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An Urban Pollinator Safari

Instructor: Expert Guides, Tufts Pollinator Initiative
Did you know that cities are teeming with biodiversity? Insect pollinators like bees, butterflies, and beetles thrive in the city and help to sustain our local food systems and ecosystems. Come explore the flower gardens at Tufts University to learn how ecologically minded garden design can benefit both people and pollinators in the city.

Workshop

When:

June 11 | 11:00am - 12:00pm

Where:Pollinator Gardens at Tufts University in Medford, MA

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Going from Garden to Habitat

Instructor: Tia Pinney, Senior Naturalist, Mass Audubon
Conservation starts at home! Learn how to transform your corner of the earth into an eco-friendly haven for native flora and fauna. We’ll cover how ecosystems work, habitat resiliency, climate change, and more. You’ll leave with the ability to read your landscape and to select and maintain plants for long-term ecosystem health.

Workshop

When:

June 15 | 7:00 - 9:00pm

Where:Online (By Zoom Meeting)

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- Meet Our New Partner
  
  Homegrown National Park
  This initiative, co-founded by Doug Tallamy, is dedicated to catalyzing the collective efforts of individuals and communities to create habitat where we live and work. With a goal of 20 million acres of native plantings, it is the largest cooperative conservation project ever conceived or attempted.
  
  Want to join the movement? Add the land you steward to the Homegrown National Park map today! You can also help spread the word about HGNP and Grow Native by sharing this brochure with your family and friends, and displaying this sign next to your native plantings.
- Native Plant Highlight
  
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  The Lovely and Adaptable Gray Birch
  Gray birch (Betula populifolia) is an underutilized tree with a lot of potential for greater use in managed landscapes. A beautiful tree that is well-adapted to urban and suburban landscapes, it also has significant wildlife value as a host plant for Lepidoptera and as a source of seed and nesting sites for migrating birds. A common sight along roadsides, gray birch is a fast-growing pioneer species that will thrive in sunny, dry sites and in poor soil.
  Read more
- Planting Trees to Sequester Carbon?
  Native species are a must!
  There are a growing number of ambitious tree planting initiatives being undertaken by public and private entities with the goal of increasing carbon sequestration. As reported in the New York Times, while reforestation efforts are one important strategy for fighting climate change, too many of these operations are installing plantations of non-native tree species, with significant negative impacts on biodiversity. This and other decisions that disregard local ecology result in plantings that, in some cases, can actually increase carbon emissions.
  
  To chart a better path forward, conservationists from around the world came together to advance “Ten Golden Rules for Reforestation,” that can be used to create long-term strategies that tackle both the climate change and biodiversity crises. Whether you are seeking to reforest your urban tree canopy, a small suburban lot, or a much larger landscape, always remember that what you plant matters!
  Read the NY Times Article
- New And Noteworthy
  
  We Are The Ark
  
  Mary Reynolds
  
  Timber Press, 2022
  
  From the famed Irish landscape designer and activist Mary Reynolds.
  
  A heartfelt appeal for us to save our planet by creating ARKs (Acts of Restorative Kindness)—patches of restored native ecosystems that act as sanctuaries for biodiversity. The author’s message is rooted in a deep sense of kinship with the Earth and all the beings that inhabit it— both the rooted and the unrooted— weaving together prose and illustrations that evoke a modern-day folktale.
  
  Explore More at Best Books

Grow Native Massachusetts

Homepage

Upcoming Events

An Urban Pollinator Safari

Going from Garden to Habitat

Homepage

Homegrown National Park

The Lovely and Adaptable Gray Birch

Planting Trees to Sequester Carbon?

Native species are a must!

We Are The Ark

Mary Reynolds

Timber Press, 2022

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