Native Plant Producers Society of Alberta

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Native Plant Community Benefits

Vision:
Enabling Albertan's to restore and reclaim native plant diversity and ecosystem integrity by making native plant material commercially available.

 Mission Statement:
A green-commerce based society, the NPPSA  provides the biological and social capital to catalyze the reclamation of site-appropriate, contiguous native plant communities throughout the province.  Educating Albertans about the importance of native plant species to the integrity and function of ecosystems, while acting to ensure that existing sites and habitat that support native plant communities continue to persist, flourish, adapt and evolve.       

Founders:
The Society was started by a small group in 2009 to promote and facilitate the commercial use of native plants across Alberta.  Commercializing native plants in Alberta will create jobs, supporting our people and Alberta’s natural resources.

Our founders are:
Bruce Bashforth: Bruce grows and sells a large variety of native plants from Bedrock Seed Bank in the Edmonton area.
Trace Johnston: Trace is an Agriculturalist with experience as a producer, seed trader and consultant for Alberta Agriculture.
Markus Eymann:  Markus is a local wild-crafter and grower of native plant seeds – both grasses and forbs.
Michael Rawson Clark: Michael is a sustainability expert, owner of Clark EcoScience and Sustainability, co-founder of GreenAlberta.ca, the Campus Sustainability Coalition at the University of Alberta, and this Society. 

Advisors:
Cherry Dodd: Cherry is long-time naturalist and native plant champion, leading the Edmonton Naturalist Group.

The Organization:
Was founded in October 2008 as a not-for-profit Society and incorporated as the Native Plant Producers Society of Alberta. 
The organization is a response to the increasing interest, need and demand for sustainable, low impact and environmentally friendly reclamation and landscape plant options. 
It is our hope that the native plant grower, researcher, enthusiast and purchaser community will create a unique collaboration to enhance commercial native plant diversity and regional availability.

Rationale for the Creation of the NPPSA:
In Alberta, native plant species are important for industrial reclamation, sustainable landscaping, and citizens taking care of Alberta’s environments. While there is a great demand for native plants, availability is insufficient to ensure that all areas that could be planted with natives actually are.
Some barriers to filling this demand include: plant species unavailability, low numbers, purchasing and maintenance protocols that are not amenable to reclamation with native plants, and a paucity of appropriately trained installers, growers, maintainers and other trades needed to run such an industry. Achieving diversity – both in terms of species and regional genetics - may require use of individual plant plugs combined with seed. 
Some of the basic biology of Alberta’s native plants are a challenge as well: the diversity of grassland species comes from herbaceous perennials, many of which set seed in low numbers, precluding large amounts of available seed material.