Soil type plays a dominant role in limiting the native plants that can grow in any location and which native plant communities emerge across the landscape. At home, we just want to grow as many species as we can in whatever soil we have. This session is all about how to employ some simple techniques, borrowed from the field of ecological restoration, to greatly expand your successful use of natives. We’ll also briefly explore how these techniques work, why they are essential to restoring our botanical heritage and how to help your soils get even better over time.

Mark Brownlee is a principal with ArcheWild, a science-based ecological restoration firm. He also functions as the head ecologist for WildLawn, a regional firm dedicated to applying ecological restoration principles in the home landscape. Brownlee frequently provides training to landscape architects and civil engineers throughout the mid-Atlantic. He holds a B.S. and an M.S. from Carnegie Mellon.

Program Fee: $15 (Members, enter your code at checkout to receive your 20% discount.)

All lectures will be held virtually using Zoom. They will be recorded and shared with everyone who registers for a short time.

Chief Adam Waterbear, tribal storykeeper and director of education for the Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania, will discuss the past and present of the Lenape peoples, including pre-colonial life, relationships with William Penn, the era of Penn’s Sons and the Walking Purchase, the Lenape diaspora and the homeland Lenape and what the Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania is doing today to revitalize Lenape culture and continue their role as caretakers of their homelands. Chief Adam will then offer Lenape stories and cultural wisdom that promotes a harmonious relationship with the environment. Discussion and questions from the audience will be welcome and encouraged.

Adam Waterbear DePaul is a council member for the Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania, where his roles include storykeeper, academic liaison and coordinator of the Rising Nation River Journey. He is an instructor and Ph.D. candidate in cultural and mythological studies at Temple University, where he co-curated Everyday Artistry, Enduring Presence in 2019.

Program Fee: $15 (Members, enter your code at checkout to receive your 20% discount.)

All lectures will be held virtually using Zoom. They will be recorded and shared with everyone who registers for a short time.

Habitats offer wildlife the food, water, shelter, and space they need to survive. Learn how to add each of these elements to your living space, no matter where you live. From the basics of bird feeding to brush piles, to offering (and managing) water through a bird bath, DIY pond, or rain garden, you can turn your yard into a 5-star wildlife resort!

Katie Fisk holds a BS in Wildlife Biology, an MS in Environmental Education and Interpretation, and has been an environmental educator for nearly 20 years. She loves connecting people of all ages to nature and helping them make new discoveries about the world around them. At home, her greatest passion is working in her native garden and observing all the birds, bugs, and flowers it supports. She is proud to be the recipient of the 2025 Land Ethics Award for Individual Effort.

Program Fee: $15 (Members, enter your code at checkout to receive your 20% discount.)

All lectures will be held virtually using Zoom. They will be recorded and shared with everyone who registers for a short time.

Chimney swifts (Chaetura pelagica) have a long history tied to human settlement in the eastern United States. Over centuries, this species adapted its nesting habits to include primarily man-made chimneys. Unfortunately, this amazing adaptation could be part of their demise, as we continue to see range-wide population losses over the past 10 years. What’s causing these declines, and what can you do to help? Come learn about the chimney swifts’ natural history and conservation, and gain an appreciation for these amazing creatures living in your local neighborhood.

Stefan grew up in Central Pennsylvania, where he caught the birding bug as a young teenager.  During his formative years, he was a field technician studying golden-winged warblers in southern New York and Seaside Sparrows on Long Island.  After grad school, Stefan returned to Central Pennsylvania as a Pheasants Forever biologist working with local farmers to create wildlife habitat on private lands, mainly converting cropland to grassland habitat.  In 2022, he took a position with the Game Commission as the avian recovery biologist working on statewide initiatives to recover Pennsylvania’s declining bird species.  He enjoys birding, hiking, and camping across the county, running, and planting wildflower meadows in his local area.

Program Fee: $15 (Members, enter your code at checkout to receive your 20% discount.)

All lectures will be held virtually using Zoom. They will be recorded and shared with everyone who registers for a short time.

Wildflower Farm hosts educational workshops on self (and community) sustainability for adults and children. The farm sustainably produces organically and ethically raised, pastured, truly free-range and soy-free poultry, grass-fed lamb and culturally relevant vegetables and seeds with a unique focus on humane animal husbandry policies and conservation practices. Join us to learn more about these techniques and how you can incorporate them into your garden.

Tomia MacQueen is an educator of 20+ years, farmer and master gardener specializing in edible gardens. She is the owner of Wildflower Farm and the founder of Dance for LIFE (Love, Inspiration, Faith and Empowerment) and Gardening for LIFE. She is the founder of the Healing Waters Project which provides land access and training to new and beginning farmers at Wildflower Farm. Tomia partners with local organizations and schools as a featured farmer/mentor within youth and young adult programs such as the Outdoor Equity Alliance Agrihood Program and the Princeton University Seed Farm and others. She also served as the pilot coordinator for the Food Systems Literacy program at Princeton Public Schools laying the transformative framework for the Food Systems Curriculum.

Program Fee: $15 (Members, enter your code at checkout to receive your 20% discount.)

All lectures will be held virtually using Zoom. They will be recorded and shared with everyone who registers for a short time.

Thar She Glows aims to shed light on the novel study of biofluorescence, focusing on taxa in terrestrial systems. Holden Cooper will discuss the current research in these systems while highlighting research in biofluorescence. We will then discuss the ecological significance of the trait and how it is determined.

Holden Cooper has been interested in reptiles and amphibians as far back as he can remember. While completing his bachelor’s degree at Penn State Behrend, he conducted multiple research projects documenting biofluorescence in snakes and salamanders of Western Pennsylvania. Cooper has conducted a variety of research on reptiles and amphibians, including population surveys of spotted salamanders, documenting the occurrence of leucism in a dusky salamander and biofluorescence in gray treefrogs.

Program Fee: $15 (Members, enter your code at checkout to receive your 20% discount.)

All lectures will be held virtually using Zoom. They will be recorded and shared with everyone who registers for a short time.

Join the fun and make a festive holiday wreath out of natural materials and native plants, including Eastern juniper (Juniperus virginiana), white pine (Pinus strobus) and American holly (Ilex opaca). In this festive workshop, follow a step-by-step demonstration and hands-on instruction to help you create a work of art you’ll be proud to display during the holiday season. Space is limited for this program, so register early. For ages 14 and up.

The registration fee includes all materials.

Advance registration with payment is required by Dec. 05, 2024.

This is an all-outdoor event and will take place at the Moore Pavilion. Participants are encouraged to bring their own backyard, garden and decorative materials (like ribbons) to add as personalized accent pieces if they wish.

The face of amateur astronomy has changed dramatically over the past few years. Advances in optics, precision mounts, computerized cameras and tracking capabilities have all elevated the world of the backyard astronomer to new levels that rival what professional observatories were capable of just a few years ago. Amateur equipment and citizen science opportunities abound for ordinary people to make valuable contributions to the professional astronomical community. Whether just casually stargazing with friends or monitoring the skies for science, it is an exciting time we live in for amateur astronomers. We’ll explore what it takes to get involved with observing the sky, along with showing some of the amazing astrophotos taken by the club members of the Bucks-Mont Astronomical Association.

For the past 21 years, Dwight Dulsky of the Bucks-Mont Astronomical Association has worked on school and community outreach programming among numerous regional organizations, teaching children and adults about the wonders of the night sky. Most recently, with the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, providing Solar Eclipse safety information in 2024. He enjoys observing astronomical objects and dabbling in various aspects of astrophotography.

Program Fee: $15 (Members, enter your code at checkout to receive your 20% discount.)

All lectures will be held virtually using Zoom. They will be recorded and shared with everyone who registers for a short time.

“The forest is the therapist. The guide opens the doors.” – M. Amos Clifford

Led by Sharon Lohse, nature therapy walks are a unique, immersive, slow-paced experience with proven health benefits. Inspired by the Japanese practice of forest bathing and led by a certified nature and forest therapy guide, you will explore the land of the Preserve and awaken your senses to its sounds, beings, textures and beauty. This experience is different than a hike or naturalist walk. You will be invited to move slowly, wander, pause, observe and reflect. The emphasis is on unplugging, calming the mind and engaging with the natural world. Many studies have shown that this type of experience in nature reduces stress, lowers cortisol levels and blood pressure, increases energy, enhances sleep, increases natural killer disease-fighting cells and provides an overall sense of well-being.

Sharon Lohse is a psychiatric nurse with certificates in horticultural therapy, mindfulness and forest therapy. Her love of plants, trees, flowers and people is the root of her business, Mindful in Nature. She has been a certified guide since January 2019 and very much enjoys bringing people and plants together. She has transformed her yard into a horticultural masterpiece, winning the Garden of Distinction Award in the Pennsylvania Horticulture Society’s annual garden contest. In the process, she discovered how happy people felt after walking her garden trail, which led Lohse to Delaware Valley University.

Registration for this program is required by Thursday, June 15, 2023, at 5 PM.

Admission: $35 ($28 with member discount)

Mike Aucott, Ph.D., is here to review the importance and recent tragic history of this iconic tree, which once dominated Eastern forests but was virtually wiped out by an imported blight that appeared in the early 1900s. Learn the challenges and several varied strategies underway that are part of the effort help propel the tree over what researchers have called “the cusp of extinction” and to re-establish it in the North American forest.  Join us for a simplified description of the genetics involved in developing a blight-resistant tree that can thrive in the forest environment.  Aucott will also discuss the recent decision by the American Chestnut Foundation to abandon support for a specific genetically engineered tree and the importance of local efforts to find surviving and identifying American chestnuts.

Mike Aucott holds a Ph.D. in environmental science from Rutgers University. He retired from his position as research scientist for the NJ Department of Environmental Protection in 2012 but still works with NJDEP as a member of its science advisory board and part-time for the Department’s Bureau of Climate Change and Clean Energy. He also does consulting work in energy issues, air pollution and climate change. Aucott is a member of the board of the PA/NJ Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation and manages an orchard of 800 chestnut trees in Northern Pennsylvania, in addition to overseeing a hybrid chestnut breeding program involving 15 other growers.

Program Fee: $15 (Members, enter your code at checkout to receive your 20% discount.)

All lectures will be held virtually using Zoom. They will be recorded and shared with everyone who registers for a short time.