The Garden Club of America is a national leader in the fields of horticulture

[Frankswats]

At Big Basin, the Woodside-Atherton Garden Club will work with Save the Redwoods League (STRL) and the five fellow Bay Area GCA clubs to spearhead the replanting of natural areas around the welcome center. Additionally, they will create native plant informational beds. Both of these areas will help visitors understand the ecosystem of the old growth forest just before heading into the ancient grove. The effort continues a collaboration with STRL that extends ninety years. In 1931, the GCA first forged a working partnership with STRL to purchase and permanently protect the 2,552-acre Garden Club of America Grove in Humboldt Redwoods State Park. Now covering more than 5,100 acres, the GCA Grove is the third-largest dedicated grove in the entire state park system. The “Bridge the Gap” campaign, completed in 2015, raised funds to complete trail and bridge repairs at the GCA Grove. In 2018, the GCA recognized STRL with the Elizabeth Craig Weaver Proctor Medal. https://www.gcamerica.org/ The GCA established the Restoration Initiative in 2017 in response to the urgent needs caused by catastrophic storms, hurricanes, floods, fires, and mudslides to assist member clubs involved in public landscape restoration and conservation projects. Eleven grants, totaling $110,000, have been awarded to clubs in California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee, and Texas. In 1979, The Garden Club of America’s Founders Fund Program awarded a $7,000 grant to the Rae Selling Berry Botanic Garden, Portland, Oregon, for the construction of a greenhouse enabling the development of an internationally acclaimed collection of rare and endangered alpines, primulas, rhododendrons, and native plants. The garden later became known as The Berry Botanic Garden and in 1983, the first seed bank dedicated to rare and endangered plants in the Pacific Northwest was established. In 1985, the seed bank became a founding participating institution of the Center for Plant Conservation, which today consists of forty independent botanical organizations across the United States. Since 2011, the Rae Selling Berry Seed Bank & Plant Conservation Program has been a part of Portland State University’s Department of Environmental Science and Management.