Talk

Author of  Wild Plants I Have Known...and Eaten 

Residential landscaping has traditionally included nonnative ornamental plants, grasses, and trees to create unique or practical designs. As urban areas expand and dominate the landscape, the resources wildlife have come to depend on, through diverse native vegetation, are becoming scarce. Our gardens, yards, and natural areas, however, can provide a unique opportunity to replace those dwindling resources while still meeting the qualifications of landscaping desires.   

Tom Rawinski will be returning to the epicenter of deer knowledge to preach to the choir about white-tailed deer impacts.  As once he collected plant specimens, Tom now collects deer stories and deer impact data.  He will distribute copies of his publication, White-tailed Deer in Northeastern Forests: Understanding and Assessing Impacts, available from the Forest Service website. 

The New York Natural Heritage Program is in charge of assessing the status of rare species and ecological communities across the state. The botany program tracks 587 plants that have fewer than 30 occurrences in the state and are considered highly vulnerable to extirpation. Since the early 1800s botanists and plant enthusiasts have been collecting specimens and information on the distribution of plants in New York and since the 1840s have been interested in knowing which ones are rare.

Show pictures or artwork, read a poem, ask a burning question, explain your latest plant-related theory or discovery.  This event provides you a chance to share your "phyto" stuff (tangible and otherwise) with your fellow members.

 Our annual Solstice Gathering is fun and friendly.  Please come and enjoy the plants and plant-loving people!

Mark's story will focus on fruit-eating birds of our region, especially cedar waxwings, a most amazing and stunning bird. American robins and other thrushes too. Learning about what fruits birds eat is how Mike learned about the cool native shrubs in the Northeast: Viburnums, dogwoods, elderberry, cherries, spicebush (OMG), pokeweed (!). His talk will focus on a study he did with cedar waxwings and Viburnum opulus [now Viburnum opulus L. var.

The NY chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation has been working with SUNY-ESF in Syracuse for over 27 years. They have finally developed a truly blight resistant American chestnut, by inserting one "1" gene from wheat‡, which gives a tree that is 99.997% pure American. ESF is also working on using the same gene to develop blight resistant Allegheny and Ozark Chinquapin, which are part of the chestnut family. Other diseased trees, e.g. American Elm and butternut are being researched as well.

Following the previous last glacial maximum approximately 22,000 yrs ago, northeastern North American forests developed in the absence of earthworms. Many settlers imported European plants that likely had earthworms or earthworm cocoons (egg cases) in their soils. More recently, the widespread use of earthworms as fishing bait has spread them to more remote areas of the continent. Without earthworms, fallen leaves are slowly decomposed by microbes, fungi and soil invertebrates.