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Land Conservancy Speaker Series presents Doug Tallamy in ‘Rebuilding Nature’s Relationships at Home’

Apr 27, 2016 | Events

As a follow up to Earth Day, the Western New York Land Conservancy is bringing award-winning author Doug Tallamy to the UB Center for the Arts for a presentation on the critical importance of native plants for the ecology and vibrancy of our region.

Tallamy’s research and his book, “Bringing Nature Home,” have sparked a national conversation about the importance of using native plants in our gardens and landscapes to reverse the loss of wildlife and to make our communities healthier. After decades of intense urban sprawl, our natural places are shrinking and becoming more fragmented. The use of native plants in our yards and gardens will make a difference, no matter the size.

Sally Cunningham, Certified Nursery and Landscape Professional, author and horticulturist credits Tallamy for clarifying why native plants are so important. “They meet the needs of native insects, which, in turn, serve a complicated food web. Without the insects all ecology dissolves. Native insects require the plants with which they co-evolved.”

The plight of the monarch butterfly is making headlines all over the nation. To a large degree, their decline is tied to the loss of native plants. Monarch caterpillars are dependent upon a single source of nutrition — native milkweeds — and their populations have suffered dramatic losses as milkweed fields disappear. We can fix this in our own backyards by planting many types of native milkweeds, which do, in fact, have gorgeous red, pink, orange and white flowers.

“We have eliminated so much nature so fast, that most people don’t realize how little is left,” said Tallamy. “Particularly in the east, we have devastated our natural areas to the point where if we are going to have functioning ecosystems, if we’re going to have biodiversity, we need to start sharing the property that we’ve taken.”

Historically, we have landscaped to add beauty to our yards, without much thought to the role that plants provide in maintaining healthy ecosystems. The way we think about our yards needs to shift. Native landscapes support food webs, sustain pollinators, sequester carbon, filter our water and produce oxygen. Many native plants, like milkweed, are beautiful too.

Executive Director Nancy Smith said, “The Land Conservancy protects 6,000 acres of remarkable places across Western New York, but we can’t protect everything. If every gardener and landowner, and every business, school and town park included even a small number of native plants, it would make an enormous difference to our pollinators and wildlife.”

The Land Conservancy’s last speaker event sold out, so don’t delay; purchase your tickets today. Tallamy will present “Rebuilding Nature’s Relationships at Home” on Tuesday, May 10 at the UB Center for the Arts. The 7 p.m. event begins with a 6 p.m. reception and is open to the public. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased at the UB Box Office or online at Tickets.com.

This event was made possible by the following cosponsors: Bernadette Clabeaux, Ph.D.; Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper; East Aurora Garden Club; Eastern Monarch Butterfly Farm; Ecology & Environment; Grassroots Gardens; Joy Kuebler Landscape Architect PC; The Knoer Group; Lessons from Nature Garden Consulting; Nature Sanctuary Society of WNY; Paul Fuhrmann; Sierra Club Niagara Group; Tifft Nature Preserve and the Buffalo Museum of Science; Wild Birds Unlimited; and WNY Environmental Alliance.

The Western New York Land Conservancy is a regional, not-for-profit land trust that permanently protects land with significant conservation value in Western New York for future generations. The Land Conservancy envisions a future in which open spaces, working lands, wildlife habitat and scenic beauty are cherished and protected as part of the landscape and character of Western New York. The Land Conservancy is accredited by the Land Trust Accreditation Commission and is one of 1,700 land trusts nationwide, including 90 in New York State. Land trusts have protected 40 million acres over the last 20 years. For more information on upcoming events, volunteer opportunities or the mission of the Western New York Land Conservancy, please call (716) 687-1225 or visit www.wnylc.org.

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