Staff at the Eurobodalla Regional Botanic Garden are behind a project that's helping safeguard threatened flora and better coordinate state and national approaches to plant conservation.
NSW lists 689 plants as threatened – with 223 listed as vulnerable, 339 listed as endangered, 108 as critically endangered, and 19 as extinct. Last year, Garden manager Michael Anlezark put out a call to botanic gardens across the state hoping to clarify which of these listed species are held in their collections.
Michael says eleven botanic gardens responded and between them had seeds or live specimens for 665 – 97 percent – of the state's threatened plants. Remarkably, 18 of the 19 listed as extinct can still be found in botanic garden collections.
Eurobodalla was one of only two botanic gardens with naturally occurring threatened species; the vulnerable East Lynne midge orchid (Genoplesium vernale) can be found within garden grounds.
"Simple yet groundbreaking, this project demonstrates the potential of regional botanic gardens to power conservation efforts. The collated data has since been presented to the threatened species commissioner in Canberra and will also be available to conservation agencies and government departments," says Michael.
Botanic gardens are now planning to partner up and share stock, giving threatened species an increased chance of survival should they experience a catastrophic event at any one location.
- This story was first published in Council's quarterly newsletter for residents, Living in Eurobodalla. A printed edition is delivered to Eurobodalla's 26,000 households.
