Intermountain Region

Wildflower Viewing

The national forest, national parks, national wildlife refuges, grasslands, and millions of acres of public lands are truly America's wildflower gardens. Celebrating Wildflowers is a collaborative commemoration that promotes the importance of conservation and management of native plants and plant habitats. The Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Park Service emphasize the aesthetic, recreational, biological, medicinal, and economic values of wildflowers. Native plants provide a spiritual link with nature and our Nation's diverse cultural history.

Eighty percent of all medicinal drugs originate in wild plants and twenty-five percent of all prescriptions written annually in united States contain chemicals from plants. Madagascar periwinkle has increased the survival rate of children with leukemia from twenty percent to eighty percent. Taxol, a promising anti-cancer drug derives from pacific yew. To this day, most plants remain untested from their medical potential.

Some 3,000 species of plants have been used by humans for food, only ninety percent of the world's food comes from only twenty pant species. The most important food plants are three species of grasses - rice, wheat, and corn.

There are many volunteer opportunities available in regards to working with native flora, such as surveying lands, monitoring known plant populations building fences, removing weedy alien plants, visiting local schools, becoming a host at a public facility, and serve as a guide or gardener. If you are interested in any volunteer opportunities contact the US Forest Service at 202-205-1760.

Go directly to the Intermountain Region portion of the Celebrating Wildflowers web site.