Homeowner Wildlife Habitat Course

Create a certified wildlife habitat

co-sponsored by

West Chester University Biology Department

Gordon Natural Area

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Saturday, January 30, 2010

8:30am - 3:30pm

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West Chester University of Pennsylvania

Biology Conference Room

Schmucker Science Center North

South Church Street, West Chester, PA

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Advanced registration required:

Call: 484-678-6200 or

Email: info@habitatresourcenetwork.org

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Tree Tenders Training

Tree Tenders Training

Sign up now!
(Student’s, staff, faculty, Borough & Township residents)
Learn to plant & care for trees
9 hours of free training

April 7, 14, 21 (6-9PM)
113 Boucher Hall
Sponsored by the PA Horticulture Society and WCU
To register http://www.pennsylvaniahorticulturalsociety.org
& choose “sign up for Free Tree Tenders Training
Contact: Gerry Hertel; 610-436-2722; ghertel@wcupa.edu
(WCU sponsors: Grounds; Environmental Council; Gordon Natural Area)

Homeowners Course Completed

Saturday definitely brought warmer temperatures, but a few nature lovers were sitting inside the walls of Penn State Brandywine talking garden plans, trees and critters. Our second Homeowners Wildlife Habitat Course for 2009 is now complete.

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For those of you who had the opporunity to come out this past weekend, please do not hesitate to share your experience and your habitat plans here. You can even post pictures and get suggestions from other members!

Hurry! Before it's too late!

Sign up for the upcoming

HOMEOWNER WILDLIFE HABITAT CLASS:

CREATE A CERTIFIED WILDLIFE HABITAT

Saturday, March 7, 2009

8:30 am to 3:00 pm

Penn State Brandywine

Tomezsko Classroom Building, Room 101

25 Yearsley Mill Road, Media, PA 19063

(many thanks to our co-sponsor, Penn State Brandywine!)

COST: $40 per person or $50.00 per couple. (Includes lunch and course materials)

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Habitat destruction is the leading cause of species decline, not only in the rainforests, but here in our own corner of Pennsylvania. As our land is used for human purposes, there is less undeveloped land to sustain birds, butterflies, frogs, insects and other wildlife. We can change how we landscape our individual properties to provide a home and sanctuary for wildlife, as well as for our human families.

Course topics include:

• How to restore and create wildlife habitat on your property by providing food, water, shelter and places to raise young.
• The importance of native plants to our local ecosystem, plant selection and sources
• How to design for people (including children) and wildlife
• Sustainable gardening practices that are good for the earth, people and wildlife
• The process of Wildlife Habitat Certification through the National Wildlife Federation and Audubon.
• Additional resources and information tailored to each homeowners’ landscape.

Lastly, the Invasive Species blog (which we follow) just recently posted a disturbing message for those of us in PA who have Ash trees on our properties!

http://invasivespecies.blogspot.com/2009/02/eab-in-c-pa.html

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Pictures from: http://www.hort.uconn.edu/plants/index.html

Homeowners Course Completed

It may have been cold outside on Saturday, but inside the walls of the Brandywine Conservancy Trust we were talking gardens, trees and critters. Our first Homeowners Wildlife Habitat Course for 2009 is now complete. Don't worry if you missed it, there is another one being held on March 7th at Penn State Brandywine.

For those of you who had the opporunity to come out this past weekend, please do not hesitate to share your experience and your habitat plans here. You can even post pictures and get suggestions from other members!

There is Still Time to Register!

Habitat Resource Network of Southeast Pennsylvania is very pleased to offer a “Homeowner Wildlife Habitat Course” to be held at Willistown Conservation Trust on Saturday, January 24, 2009.

Habitat destruction is the leading cause of species decline, not only in the rainforests, but here in our own corner of Pennsylvania. As our land is used for human purposes, there is less undeveloped land to sustain birds, butterflies, frogs, insects and other wildlife. We can change how we landscape our individual properties to provide a home and sanctuary for wildlife, as well as for our human families.

The course topics include:
· How to restore and create wildlife habitat on your property by providing food, water, shelter and places to raise young.
· The importance of native plants to our local ecosystem, plant selection and sources
· How to design for people (including children) and wildlife
· Sustainable gardening practices that are good for the earth, people and wildlife
· The process of Wildlife Habitat Certification through the National Wildlife Federation and Audubon.
· Additional resources and information tailored to each homeowners’ landscape

The course will run from 8:30am to 3:00pm. The fee is $40 per person or $50 per couple. Course materials and lunch are included. For more information or to register, go to www.habitatresourcenetwork.org, email info@habitatresourcenetwork.org or call 484-678-6200.

Connect your piece of the earth to the larger ecosystem, and nourish our local biodiversity!
The mission of the Habitat Resource Network of SEPA is to create a network of people, organizations and resources to support the restoration and maintenance of wildlife habitat and to promote sustainable landscape practices in Southeastern Pennsylvania (more info at www.habitatresourcenetwork.org). . Habitat Resource Network is a local chapter of Wild Ones, a national organization dedicated to the preservation, restoration and establishment of native plant communities (more info at www.for-wild.org).

Longwood Gardens 2009 Course Catalog

I was delighted to discover an additional emphasis on sustainable gardening and native plants in the 2009 Longwood offerings!! And Longwood has recruited our leading local plantspeople to teach the courses, ensuring their quality. In 2009, Longwood will showcase the issue of pollination and its importance to horticulture, and there are several related lectures and classes in beekeeping, colony collapse disorder and attracting pollinators.

Within the Certificate of Merit in Ornamental Plant Courses, there are two new courses, one on Edible Plants, offered this year, and one on Native Plants, to be offered in 2010.

Additional short courses and workshops of interest include:

• Installing and maintaining native plant meadows
• Seed collection,
• Healthy habitat designs,
• Sustainable landscape and design theory.
  

In addition, Doug Tallamy, an entomologist researching insects ability to utilize native versus non-plants as a food source, will be a featured speaker at the 2009 Today's Horticulture Symposium on February 6th. (We are co-sponsoring Dr. Tallamy at Penn State Brandywine on February 8th).

Cheers to Joan McClintock, the new Continuing Education Coordinator at Longwood!! Rediscover Longwood Gardens, http://www.longwoodlearning.org/.

-Maureen Carbery