For this week’s Wise Words we asked one of our favorite organizations, United Plant Savers, to let us know more about the amazing work that they do:
United Plant Savers (UpS) is a member supported non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation of at-risk native medicinal plants such as ginseng, goldenseal, bloodroot, black cohosh and slippery elm to name a few. UpS began 23 years ago when several herbalists including Rosemary Gladstar and Paul Strauss realized that many of the plants they were using in their medicines were disappearing from the wild and needed advocates to speak for them.
To help us identify plants of concern we have developed an At-Risk Tool that quantifies a particular plant’s vulnerability based on factors including life history, effects of harvest, abundance, range and more. Currently the biggest threats to these plants are habitat loss and over-harvest from the wild.
Much of our outreach is education based and takes several forms:
Throughout the year UpS teaches landowners how to grow at risk medicinal plants in their woodlots.
In the spring and fall we host an internship program where six people live and learn at the United Plant Savers Botanical Sanctuary in Rutland, OH. For six weeks the interns take classes from local herbalists and conservationists, learn many of the plants that grow on the sanctuary, work on seeding and propagation projects, help to maintain the sanctuary, and more. At the end of six weeks interns earn the Certificate of Medicinal Plant Conservation.
The UpS Botanical Sanctuary Network of over 100 landowners across the United States and Canada demonstrate their intentions to protect and expand existing populations of at-risk plants on their land. In addition they spread the mission of UpS with herb walks, workshops, and other educational events.
Each spring we publish the Journal of Medicinal Plant Conservation, which is the only publication of its kind dedicated specifically to the conservation of at-risk native medicinal plants.
The Reclaim Trail is an interpretive trail paid for in part through a grant from the Ohio Environmental Education Fund. Through a series of seven interpretive signs we tell the ongoing story of past land on the Sanctuary including strip mining, reclamation, and restoration.
The core of our educational outreach is the United Plant Savers Botanical Sanctuary in Rutland, OH. This 379-acre plant sanctuary is home to wild populations of many of the plants that we are concerned about. People come from all over the world to hike the Medicine Trail and spend time with these special plants including one of the largest documented patches of goldenseal anywhere.
It is here at the UpS Botanical Sanctuary, in the heart of the range for many of these at-risk plants, where early next year ground will be broken for the United Plant Savers Center for the Conservation of Medicinal Herbs. This 2000 square foot building will house the Museum of Herbal Medicine in Appalachia, a classroom for up to fifty people, office, and a certified herbal kitchen for medicine making. The purpose of the Center will be to accommodate the growing number of people who are coming to the Sanctuary to learn about native medicinal plants and also to document the long history of human interaction with these plants. By displaying this knowledge UpS hopes to demonstrate the true value of this bio-diverse region beyond extractive resources and timber.
United Plant Savers is partially supported by yearly memberships from individuals, schools of herbal medicine, and corporations. In addition we receive funding from grants both public and private. UpS does not have an endowment so each year we spend considerable time and effort to raise the funds necessary to run the organization. Anyone interested in supporting our work and mission can become a member, donate, or sign up for our mailing list at www.unitedplantsavers.org. Become a friend to United Plants Savers on Facebook and following us on Instagram so that you can help us spread the word of at-risk medicinal plant conservation.
If you have suitable habitat you can also help by putting seeds and plants in the ground! For more information on how you can expand populations of these plants visit our website or contact us at office@unitedplantsavers.org.