In the 4 months since launching the North-West Rare Plant Initiative, (NWRPI) Joshua Styles has collected and brought into cultivation almost 49 plant species that have been identified as being at risk of regional extinction. The program of reintroducing these vulnerable plants back into protected sites in the wild began in the autumn of 2017. Working with Lancashire Wildlife Trust, Cheshire Wildlife Trust, the WWT, Natural England, Joshua is establishing a network of sites that will act as both donors and receptors for the priority species of this initiative.

But on the morning of 13th January, Josh discovered that his stock of young plants of over 40 scarce species, which were overwintering in his nursery, and destined for reintroduction in the coming season, had all been damaged or destroyed by his housemate with bleach and vomit.

The NWRPI is an important initiative for rare plant conservation, and especially as a pilot project with potential for encouraging other similar local initiatives.

To help secure its continued success, we need to raise funds:

Firstly, it’s a priority to find safe and secure domestic accommodation for Joshua. We need to raise enough cover his existing rental contract and a deposit on a new tenancy.

Secondly, we need to help Joshua fund the costs of replacing wild-collected material and purchased seeds, the materials needed for their propagation, and the considerable outlay in time and travel costs. Many, many hours of work will be needed in the identifying, collecting, cleaning, sowing and record keeping.

Thirdly, Joshua needs to find safe nursery sites, which will permit duplication of the rare plant collections. There will be costs involved in this too. Please help if you can

You can also find out more about the project here:

nwrpi.weebly.com

You can follow Joshua on Twitter @joshual951