Featured Conservation Articles

Essential and Carrier Oil-Bearing Plants: Conservation Consciousness

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By Kelly Ablard, PhD, MSc, RA, EOT The planet is undergoing the “sixth extinction” whereby species are being lost at a rate that far outruns the origin of new species. According to the IUCN (2018), approximately 970 species/subspecies are extinct, and nearly 7000 land plant species are threatened (i.e. critically endangered, endangered, or vulnerable). As …

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Report on a Deep Ecology Artist Fellowship at the United Plant Savers Goldenseal Botanical Sanctuary

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by Katherine Ziff “The plants are calling you. They have a rich and diverse vocabulary and speak in many tongues…the plants are calling us now, asking for help. The wild gardens are in trouble, and the precious medicines of the earth are being lost.“ — Rosemary Gladstar, 2000 What inspires stewardship of Earth’s medicinal plants? …

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Shifting the Paradigm: Consciousness in Plant Medicine

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by Shantree Kacera In the last decade, especially the previous year or two, the field of herbalism has been shifting—the consciousness of both herbalists and the general public has changed as our climate and landscapes have around the whole world. The shift to looking through the eyes of our ecological selves has come more into …

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Rural America: The New Global Heartland for Traditional Medicinal Plants

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ruralamerica-herbsforsale

by Dr. Michele Devlin The population of rural America is changing very quickly due to the global economy, new labor needs, and an influx of refugees and immigrants to work in meatpacking, agriculture, and related fields. Nearly 200 languages are now spoken even in small states like Iowa, and some rural towns are quickly becoming …

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Unregulated Wild Collection and Habitat Loss Lead to Vulnerable Status for Medicinal Goldenseal

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Hydrastis canadensis,

Republished with permission of IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature The latest update to The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ saw Goldenseal classified as “Vulnerable” on The IUCN Red List in a move that highlights concerns about the medicinal plant’s decline. The IUCN Red List (www.iucnredlist.org) now includes 87,967 different wildlife species, of …

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Ancient Saw Palmettos in the Heart of Florida

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Reprinted with permission of Matt Candeias,  In Defense of Plants When we think about long lived plants, our minds tend to fixate on bristlecone pines (Pinus longaeva), coastal redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens), or that clonal patch of quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) in Utah. What would you say if I told you that we can add a …

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Lessons on Stewardship: Chinquapins, Chiggers, and Indian Pipes

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by Ruth Davis Plants are often introduced into my garden by a share from a friend. Sometimes it is only a fond memory shared that sends me on a search for the plant itself. This is the case with the chinquapins. My mother spent her childhood in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains and …

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LEARNING TO DEFINE SUSTAINABILITY: LESSONS FOR ESSENTIAL OIL CONSUMERS

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by Erika Galentin, MNIMH, RH (AHG) The Elephant in the Room Define sustainability. “Sustainability” is a not-so-new term floating around the shelves of our global economy, hot on the tongue of marketers and advertisers ready to sell us the next best thing to organic. Within the natural products industry, “sustainability” is a concept that appears …

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The Role of Soil Fungi in Medicinal Plant Conservation and Regenerative Agriculture: Soil Fungal Inoculants’ Impacts on Crop Yield, Nutrition, and Basil Downy Mildew

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by Melody Wright The cultivation of medicinal herbs using regenerative agriculture methods can be as vital as conservation and education in meeting United Plant Savers’ goals. Herb farmers have the ability to cultivate some of the UpS “At-Risk” or “To-Watch” species, potentially reducing pressure on wild populations, as well as grow and promote alternatives to …

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