Dr. Lin Lougheed, Miami Beach author and explorer, and Dr. Patrick Griffith, Executive Director of the Montgomery Botanical Center (MBC), announce the creation of the MBC Plant Exploration Fund. Dr. Lougheed, a longtime supporter of MBC expeditions, felt Montgomery’s important work demanded a more consistent funding. As the Fund’s founder, Dr. Lougheed will give a matching gift of $100,000 to encourage others who believe in the irreplaceable value of plants to contribute to the Fund.

The new fund supports botanical expeditions by Montgomery and its international colleagues and collaborators. Dr. Griffith states: “this generous gift builds international bridges to advance botanical science and conserve endangered plants.”

Through frequent collaborations with experts from other countries, Montgomery’s work has discovered many new plant species and improved conservation practices for the botanic garden field. “Our best work is absolutely tied to sustained international collaborations, and this amazing support from Dr. Lougheed will move those efforts much further forward,” Griffith said.

Dr. Lougheed sees the great value in these collaborative efforts. As a Fellow of the NYC Explorers Club, Dr. Lougheed carried the club flag to Madagascar on an expedition of local and American scientists that discovered a palm unknown to science. Dr. Lougheed also funded a co-op project in a village on the east coast of Madagascar to help the locals have a source of income not dependent on poaching valuable forest. Dr. Lougheed shares a great commitment to plant conservation: “You can’t help endangered animals and plants without preserving and conserving their habitat. All things depend on plants.”

Please see here for more information about the Plant Exploration Fund.