Editorial insights Helen Vaughan, Managing Editor
There are some things you cannot un-see – and some of those things are images emerging out of the climate driven bushfire crisis that Australia has endured this summer.
Helen Vaughan
Whether you’ve seen them directly in fire affected communities, on news reports, on the constant stream of Facebook shares, or as I have in my work on the periphery of the emergency in a comms capacity, none of us will forget this summer in Australia. But it is also a reminder of the important work of botanic gardens and seed banks. And amongst the devastation, there also some uplifting stories – and believe me, we need them – for example, the crack firefighting teams that were sent in to protect the Wollemi pines in Wollemi National Park. In a moment of prescience, Eamonn and I proposed that the next edition of The BOTANIC GARDENer examine the role that botanic gardens have in responding the climate change. So please, get writing and share your insights. The deadline for articles is Monday 20 April. As for this edition, we revisit the 9th BGANZ Congress and reproduce some of the presentations from the congress (as well as other articles) and the work that botanic gardens and their like organisations are doing to protect plants from the past, for the future. This summer has indeed demonstrated how important the work you all do is to our future.
The BOTANIC GARDENer editorial team We have a busy and brilliant editorial team assisting us with all things BOTANIC GARDNer. Nicola Fidler, Janet O’Hehir and Tom McCarter provide great editorial proofing support, and Dale Arvidsson, Alan Matchett, and Mark Fountain are the BGANZ Council Editorial Committee Representatives. Nicola and Mark have both recently retired from their positions and Botanic Gardens South Australia and Royal Tasmanian Botanic Gardens respectively. On behalf of you all, and all at BGANZ Council, we’d like to thank them for their outstanding support, keen eyes, and efficient responses. And if you would like to replace Dr Nicola Fidler on the editorial team please contact myself at managing.editor@bganz.org.au or Eamonn at secretariat@bganz.org.au Helen and Eamonn
THE BOTANIC GARDENer | ISS 53 SUMMER 2019/20
5
