Genetic Integrity

I hope you're all safe from the Santa Barbara fires! I was recently up in Big Sur and it was amazing to see how much fire damage there was... Part of the natural cycle?

Anyway, as a follow up to our question in discussion about the term "genetic integrity", I found this information online: one Genetic Integrity Project strives to "protect genetic resources, the integrity of genetic material and species biodiversity". For more information on why genetic integrity is important, see this quick summary by Jayne Belnap. When the option exists, Belnap says it's best to restore ecosystems using local plants instead of non-local genetic material or non-native species to preserve genetic integrity. Photo from http://www.berghuis.co.nz/abiator/weird/bigrooster.html