Rare Plant Conservation Success Stories
The Forest Service and its partners and volunteers have had many successes in restoring and recovering rare plants on our national forests and grasslands across the country. We invite you to explore these tales with happy endings.
Alaska Region
- Aleutian Cress Relocated on the Chugach National Forest, Alaska
- Henderson's Checkerbloom (Sidalcea hendersonii) Newly Discovered in Alaska
Eastern Region
- Contributing to the Recovery of Leafy Prairie-Clover in Northeastern Illinois by Growing Plants from Seed and Planting in Restored Dolomite Prairie Habitat
- Discovery of New Hart's Tongue Fern Population
- Hiawatha Native Plant Program Successfully Grows Rare Downy Sunflower
- Midewin and its Plants of Concern Citizen Scientists, Making a Difference for Rare Plants
- Prescribed Burning Promotes Growth of Buffalo Clover
- Protecting Round-leaved Orchis (Amerorchis rotundifolia) on the Hiawatha National Forest
- Protecting Running Buffalo Clover (Trifolium stoloniferum) on the Wayne National Forest and Adjacent Private Land
- Recovery of Robbins' Cinquefoil - A Partnership Success
- Restoration of Douglas Hawthorn (Crataegus douglasii) in the Great Lakes Region
- Seek and You Might Find! U.S. Forest Service Botanists Locate and Work to Protect a New Population of Federally Threatened Fassett's Locoweed (Oxytropis campestris var. chartacea)
- Understanding and Conserving Appalachian Jacob’s Ladder (Polemonium vanbruntiae)
- Wayne National Forest Partners with Ohio Natural Areas and Preserves to Inventory for Rare Plants
- Wildfire Helps Rare Plants on White Mountain National Forest
Intermountain Region
- Rare Plants and Alpine Vegetation of the La Sal Mountains: Studies of a Unique Ecosystem Rising Above the Arid Colorado Plateau Desert
- Uinta National Forest Introduction Program to Recover Clay Phacelia, Phacelia argillacea, One of Utah’s Most Endangered Species
Pacific Northwest Region
- Camas Prairie Restoration Project
- Conservation of Greenman's Desert Parsley
- Ongoing Efforts to Recover Mirabilis macfarlanei, MacFarlane's Four-O’clock
- Sisyrinchium sarmentosum (pale blue-eyed grass or mountain pale blue-eyed grass) Conservation Efforts
- The Frozen Garden: Securing Seeds for the Future - The Berry Botanic Garden and the U.S. Forest Service Pacific Northwest Region
- Wenatchee Mountains Checker-mallow Recovery
Pacific Southwest Region
- Seed Banking Tracy’s beardtongue (Penstemon tracyi), Meeting Target 8 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation
- Tahoe yellow cress (Rorippa subumbellata Roll.) Recovery on the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit
- Who knew? Newly Delimited California Sensitive Plant Gains Protection from Rock Barrier and Informative Sign
Rocky Mountain Region
- Conserving Forkleaved Moonwort in the High Mountains of Colorado
- Moonwort Madness in the Rocky Mountain Region
- Restoring Blowout Penstemon (Penstemon haydenii) in Nebraska
Southern Region
- Kentucky Lady’s slipper Orchid Restoration Project Uses Local Know How on Kisatchie National Forest Lands
- Update! Restoration of a Rare Lady’s Slipper Orchid on the Kisatchie National Forest, Louisiana
- Restoration of Buck Creek Serpentine Barrens - Tusquitee Ranger District, Nantahala National Forest
Southwestern Region
- Botanists Team Up to Recover Holy Ghost Ipomopsis
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Makes the Endangered Sacramento Prickly Poppy a Spotlight Species
The Endangered Species Act at 40
Water howellia flower. Swan Valley, Montana.
In 1973, when the Endangered Species Act became law, the landscape of plant conservation was a very different than it is today. What a difference forty years makes! Advances in information exchange makes it possible now to decide with better certainty which plants are rare, where they grow, what threats they face, and what can be done to conserve and restore them. On the 40th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act, the Forest Service celebrates some remarkable stories of Endangered and Threatened plant and animal recovery, and also its Sensitive Species program.