Participate in Plant Conservation Day

Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) has designated May 18 as Plant Conservation Day.

Denver Botanic Gardens participates in many plant conservation initiatives. Our botanists collect seed of native plant species to be used in future restoration projects. Our ecologists actively work to protect and restore riparian and grassland habitats at Chatfield Farms. Our geneticists study rare plant populations and assess their genetic diversity to determine appropriate conservation strategies.

This year, citizen scientists are joining our conservation initiatives via the Denver EcoFlora Project. The Denver EcoFlora Project calls on citizens of the Denver – Boulder metro area to document the plants and fungi in their communities using iNaturalist, the citizen science app. This application allows users to publish photos of plant, animal, fungal or insect observations with data on when and where it was seen.

Over time, this data will create an ecological flora that will show how plants fit into the web of life in the Denver – Boulder metro area. This comprehensive set of data will be shared on a publicly accessible website for use in research about urban ecosystems, environmental education and conservation planning.

EcoFlora participants discover and document biodiversity in new and different ways through monthly EcoQuests. Join our EcoQuest mailing list here and consider participating to support plant conservation at Denver Botanic Gardens.