We are pleased to be able to offer some of the presentations from our Toward Harmony with Nature (THWN) Conferences for your continued education about native plants, natural landscaping and biodiversity.
23rd Toward Harmony with Nature Conference
The Value of Ecological Restoration
The keynote presentation from the 23rd Annual Toward Harmony with Nature Conference by David Cordray, The Value of Ecological Restoration, set the theme for our January 19, 2019 conference.
Was your youth rich in outdoor adventures? Did you use these adventures as your classrooms for your ecological goals today? Keynote speaker David Cordray was fortunate to be able to do so. Through his keynote, David shared his journey to finding ecological awareness and his insight into why we must actively participate in restoring the health of our lands. Wishing to give others the opportunity to participate in their natural heritage, he shared his knowledge of the ecology of restoring oak savanna, prairie, wetland and woodlands.
Owner of Environmental Returns LLC in Belleville, Wisconsin, David Cordray functions as the senior restoration ecologist and engineer of this ecological restoration company. You can sign-up for his blog at Environmental Returns where he covers many different subjects related to ecology in a strikingly poetic way.
Opening Presentation
If you weren’t able to attend the Toward Harmony With Nature conference last January, or if you want to share the information with a friend, you can now watch the opening presentation by Stephen Packard on Wisconsin Public Television.
In his presentation, “Reestablishing a Nourishing Relationship with Nature”, Stephen Packard shared lessons learned during his decades spent successfully restoring natural areas in the Midwest.
Handouts from 23rd Annual THWN Conference
Restoring Your Woodland to Health
Speaker Frank Hassler handout: Restoring your Woodland to Health
Planting a Prairie: Choose Your Own Adventure
Speaker Frank Hassler handouts: Planting a Prairie: Choose Your Own Adventure Outline Selecting Plants for Pollinators Prairie Plant Resources and Book List
The Urban Lot…Native Plants…Big Change
Speaker Loris Damerow handout: Plant List for Damerow Property
The Present and future of Goose Pond Sanctuary
Speakers Mark Martin and Sue Foote-Martin handout: Goose Pond Sanctuary Brochure
20th Toward Harmony with Nature Conference
The keynote presentation from the 20th Annual Toward Harmony with Nature Conference by Darrel Morrison, Rivers and Drifts: Natural Processes and Patterns in Designed Places, set the theme for our January 20, 2016 conference.
As a long-time advocate of the use of native plants, native plant communities, and natural processes in the design of landscapes, Darrel illustrated principles he uses in designing landscapes of all sizes focusing on what he calls rivers and drifts. You’ll see awesome photos he shared of designs he used in his role as senior landscape designer for the Native Plants Gardens at the University of Wisconsin Arboretum and as landscape consultant to Storm King Art Center in New York and designer of the Old Stone Mill landscape at New York Botanical Garden and the Native Flora Garden Extension at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.
Darrel also was senior landscape designer for the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin, Texas.
18th Toward Harmony with Nature Conference
The two-part keynote presentation from the 18th Annual Toward Harmony with Nature Conference by Doug Tallamy set the theme for our January 25, 2014 conference.
The Value of Having Native Plants in Our Yards
Creating Healthy, Biodiverse Neighborhood Corridors
Have you ever thought of your gardens/yards as habitats that represent the last chance we have for sustaining endangered plants, insects and animals that were once common throughout the United States? Doug Tallamy told us why and how our home and community gardens need to be redesigned to play this critical role in restoring our ecosystem. Learn more about the very important part all of us can play in revitalizing our native plants and landscapes, thus preserving our nation’s biodiversity.
Doug Tallamy is Professor and Chair of the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware where he has taught for over 30 years and is Director of the Center for Managed Ecosystems. A nationally recognized environmental speaker, he gives 80-100 talks per year. His book Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in our Gardens is in its second edition. He is also co-author of the book The Living Landscape: Designing for Beauty and Biodiversity in the Home Garden with Rick Darke.
Other Relevant Presentations from our Speaker Bureau
Former Executive Director of Wild Ones Donna VanBuecken was asked to present “about the mission of Wild Ones, the importance of native plants in landscapes, examples of what Wild Ones does, and examples of what people can do on their forest, wetland, grassland and mixed use properties to enhance and restore habitat” to the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation. She spoke about Promoting a Living Landscape: through Native Plants and Natural Landscapes.