Native Landscaping in a Changing World

Wild Ones 2024 Conference, Native Landscaping in a Changing World, presented by the Lake to Prairie Chapter. Our chapter's mission is to educate, which we do with our monthly meetings at the Fremont Public Library, covering a wide range of natural landscaping and environmental education topics. Bringing educators together in one place at this conference will provide a wealth of information for people new to the native plant idea as well as the practiced native gardener.

Over the past 50 years human alteration of the Earth's climate has accelerated rapidly. We need to get smarter about gardening in an era of weather unpredictability.

Embracing native plant species resilient to local climate shifts can help gardeners significantly contribute to enviornmental preservation. This years' conference focuses on looking at various approaches to the weather related challenges we may face as we nurture our own gardens and landscape.

Schedule

8:15am - 8:45am - Registration, Coffee and Exhibitor Tables

8:45am - 9:00am - Welcome and Introduction

9:00am - 10:15am - Dr. Trent Ford; Landscape Management Challenges and Nature-Based Solutions in a Changing Climate. Climate change - present and future - creates significant environmental , economic and social challenges. Landscape management and nature-based solutions offer opportunities to both mitigate climate change and build climate resilience. In this presentation we'll discuss the challenges imposed by climate change and the strategies for ensuring healthy and productive economies and ecosystems now and into the future.

10:15am - 10:45am - Complementary food, Book Sales and Exhibitor Tables

10:45am - 11:45am - Dr. Murphy Westwood; How Healthy Urban Forests Can Support Threatened Trees and Mitigate Climate Change. Urban areas can often feel disconnected and out of harmony with undisturbed forests in remote wilderness locations. But the trees growing in these two disparate settings are more connected than they may seem. Urban forests contribute significant benefits to support human health and biodiversity, and actions taken in our communities can improve the state of the nation's trees and forest and mitigate the impacts of climate change. Understanding the current state of tree diversity within the United States is imperative to protecting those species, their habitats and the countless communities they support, as well as the ecosystem services they provide in natural areas and the built environment. Through a collaborative cross-sector partnership including botanical gardens, NGOs and government agencies, we created an updated checklist of native U.S. tree species and completed over 700 new or updated Union for Conservation of Nature Red List assessments and NatureServe Global Ranks to generate the first comprehensive assessment of the risk of extinction of 881 tree species native to the contiguous United States. The most serious threats facing trees today are relevant to both urban and wild settings: invasive pests and diseases, climate change and severe weather and loss of natural habitat. Fortunately, there are actions we can take to enhance our urban forests that have a positive impact on trees and ecosystems across the country and can contribute to safeguarding the 11-16% of U.S. tree species that are threatened with extinction.

11:45am-12:00pm - Short Break

12:00pm - 1:00pm - Eileen Davis, Environmental Educator; Landscaping for a Changing Climate. When faced with the realities of a changing climate it's easy to become discouraged, feeling that you don't have the power to make a difference. We have learned what we plant and how we plant it can make a huge difference. Discover nature-based solutions for the home gardener that lessen the impacts of our changing climate. We'll discuss how native plants sequester carbon, how rain gardens and rain barrels can help lessen the impact of stormwater runoff and how the way we maintain our landscapes can build healthy soils that hold more carbon and support wildlife.

Speakers

Dr. Trent Ford is the Illinois State Climatologist and has been with the Prairie Research Institute at the University of Illinois since 2019. He is an expert in climate and climate change and it's interactions and impacts, especially as they relate to water. Trent leads climate and drought monitoring, research, and data collection for the state of Illinois. He and his team work with communities, industries and state agencies on issues related to weather, climate and climate change in Illinois and engage the general public through online, media and educational outreach. A native of Roanoke Illinois, Ford earned a bachelors in geography from Illinois State University before completing his masters and PhD at Texas A&M University.

Dr. Murphy Westwood is Vice President of Science and Conservation at the Morton Arboretum, where she works to strengthen the Arboretum's local, national and global leadership activities in tree science and conservation. Murphy supports the Arboretum's service to the public to improve the health of the urban forest in the Chicago region, protect threatened tree species around the globe, facilitate information transfer to the green industry and the public and provide professional leadership to the world's arboreta. She is responsible for planning, strategic direction, program integration, fundraising and external relations for Science and Conservation at the Arboretum.

Murphy oversees a department of 50 scientists and conservation practitioners and key programs and initiatives, including scientific research on trees and forests through the Center for Tree Science improving the health of the urban forest of the Chicago region through the Chicago Region Trees Initiative, building collaborations and protecting threatened tree species through the Global Tree Conservation Program, documenting the trees and plants of the Chicago region and beyond in the Arboretum's Herbarium and supporting professional development and collaboration among arboreta worldwide through ArbNet.

Murphy has an extensive background in plant biology evolution, and conservation, having worked in botanical gardens and universities in Europe and America for more than 20 years. Murphy holds a PhD in Plant Developmental Biology form the University of Cambridge(UK), and a B.S. in Environmental Policy and Behavior from the University of Michigan.

Eileen Davis is an Environmental Educator who has variously served the Lake County Forest Preserves as an intern, volunteer and staff member since 1997. She earned her B.S. in Zoology and Environmental Biology from Eastern Illinois University and her M.S. in Environmental Education and Interpretation from University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Eileen teaches people of all ages about Lake County's diverse ecosystems and the plants and animals that call them home. In her free time she enjoys tending her home garden and traveling in search of new nature adventures.

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Are you part of an organization that would like to share information with our attendees or perhaps you have a product you would like to sell at the conference? If so, please consider joining us as an exhibitor. You can sign up as a vendor or a not-for-profit. If you sign up as an exhibitor, you do not have to register. Exhibitor admission is $40 for vendors and $25 for not-for-profits. The cost of admission includes a table, 2 chairs and food.

To join us as an exhibitor use this link for

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Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Village of Round Lake Beach Cultural and Civic Center, 2007 North Civic Center Way, Round Lake Beach, United States