By NANETTE LoBIONDO GALLOWAY
ATLANTIC CITY – Sustainable Downbeach, a group of green teams on Absecon Island, has announced that environmental author Doug Tallamy, co-founder of Home Grown National Park, will speak at a public event 7 p.m. Monday, March 11 in the Fannie Lou Hamer Event Center at Stockton University Atlantic City campus, 3711 Atlantic Ave.
Tallamy founded the largest cooperative conservation project through the online website, HomeGrownNationalPark.org, to encourage property owners, including homeowners and farmers, to reduce the size of lawns, remove invasive species, and plant native species of plants and trees to repopulate the dwindling bird and pollinator populations.
Homeowners can register their “home grown national park” on an interactive map and display a sign that informs neighbors it is part of a national ecological movement.
The effort is “a bottom-up call-to-action to restore habitat where we live and work, and to a lesser extent where we farm and graze, extending national parks to our yards and communities,” Tallamy states on the website.
His goal is to create 20 million acres of native plantings across the U.S.
Tallamy, a professor of Entemology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware, is the author of several books on the environment, including the New York Times best-seller, “Nature’s Best Hope” and “Bringing Nature Home.”
Copies of his books will be available for purchase at the event.
Tallamy is a dynamic speaker who explains the functionality of native landscaping in contrast to conventional landscapes that do not enhance the natural environment of a particular area of the country or regenerate biodiversity and ecosystems.
“The presentation is free thanks to the many sponsors who have generously contributed to this event,” Sustainable Margate Chairman Steve Jasiecki said.
The Downbeach communities of Ventnor, Margate and Longport, along with Surfrider Foundation South Jersey, the Pinelands Preservation Alliance, AC Devco, Inlet Community, Midtown in Motion and Lang’s Garden Center provided funding for the event.
Admission is free, but registration is required. To register, see http://dougtallamymarch11.eventbrite.com
For more information, email sustainabledownbeach@gmail.com.
Copyright Mediawize, LLC 2024
