[njensen]

“Steve [Boyd] forwarded this message, and I just wanted to echo that to me this is an issue of standards, and standards need to be higher. I think many consultants are trained just to look for the 3 rare species suspected in a given area and may miss a lot by not taking a floristic approach. Also, the value of a site, as you both mention, is often more dictated by species composition and richness and the presence/absence of invasive weeds, than by the presence/absence of a handful of rare species. Certainly higher standards in floristic surveys should be enforced, and a serious pressure should be arising within our community to carry out such surveys with due diligence, making herbarium specimens and documenting floristic diversity for future generations.”