Friends of the Oregon Flora Project, a new fund-raising group, is being sponsored by The Native Plant Society of Oregon (NPSO).  Over the next 10 years, Friends will work to raise the projected 2 million dollars needed  to complete the Flora of Oregon, a manual for the identification of Oregon plants.  Our immediate goal is to acquire funds to support key staff positions.  Oregon State University supports the Flora project by providing work space, computers, and crucial infrastructure.  The greatest remaining expense to the Oregon Flora Project is the cost of labor.

     The Oregon Flora Project is now beginning its fifth year as a volunteer organization of  dedicated individuals working to ensure the successful completion of a new Flora of Oregon.  During the past four years, the project has made remarkable progress determining which plants grow where in Oregon, developing a prototype of an electronic plant Atlas, publishing the Oregon Flora Newsletter, compiling herbarium specimen label data and publishing the Oregon Vascular Plant Checklist: Asteraceae.  Many loyal contributors to the Oregon Flora Project have made this progress possible.

     To facilitate fund raising, OSU’s Director of Development advised us to form a “Friends” group.  We turned to those who have stood behind the Oregon Flora Project from the beginning: the Native Plant Society of Oregon, whose  board voted to sponsor the Friends group, and allow me, Keli Kuykendall, to chair this new NPSO Committee.  With NPSO sponsorship, the Friends group will be better able to implement an active fund raising campaign on behalf of the Flora Project.

     So now there are two avenues available to make donations to the  Flora project.  You may continue to make donations directly to the OSU Foundation, or donations may be routed through NPSO via the new PO Box address.  All the funding goes into the same Oregon Flora Project account, with no hidden fees and no additional administrative costs. If you have been making donations through the OSU Foundation, you may continue to do so.  The Friends will focus on recruiting new donors, both individual and corporate.

     This fall, I am setting up a Friends Committee to help with grant writing, bookkeeping and general fund raising.  If you have experience or enthusiasm, contact me, Keli Kuykendall, at (541)758-8409, kuykendk@peak.org or our new address: Friends of the Oregon Flora Project, PO Box 402, Corvallis OR 97339.

     You can read more about Friends of the Oregon Flora Project in the enclosed brochure.  I am  grateful to Esther McEvoy and Rhoda Love who contributed their time, money and artistic talents to the brochure.  The brochure also will tell you how you may request a beautiful Erythronium oregonum print by Bonnie Hall when you become a member. Use the brochure to join the Friends group today, and feel free to  make copies for others who may be interested.