Chris Best, State Botanist - USFW

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Christ Best is the State Botanist with US Fish and Wildlife Service for the state of Texas, a position he has held for 30 years. He has extensive knowledge of plants in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas, specifically. He has worked with numerous rare and endangered plant species including Physaria thamnophila, Asclpeias prostrata, Thymophylla tephroleuca and many more. He has also worked with mycorrhizae on cactus roots, propagating rare and endangered species, and navigating the sometimes tenuous relationship with private landowners in the state. In this episode we talk about propagating rare plants, fostering symbiotic relationhips between roots and beneficial fungi and bacteria in the soil microbiome by intentionally innoculating plants in propagation, endangered plants, peyote conservation (or lack there of), how geology can affect the plant species that occur in an area, and what random but interested people can do for plant conservation.