Local CNPS chapters offer a wealth of support to students interested in native plants research and careers. While many chapters provide research and other grants, students who engage with their local chapters also will enjoy a number of other benefits, including:
- Expertise – Students are immediately welcomed into an active and engaged community of botanists.
- Connections – Chapters connect scholarship recipients with local land managers and conservation staff, creating relationships that improve the students’ chance of project funding, long-term support, or even future employment.
- Community – Chapter scholarships bring universities, community college, and CNPS together. These next-generation members establish enduring relationships that benefit the entire community.
Who can apply?
Although most scholarships go to graduate students, some chapters offer funds to students of all ages or community members. Please select from the information below to learn about opportunities in your area.
Contact your local chapter for questions. To update grant information contact Elizabeth at ekubey@cnps.org
Chapter Student Scholarship Opportunities
Check linked chapter websites for most accurate dates
Alta Peak Chapter Project Grants
Tulare County
Award: $250-300
Focus: Native plant education, conservation or restoration
Deadline: March annually
More information
Bristlecone Chapter Mary DeDecker Grant
Mono, Inyo, and northeastern Kern County
Award: up to $1000
Focus: Relevant to the native plants of the northern Mojave Desert, Sierra Nevada, and Great Basin portions of eastern California
Deadline: January annually
More information
Bryophyte Chapter Scholarships
Statewide
Award: Travel grant $250, mini-grant up to $500
Focus: Work with mosses, liverworts and hornworts of California to be done by college students, undergraduate and graduates
Deadline: January 1 or July 1 annually
More information
Channel Islands Chapter
Ventura or Santa Barbara County
Award: $500
Focus: For college students who reside in Ventura or Santa Barbara County
Deadline: January annually
More information
East Bay Chapter Myrtle Wolf Student Research Grant
Alameda and Contra Costa Counties
Award: up to $1000
Focus: For students at East Bay colleges and universities for the study of California Native plants
Deadline: January 14, 2022
More information
Los Angeles/Santa Monica Mountains Chapter Scholarship Fund
Award: LA/SMM CNPS is offering two scholarships of $1500 each for 2023.
Focus: These scholarships are intended to support students who are currently studying conservation or plant sciences focusing on the local flora of Southern California.
Deadline: All applications must be submitted by April 30, 2023. Recipients will be announced in Fall 2023.
More information on page 7 of the chapter’s March issue of Toyon.
Milo Baker Chapter Merit Scholarship
Sonoma County
Award: Merit up to $1,000, Research up to $3,500
Focus: Research relating to native plant conservation, restoration, or other native plant studies
Deadline: September/October annually
More information
Marin Chapter Ken Howard Scholarship and Community Micro Grants
Marin County
Award: up $3000
Focus: Research on plant systematics, plant ecology, plant physiology, plant community restoration
Deadline: March 31 annually
More information
Award: Up to $1,000
Focus: Local organizations and communities can apply for funding for projects in Marin county that help us learn about, protect and plant native plants.
Deadline: December annually
More information
North Coast Chapter Research Scholarship
Humboldt, Del Norte, western Siskiyou, and western Trinity counties
Award: up to $1000
Focus: Encourages learning about native plants in Humboldt, Trinity, Siskiyou and Del Norte Counties
Deadline: March annually
More information
Orange County Chapter Grants
Orange County
Award: $500-1000
Focus: Multiple grants for field research, native horticulture, and K-12
Deadline: December annually
More information
Santa Clara Valley Chapter Student Research Grant
Santa Clara and southern San Mateo County
Award: up to $1500
Focus: Topics related to native plant and native habitat conservation in the San Francisco Bay Area
Deadline: November annually
More information
San Luis Obispo Chapter Malcolm McLeod Scholarship Fund
San Luis Obispo County
Award: up to $1500
Focus: Encourages the study of botany via support to outstanding students in the chapter’s region
Deadline: Mid November annually
More information
San Gabriel Mountains Chapter Grants Program
Northern Los Angeles and western San Bernardino Counties
Award: up to $1000
Focus: Students and others with research projects furthering the conservation of Southern California flora
Deadline: December annually
More information
Shasta Chapter Scholarship
Shasta County
Award: up to $2000
Focus: Local area students entering 4-year college with a natural science major
Deadline: May annually
More information
Willis Jepson Chapter
Solano County
Award: TBA
Focus: For college students who reside in Solano County
Deadline: TBA
More information
Did You Know?
The California Native Plant Society also offers a number of student research grants statewide. Application deadline is generally Oct. 31 each year
Recent Scholarship Recipients
Research: Pollinators of the Siskiyou iris (Iris Bracteata)
“The North Coast Chapter CNPS Student Scholarship provided an opportunity to study something that I am truly passionate about. Without this financial support, my research would have been less successful or not even feasible! The support was priceless.”
Research: Phenology shifts with climate change
“These scholarships helped me purchase temperature recording ibuttons and fencing to exclude cattle from my research plots. This infrastructure was critical for my research and allowed me to get started quickly in the first year of my PhD.”
Research: Floristic inventory of the Adobe Valley and surrounding hills in Mono County, CA.
“Due to the grants available through CNPS, I was able to maximize my time in the field, leading to an overall more robust understanding of the flora and granting me the opportunity to find plants that would have remained dormant in other, drier years.”
Research: Ecological and evolutionary mechanisms that shape current and future species range limits.
“The CNPS scholarship supports the effort of analyzing the spatial and temporal trends in alpine plane communities observed in the GLORIA Great Basin dataset, as well as gives me the opportunity to spread the word about the need for volunteer botanists for GLORIA Great Basin.”
Research: Physical and ecological impacts of active revegetation on a salt marsh restoration site
“This scholarship has been invaluable to the success of my research, not only as a financial resource to pursue my research and graduate studies, but as a means to disseminating my research. I greatly enjoyed sharing my research at a CNPS Santa Clara Valley Chapter Meeting, and I look forward to more opportunities to continue to interact with the CNPS community.”
Research: Documenting the vascular plant flora of the Upper Rock Creek watershed
“The funding I received from the Mary DeDecker scholarship helped provide field supplies and equipment, in addition to travel costs for the 600-mile round trip back and forth from Claremont to Rock Creek, including cross-country backpacking.”