Plant scientists and others involved in plant development and production are invited to a hands-on workshop Sept. 9 at The Huntington Botanical Gardens to provide introduction and training on the PlantRight Plant Risk Evaluator online tool and database. Jim Folsom, director of the gardens, is hosting the event to enhance nurseries' plant risk analysis capabilities. The event takes place from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
The PlantRight Plant Risk Evaluator (PRE), recently developed at University of California at Davis’ Information Center for the Environment, is an online risk assessment tool and database inspired by the Conser et al. research, published in March 2015. PRE is 95 percent accurate in predicting both invasive and non-invasive risk, in a given region. It consists of 16 predictive questions and four climate-related questions. It was designed for use by plant scientists involved in the development, production and distribution of horticultural plants. Funding for the PRE tool and database is provided by Sustainable Conservation.
Who should attend this workshop?
Plant scientists, who:
- are involved in production and/or distribution of ornamental plants
- work at or with horticultural colleges, herbaria, and botanic gardens and collaborate with horticultural businesses that want to be known for environmentally-friendly plants
- are interested in ornamental WRA (Weed Risk Assessment)
Note: PRE is designed for evaluating terrestrial, ornamental (not native) plants
What to bring?
PlantRight promises a worthwhile workshop when attendees bring:
- personal experience conducting literature review
- laptop computer (to access internet, via Wi-Fi)
- scientific name of a plant (or plants) you wish to evaluate
- interest in advancing practical, new tools to help the nursery industry know before they grow if a plant poses an invasive risk in their regional marketplace/s
Benefits of attending
- supplement your organization’s plant risk analysis capabilities
- be among the first to gain first-hand experience with this new decision support tool
- join other industry leaders in promoting exclusively non-invasive plants for regional markets, and in preventing future ornamental invaders from taking root
- be heard PRE is in its beta testing phase, and we welcome your critique
Space is limited, so please reserve your seat today. RSVP to Danielle Rudeen at DRudeen@Huntington.org.