What is at risk? Students assess plants being harvested.
What is at risk? Students assess plants being harvested.
Session:
Poster SessionStudents taking plant science courses at regional universities scored wild harvested plants using the United Plant Savers' At-Risk Assessment Tool. This assignment met both educational and conservation goals. Educationally, students became aware of medicinal plant uses while learning to assimilate information from many sources. From the conservation stand point, a need for a concise compilation of information regarding wild-harvested plants was identified by the United Plant Savers, a non-profit group that has created a tool to rank plants based on their vulnerability to over-harvest. Initial tests demonstrated that the assessment tool works qualitatively and mathematically, but the small number of plants scored has limited the usefulness of the tool. Student scores of plants are consistent with scores from herbalists and botanists, suggesting that the data will make a valuable contribution towards a set of rankings useful in setting conservation priorities.