Bay Area Sierra Club Meeting: Spring Gardening, Conservation starts in your yard

The March meeting will be conducted via Zoom.
(no in-person meeting)
Starts 6:30 pm for social time; 7:00 pm for program.
Here is the link for the meeting on Zoom:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4168201898?pwd=MzBpZ2hvUVFMckw4anlldTh6Tkh3dz09

March 16 Program:
Spring Gardening - Conservation that Starts in Your Yard

On March 16, Kelly Langston, owner of Blue Mist Landscaping, will present about pollinator gardens and native plants. In addition there will be relevant recorded video segments with Doug Tallamy, a noted entomologist and professor in the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware. He has authored two influential books, "Nature's Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in Your Yard" and "Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants". This program will emphasize choosing plants not only for beauty but for what pollinators and other insects have evolved to need, that is, native plants.

Kelly Langston currently works full time with the Houston Parks & Recreation Dept., focusing on restoring native landscapes by growing, planting, managing and maintaining designated parks throughout Houston. With Blue Mist, her focus is on installing and maintaining pollinator gardens, vegetable and herb gardens, and increasing the presence of native plants in all landscapes.

Doug Tallamy's talk emphasizes food webs and the interdependence of species and local ecosystems, and why understanding these relationships are essential for maintaining future biodiversity and human well-being.

Excerpts below from Doug Tallamy's writings:

"Because the reach of human development has disrupted or destroyed natural habitat in so many places, local extinction is rampant and global extinction accelerating. This is a growing problem for humanity because it is the plants and animals around us that produce the life support we all depend on. Every time a species is lost from an ecosystem, that ecosystem is less able to support us."

"We must abandon the notion that humans and nature cannot live together. Though vital as short-term refuges, nature preserves are not large enough to meet our ecological needs so we must restore the natural world where we live, work, and play. Because nearly 85% of the U.S. is privately owned, our private properties are an opportunity for long-term conservation if we design them to meet the needs of the life around us."

New Conservation Goals:
To succeed we need to redesign residential landscapes to

1. support diverse pollinator populations and complex food webs,
2. store carbon, and
3. manage our watersheds.

Doug Tallamy related websites:
TALLAMY'S HUB — HOMEGROWN NATIONAL PARK

Doug Tallamy | Entomology and Wildlife Ecology | University of Delaware (udel.edu)

National Wildlife Foundation, Native Plant Finder link:
https://www.nwf.org/NativePlantFinder/

Bay Area meetings are on 3rd Wednesday of the month and start at 6:30pm for social hour; speaker and discussion from 7-8:30 pm.