Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Dr. Sarah Reichard's Passing: A devastating loss for our community

Dear PNW IPC EDRR Citizen Scientists and Community Partners,

Many of you have already heard the news but I am writing share the very sad news about the loss of one of our great leaders in invasive plant ecology, management, policy and rare plant conservation. Last week, Dr. Sarah Reichard passed away in her sleep while leading a UW Botanic Gardens tour in South Africa. 

Dr. Reichard was truly unique in that her academic scholarship was balanced with a fierce dose of public scholarship that reached audiences on a world-wide scale both inside out outside of the Academy. She was a passionate scientist who paved the way and created opportunities for woman in science and worked diligently to solve complex problems in the important interdisciplinary field of Conservation Biology. 

Dr. Reichard was a tenured professor at the University of Washington in the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences (SEFS), the Director of the UW Botanic Gardens, she has mentored hundreds of eager students over the years and has served on countless boards, working groups and advisory committees related to important issues in the realm of invasive plant ecology, management, policy, and education. Her research focused on understanding the biology of invasive plants and using that understanding to develop risk assessment methods to prevent their introduction and spread.

Dr. Reichard co-authored a National Academy of Science report "Predicting Invasions of Nonindigenous Plants and Plant Pests." She was co-editor of "Invasive Species in the Pacific Northwest," (University of Washington Press) and author of numerous research papers. She served six years on the Federal Invasive Species Advisory Committee and was on the Invasive Species Specialist Group of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. She was The Pacific Northwest Invasive Plant Council;s (PNW IPC) vice president and was committed to citizen science programs aimed at preventing and the early detection of invasive plants species in the PNW. Her newest book is The Conscientious Gardener: Cultivating a Garden Ethic (University of California Press).

Dr. Reichard founded and directed the Washington Rare Plant Care and Conservation Program, which works with federal, state, and local agencies to protect Washington's rare plant species. Dr. Reichard and her students have led the way in the conservation of rare and endangered plants. Dr. Reichard played a key role in sourcing funding for the Miller Seed Vault which is the largest of its kind in the Pacific Northwest. Seeds are stored in the vault for species protection research purposes and possible future restoration projects.

She was my M.S. and Ph.D. adviser working on issues related to the ecology of rare plants and the impacts of invasive species. I have worked closely with since 2011 in my role as director of the EDRR Invasive Plant Citizen Science Program at the PNW IPC. She has made a deep impression on my scholarship and my commitment to field of conservation biology. I will miss her greatly along with the many, many other individuals she has touched.

Here are a few links showing the more personal and academic side of Dr. Reichard:
·        “The Plant Nerd” – an recent interview by Kim Frappier (a former UW M.S. student and a current PNW IPC EDRR volunteer) http://forterra.org/editorial/the-plant-nerd
·        WNPS Blog written by Sarah Gage “Where do we go from here?”
Respectfully,
Julie Combs

___________________________________
Julie K. Combs, Ph.D.
PNW Invasive Plant Council
EDRR Citizen Science Program Director
University of Washington, Botanic Gardens
Box 354115
Seattle, WA 98195
(615) 812-5295