WHEREAS, native plants are indigenous species that have evolved alongside native wildlife and occur naturally in a particular geographic region, ecosystem, and habitat; and

WHEREAS, native plants are essential for healthy, diverse, and sustainable ecosystems and are critical for cleaning air, filtering water, and stabilizing soils; and

WHEREAS, native plants are well-adapted to Maine's soils, temperature, precipitation, and environmental conditions, making them the best option for conserving and protecting our environment and adapting to its changes; and

WHEREAS, native plants provide food including nectar, pollen, seeds, and foliage for native birds, caterpillars, butterflies, bees, and other wildlife in ways that non-native plants cannot; and

WHEREAS, Maine is home to 1,466 native plant species to date which include large shade trees, shrubs, perennials, vines, grasses, and wildflowers; about 352 species are listed as endangered, threatened, of special concern or possibly extirpated; and

WHEREAS, some of Maine's rarest plants are federally listed under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, and include the following: Furbish lousewort, Small whorled pogonia and Prairie white fringed orchid; and

WHEREAS, it is important to encourage public awareness about the benefits of Maine's native plants to pollinators and other wildlife, to the economy, and to the health and sustainability of Maine's fragile ecosystems;

NOW THEREFORE, be it resolved that I, Janet T. Mills, Governor of the State of Maine, do hereby proclaim the month of April 2024 as

Native Plant Month

throughout the State of Maine, and I urge all citizens to recognize this observance.

In testimony whereof, I have caused the Great Seal of the State to be hereunto affixed GIVEN under my hand at Augusta this thirteenth day of March Two Thousand Twenty-Four