Chapter Events

Note:  This program is cosponsored by the Grand Prairie Bird Alliance. Because of the participatory nature of this program, it will not be recorded. Participants are encouraged to bring a clip board if they have one.

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This participatory presentation explores ways to restore your yard, focusing on the relationships between native plants, birds, bees and butterflies, going beyond the typical pollinator garden to first research and then replant the larger native ecosystem. Then using your yard as a beacon for broader change. We will map successful strategies for restoring your neighborhood, and the broader community, working with partners who share your passion, Wild Ones, the Native Plant Society, Master Gardeners, and Bird City advocates. 

Goals:
Folks will gain a deeper understanding of native landscaping on a larger scale, introducing concepts like landscape genealogy, soil analysis, plant morphology and bloom cycles, among others. Participants will make a map of their yard, a map of their neighborhood, and a map of their broader community, and in so doing create strategies for large scale restoration. We will all build partnerships, a network of allies, to help us achieve these larger goals.

Outline:
Thinking in terms of three segments with a ten-minute story and five-ten minutes of discussion and mapping, I will begin with a brief slideshow of the transformation of my current home as a work in progress, what I have learned along the way, and introducing key concepts for the larger mission.

Everyone will be given three sheets of graph paper. On the first sheet participants will make a rough sketch of their yard, current plantings and future goals, then discuss this with a neighbor to share ideas and resources.

I will then tell the story of transforming my current hometown, Peoria Heights, and the plans to plant the entire commercial main street, a rails-to-trail corridor, and a library literary garden, woven with snippets of my prior hometown Bishop Hill.

On the second sheet of graph paper, participants will first sketch their neighborhood with dreams and possibilities and then turn to a circle of four to discuss these plans for the larger community.

After 5-6 minutes, I will interrupt this conversation briefly, and talk about Tree City and Bird City programs, then encourage participants to turn back to the same circle to discuss broader landscape partnerships and goals for their broader community.

Near the end we will open the conversation to the entire group to discuss one thing they will do “before next Tuesday,” one small step, one thing they can do in the next few days to bring these larger ideas into reality

Presenter Bio:

Brian “Fox” Ellis is an author, storyteller and naturalist, who is currently Director of Outreach and Education for the Illinois Audubon Society, where he is also editor of Illinois Audubon magazine. Because of recent moves, he has transformed three communities, planted 12,000 trees, landscaped several schools, businesses, and a hospital grounds, creating wildlife corridors and an eBird Hotspot from scratch. Fox is currently managing Illinois Audubon Society’s Bird and Butterfly Sanctuary Certification program with the goal of restoring communities across the state.