Native Plants in Baltimore from Forests to Gardens:  “A good member of a plant community”

Speakers: Katie Lautar & 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

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.

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, which 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 highlight some examples of this work and its impacts for conservation education and land enhancements in the urban setting, as well as for 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.

During the talk you will learn about the BGS 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. Presenters will share data on stewardship success increasing native species and decreasing invasive species. They will also showcase the Pollinator Power! Project that focuses on native landscaping through the resources of protected green spaces and communities of stewards across the city. 

Presenters will highlight particular species that succeed in urban environments and work across the growing season’s increasingly erratic conditions under climate change to provide conservation value. Across these examples, they will reflect on the importance of native plant education and engagement in urban communities and the possible advocacy implications of what they've learned about how to be good members of native plant communities in these settings.

YOU MUST REGISTER IN ORDER TO RECEIVE THE ZOOM LINK

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.

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.

This will be recorded and available on our Webinars page.

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