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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.
Even in the leafless landscapes of winter, there is still plenty of features to explore on our native plants, especially trees! During this presentation, we will discuss how to identify woody plants using buds, stems, lenticels, leaf scars, bark, and more! We will focus on terminology related to these features and then apply them to a few of our common native tree species.
Bradley Simpson, MNPS Board Member and Habitat Manager at Nature Forward is a graduate from the University of Maryland, College Park (UMD) where he earned a B.S. in Environmental Science and Policy concentrating in Wildlife Ecology and Management. His work in the plant field has included research as well as active management of an urban forest. He has conducted urban forest research in New York City and at Woodend Nature Sanctuary, categorizing thousands of plants in the process. Currently, he manages the restoration of Woodend’s natural habitats, specifically the 29 acres of forest and shares his knowledge of plants through many education programs. He is also in the process of obtaining a master’s degree from UMD to deepen his understanding of urban forest ecology.
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.
The program is free and open to the public.
This will be recorded and available on our Webinars page.
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Speaker: Clara Thiel
The variation of Maryland’s landscapes supports a diverse suite of ecosystems from the Chesapeake Bay to the Allegheny Mountains. Many of these ecosystems are maintained by unique topography, geology, and hydrology regimes and support rare or regionally threatened plant species. In this talk we will explore some of the biodiverse and ecologically important habitats that can be found throughout Mountain Maryland, including the calcareous cliffs and coves of Washington Co., the mid-Appalachian shale barrens of Allegany Co., and the high-elevation frost-pocket swamps of Garret Co. We will discuss their natural and biogeographical histories, their significance at the local, state, and regional levels, their roles as habitat refugia, and current threats to these plants and habitats in light of anthropogenic impacts and climate change.
Clara Thiel is a lecturer of biology and forest ecology, and the coordinator of biology internships at Frostburg State University. In addition, Thiel curates the Frostburg State University Herbarium (FSHU). She is from Clarke County, Virginia and earned her bachelor’s degree from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA. Thiel earned her master’s degree in Applied Ecology and Conservation Biology from Frostburg State University, and currently teaches courses in plant systematics, economics, and field identification. Her current research focuses on insular ecosystems and edaphic plant communities throughout the mid-Atlantic region.
