PHOTOS: NC’s new ‘Home of the Venus Flytrap’ license plate to honor native species, raise money for conservation

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (WNCN) — CBS 17 is getting a first look at a prototype for one of North Carolina’s new license plate designs.

Damon Waitt, the director of the North Carolina Botanical Garden in Chapel Hill, is celebrating a big success after spearheading the years-long effort to offer a Venus flytrap license plate as an option for North Carolina cars.

“People want to come and poke them with sticks and things like that and they’re constantly playing with them here,” he said.

Just like we’re first in flight, our state is also home to the Venus flytrap, now only found in the wild in a 90-mile radius near Wilmington. The plant is carnivorous and catches its prey.

“A lot of people think of this plant as being from the Amazon or some other place, but it’s from North Carolina,” Waitt said. “How can you not celebrate that?”

Governor Roy Cooper signed a transportation bill earlier this month that included the approval of the new plate. The new option had bipartisan support, as it was sponsored by State Representatives Allen Buansi (D-District 56) and Frank Iler (R-District 17).

Durham-based artist Preston Montague designed the plate.

The new plates bring awareness to the Venus flytrap population, which Waitt says has been declining since the 1950s because of development and poaching.

“We do a lot of work seed banking Venus flytraps, we’re studying the genetics of Venus flytraps, we work with tribes and other conservation organizations about conserving Venus flytraps, so we’re excited about having the resources to do more of that kind of work,” he explained.

To further that effort, $20 from each $30 plate will go to the North Carolina Botanical Garden Foundation. The other $10 goes to the North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles.

“It was the most exciting thing that’s happened to us this year,” Waitt told CBS 17.

Within the next several months, you’ll start seeing the new license plates on our roads.

Waitt says anyone who wants one of the new plates can order them through the DMV once they’re available.

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