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More about UsThe Intermountain Native Plant Growers Association (INPGA) is registered as a nonprofit organization in the state of Utah and has federal 501 (c) 3 status, meaning that it is exempt from paying federal income tax and that donations to INPGA are fully tax-deductible. INPGA is dedicated to increasing the awareness of the value of native plants and increasing the availability and use of Intermountain native plants in home and public landscapes. INPGA currently has over 100 members, about three-quarters of whom are green industry businesses. INPGA is governed by an elected Board of Directors and administered by an elected Executive Committee. A standing Advisory Committee provides expert support. 2008 Board of Directors: Merrill Johnson, Great Basin Natives INPGA Executive Officers: INPGA Advisory Committee:
Roger Kjelgren, USU Center for Water Efficient Landscaping A Short Early History of INPGA
INPGA Founded February 2003 Utah's Choice Program Kicked Off May 2003 Soon after the founding of INPGA, Janett and Merrill enlisted the help of local plant experts in developing the marketing program dubbed Utah's Choice. This name was coined during an early conversation between Janett and Dr. Roger Kjelgren of the the Utah State University Center for Water-Efficient Landscaping (CWEL). The list of 40 Utah's Choice plants was created by Janett, Roger, Dr. Bill Varga of the Utah Botanical Center in Kaysviille and Dr. Susan Meyer of the US Forest Service Shrub Sciences Laboratory in Provo. Susan contributed photos and wrote text for production of the Utah's Choice marketing materials, including plant tags, retail nursery display signs, a full-color educational brochure, and a Utah's Choice poster. The materials, including the Utah's Choice logo, were designed by Bitsy Schultz, Utah graphic artist and long-time Utah Native Plant Society supporter. They were prepared rather quickly, in order to be ready for the program kickoff at the Fourth Native Plant Symposium sponsored by CWEL in May 2003. After a stimulating discussion of natives at this well-attended meeting, the first meeting of the INPGA as an organization was held under the trees at the USU Greenville Farm. We held an impromptu election: Amy Howa was elected the first president and Michelle Cook the first secretary. Linda Oswald was asked to continue in the role of treasurer, a job she had already informally accepted. Susan Meyer took on the task of Executive Director of the Utah's Choice Program. First Annual INPGA Membership Meeting September 2003 By September 2003, the membership had grown to about 30 individuals, businesses, and sponsoring organizations. The officers decided that it would be a good idea to bring all the members together to meet with each other and brainstorm about the direction INPGA should take. This meeting was held at the Utah Botanical Center in Kaysville, Utah, and was very successful, resulting in a fifty percent increase in membership by December, up to about 45 members. Most of the new members were nursery businesses. Utah's Choice Website Launched December 2003 The Utah's Choice website was launched under its own domain name in December 2003. Utah at Home Booklet Published June 2004 Recognizing a lack of solid, reasonably priced and readily available information to help home gardeners and landscapers use native plants successfully, INPGA assembled a team of people to put together a booklet on native plant horticulture using Utah's Choice plants. The team was headed up by Janett Warner and included Tami Coleman on text, Tim Clarke on sample landscape designs, and Alicia Garcia of Missing Ink Graphic Design on page layout. We were able to have the full-color booklet printed at a reasonable cost by North Star Printing of Spanish Fork, Utah, making it possible to sell it for the nominal price of $2.00 per copy. We have sold nearly 10,000 Utah at Home booklets. Second Annual Membership Meeting September 2004 In the year since the first membership meeting, our numbers had grown to 64 members, including 44 member nurseries. We decided it was time to develop a more formal structure with a governing Board of Directors, and this process was set in motion at the Second Annual Membership Meeting.
First INPGA Board of Directors Elected November 2004
Richard Anderson – Utah Botanical Center, Kaysville, UT
This group, along with members of the executive committee established earlier, set about the task of formalizing the organization of INPGA. INPGA constantly engages in efforts to increase the visibility of the organization and the Utah's Choice Program, through participation in trade shows, green industry conferences, and presentations for various groups. A presentation at the national meeting of the American Society of Landscape Architects in Salt Lake CIty in 2004 led to an invitation from the national green industry trade magazine American Nurseryman to prepare an article on the Utah's Choice Program. This article was published in February 2005 and is available for viewing on the Utah's Choice section of this website.
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