6:30 – 8:00 PM
Join us for an engaging session with Matt Wang, who brings more than a decade of experience working across the botanic garden and conservation world. Matt holds a BS in botany from Utah Valley University and an MS in plant biology from Northwestern University in partnership with the Chicago Botanic Garden. His background includes rare plant monitoring at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, conservation genetics at the Chicago Botanic Garden, and fieldwork with the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management. He is currently the conservation program manager at Red Butte Garden at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.
Matt will share his work on the Uinta Basin hookless cactus (Sclerocactus wetlandicus), a rare Utah endemic listed as threatened. Many populations are declining due to grazing pressure, recreation impacts, and oil, gas, and mineral development. The Bonanza population in particular has experienced steep losses and very low seed production. For the past decade, seeds from this site have been safeguarded in the Red Butte Garden seed bank. These stored seeds are now being germinated to recover lost genetic diversity. In 2025, twenty-four remaining plants were carefully moved into the Red Butte greenhouses, where they will be crossed with the new seedlings. Once threats are reduced, the resulting plants will be reintroduced to help stabilize and rebuild the population.
Registration: Please visit Event page to register.
*A Zoom link will be emailed to you one week before the meeting.