Members of the Society:

  • Understand that plants are essential to all life
  • Acknowledge the intrinsic value of native plants and habitats
  • Recognize the botanical history and diversity of the province
  • Acknowledge human impacts on native plants and habitats
  • Are respectful of and receptive to First Nations' traditional knowledge and unique relationship with the plant world
  • Conserve native plants and habitats and maintain biodiversity of natural ecosystems.
  • Preserve and protect rare native plant species and habitats
  • Promote restoration of altered land and reintroduction of appropriate native plant species
  • Encourage establishment of native plants in developed areas
  • Share knowledge and promote understanding of native plants and habitats

    Adopted at the Annual General Meeting of the Society on April 24, 1999


About the Code

To meet the perceived need for guidance on the ethics of using native plants in British Columbia (as well as many requests from interested individuals and organizations), an Ethical Use Committee was struck by the Board of Directors of the Society following the first Annual General Meeting in Victoria in 1997. Discussions on this issue had also been held at membership meetings prior to the official founding of the Society.

Following a number of teleconferences, the Ethical Use Committee prepared a discussion paper for the Annual General Meeting of the Society held in Penticton in May 1998. As an introduction to the problems of developing policies on ethical issues, Al Oliver of the BC Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries & Food and formerly with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada spoke on the gypsy moth and its effects on the province's nursery and other agricultural industries. Al spoke of the differing perspectives on controlling the gypsy moth and the difficulties in finding a balanced position that will meet opposing ethical concerns.

Following the general meeting a new committee proposed the development of a simpler Code of Ethics which could form the basis for more substantive principles and guidelines. The committee based its discussions partly on research and review of ethical use policies from other native plant societies and governments and other organizations. Policies reviewed included those of the Alberta Native Plant Council, Washington Native Plant Society, Native Plant Society of Oregon, and California Native Plant Society. Copies of these documents are available from the Society office in Vancouver or can be found on the individual societies' web sites.

The proposed Code of Ethics was presented to the membership at its Annual General Meeting in April 1999 and was adopted with revisions. It is a simple, concise document, consisting of ten statements of intent which direct the activities of individual members of the Society; it has been written to complement the objectives of the Society which direct its activities as a whole. The next phase of development will be more substantive principles and guidelines directing activities in four areas: field activities; research and education; collection; and conservation and restoration. Members who wish to contribute to the discussion in any of these areas are welcome to contact the Society office.

The Code is meant to be a positive, consensus document that, it is hoped, will inspire a member's personal sense of ethics, and which will be distributed far and wide. It is written so that each statement is reinforced by the one preceding it and also strengthens the one following it - sort of like a stream gathering fish or a forest floor gathering leaves!

Ethical Use Guidelines
(To be Developed)

Field Activities
Research and Education
Collection
Conservation and Restoration

 

Image © copyright
Dorrance Woodward

 

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