Roadside Vegetation Management

In 2008, KNPS developed a Roadside Vegetation Management (RVM) position paper that encourages adoption of practices that promote native vegetation along Kansas roadways. Recommendations include a reduction of road-to fence mowing, use of sound ecological management practices for existing native roadside vegetation, and replacement of non-native vegetation with native grasses and wildflowers.” At this time, the membership at large of KNPS has an opportunity to be part of the implementation of the goals of the 2008 position paper. We welcome your feedback on how KNPS might facilitate the participation of the membership. The survey only takes a couple of minutes to complete and is anonymous. The survey closes on April 20, 2011.
Take the RVM Survey

Membership Regions

As a statewide organization, it's difficult to develop events and membership in all parts of the state. To foster more local events and local involvement, the KNPS is developing membership regions. The members in these regions shall be guided by KNPS and encouraged to develop local events and promote a local membership community.


See a map of the regions and learn more about getting involved locally.

2011 Events Posted

All known events have been added to the KNPS calendar for 2011.

A county filter has been added to KNPS Wildflower & Native Plant Events, so you can browse the events only in your county.

If you know of an event that isn't listed, send us the information using the link on the events page.

Kansas Honors Little Bluestem

The Woodlands & Prairies magazine published an article about the KNPS effort to name Little Bluestem as the state grass of Kansas. The article is Kansas Honors Little Bluestem.

Kansas Earth Day Books

Honor the 40th anniversary of Earth Day by exploring recent nonfiction about the natural history of our region of the earth. The books listed at Kansas Native Plant Appreciation will help you explore nature in Kansas.

Native Seed Banking

The Dixon National Tallgrass Prairie Seed Bank at the Chicago Botanic Garden is working to conserve the genetic diversity of our native vascular flora by collecting and preserving seeds from across the tallgrass prairie region in long-term cold storage. Banking seeds is an efficient way to preserve plant populations because seeds store the breadth of genetic diversity present in a population in small packages and, for most species, can do so for a very long time. These tiny packages once dried to15% humidity and stored at -20º C can be preserved, on average, for 200 years. Long-term storage of native seeds can serve as insurance that a species’ genome is protected against extinction in a rapidly changing world. For instance, we can predict where climate shifts may occur due to the effects of global warming, collect seeds in these critical areas and bank them for future reintroduction into suitable habitats at a later date. The alarming reduction of native plant populations across the tallgrass prairie region signifies now more than ever the importance of seed banking.



Ultimately seeds of multiple populations will be collected for over 3000 plant species of the tallgrass prairie.
Initially 543 species important for habitat restoration will be collected across twelve ecoregions.
A stipend of $90 will be provided for each collection.
In addition to long-term storage, the collections will be used as a resource for research and restoration projects.


Preserving native plant diversity of the tallgrass prairie region in a seed bank means collecting multiple populations of more than 3000 species across the Midwest. This enormous task cannot be accomplished with out lots of help from organizations like yours. Where and how do we start? We began by creating a list of species that are considered “characteristic” of common plant communities in the region and integral to habitat restoration. To determine the list, we searched the literature for native species that met set criteria reflecting their importance in a community for each of twelve ecoregions (Omernik level 3) strongly represented in the tallgrass prairie region. From that data, 543 species were selected for our “Restoration Collection Target Species List”, of which 156 are considered high priority. The goal is to collect seeds from one plant population (if it exists) in each of the twelve ecoregions for all 543 species.



We need your help to collect the species from our target list within your ecoregion. You can view our Restoration Collection Target List with ecoregions at http://cbgseedbank.org/restorationspecies.html. Omernik’s level 3 ecoregion map is included on our website to aid in locating your ecoregion. You can also find our seed collecting protocols (http://cbgseedbank.org/contractors_forms_protocols.html). We provide a stipend of $90 dollars for each collection and shipping to CBG with our FedEx account. If there is a species in your ecoregion that you feel is important for preservation that does not occur on our list, please contact us so we can add it. The more seeds secured in the bank, the more valuable the collection will be. The collection will be divided with one part remaining in the seed vault for long-term storage, another part held in at least one redundant storage facility off site and still another held in the seed vault as a resource for research and restoration projects.



If you can help, please feel free to contact us so that we can get you started. Also, if you have colleagues in your ecoregion or the others listed that may be interested in participating, please pass along this invitation.



Sincerely yours,



David Sollenberger

Seed Conservation Specialist

847-835-6957

dsollenberger@chicagobotanic.org

Little Bluestem Bill Passes House

The Little Bluestem bill was debated in the House this morning and passed.