"Plants of Concern" program Offered by Lake County Audubon Society

Susanne Masi, nationally known plant expert, will present a program on Plants of Concern (POC) on Monday, May 7, 7:30 pm, at the Libertyville Village Hall. Sponsored by the Lake County Audubon Society, she will describe this eleven-year old citizen science-based rare plant-monitoring program.  Susanne initiated the program and has coordinated it through the Chicago Botanic Garden for Chicago Wilderness. Since its inception, POC has trained over 640 dedicated volunteers, partnered with 111 public (federal, state, local) and private landowners, and monitored 224 endangered, threatened and rare species at 313 sites. 

A major program goal is to show changes in rare plant populations in response to management over time in an adaptive management process. This summer presentation describes the program structure and scope—presenting examples of some of the plants monitored and showing regional trends for selected rare species populations that are beginning to emerge from this long-term dataset. 

Susanne is Manager of Regional Floristics and of the Plants of Concern Program at the Chicago Botanic Gardens where she also manages the CBG Herbarium, teaches, and does research on and monitors Endangered Plant Species.

  This hour and a half program is free and open to the public. The Libertyville Village Hall is located at 118 W. Cook Street.