At the Wednesday, March 20, 2024, Hot Springs Village POA Board Meeting, Chair Joanie Corry proclaimed April Native Plant Month in Hot Springs Village. As Corry presented the proclamation to Norma Wall, President of Hot Springs Village Audubon Society, Corry encouraged all Arkansans to observe and celebrate Native Plant Month.

PROCLAMATION

HOT SPRINGS VILLAGE APRIL NATIVE PLANT MONTH

WHEREAS, Native plants are an important part of Arkansas’s natural heritage, history, and identity; and are indigenous to our region. Native plants have adapted and evolved over many years to flourish in the unique geography, hydrology, and microclimates of our state; and

WHEREAS, more than 2,300 native plant species make for a diverse state flora; 11 of these species are endemic to Arkansas and found nowhere else in the world; and 5 of these species are federally threatened or endangered; and

WHEREAS, gardens and landscapes composed of Arkansas’s native plants conserve water, save energy, and reduce pollutants and pesticides in comparison to turfgrass; and

WHEREAS, native plants provide high-quality food and shelter for Arkansas’s native wildlife including birds, butterflies, bees, and other pollinators, and both game and nongame species; and

WHEREAS, native plants support more than 300 species or resident and migratory birds in Arkansas, many of which are of concern and increasingly threatened by climate change; and

WHEREAS, native plants and their derivatives provide food, medicine, and other essentials; Arkansas has benefited from the economic impact of naïve plants, ranging from pecans to muscadine; and

WHEREAS, the Arkansas office of the National Audubon Society as well as other organizations and businesses, including nurseries and retail-garden centers, work to expand the market for our native plants; and

WHEREAS, by cultivating Arkansas’s native plants, we honor our heritage, sustain the beauty and benefits of our environmental resources, and preserve a natural link to wildland areas both past and present;

I, JoAnne Corry, by virtue of the authority vested in me as Chairperson of the Board of Hot Springs Village Property Owners Association, do hereby proclaim the month of April 2024, as

Native Plant Month in Hot Springs Village

and I encourage its observance to all Arkansans to celebrate native plants.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the Hot Springs Village Property Owners Association to be affixed on this 20th day of March, of the year of our Lord two thousand and twenty-four.

(Left) HSVPOA Board Chair presents Native Plant Month
Proclamation to HSV Audubon President Norma Wall