Reports To: National Board of Directors

NATIVARS COMMITTEE REPORT

Date:5-13-2013

Co-Chairs:Mariette Nowak & Dan Segal

262-642-2352 & 607-339-3118

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Reports to: National Board of Directors

Committee Members:

Nativars Committee
Committee / First Name / Last Name / Chapter Name / E-mail / Home Phone
Nnativars Com / Cindy / Eack / Illinois Prairie / / (309) 533-0941
Nnativars Com / Bonnie / Harper-Lore / Partner-at-Large / / (952) 525-0667
Nnativars Com / Scott / Leddy / Twin Cities / / (507) 864-4277
Nnativars Com / Tim / Lewis / Rock River Valley /
Nnativars Com / Shey / Lowman / Rock River Valley / / (815) 757-4456
Nnativars Com Co-Chr / Mariette / Nowak / Kettle Moraine / / (262) 642-2352
Nnativars Com Co-Chr / Dan / Segal / Partner-at-Large /
Nnativars Com / Lynn M / Steiner / St. Croix Oak Savanna / / (651) 433-5360
Nnativars Com / Donna / VanBuecken / Fox Valley Area /
Nnativars Com / Donna / VanBuecken / Fox Valley Area / / (920) 730-3986
Nnativars Com / Rick / Webb / Partner-at-Large / / (610) 873-4682
Nnativars Com / Maryann / Whitman / Oakland / / (248) 652-4004
Nnativars Com / Laurie J / Yahr / Madison / / (608) 274-6539
Nnativars Com / Loris / Damerow / Fox Valley Area Chapter / / (920) 734-5601

Statement of Purpose

Answer the question “are nativars native?”

Key Tasks

Define the term ‘Nativar’ in relation to our previous key task of defining the term ‘Native’.

Answer the question whether Wild Ones should consider nativars ‘native’

Arrive at a statement that expresses Wild Ones’ position on the use of nativars

Executive Summary

Having defined ‘native’ and ‘nativar’ within our committee, and after these definitions were approved by the National Board, there was consensus that we should also formulate a statement of some kind to address the use of nativars and how they do or do not fit within our mission statement.

There is little scientific data regarding the use of nativars, and the research we found was questionable, even if many committee members feel intuitively that certain things are true one way or another. So our attempts to articulate a position really just brought up some of the committee members’ initial feelings and thoughts about nativars that were raised and discussed in our definition process earlier. These include the idea that nativars are appropriate and useful in certain garden situations, and also include the idea that nativars are not consistent with the Wild Ones mission statement regarding biodiversity and conservation. We arrived at a few nearly-finished draft versions of a statement but it is a very complex subject and as a co-chair of this committee, I am not surprised it has taken a long time.

Recommendations or Request

We recommend that, similar to our native and nativar definitions, the committee reaches two or three versions of a statement, on which they committee would vote. This process can be unsatisfying because upon reading the statements, it is easy to feel that one may be better than the others, but that favorite one could still be revised further.

Tasks and Projects Completed

We got close to a final statement incorporating our definitions of native and nativar with our mission statement, but we did not reach a final vote on a statement.

Future Tasks and Projects

Tasks are now down to working with a few final statements and voting on one, assuming that is still the favored method of reaching some conclusion and closure on this subject.