2022 Annual Meeting - October 15, 2022
Join us for our 2022 Annual Meeting
Shaver's Creek Environmental Center, Petersburg, PA
3 great speakers, 2 Bonus activities, a short business meeting, and a member-donated plant sale.
Bring your own lunch and enjoy the beauty of Shaver's Creek.
No charge but donations are welcome. Open to the public. We will be offering a virtual option. Instructions are included with registration.
Featured Speakers and Topics
9:15 am - Environmental Yardistry - presented by Kristy Gallo
Join biologist, artist, and Ohio transplant Kristy Gallo as she highlights her efforts to convert her suburban Columbus yard to native prairie. Gallo will touch on her experiences using soil as her canvas to create a space that is both pollinator friendly and pleasing to the eye and spirit. She'll discuss the importance of incorporating keystone plants to support a vast biodiversity within your yard and detail the techniques she used to create her award-winning native plant garden.
Kristy Gallo is an artist, Biology major and recent transplant to Pennsylvania. Both art and nature have been a passion and a source of sanctuary for Gallo throughout life. Exchanging a paint brush for a spade, soil has become her new canvas. Artistically inspired and environmentally driven, Kristy is committed to protecting and restoring native ecosystems.
10:00 am - Bee diversity and monitoring efforts in Pennsylvania - presented by Margarita M. López-Uribe, Lorenzo L. Langstroth Early Career Professor, Associate Professor, Department of Entomology, Pennsylvania State Universitywebsite: http://www.lopezuribelab.com/
Margarita is the Lorenzo L. Langstroth Early Career Professor and Associate Professor of Entomology at Penn State University. She is also an extension specialist in pollinator health for Penn State Extension. Margarita received her BS in Biology from Universidad de Los Andes (Colombia), her MS in Genetics and Evolution from Universidade Federal de São Carlos (Brazil), and her Ph.D. in Entomology from Cornell University (USA). She was an NSF postdoctoral research fellow at North Carolina State University before joining Bio: Penn State. Margarita was awarded the ESA Early Career Research Award in 2018 and most recently received an NSF CAREER award. As an evolutionary ecologist, she is broadly interested in understanding how artificial selection and management shape bee health and the long-term persistence of their populations in agricultural areas.
11:00 am - Native Cultivars vs. Straight Species: Results from Recent Trials - presented by Connie Schmotzer, Coordinator for Pollinator Certification and Pollinator Preferences
As native plants become more popular, many cultivars are being offered in the marketplace. But do these cultivars still benefit pollinators and wildlife or are they just decorative items in the landscape? Learn about the results of several trials that have been conducted in the Mid-Atlantic and New England and get some tips on how to choose plants that will most benefit your ecosystem.
Connie has been gardening with native plants for 30 years and finds that there is always something new and exciting to learn. She is retired from her job of 22 years as Consumer Horticulture Educator for Penn State Extension, where she concentrated on gardening with native plants to attract pollinators. Prior to joining Penn State Extension Connie taught school in Williamsburg, VA and worked as a naturalist with the National Park Service in Wyoming. She has a B.A. from Dickinson College and has done graduate work in soils at Montana State.
Bonus Activities
8 - 8:45 am - Bird walk with Doug Wentzel - enjoy the rich and diverse bird population of Shaver's Creek Environmental Center.
1-2- pm - Plant walk with Eric Burkhart - guided tour of the native plants at Shaver's Creek Environmental Center.
Member-donated Plant sale
Plants for sale from our member gardens. Great for fall planting.
Schedule
8:00 - 8:45: Bonus Activity: Bird walk with Doug Wentzel
9:00 - 9:15: Business meeting
9:15 - 10:00: Environmental Yardistry - Kristy Gallo
10:00 - 10:45: Bee diversity and monitoring efforts in Pennsylvania -Margarita Lopez-Uribe
10:45 - 11:00 Break (with coffee and snacks)
11:00 - 12:00: Native Cultivars vs. Straight Species: Results from Recent Trials - Connie Schmoltzer
12:30 - 1:00: Brown bag lunch and socializing
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm: Bonus Activity: Plant walk with Eric Burkhart
Join us for our 2022 Annual Meeting
Shaver's Creek Environmental Center, Petersburg, PA
3 great speakers, 2 Bonus activities, a short business meeting, and a member-donated plant sale.
Bring your own lunch and enjoy the beauty of Shaver's Creek.
No charge but donations are welcome. Open to the public. We will be offering a virtual option. Instructions are included with registration.
Featured Speakers and Topics
9:15 am - Environmental Yardistry - presented by Kristy Gallo
Join biologist, artist, and Ohio transplant Kristy Gallo as she highlights her efforts to convert her suburban Columbus yard to native prairie. Gallo will touch on her experiences using soil as her canvas to create a space that is both pollinator friendly and pleasing to the eye and spirit. She'll discuss the importance of incorporating keystone plants to support a vast biodiversity within your yard and detail the techniques she used to create her award-winning native plant garden.
Kristy Gallo is an artist, Biology major and recent transplant to Pennsylvania. Both art and nature have been a passion and a source of sanctuary for Gallo throughout life. Exchanging a paint brush for a spade, soil has become her new canvas. Artistically inspired and environmentally driven, Kristy is committed to protecting and restoring native ecosystems.
10:00 am - Bee diversity and monitoring efforts in Pennsylvania - presented by Margarita M. López-Uribe, Lorenzo L. Langstroth Early Career Professor, Associate Professor, Department of Entomology, Pennsylvania State Universitywebsite: http://www.lopezuribelab.com/
Margarita is the Lorenzo L. Langstroth Early Career Professor and Associate Professor of Entomology at Penn State University. She is also an extension specialist in pollinator health for Penn State Extension. Margarita received her BS in Biology from Universidad de Los Andes (Colombia), her MS in Genetics and Evolution from Universidade Federal de São Carlos (Brazil), and her Ph.D. in Entomology from Cornell University (USA). She was an NSF postdoctoral research fellow at North Carolina State University before joining Bio: Penn State. Margarita was awarded the ESA Early Career Research Award in 2018 and most recently received an NSF CAREER award. As an evolutionary ecologist, she is broadly interested in understanding how artificial selection and management shape bee health and the long-term persistence of their populations in agricultural areas.
11:00 am - Native Cultivars vs. Straight Species: Results from Recent Trials - presented by Connie Schmotzer, Coordinator for Pollinator Certification and Pollinator Preferences
As native plants become more popular, many cultivars are being offered in the marketplace. But do these cultivars still benefit pollinators and wildlife or are they just decorative items in the landscape? Learn about the results of several trials that have been conducted in the Mid-Atlantic and New England and get some tips on how to choose plants that will most benefit your ecosystem.
Connie has been gardening with native plants for 30 years and finds that there is always something new and exciting to learn. She is retired from her job of 22 years as Consumer Horticulture Educator for Penn State Extension, where she concentrated on gardening with native plants to attract pollinators. Prior to joining Penn State Extension Connie taught school in Williamsburg, VA and worked as a naturalist with the National Park Service in Wyoming. She has a B.A. from Dickinson College and has done graduate work in soils at Montana State.
Bonus Activities
8 - 8:45 am - Bird walk with Doug Wentzel - enjoy the rich and diverse bird population of Shaver's Creek Environmental Center.
1-2- pm - Plant walk with Eric Burkhart - guided tour of the native plants at Shaver's Creek Environmental Center.
Member-donated Plant sale
Plants for sale from our member gardens. Great for fall planting.
Schedule
8:00 - 8:45: Bonus Activity: Bird walk with Doug Wentzel
9:00 - 9:15: Business meeting
9:15 - 10:00: Environmental Yardistry - Kristy Gallo
10:00 - 10:45: Bee diversity and monitoring efforts in Pennsylvania -Margarita Lopez-Uribe
10:45 - 11:00 Break (with coffee and snacks)
11:00 - 12:00: Native Cultivars vs. Straight Species: Results from Recent Trials - Connie Schmoltzer
12:30 - 1:00: Brown bag lunch and socializing
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm: Bonus Activity: Plant walk with Eric Burkhart
