Grow Native! Native By Design: Community Conservation

March 10, 2023 @ 7:30 am – 12:00 pm

Leclaire Room at the N.O. Nelson Campus of Lewis and Clark Community College (600 Troy Road, Edwardsville, IL)

There is a cap of 150 participants. Register by March 1.

REGISTER HERE

For those who are part of the Grow Native! Professional Certification Program (GNPCP), this event counts as 3 CEUs. To register for the event, use the registration link above and see details about earning GNPCP CEUs here.

Event Details

Cost: Registration fee includes breakfast: $25 for Grow Native! or Missouri Prairie Foundation members, $30 for non-members, and $15 with student ID. NOTE: When using the online payment forms to make a one-time payment, you can make a credit card payment via PayPal but you do not need to have a PayPal account. You will be given the option to make a credit card payment by choosing “Pay with Debit or Credit Card.” To make a recurring payment, you will need a PayPal account.

Breakfast: Doors will open and breakfast will be ready at 7:30 a.m. The menu is an expanded breakfast buffet to include assorted danishes, bacon, plant-based sausage, scrambled eggs, biscuits & gravy, potatoes, fresh fruit salad, and an orange juice/coffee station.

Location/Directions: the N.O. Nelson Campus of Lewis and Clark Community College, Leclaire Room, 600 Troy Road, Edwardsville, IL 62025: https://www.lc.edu/uploadedFiles/Pages/About/Visit_Us/NONelsonMap.pdf

Keynote speaker

• Ronda Burnett: Community Conservation (link to presentation PDF)
  Ronda is a community conservation planner with the Missouri Department of Conservation and chair of the Grow Native! Committee. Her presentation focuses on how community conservation planning practices can increase the benefits of nature in cities as well as decrease the negative impacts of human communities on the natural world.

Plenary speakers

• Eric Wright: The Exploration Garden: Bringing Nature to Community (link to presentation PDF)
  Eric is the land conservation programs manager at HeartLands Conservancy in Belleville, IL. HeartLands works with southwestern Illinois through programs in land and water conservation and community planning to promote and result in clean air and water and places for nature and people to thrive.
  
• Joann Fricke- Little Prairie on the Bluffs + the Story of a Re-created Prairie (link to presentation PDF)
  Joann is an Illinois Hill Prairie landowner stewarding 120 acres of bluff property with five hill prairies in Monroe County and is a Clifftop (Conserving Lands In Farm, Forest, Talus, Or Prairie) chair. She retired in 2009 after 35 years with USDA Rural Development.

• Charlie Pitts- The Good, The Bad, The Ugly of Native Plants in Urban Public Spaces (link to Charlie’s presentation notes — credit: Sarah Burton)
  Charlie is an amateur naturalist and retired Air Force officer and systems engineer. He completed his BS in Biology from the University of Kansas in 1968 and re-entered the naturalist world in 2012 as a master naturalist through the University of Illinois Extension.

• Debbie Newman- Connecting & Protecting Peoplescapes & Landscapes: 60 Years of the ILNPC (link to presentation PDF)
  Debbie works as an ecologist and preservation specialist for the Illinois Nature Preserves Commission to protect and steward hill prairies, glades, caves & karst, southern flatwoods and other natural communities. She is also the Primary Author of Creating Habitats and Homes for Illinois Wildlife.
• Sara McGibany- People-power: Engaging Your Community in the Creation of Public Gardens & Green Spaces (link to presentation PDF)
  Sara McGibany is the executive director of Alton Main Street where she champions community development efforts and works to cultivate an attractive center of social and economic activity in Alton’s historic downtown district. Sara holds a bachelor’s degree from Illinois State University, with a major in public relations and a minor in psychology.

Workshop Partners