Native Plant Conservation
The Arboretum's native plant conservation efforts include conserving plants in their native habitats, inventorying native plant communities and restoring and re-creating Ohio native ecosystems. Plants of wild known origins (WKOs) are important because many plant species are in peril due to habitat loss. WKOs can be collected and propagated from wild populations and stored in a seed bank (or seed repository), thereby preserving the genetics of the plant.

Ecological Restoration and Conservation
Wetlands Restoring wetlands accomplishes a variety of natural resource management goals:

• Filtering excess nutrients, chemicals and sediment from runoff.
• Recharging groundwater supplies.
• Retaining flood waters.
• Providing critical habitat for wildlife and migratory birds, thereby increasing native plant and animal diversity.

Grasslands
Many species of song birds, game birds, small mammals, reptiles and insects require grasslands to complete their life cycle. Creating grasslands helps increase species diversity. We do this by planting native warm season grasses and wildflowers such as Indiangrass, big bluestem, little bluestem and switchgrass.

Partnerships
The Dawes Arboretum has partnerships with a variety of organizations related to the natural world, including: