Peggy Olwell, chair of the North American Plant Specialist Group, is the Plant Conservation Program Manager for the Bureau of Land Management, a federal government agency managing more than 260 million acres of public land located in the United States. Peggy has worked in conservation biology for the past 20 years as Endangered Species Program Manager for both the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management. Prior to those positions Peggy worked as Conservation Program Manager for the Center for Plant Conservation. Peggy has been involved with IUCN as a member of the Plant Conservation Committee, Cactus and Succulent Specialist Working Group and the Reintroduction Working Group.

In 1994, Peggy Olwell and other U.S. botanists started the Plant Conservation Alliance (PCA), which is a public/ private partnership of 10 federal government agencies and more than 250 organizational partners working on plant conservation issues throughout North America. The Plant Conservation Alliance serves as the North American Plant Specialist Group for IUCN. There are five working groups within the PCA: Alien Plant Working Group, Medicinal Plant Working Group, Native Plant Materials Development Working Group, Restoration Working Group, and Public Outreach Working Group.

Each PCA working group is composed of volunteers led by a chair. The Medicinal Plant Working Group has developed two industry symposia as a forum for medicinal plant conservation and sustainable use. The next industry symposium is scheduled for 2007. The Alien Plant Working Group has developed 57 fact sheets which are available on the web. The Native Plant Materials Development Working Group is focused on collecting native seed and working with industry and researchers to develop more ecologically appropriate native grasses and forbs for restoration. Over the past five years more than 2000 collections of native seed have been made. The Restoration Working Group helped develop a restoration experts’ directory and a native plant supplier directory. The Public Outreach Working Group has a native plant events directory online and just recently developed two PCA brochures and an exhibit that have been sent to various conferences. In addition to the working groups, PCA has a grant program with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation which has funded 225 plant conservation projects totaling more than $11 million since 1995.

The focus for 2006–2007 of the North American Plant Specialist Group is to broaden the participation of partners across the continent. The Plant Conservation Alliance has worked primarily in the United States; however, we are in discussions with Canadian and Mexican botanists and the Trilateral Committee to facilitate Canadian and Mexican participation.

NatureServe has been appointed as the IUCN Red List Authority for North American Plants north of Mexico.