For her contribution to International Plant Conservation, Jenny Cruse Sanders of Atlanta Botanical Garden was awarded the BGCI 2016 Marsh Award for International Plant Conservation. Jenny’s citation states:
Jenny Cruse Sanders is a commendable leader of plant conservation initiatives in the Southeast United States and is guiding the plant conservation field in significant directions at the national level. This summary of Jenny’s work is inadequate and likely incomplete, however it hopefully demonstrates her passion for and dedication to plant conservation. Jenny has developed conservation programs at the local, state and regional levels for numerous threatened species and habitats of the biodiverse Southeast, including orchids, pitcher plants, and the Torrey pine, one of the most threatened conifers in the world. Jenny has positioned the Atlanta Botanical Garden as a conservation hub in Georgia and the Southeast, and has put them on the map nationally as a member of the Center for Plant Conservation. Jenny uses well-informed approaches to monitor, study and establish conservation protocols for the species she works with, utilizing a broad scope of cutting-edge technologies including molecular analysis, cryopreservation and tissue culture. Jenny’s smart approach and talent for bringing partners together has resulted in her playing important roles in the development of the Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance and the North American Orchid Conservation Center, among several other network-based initiatives aimed at sharing tools and information to strategize and inform conservation activities.
To read about the other winners and for more information, click here.
