About Us | University of Washington Botanic Gardens

Contact Information

Washington Rare Plant Care and Conservation
University of Washington Botanic Gardens
Box 354115
3501 NE 41st Street
Seattle, WA 98195-4115
rarecare@uw.edu | (206) 616-0780

Science Advisory Board

Jon Bakker Ph.D, University of Washington
Molly Boyter, Bureau of Land Management
Tara Callaway, US Fish & Wildlife Service
Peter Dunwiddie, Ph.D., Ecological Consultant & UW Affiliate Faculty
Clint Emerson, US Forest Service
Josh Lawler, Ph.D, University of Washington
Jesse Miller, Ph.D. Washington Natural Heritage Program, Department of Natural Resource
Joe Rocchio, Washington Natural Heritage Program, Department of Natural Resource

Annual Reports

2024 Monitoring Weekend Summary Report

2024 Rare Plant Monitoring and Seed Collecting Annual Report

Find us on Facebook

Awards

“All USFS Forests in Washington State have benefited from this volunteer effort.”
— District Botanist

In 2015, the U.S. Forest Service awarded Rare Care its Regional Volunteer Award for Citizen Stewardship & Partnerships. When Lauri Malmquist, district botanist with the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, nominated Rare Care, she wrote, “As staffing and funding to the Botany/Ecology Program on the Okanogan-Wenatchee NF continue to decline, [Rare Care’s] rare plant monitoring program has played a vital role in continuing the monitoring necessary to provide critically needed information on the status of Washington State’s rare plant species. . . . Many rare plant populations have not been visited in a decade or more due to diminishing Federal funding and capacity. The scarcity of updated information on these plants puts them at risk of extirpation as a result of development, invasive species competition and other threats.”

Rare Care received the 2003 Conservation Project of the Year Award for its leadership in conservation work in Washington State. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service jointly recognized Rare Care for “providing urgent rare plant conservation through methods including rare plant monitoring, ex situ conservation, reintroduction, and education.”

“Rare Care has demonstrated a unique approach to harness the energy and interest of volunteers to help in native plant conservation.”
— Nominating Team

Selected articles about Rare Care

Award honors hundreds of citizen scientists who search for Washington’s rarest plants

Rare pygmy saxifrage found

US Forest Service honors Rare Care for monitoring rare species

Rare Care Newsletters

Rare Plant Press, Vol 20 No1, Spring/Summer 2025
- creating a conservation collection, showy stickseed conservation efforts, partner spotlight: Columbia Land Trust, focus species profile: Pacific lanceleaf springbeauty, volunteer spotlight: Cyndy Smith-Kuebel, staff spotlight: Naomi Reibold
Rare Plant Press, Vol 19 No2, Fall/Winter 2024
- notes from the field, on the hunt for Spalding’s catchfly, partner spotlight
Rare Plant Press, Vol 19 No1, Spring/Summer 2024
- planting for recovery — checker-mallow and desert buckwheat, testing direct seeding of White Bluffs bladderpod, spring/summer team, Umtanum desert buckwheat focus species, volunteer spotlight: Jane Engle, Jeff Thorson & Marilee Henry
Rare Plant Press, Vol 18 No 2, Fall/Winter 2023
- notes from the field, restoring habitat for species Wenatchee Mountains checker-mallow recovery, meet the 2023 field team
Rare Plant Press, Vol 18 N 1, Spring/Summer 2023
- Eremothera minor find, National Park Service- alpine vulnerability to climate change, partner spotlight: Jesse Miller of the Washington Natural Heritage Program, Washington polemonium plant profile, volunteer spotlight: Mickie Chamness, Carol Mack & John Stuart
Rare Plant Press, Vol 17 No 2, Fall/Winter 2022
- season wrap up, partner spotlight: Tara Callaway of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Chamber’s paintbrush plant profile, monitoring weekend
Rare Plant Press, Vol 17 No 1, Spring/Summer 2022
- research in action, Sierra cliffbrake, tips of the trade for new rare plant monitoring volunteers, Basalt daisy- focus species profile, volunteer spotlight: Steven Clark
Rare Plant Press, Vol 16 No 2, Fall/Winter 2021
- season wrap up, drones used for showy stickseed habitat, rare plants and climate change, welcome Anna Carragee, Cusick’s camas found in Washington state, highlights on Rare Care’s 2021 interns
Rare Plant Press, Vol 16 No 1, Spring/Summer 2021
- how Rare Care’s investment in people pays off for conserving plants, unraveling the mysteries of seeds in the Miller Seed Vault, and recognizing of volunteer Shelly Carpenter
Rare Plant Press, Vol 15 No 2, Fall/Winter 2020
- season wrap up, research on how Whited’s milk-vetch, Astragalus sinuatus, is responding to multiple wildfires, Rare Care receives Outstanding Partner Award from Washington Native Plant Society, seed collection of Rone’s biscuit-root, Lomatium roneorum, highlights on Rare Care’s 2020 interns
Rare Plant Press, Vol 15 No 1, Spring/Summer 2020
- new research project on White Bluffs bladderpod, Physaria douglasii ssp. tuplashensis, highlight on Joe Rocchio new Program Manager at Washington Natural Heritage Program, recognized excellent volunteers Janka Hobbs and Elizabeth Stanek
Rare Plant Press, Vol 14 No 2, Fall/Winter 2019
- new initiative with the Department of Natural Resources to conduct botanical surveys, recap of annual rare plant monitoring weekend, reflections from Rare Care interns on a season in the alpine, seed collection of Knoke’s biscuit-root, Lomatium knokei
Rare Plant Press, Vol 14 No 1, Spring/Summer 2019
- new initiative with the National Park Service, recognizing outstanding volunteers Terri Knoke and Sarah Shank, new focus species snow cinquefoil, Potentilla nivea, upcoming events
Rare Plant Press, Vol XIII No. 2, Fall/Winter 2018
- monitoring at the Columbia National Wildlife Refuge by Terri Knoke, finding personal meaning in citizen science programs, Cunningham honored with Brian Mulligan Award, annual rare plant monitoring weekend
Rare Plant Press, Vol XIII No. 1, Spring/Summer 2018
- how plants are ranked, outstanding volunteer, and new staff at Rare Care and the Washington Natural Heritage Program
Rare Plant Press, Vol. XII No. 2, Fall/Winter 2017
- connections with special places (Hanford Reach, Blue Mountains, Wenatchee Mountains) and special people (retiring Washington Natural Heritage Program Botanist Joe Arnett), reflections of two Rare Care interns, gratitude to donors, and monitoring highlights
Rare Plant Press, Vol. XII No. 1, Spring/Summer 2017
- US Fish and Wildlife Service Senior Ecologist Ted Thomas retires, outstanding volunteer, and new seasonal staff, interns and monitoring events
Rare Plant Press, Vol. XI No. 2, Fall/Winter 2016
- a federal botanist considers the worldwide scope of Rare Care Founder Sarah Reichard’s contributions to conservation biology in “A life of great intention” by Kathryn Kennedy, Ph. D., US Forest Service; a state botanist reflects on Dr. Reichard’s enduring influence on rare plant conservation in Washington in “A life of lasting impact” by John Gamon, Washington Natural Heritage Program; the UW Botanic Gardens honors a Rare Care volunteer; and Rare Care monitors burned lands
Rare Plant Press, Vol. XI No. 1, Spring/Summer 2016
- “Reviewing and revising the Washington State Rare Plant List” by Joe Arnett, outstanding volunteers, and focus species
Rare Plant Press, Vol. X No. 2, Fall/Winter 2015
- showy stickeseed research, gray cryptantha monitoring results, an unexpected pygmy saxifrage sighting, and a citizen stewardship award from the US Forest Service
Rare Plant Press, Vol. X No. 1, Spring/Summer 2015
- monitoring gray cryptantha in shifting sand dune habitat, outstanding Miller Seed Vault volunteers, and DNR ecologist David Wilderman
Rare Plant Press, Vol. IX No. 2, Fall/Winter 2014
- “New phlox species discovered in Blue Mountains,” efforts to protect Quinault fawn-lily, monitoring weekend focus on Wenatchee Mountain checker-mallow and Wenatchee larkspur, and multi-year monitoring of black lily, water lobelia, long-bearded sego lily, rosy owl-clover and Washington polemonium
Rare Plant Press, Vol. IX No. 1, Spring/Summer 2014
- monitoring and out-planting Whited’s milk-vetch, and Rare Care volunteers
Rare Plant Press, Vol. VIII No. 2, Fall/Winter 2013
- monitoring Hanford Reach’s rare plants in 100-degree temperatures, an unusual Blue Mountain Packera, a field researcher’s perspective on pale blue-eyed grass, and new populations of rare plants found by Rare Care monitors
Rare Plant Press, Vol. VIII No. 1, Spring/Summer 2013
- focus species including water howellia, long-styled sedge, Chelan rockmat and Seely’s silene, plus outstanding volunteers
Rare Plant Press, Vol. VII No. 2, Fall/Winter 2012
- group monitoring projects including rosy owl-clover, pale blue-eyed grass and Wenatchee Mountain checker-mallow, showy stickseed seed propagation and out-plantings, graduate student research, and a volunteer perspective on monitoring Spalding’s catchfly
Rare Plant Press, Vol. VII No. 1, Spring/Summer 2012
- graduate student’s milk-vetch research, and an outstanding volunteer
Rare Plant Press, Vol. VI No. 2, Fall/Winter 2011
- yellow sand verbena project, species added to seed vault collection, two dozen rare plant surveys completed during annual monitoring weekend, and plant biodiversity conference
Rare Plant Press, Vol. VI No. 1, Spring/Summer 2011
- germination tests, and outstanding volunteers
Rare Plant Press, Vol. V No. 2, Fall/Winter 2010
- hunting Washington’s only known least phacelia population, monitoring water howellia, conversation with WNHP botanist Joe Arnett about Wenatchee Mountain flora, and a volunteer’s battle with yellow archangel to save a rare trillium
Rare Plant Press, Vol. V No. 1, Spring/Summer 2010
- houndstongue biocontrol agent, and outstanding volunteers, March 2010 US Department of Agriculture Pest Alert on Mogulones cruciger
Rare Plant Press, Vol. IV No. 2, Fall/Winter 2009
- significant Brewer’s cinquefoil sighting, rare alpine seed from national park banked in Miller Seed Vault, retracing the steps of botanist Elroy Burnett
Rare Plant Press, Vol. IV No. 1, Spring/Summer 2009
- record-breaking year for seed collections, a graduate student’s black lily research, and BLM botanist Pam Camp
Rare Plant Press, Vol. III No. 2, Fall/Winter 2008
- Rare Care celebrates 10 years of rare plant conservation, monitoring weekend focuses on Wenatchee Mountain endemics, and third search reveals pink fawn-lily and giant golden chinquapin
Rare Plant Press, Vol. III No. 1, Spring/Summer 2008
- basalt daisy and slender moonwort removed from federal candidate status, new species-focused monitoring strategy, and Rare Care presence grows statewide
Rare Plant Press, Vol. II No. 2, Fall/Winter 2007
- Rare Care visits all known basalt daily populations in one weekend, ex situ conservation responds to global climate change, Rare Care participates in worldwide Seeds of Success project, and outstanding volunteers
Rare Plant Press, Vol. II No. 1, Spring/Summer 2007
- new species accessioned into Miller Seed Vault, prioritizing seed collections, and sedge taxonomy
Rare Plant Press, Vol. I No. 2, Fall/Winter 2006
- two vaguely documented historic rare plant populations relocated, plus cheatgrass and seedling establishment
Rare Plant Press, Vol. I No. 1, Spring/Summer 2006
- five-year strategic plan, germination trials, commercial sale of rare native plants, Seeds of Success, and dedicated volunteers

Member Institution:
Center for Plant Conservation