- This event has passed.
2025 Texas Plant Conservation Conference: From Rare Plants to Landscapes
Since 2000, TPCC has served as a statewide professional forum for scientists, land managers, government agencies, environmental consultants, and conservation professionals committed to preserving Texas’s native plant diversity. This biennial conference fosters collaboration by facilitating discussions on current research and conservation initiatives related to rare plants, native plant communities, plant monitoring methods, and plant management practices.
Our 2025 theme, “From Rare Plants to Landscapes,” highlights vital conservation efforts across the state and various disciplines. The goal is to emphasize the interconnected nature of our work and the importance of collaboration in plant conservation.
Program Summary
Wednesday, July 16, 2025 (Full Day)
8:00 AM | Check-In & Coffee – Great Hall
9:00 AM | Welcome & Introduction – Auditorium (Lee Clippard, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center)
9:20 AM | Keynote Address: A Perspective on the History, Current Status, and Evolution of Plant Conservation in Texas – Auditorium (Chris Best, State Botanist, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
10:20 AM | Break
10:45 AM | Session 1: Conservation Horticulture, Seed Banking, and Genetics – Auditorium
12:00 PM | Lunch – Great Hall
12:10 PM | Optional Lunch Talk: No Self, No Species: A Nondual Reframing of Rarity, Nativeness, and Success – Classroom (Andy Newman, The Earth Partners, LP)
1:15 PM | Session 2: Rare Plant Conservation and Recovery – Auditorium
2:30 PM | Break
2:45 PM | Session 3: Mapping and Modeling for Conservation – Auditorium
4:15 PM | Closing Remarks – Auditorium (Dr. Sean Griffin, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center)
4:20 PM | Poster Session and Happy Hour – Great Hall and Courtyard
6:00 PM | End of day
Thursday, July 17, 2025 (Full Day)
8:00 AM | Check-In and Coffee – Great Hall
9:00 AM | Welcome and Housekeeping – Auditorium
9:15 AM | Plenary Speaker – Auditorium (Dr. Wesley Knapp, Center for Plant Conservation)
10:15 AM | Break
10:45 AM | Session 4: Species Ecology & Associations – Auditorium
12:10 PM | Lunch – Great Hall
1:30 PM | Selling Rarity: the Pros and Cons of Selling Rare Plants – Auditorium (Anna Strong, Botanist, Texas Parks and Wildlife)
2:15 PM | Break
2:30 PM | Session 5: Species Assessments, Records, and Herbaria – Auditorium
3:35 PM | Closing Remarks – Auditorium (Dr. Sean Griffin, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center)
3:40 PM | Break
4:00 PM | TXPCA Meeting – location TBD
5:30 PM | End of day
Friday, July 18, 2025 (Half Day)
8:00 AM | Check-in and Coffee – Great Hall
9:00 AM | Welcome & Housekeeping – Auditorium
9:15 AM | Session 6: Community and Cultural Engagement in Conservation – Auditorium
10:30 AM | Final Closing Remarks
10:45 AM | Optional Tours & Workshops*
11:00 AM | **The Texas Oklahoma Regional Consortium of Herbaria (TORCH) will be convening its annual business/curator meeting during the conference in the Library. The meeting is open to all, and TPCC registration is not required to attend this separate but concurrent event. RSVP to the TORCH Business/Curator Meeting here.
12:00 PM | End of Conference & Safe Trip Home!
Optional Tours and Workshops
1. Walking Tour: LBJWC Research Tour
Join our Science and Conservation team on a tour of our MoKan Prairie relocation site, seed bank, labs and research building, and nursery.
2. Walking Tour: LBJWC Arboretum Tour
Join our Arboretum team on a tour of our 16-acre Mollie Steves Zachry Texas Arboretum.
3. Walking Tour & Indoor Workshop: Nursery Tour & Fern Propagation
Join our Nursey Manager, Lauren Groce, on a tour of our nursery and fernery. After the tour, there will be an overview of our fern collection and spore propagation workshop. **Limit 20 people, participant sign-up required at check in*
Speaker Info
Keynote Address
We’re excited to welcome Chris Best, USFWS State Botanist, to deliver our keynote address. This talk will highlight the important developments, trends, and projections on plant conservation in Texas.
Chris Best
USFWS State Botanist
Chris Best earned degrees in Plant Biochemistry and Botany and presented a master’s thesis on the role of arbuscular mycorrhizae in strip mine soil restoration. From 1985–1989 he was an agroforestry extensionist with the Peace Corps and a consultant for CARE International in Guatemala. He has worked for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a Plant Ecologist at Lower Rio Grande Valley NWR (1990–2006) and since 2006 as the agency’s State Botanist in Texas. His primary responsibilities include assessments of plant species for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act and recovery planning of listed plants in Texas. His current research interests include estimating the population sizes of rare plants, the role of rhizosphere symbionts in the establishment of rare cactuses in harsh environments, the geological associations of bracted twistflower, and the effect of smoke substances on the germination of bracted twistflower seeds.
Plenary Speaker
We are also thrilled to hear from Dr. Wesley Knapp, Center for Plant Conservation CEO, as our plenary speaker. Wes will highlight Texas on a national scale and touch on collaboration as a solution to the key challenges we face.
Dr. Wesley Knapp
CEO of the Center for Plant Conservation
Dr. Wesley Knapp is a leading voice in plant conservation with a career spanning over two decades. Born in Lawrence, MA and raised in Claremont, NH, Wes’s journey into the world of conservation began during his childhood in New England where time spent outdoors sparked a lifelong passion for nature. He holds a B.S. in Environmental Sciences from Catawba College, an M.S. in Plant Science from Delaware State University, and a Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Wes began his career as Eastern Region Ecologist & Botanist for the Maryland Natural Heritage Program (2001–2016), followed by five years in the role of Mountains Botanist & Ecologist for North Carolina’s Natural Heritage Program. In 2021, he became Chief Botanist at NatureServe, and in 2025, was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Center for Plant Conservation, a conservation nonprofit working with over 80 partnering institutions on three continents on the front lines to prevent plant extinction. With extensive field experience across the U.S. and abroad, Wes has led efforts to describe new plant species, prevent extinction events, and assess conservation priorities. His work is singularly focused on advancing conservation strategies that combat biodiversity loss driven by the sixth mass extinction.
Sponsors
Thank you to our sponsors for providing funds for speakers, student scholarships, event space, technology and beverages!
Contact
Please reach out to Jessi White at [email protected] for any questions regarding your registration.
Lodging
We have arranged for a limited block of discounted rooms at Hampton Inn Austin Oak Hill, located at 6401 US-290, Austin, TX 78735, just 10 minutes away from the Wildflower Center. Please use this discount link to make a reservation.
We recommend staying in South Austin for convenience. Some other options nearby are:
- Aloft Austin Southwest
- Holiday Inn Express & Suites Austin South-Buda (~20 south of WFC)
Exhibitors
Thank you to our exhibitors!
With 81 field sites that span 20 ecoclimate Domains, the NEON program delivers open access, free data to available to research and answer to our most pressing questions in ecology over more than 30 years. The data we collect is used to inform natural resource and land management decisions, update ecosystems models and forecasts, and monitor how different ecosystems are responding to invasive species, disturbances and land use.
NEON’s Domain 11 stretches from south and central Texas up through central Oklahoma and represents the southernmost range of the Great Plains region. On a regional scale our botanical data includes population discoveries and range updates, detailed presence/absence and cover estimates across habitats, and genetic and plant voucher material stored at the NEON biorepository at the Arizona State University Biocollections.
The mission of the Native Plant Society of Texas is to promote conservation, research and utilization of native plants and plant habitats of Texas through education, outreach, and example. We want all Texans to value native plants, native habitats and healthy ecosystems as essential to the well-being of living things and to our quality of life. Our vision is a future where native habitats are managed as critically beneficial natural assets, and where residential and commercial developments employ sustainable designs that preserve and promote native habitats.
Our more than 35 chapters across Texas further the mission of the Society at the community level, sponsoring educational speakers, field trips, workshops, on such subjects as plant identification, propagation and landscaping, work in demonstration gardens and many other types of projects.
Wild Basin Wilderness Preserve is a 227-acre urban wilderness preserve and field station located in the heart of Austin, Texas. The preserve was established in 1976 and is co-owned and co-managed by Travis County and St. Edward’s University. Wild Basin serves as a refuge for an exceptional diversity of native plants and wildlife species, many of which have disappeared from the surrounding urban landscape over the past 50 years. The Wild Basin Creative Research Center opened in 2009 with the mission of protecting and maintaining the preserve’s urban wilderness, while promoting the importance of environmental education, research, conservation, and preservation. The preserve is open to the public year round and has almost 3 miles of hiking trails as well as a visitor gallery with activities and displays showcasing the geology and natural history of the Hill Country.
TXSER unites scientists, practitioners, and policymakers to restore ecosystems and the vital services they provide.
