What a Year!
by Jeanne Malmgren
Every year is special in our Upstate chapter, and this one was no exception. From the passage of important ordinances preserving natural habitats to the protection of endangered species, our collective efforts to promote and support the cause of native plants have borne a bountiful harvest. Well done, y’all!
And while we were at it, we enjoyed some wonderful times together at our monthly meetings, field trips, and the statewide symposium, which our chapter hosted at Table Rock State Park on a beautiful fall weekend in October—despite being hammered by a Category 3 hurricane just a couple of weeks earlier.
Without further ado, here’s a closer look at our chapter’s achievements in 2024.
Let’s talk first about the significant wins:
- As 2024 began, we scored a victory in helping convince the Greenville County Council to vote in favor of requiring riparian buffers along waterways. You can read more about that issue here: Upstate Spotlight: Greenville County Riparian Buffers Council Vote Update.
- We also joined with other local conservation organizations to promote the passage of Greenville County’s Unified Development Ordinance (UDO). Our partners in this effort included Upstate Forever, Save our Saluda, Trees Upstate, and Conservation Voters of SC. Here is more information about that milestone: A Win for Greenville County’s Unified Development Ordinance
- We also celebrated gains in the efforts to protect a population of the rare and endangered Bunched Arrowhead in Travelers Rest (Update on the Bunched Arrowhead Conservation Effort) and a Spartanburg County habitat for the dwarf-flower heartleaf, which is listed as a Species of Highest Concern by the S.C. Department of Natural Resources (Victory for the Dwarf-flower Heartleaf).
Next is the amazing number of grants we offered to many groups across the Upstate, each one to fund a project that would preserve native plant habitats and/or provide education about native plants. Those grants ranged from $675 to $1000, for a total of $10,400. They paid for a public native plant garden, educational nature trails, wildflower rehabilitation, a rock quarry garden, kudzu clean-up, a pollinator garden, stream restoration, an interpretive botanical trail with ethically sourced seeds and plants, and Pickens County’s first public native plant festival. The grant recipients included Seven Springs Farm, Town of Six Mile, Camp Mary Elizabeth, Lakeview Middle School PTO, GUUF/UU World of Children, Chattooga Conservancy, San Souci Neighborhood Alliance, Friends of the Green Crescent Trail, Green Charter Elementary School, Greenville Garden Club, and Conestee Nature Preserve.
More high-fives go out to these committees and individuals who worked hard on various chapter projects this year:
- Thanks to everyone involved in our native plant sales. We held two this year, which sent 4,000 native plants out to the community. Just imagine those thousands of native plants settling into their new homes, thanks to our hard-working sale volunteers!
- Huzzah to the Advocacy committee, which raised an astounding $30,000+ to assist with the eradication of the invasive fig buttercup in the Upstate. Fantastic!
- Great job by the Publicity committee and its crew of volunteer writers who produced and distributed our monthly newsletter, Upstate Happenings, and successfully transitioned us from a subscription database to a free system for newsletter article storage and management, saving several thousand dollars annually. Over 74,000 emails were sent this year, with an average open rate of 49.87%.
- We also kicked off an online merchandise store where buyers can snap up Native Plant Society t-shirts, hats, tote bags, and other swag (scnps.org/shop).
Now let’s review the stellar roster of programs we enjoyed at our monthly meetings, thanks to the Programs committee. Wow, did we hear from some fascinating speakers, on a range of environmental topics! Here’s the lineup, including links to each month’s talk, in case you missed any:
- January: Rick Huffman – “It’s A Bug’s World”
- February: Dr. Richard Porcher – “Through the Pages: Upcoming Wildflower Books from Richard Porcher”
- March: Josie Newton – “Restoring the Reedy Corridor: Using Native Plants to Improve Water Quality”
- April: Adam Bigelow – “Native Plants for the Vegetable Garden”
- May: Melanie Ruhlman – “Utilization of Native Species in Riparian and Floodplain Restoration Projects in the Upper Saluda Watershed”
- June: Linda Fraser – “Growing Wild Things in a Polite Neighborhood”
- September: Rebecca Haynes – “What’s Next for Audubon SC?”
- November: Lamar Nelson – “A History of Our Native People”
Throughout the year, Upstate Chapter members gathered regularly to tend our flagship project, the Native Plant Demonstration Garden at the Pickens County Art Museum. Many of us also hit the trail for field trips led by such knowledgeable guides to destinations that included Silver Steps, Brasstown Falls, Cane Creek, Stevens Creek, Blackwell Preserve, Roan Mountain, and the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Last but not least, our Chapter was proud to host the South Carolina Native Plant Society statewide symposium in mid-October, less than a month after Hurricane Helene devastated this area, including our venue of Table Rock State Park. A lot of advance planning and last-minute scrambling made this event a grand success, attended by SCNPS members from all over the state. Congratulations to all the volunteers who worked so hard to make us shine as the host chapter.
All in all, another great year in the books for our Upstate chapter. Well done, everyone! We look forward to more adventures and good work on behalf of native plants in 2025.
