California Native Plant Society

10/06/2026

There's still time to apply to our Advocacy and Outreach Senior Coordinator role! This application period closes October 12.

Submit your application 👉 bit.ly/cnpsjobsfb

We're hiring! 🌿

CNPS is looking for an Advocacy and Outreach Senior Coordinator to help build and mobilize a statewide network of advocates protecting native plants, habitats, and biodiversity. In this role, you'll lead and grow the CNPS Advocacy Corps, analyze legislation and policy proposals that affect native plants, and work alongside Chapters, Tribal partners, and coalitions to advance our Saving What Matters Most and Landscapes for Change campaigns. This role is ideal for someone who loves the overlap of conservation policy and community organizing, and who's just as comfortable facilitating a volunteer training as digging into an environmental review.

📍 Hybrid (Sacramento-based).
📆 Apply by October 12
👉 https://bit.ly/cnpsjobsfb

🌱: Yerba Mansa (Anemopsis californica)
📸: Bryce King

10/05/2026

4 million+ acres of California’s national forests are on the line.
 
The U.S. Forest Service is moving to rescind the Roadless Rule, a 2001 protection that limits most road building, logging, and development in Inventoried Roadless Areas. These are the places where we botanize, backpack, climb, and camp. They also safeguard habitat, clean water, and Tribal resources, and they play a role in wildfire resilience.
 
YOU can still make a difference by leaving a public comment by tomorrow (Tuesday, October 6). The administration needs to hear from Californians now. Head to the link in bio or bit.ly/CNPSRoadlessRule for resources and instructions to add your voice before the window closes.
 
📸: Bryce King, Kristen Nelson, Bob Wick, Samantha Swatling Holcomb, Maeve Flynn

09/30/2026

When we think about 30x30, it’s easy to picture vast, remote public lands and rugged coastlines. But an important way to complement California’s 30x30 conservation efforts actually happens block by block—in schoolyards, parks, community gardens, and backyards across the state.

Growing native plants in our urban areas: 
🐛 Support pollinators and local ecosystems 
💧 Conserves water 
☠️ Reduced pesticide reliance 
🌳 Brings nature to our doorsteps

Yesterday, CNPS joined partners from across the state at the California Natural Resources Agency 30x30 CA Partnership Summit where CNPS Director of Education and Horticulture Lilia Higgins (Lila Higgins), reflected on the ways the built environment and 30x30 goals come together. Our Biodiversity in Urban Gardens (BUG) project and Landscapes for Change campaign give cities and the people who live in them tangible ways to support California’s biodiversity.

As Lila says here: Imagine nature not ‘out there,’ but right *here*, starting with each of us. 🐝🌼

09/29/2026

California has set out to protect 30% of its lands and coastal waters by 2030. Getting there takes all of us. 🌱 
 
This week the CNPS team is at the 30x30 CA Partnership Summit, where California state government partners, tribal members, organizations, scientists, and community members are gathering to reflect on the work that has been done and figure out what comes next. 
 
30x30 is our collective chance to safeguard the habitats that make California one of the most special and biodiverse places on the planet. That’s why we’re part of Power In Nature , a statewide coalition working to advance California’s three-part 30x30 goal to:
🌳 Protect and restore biodiversity
🌿 Expand access to nature
🌎 Build climate resilience

Now, we can’t wait to dive into today’s release of California’s Pathways to 30x30 annual progress report. Stay tuned for more!

09/28/2026

Calscape is California’s top native plant gardening website, and the new Pollinator Hub takes it even further with a first-of-its-kind tool matching pollinators to the native plants that support them at every life stage!

Why is this important?
🦋 1 in 5 U.S. pollinator species is at risk of extinction.
🌸 Almost 90% of flowering plants, including many crops, rely on pollinators.
🐛 About 90% of butterfly and moth caterpillars can only eat the native plants they co-evolved with.
🐝 Nearly 50% of ALL U.S. native bee species live in California.

The new hub is designed for home gardeners and professionals alike:
🪏 Gardeners, search by pollinator to find the local native plants that feed and shelter them, or answer a few questions in the Pollinator Companion Tool to get a custom plant list for a thriving garden!
🧑‍🌾 Farmers, find native plants that attract the pollinators your crops depend on. A diverse native pollinator community can boost yields while providing wildlife corridors for migration.
⛰️ Land managers and stewards: Discover research-based recommendations for native plants to support "specialist" pollinators that rely on specific plant species to survive.
Learn more about why pollinators matter at bit.ly/PollinatorHubFB! 🌿

Primary financial support for the Calscape Pollinator Hub comes from the CDFA Office of Agricultural Resilience and Sustainability.

📷 🎥 : Avia, Jess Cambronero, Bob Gunderson, Lila Higgins, Kristen Nelson, Thierry Rossier, and Elizabeth Tallent

09/23/2026

We're hiring! 🌿

CNPS is looking for an Advocacy and Outreach Senior Coordinator to help build and mobilize a statewide network of advocates protecting native plants, habitats, and biodiversity. In this role, you'll lead and grow the CNPS Advocacy Corps, analyze legislation and policy proposals that affect native plants, and work alongside Chapters, Tribal partners, and coalitions to advance our Saving What Matters Most and Landscapes for Change campaigns. This role is ideal for someone who loves the overlap of conservation policy and community organizing, and who's just as comfortable facilitating a volunteer training as digging into an environmental review.

📍 Hybrid (Sacramento-based).
📆 Apply by October 12
👉 https://bit.ly/cnpsjobsfb

🌱: Yerba Mansa (Anemopsis californica)
📸: Bryce King

09/14/2026

Hey, rare plant friends! CNPS has rebuilt the Rare Plant Inventory from the ground up! The refreshed platform keeps the tools researchers, land managers, and community scientists rely on, now with faster performance and improved navigation.

What's new:
- Significantly faster load times, especially for plant details and search results
- Improved display and design for easier navigation and accessibility
- Familiar features and style, so the transition is seamless
- Strengthened backend to keep the database secure for years to come

Explore the upgrade👉 https://rareplants.cnps.org/
See what's changed👉 https://rareplants.cnps.org/Home/ReleaseNotes/

CNPS Rare Plant Inventory Home Page

09/10/2026

Calling all undergraduate and graduate students: the application for the 2027 CNPS student research grants is OPEN!

Do you have a research topic that includes California native plants and addresses information gaps in the natural or social sciences? CNPS is proud to fund research in conservation, botany, ecology, Traditional Ecological Knowledge, land management, horticulture, communications, economics, history, socio-cultural connections, and more. We encourage you to submit your proposal!

📆 Apply by October 31, 2026
✅ Proposals will be evaluated on their ability to advance CNPS’s mission of conserving California’s native plants and their natural habitats, now and into the future, through science, advocacy, education, stewardship, gardening, and advocacy.
🌱 People from groups underrepresented in the natural and social sciences are strongly encouraged to apply.
🔗 Learn more: https://bit.ly/4cCTevi

Pictured: Mia Manfredi (2025 Natalie Hopkins Award recipient) collects specimens and writes field notes in Cottonwood Canyon in Death Valley National Park.
📸: Matthew Yamamoto.

09/06/2026

By now, you've probably seen the news. In an unprecedented move, the federal government is putting pressure on the National Parks Service to sell off part of Yosemite to a private developer(!). If this sounds insane, it is. Now is the time to use our personal and collective power. Here's how:

Check out our guide on 24 ways to help public lands now: bit.ly/CNPSDefendPublicLands

Photo: Elijah Cobb via Pexels