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Speaker: Nancy Lawson
A World of Discovery: Exploring the science and heart of sensory wildscapes.
Co-sponsor: The University of Maryland Extension with host Lisa Kuder
Physical location: Central Maryland Research and Education Center (CMREC) 4240 Folly Quarter Road Ellicott City, MD 21042 Directions: Enter the building at the front door under the portico. (The door next to the parking lot will be locked.)
The program is free and open to the public.
Much has been written about gardening for human senses, but how do plants and animals perceive the world around them? What do we miss when we landscape for human visual appeal but neglect the sensory experiences of our wild neighbors? Conventional gardening practices often interfere with other organisms’ abilities to interact with their environment in ways we can scarcely imagine. Through science, heart, and our powers of observation, we can learn to mitigate these disruptions and create sensory refuges in an increasingly noisy world.
Nancy Lawson is the author of The Humane Gardener: Nurturing a Backyard Habitat for Wildlife and Wildscape: Trilling Chipmunks, Beckoning Blooms, Salty Butterflies, and other Sensory Wonders of Nature. A nature writer, habitat consultant, and founder of The Humane Gardener, she pioneers creative wildlife-friendly landscaping methods. Nancy co-chairs Howard County Bee City in Maryland and co-launched a community science project, Monarch Rx, after discovering a little-known butterfly behavior in her own garden. Her books, garden, advocacy and scientific endeavors have been featured in Science Magazine, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Oprah magazine, Entomology Today, Ecological Entomology, and American Gardener. Her most recent book, Wildscape, received an honorable mention in the American Horticultural Society's national book awards and was a finalist for the 2024 AAAS/Subaru Prize for Excellence in Science Books.
YOU MUST REGISTER IN ORDER TO RECEIVE THE ZOOM LINK
Zoom opens at 7:00PM for pre-program board update and member Q&A. Presentations begin at 7:30PM and generally run until 8:45PM.
We can accommodate the first 300 people who enter the Zoom meeting at the meeting time. After you register, you will receive a registration confirmation email with a link to the Zoom meeting, as well as the in person location information.
If you enjoy MNPS programs, please consider clicking here to make a donation. And don't forget to renew your membership!
Note that if you donate through the event registration, and subsequently cancel, the donation will temporarily appear as a credit. It will take time for the donation to be reinstituted to your account. Donations and membership dues are non-refundable.
Speaker: Jorge Bogantes Montero
The Anacostia River once had extensive tidal emergent wetlands dominated by Wild Rice (Zizania aquatica), an essential plant in this aquatic ecosystem. Centuries of habitat destruction and neglect deeply changed the riparian landscape of this river in the nation’s capital. For more than two decades, the Anacostia Watershed Society (AWS) has embarked on an ecosystem restoration journey to try to recover these amazing tidal marshlands, but in a very different River in the 21st century. Since 2020, wild rice has been thriving and even expanding in acreage as a result of our restoration efforts in what is a true restoration success story. Every summer, with the blooming of wild rice and more wildlife sightings, we grow more hopeful and treasure the recovery of a riverine ecosystem in the middle of a major city.
Jorge Bogantes Montero is a Natural Resources Specialist at the Anacostia Watershed Society in Bladensburg, MD. He leads ecological restoration efforts on public parklands in the Anacostia River watershed (in both DC and MD), including wetland restoration, tree plantings, meadow creation, SAV propagation, mussel propagation, wildlife monitoring, and invasive plant management. Mr. Bogantes Montero has a Bachelor's degree in Natural Resource Management and Protection from the Universidad Estatal a Distancia in San Jose, Costa Rica, his native country. Before moving to the U.S., Jorge worked in his country in issues related to tropical biodiversity conservation.
We can accommodate the first 300 people who enter the Zoom meeting at the meeting time. After you register, you will receive a registration confirmation email with a link to the Zoom meeting. Registering does not guarantee a space in the Zoom meeting.
This will be recorded and available on our Webinars page.
If you enjoy MNPS programs please consider clicking here to make a donation. And don't forget to renew your membership!
Native Plants in Baltimore from Forests to Gardens: “A good member of a plant community”
Speakers: Katie Lauter & Sarah D'Adamo
Co-sponsor: The University of Maryland Extension with host Lisa Kuder,
In-person Option at CMREC (University of Maryland Extension Central Maryland Research and Education Center) 4240 Folly Quarter Road Ellicott City, MD 21042
Zoom Option: YOU MUST REGISTER IN ORDER TO RECEIVE THE ZOOM LINK
In recent years, Baltimore has quietly emerged as a leading US city for conservation stewardship across its forested and vacant to greened land. Local environmental land trust Baltimore Green Space (BGS) is a leading organization in these conservation efforts. These highlight the existing conservation value in the city’s green spaces while at the same time working to expand it through partnership-based community outreach, resourcing, education and stewardship cultivation. This talk will provide some examples of this work and its impacts for conservation education and land enhancements in the urban setting. Further, the examples will show programming community-based work with native plant ecosystems from forests and their edges to more landscaped meadow patches and pollinator gardens in pocket parks and community gardens.
We will highlight our forest stewardship network’s strategies for increasing and protecting native plantings from enhancing native plantings along forest edges, protecting rare species, and invasive species management. We will share data on stewardship success' increasing native species and decreasing invasive species. We will also showcase the Pollinator Power! Project to implement native landscaping through the resources of protected green spaces and their communities of stewards across the city. Through this effort, the organization integrates both community-level ecological education about natives, data collection and social celebrations of pollinators.
We will highlight particular species that succeed in these environments and work across the growing season’s increasingly erratic conditions under climate change to provide conservation value. Across these examples, we will reflect on the importance of native plant education and engagement in urban communities. Additionally, we will consider the possible advocacy implications of what we’ve learned about how to be a good member of a native plant community in these settings.
Additional Information: Start and Keep a Community Green Space: Advice for Project Leaders from BGS
About our Speakers: Katie Lautar took the helm of Baltimore Green Space as its Executive Director after seven years working as our Program Director. Born and raised in Baltimore, she came to this work through her love of Baltimore, nature, and communities. Katie has more than 16 years of experience in community organizing, designing non-profit programs, and creating educational programs. She earned a Master's Degree in Environmental Education from Lesley University, while living outdoors in different bio-regions. She earned her Bachelor's degree at Goucher College in Elementary Education with a Minor in Peace Studies. She directed youth development and education programs at Strong City Baltimore and is a founder of the 2640 Cooperative. She also has considerable experience in consensus building models and collaborative program development.
Sarah D'Adamo leads the programming and site support related to green space preservation in the city as well as garden stewardship. Sarah grew up in Catonsville and then spent many years living and working abroad before returning to the area and claiming Baltimore city as her home in 2015. As part of her career in secondary and postsecondary education, often working with international students, Sarah completed a PhD in Cultural Studies in 2022 that focused on higher education as social infrastructure in the US and Canada. This long-term interest in infrastructure also extends into urban ecology, botany, local agriculture, mutual aid and land-based history and rehabilitation. Sarah has become an active member of Baltimore's urban agriculture community since 2019. She has been a core member of two green spaces preserved by Baltimore Green Space, Hidden Harvest Farm in the Greenmount West neighborhood and Ash Street Garden in Hampden. Through those spaces Sarah has pursued community organizing and partnership-based community led development, food distribution, ecological education and youth outreach in the city. You can often find Sarah in one of these gardens or at another of the city's farms, or walking in the city's forests, trails, and along the Jones Falls, where she is an avid birder.
Webinar Recordings page and on the MNPS YouTube channel
Program Resources and Handouts
