University of Iowa Herbarium may be 
Moved from Iowa City

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There are plans to transfer the U of I herbarium to Iowa State University.  This will
end 150 years of research here, and negatively impact the public who want
to deposit or do research on plants in Eastern Iowa.

Articles published on this topic can be accesses at the U of I Herbarium website

If you would like to show your support for the herbarium in a letter, use these addresses:

Rob Bignell, Opinion Editor
Iowa City Press-Citizen
P.O. Box 2480
Iowa City, IA  52244

Email:  "Bignell, Rob" rbignellic@iowacity.gannett.com
Fax:  319-834-1083
Phone:  319-337-3181 Ext. 680


Amanda Mittlestadt, Opinion Editor
The Daily Iowan
201N Communications Center
Iowa City, IA  52242

Email:  daily-iowan@uiowa.edu
Fax:  319-335-6184
Phone:  319-335-6063

Press-Citizen Opinion Page
P.O. Box 2480, Iowa City, Iowa 52244
fax to (319) 834-1083
opinion@ press-citizen.com.

President David Skorton
Office of the President
101 Jessup Hall
University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA  52242
president@uiowa.edu


Copies should be sent to:

Dean Linda Maxson
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
240 SH
University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA  52242

linda-maxson@uiowa.edu


Professor and Chair Jack Lilien
Department of Biological Sciences
138 BB
University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA  52242

jack-lilien@uiowa.edu


Here are some suggested "talking points" (gathered from various sources-- feel
free to use these ideas, but please put them in your own words-- letters with
wording that sounds too similar will sound mass produced):

1)  Herbaria are very useful for plant identification and teaching.  Sometimes
photos and drawings are not enough to aid in identification.  This is especially
especially true with small features which are described in keys or plant
descriptions, but not always available in photos or drawings.  Herbaria make it
possible to identify a specimen to species when only a small portion of the
plant may be available.  Plant identification help is not only needed by
botanists and students, but by geologists, archaeologists, zoologists, law
enforcement, artists, etc.

How many people from eastern Iowa are going to drive 5 or 6 hours to Ames to
identify their collections?  If they have any number to identify, they won't be
able to do it all in a day.  Where are they going to stay?  Functionally, it
just will mean that not much will be done in the eastern part of the state, even
though there is a long ways to go in terms of documenting the flora in this
area.  If we don't continue to document populations in this part of the state,
we won't have the data needed to document the effects of climate change, for
example.  The collections document the invasion of alien species, another thing
that we need to track.

2)  A herbarium is a "library" of plants that provides detailed information on
the distribution, habitats and associates of Iowa vascular plants that cannot be
found in scientific papers, books, on the web or in any library.  To obtain this
information one has to have access to specimens.

3)  Not having a herbarium will make it harder to offer a comprehensive program
in botany/biology on the undergraduate and graduate level.  With respect to
research, having a collection here makes it possible for the university to
borrow specimens from other institutions for research.  Without a herbarium, the
university may not have access to collections from other institutions.  This
will undermine the efforts of faculty and students to do research and lessen the
University of Iowa's status as an important research institution.

4)  The University of Iowa herbarium is the oldest in the state - established by
1869, if not earlier and so has been part of the university for over a century. 
Macbride was the first professor of botany at the University of Iowa and served
as university president from 1914-1916.  Bohumil Shimek, a world famous
scientist, was professor of botany at the University of Iowa and curator of the
herbarium for many years.

5)  The merger of the University of Iowa and Iowa State University collections
would make a single collection more vulnerable to natural disaster (tornados,
such as the one that seriously damaged the campus of Gustavus Adolphus College
in southern Minnesota a few years ago) or those caused by people (electrical
fires, vandalism, etc.).  It would be safer and more prudent to keep both
herbaria.

6)  The funding the herbarium gets from the university is small and so moving
the herbarium to another location will not result in big savings.  The money
required to run the herbarium is a drop in the bucket by institutional
standards.