Rare Plant Treasure Hunt

Lead your own RPTH!

The Rare Plant Treasure Hunt is always looking for new trip leaders.  If there are no events planned in your area (see the event calendar), it’s a great way to get involved in the program!  You can go out on your own or with a small group of friends, or even make a rare plant survey into a big chapter event!  Those who have never led a rare plant survey before will find it helpful to attend a training event (listed below).  Also, our new Rare Plant Treasure Hunt Manual (download below) is a valuable resource for anybody leading or attending a trip.  To become a trip leader, simply email to express your interest.  Make sure that you or someone in your group has botanical experience, so that we can ensure reliable data.

Download the new Manual for trip leaders and participants (PDF 1.2Mb).
This manual was composed to help new treasure hunters plan and lead their own trips, and to help CNPS chapters start a RPTH program in their local area.

What’s involved in becoming a trip leader?
Before you decide you want to be a trip leader, we figured you should know what you’re getting yourself into. Here are some of the basic expectations of our trip leaders. You can get details on each of these steps in the RPTH manual:

• Choose a rare plant to survey and the location, or asked to be assigned one by the RPTH Coordinator; you’ll receive maps and rare plant occurrence info from the RPTH coordinator
• Do a little research on the rare plants you are looking for, so that you’ll be able to recognize them in the field. It’s always important to have someone with strong plant ID skills on the trip.
• Organize the logistics of your group (if you’re going solo or with a small group, this is very easy!); pack up all the right gear for both hiking/camping and documenting plants
• Lead the trip and document any plants you find with photos, GPS coordinates, and by filling out the field survey form
• Submit your data
• Lead enough trips and you could qualify for a RPTH award!