activities.

Here at SFBG, we were one of the first gardens to commit to holding and developing a collection for the NAPCC; our Meso-American Cloud Forest. Once an application has been approved and a collection is added to the NAPCC, it is the responsibility of the holding institution to protect, propagate and share the listed species. This helps to ensure that no one garden has 'the' only representation of a particular plant species.

Currently, SFBG has submitted an application in collaboration with other botanical gardens and arboreta for our Magnolia collection. Once approved, all of the participating institutions agree on 1-year and 5-year goals. The goals include a focus on sharing plant material, horticultural information and most importantly, creating a continent-wide collaboration to include and protect as many species of Magnolia as possible. For example, one of the 5-year goals is to have at least 35% of the listed rare and endangered Magnolia species represented in North America botanical gardens and arboreta.

The NAPCC is an arm of the American Public Gardens Association (APGA) and is leading the way for individual gardens to come together creating large scale conservation and preservation of important plant species.

From the Associate Curator

Plant Preservation – A Continent-wide Approach