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Growing a Homegrown State Park: Hear Doug Tallamy at a Community Workshop & Dinner

8/26/2021

August 26, 5:00-8:00 pm

Lareau Farm/American Flatbread

Waitsfield

Registration Required

Doug Tallamy, one of the country’s most renowned conservation scientists and educators will be the featured speaker at a community workshop and dinner. In his captivating speaking style, illuminated with beautiful photos, you’ll learn why biodiversity is so vital to functioning ecosystems and what you can do to provide space and healthy habitats Vermont species need to thrive.

Complementing Doug’s remarks will be a potpourri of conservation resources and tips attendees can put to use on their own land, in their towns and schools.

How to create friendly habitat for the Vermont’s many bird species;
What you can do to protect the water that wildlife depends upon;
Forest management practices that support biodiversity;
How to deal with invasive species;
The central role Vermont plays as species move in response to climate change;
How to build habitat to support an array of local wildlife; and
What’s entailed in conserving property.

Experts from workshop co-sponsors will be staffing stations throughout the event to address these and other relevant topics.

Audubon Vermont
Friends of the Mad River
Friends of the Winooski River
Northeast Wilderness Trust
National Wildlife Federation
The Nature Conservancy Vermont
Shelburne Farms
Trust for Public Land
Vermont Land Trust

Doug Tallamy is the T. A. Baker Professor of Agriculture in the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware, where he has authored 104 research publications and has taught insect related courses for 40 years. Chief among his research goals is to better understand the many ways insects interact with plants and how such interactions determine the diversity of animal communities. His book Bringing Nature Home was published by Timber Press in 2007 and was awarded the 2008 Silver Medal by the Garden Writers' Association. The Living Landscape, co-authored with Rick Darke, was published in 2014; Nature's Best Hope, a New York Times Best Seller, was released in February 2020, and his latest book The Nature of Oaks was released by Timber press in March 2021. Doug is the impetus behind Homegrown National Park, a national effort to inspire 20 million acres of native plantings in the U.S.

This COMMUNITY WORKSHOP AND DINNER, sponsored by the Vermont Alliance for Half-Earth and the Vermont Natural Resources Council, is being hosted by Lareau Farm and American Flatbread.

TO ATTEND, YOU MUST REGISTER HERE BY AUGUST 20TH. Do so soon, as space is limited and interest in this event is expected to be very high. There is a $20 minimum donation required.

Feel free to encourage friends and family members join in this celebration of Vermont’s biodiversity and in a movement to grow a Homegrown State Park, all while answering the call of famed naturalist E. O. Wilson to preserve biodiversity:

To strive against the odds, on behalf of all life, would be humanity at its most noble.

For more information about the workshop, contact Curt Lindberg at vermontallianceforhalfearth@gmail.com. If you have any trouble registering online, reach out to Colin Keegan at ckeegan@vnrc.org.

A Resilient Mad River Watershed

8/24/2021

Saturday is the 10 year anniversary of Tropical Storm Irene when around 6 inches of rain fell in the Mad River watershed in a matter of hours, causing the river to crest at ~19 feet at the gage in Moretown, a full 10 feet above flood stage. The damage to infrastructure and peoples’ homes and businesses was significant. “After Irene, the community came together to take care of each other,” recalled Katie Sullivan, Friends’ board member and Warren School teacher. “The way people pitched in and helped, however they could, was a true testament to this community’s spirit.” That spirit of community central to the Irene recovery effort continued in the efforts for resiliency over the decade since. “Town board representatives planning and acting together across town lines as part of the Ridge to River initiative, homeowners enhancing their homes and driveways with Storm Smart, Town reps and road crews upgrading culverts and improving roads, Mad River Watch volunteers dedicating time and energy to understand the river,” listed Corrie Miller, Friends’ Director. “Over the last decade, our community has worked hard, learned a lot about the opportunities we have to shape our future, and made great strides together towards resilience.”

It Takes a Village

This past Sunday and Monday, 23 Friends of the Mad River’s (FMR) Mad River Watch volunteers visited 21 field sites across the valley in order to monitor water quality, make detailed environmental observations, and leave the site better than they found it. It was their sixth and final field exploration this summer. As Lisa Koitzsch, Mad River Watch Coordinator, greeted volunteers on their return from their last field day, they were reflective on their learning and experience, putting pieces together from a summer’s worth of observations and asking questions about what more they can do to support a clean river and resilient watershed. “With our new directive this year as River Watchers to spend more time making observations of the natural surroundings along the riverbanks, we found a new appreciation of the diversity and resiliency of plant life within the sometimes challenging environment bordering the river,” said Julie Westervelt of Warren about her experience volunteering with her daughter, Ingrid. “Taking a closer look has helped us understand the beauty of this special ecosystem that’s such an integral part of our community here in the Valley.”

A young Warren volunteer thinking in geologic time annotated his drawing of the Freeman Brook site with: “the big rock was carved out by water and made three water shoots over time.” A Fayston mother/daughter volunteer duo also noticed changes to the Ward Access landscape caused by water, but in a much shorter time frame: “a growing sand bar upstream will likely disappear in the rain to come tonight,” and added, “changes to the beach from the rain are lovely to watch.”

Photo Credit: Annie Parsons - Mad River Watch Volunteer Caption: Boone Parsons, of Warren, considering the processes that shaped what he sees at Folsom Brook today.

A Warren volunteer took note of a change at Rice Brook since her last field day that will likely enhance trout habitat, “the tree with the holes fell over and has become part of the stream.” Another volunteer in Waitsfield, on the other hand, noted a change that may reduce the quality of aquatic habitat: “the property was mowed or hayed for the first time this summer and only a narrow riparian buffer was left by the mower.”

A summer Warren resident, noticed the seasonal changes at the Wabanaki Conservation Area: “interesting how my site has changed in two months: vegetation, water levels, and traffic on 100” but also worked with the Town of Warren and Vtrans to clean up the Kingsbury Bridge.

Volunteers removed beer cans, baby diapers, household trash, and takeout containers from stream sides and marveled at fleeting wildlife including cedar waxwings, red-winged blackbirds, geese, mourning doves, and an eastern kingbird, as well as tent caterpillars, water striders, a groundhog, and unknown animal holes and unidentified scat.

Photo Credit: Friends of the Mad River Caption: Julie and daughter, Ingrid, of Warren share their collection of plant life from their Warren Covered Bridge sampling site.

In consideration of the greener sides of biodiversity, Julie and Ingrid Westervelt collected and preserved physical examples of plants at the Warren Covered bridge. “Many are common plants we see along our local roadsides, and we were curious to know more about them. We were pleasantly surprised to find a good mix of native species from flowers such as Common Boneset and St. John’s wort to trees such as Balsam Poplar and Sugar Maple and non-natives such as Smooth Brome grass and Chicory to Clematis and Rugosa Rose,” said Julie Westervelt.

Water temperatures ranged from a low of 63°F at Warren Falls to a high of 71°F at the USGS gage in Moretown on Monday. This fall, FMR will compile other data and observations and share key findings and highlights in the Valley Reporter and online at friendsofthemadriver.org/madriverwatch. “Paying attention to a changing landscape is a critical step as we seek to understand opportunities to build the watershed’s resilience to a changing climate,” remarked Corrie Miller. “The Mad River Watch volunteers, landowners, and funders their energies to this resilience work and continue to make our community better.

Watershed Quintet

8/14/2021

August 14, 1:00 pm

Phantom Theatre, 970 Dump Road

Warren

Pay What You Can - Tickets

We invite you to Scrag Mountain Music’s presentation of Watershed at Phantom Theater in Warren. This program of music, in celebration and recognition of the movement of water around us, welcomes the acclaimed Aeolus Quartet for the World Premiere of Evan Premo’s newest piece My River Runs to Thee for string quintet and soprano with text by Emily Dickinson. This piece was commissioned by a friend of Friends of the Mad River in celebration of the organization’s 30th Anniversary in 2020. The concert also welcomes, for the first time, celebrated Abenaki singer-songwriter Bryan Blanchette performing his original songs inspired by water, accompanied by string quintet

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The Water Column

Growing a Homegrown State Park: Hear Doug Tallamy at a Community Workshop & Dinner

August 26, 5:00-8:00 pm

Lareau Farm/American Flatbread

Waitsfield

Registration Required

A Resilient Mad River Watershed

It Takes a Village

Watershed Quintet

August 14, 1:00 pm

Phantom Theatre, 970 Dump Road

Warren

Pay What You Can - Tickets

Friends

Archives

Categories

The Water Column

Growing a Homegrown State Park: Hear Doug Tallamy at a Community Workshop & Dinner

August 26, 5:00-8:00 pm​Lareau Farm/American FlatbreadWaitsfieldRegistration Required

A Resilient Mad River Watershed

It Takes a Village

Watershed Quintet

August 14, 1:00 pm​Phantom Theatre, 970 Dump RoadWarrenPay What You Can - Tickets

Friends

Archives

Categories

August 26, 5:00-8:00 pm

Lareau Farm/American Flatbread

Waitsfield

Registration Required

August 14, 1:00 pm

Phantom Theatre, 970 Dump Road

Warren

Pay What You Can - Tickets