Green Tree Garden Club
  • Home
  • OUR COMMUNITY
    • PROJECTS
    • Art en Fleurs >
      • AeF Club Presentation
    • Civic Contributions
  • Committees
    • GTGC Officers and Committee Chairmen
    • Conservation >
      • Conservation Study Conference 2020
      • Conservation Committee's Featured Movie
    • Floral Design >
      • Past Floral Design Highlights
    • Garden History & Design
    • Horticulture >
      • Gardening Tips
    • Visiting Gardens and Wanderin' Wonders
    • Photography
    • Ways and Means >
      • Summer Blooms
  • Calendar and Newsletters
    • Programs/Calendar 2022-23
    • Newsletters
    • Membership Meeting Minutes
    • Club Bylaws (revised 2015)
  • Highlights, Member Bio, Slideshows, Awards, Recipes, Stuff
    • GTGC Highlights
    • Members Bios
    • Annual Slideshows
    • GTGC Members and Flower Show Awards
    • Recipes
    • And Other Interesting Things
    • For Sale/Borrow/Give Away
  • Membership Directory
  • MEMBER NEWS
  • GTGC Memories
  • Board Members Only
    • Board Meeting Minutes
    • Committee Reports >
      • Communications
  • New Page
Picture
gca Conservation study conference videos
​GCA Conservation Study Conference
Summary by Anne Noyes, GTGC Conservation Chair
 
The GCA  Conservation Study Conference was held on Nov 17 & 18th with two hour morning and afternoon sessions each day. The quality of the speakers and their interesting and informative presentations cannot be overstated! Therefore, I will attempt a top line overview of the Conference but I urge you to visit the GCA Conservation page for access to the full recorded presentations. The Conference was hosted by Elizabeth Waddill, GCA Conservation Chairman and Carole Jordan, CGA Conservation Vice Chairman.

​Nov 17th - Morning Speakers

  1. Douglas Brinkley, Professor, Author, Commentator
         Doug is a professor of history at Rice University and history commentator for CNN. He has written numerous history books with the upcoming (out 2022) entitled “Silent Spring Revolution: John F Kennedy, Rachel Carson, Stewart Udall and the Environmentalist Movement” His outstanding presentation focused on the women throughout US history who brought environmental concerns to public attention—-such as pesticides, smog, plastics, pollution, litter, etc and championed environmental and conservation causes on the local and national level. 
 
2) Molly Jones GCA, Portland Garden Club
         Molly shared a brief history of the GCA’s involvement in land preservation that began in 1930 with one of Humboldt State Park’s (CA) most prominent Redwood groves. She also gave an overview of her club’s efforts in passing the Colombia Gorge Scenic Act and of the conservation activities  of two very iconic GCA members, Ellie Kelly and Winsome Macintosh.
 
3) Lisa Ott, North Country Garden Club of Long Island
         Lisa presented a brief background of the GCA efforts leading up to the passing of the Great America Outdoors Act and how it will enable national parks and other federal lands to repair and upgrade infrastructure to enrich visitor experience, protect resources and enable increased access for all
 
4) Sally Jewell former Secretary of the Interior, Obama administration
         A former CEO of REI prior to heading the Dept of the Interior, this woman is the embodiment of a public servant. Her goal is in sustaining public lands for future generations through collaboration, compromise and making sure every impacted constituency is heard. Sally began by providing us with an over view of the Department of Interior and how it operates. ( I hadn’t appreciated the number and scope of its sub departments—-Indian Affairs, Fish & Wildlife, Science, Federal Land Management, National Parks and Public Lands) She highlighted some successful examples of land and monument protection through collaboration between industry and environmentalists during her tenure.
 
5) Ian Shive, photographer, author, filmmaker and environmentalist
         Ian has worked on assignment with some of the largest and most impactful environmental non profits and government agencies in the world. Ian shared his breathtaking photos while explaining his initial passion which was to take landscape-only photographs of the US National Parks.
 He then realized that since the parks were meant for people to visit, he sought to show the human interaction, both for scale and to encourage visitors. After successfully publishing photography books on this subject, he concluded that while the national parks were well known, and thus frequently visited, there were many nature preserves and refuges that were not. This led to his most recent project and published book, “Refuge: America’s Wildest Place. (Ian’s photography books are fo sale on the GCA website)
 
Nov 17th - Afternoon Speakers

  1. Micheal Jamison, National Parks Conservation Association
         Michael gave an in-depth “tour” of Glacier National Park ecosystem, an area called “The Crown of the Continent” because of its triple divide. He gave us numerous examples of the interconnectivity of the wildlife, flora and fauna, with amazing photos.
 
2) Peter Forbes, Founder of Center for Whole Communities
         Peter’s presentation focused on his project to return land to indigenous people, usually referred to as “reconciliation”programs. His methodology is to first try to understand and show respect for their history, then build trust with the community. Most critical is finding ways to obtain the property either through donated land or purchase of land from donations. The goal is to provide a sense of belonging for these displaced people.
 
3) Sam Hodder, Save the Redwoods League
         Sam presented a comprehensive history of the California coastal redwood forest, including a significant role played by Frederick Law Olmsted in creating the master plan for the redwood parks. He gave a “shout out” to The Garden Club of America Grove and recounted the genesis of that project with historical photos. Biggest take away for me was that, due to their size, the California redwoods store more carbon per acre than any other forest—-a huge asset to combat climate change.
 
 
 
 
4) Dede Petri, Past GCA President and current President and CEO of National Association for Olmsted Parks—Olmsted 200 
         Dede began with a fascinating history of Olmsted’s work, which included more than designing and advocating for parks. (for example, he worked with the predecessor of the Red Cross in advocating for fresh air and exercise for recovering patients) She also included a brief account of Olmsted Jr’s involvement with the national park system system.
 
5) Corbin Harwood, Georgetown Garden Club,
         Corbin spoke about the CGA Initiative, “Parks: Where Nature Meets Community” which is the celebration of Olmsted and his gifts to our communities. She urged GCA Clubs to plan local projects to demonstrate the GCA support for parks and public spaces.
 
Nov 18th - Morning Speakers
 
1) Diane Lewis, Bedford Garden Club, Vice Chairman of GCA Conservation and NAL
         As the “architect” of “The Healthy Yard Challenge” Diane reminded us of the components of this pledge that all GCA members are encourage to make in order to keep our drinking water safe. She then introduced the next speaker.
 
2) Scott Bosse, Northern Rockys Director of American Rivers 
          The goal of the non profit organization American Rivers is to restore and protect American rivers. Scott  gave a helpful tutorial on what is a watershed, how they function, and then how to protect and restore them. In essence, his recommendation for accomplishing this is to a) protect the headwaters, b) remove dams, c) steer development away from waterways, 4) minimize nutrient pollution and 5) join a local watershed monitoring group.
 
3) Steve Small, attorney 
         Steve’s  practice includes private land conservation strategy which can give donors sizable tax advantages while protecting land from development.
 
4) Stacy Levy, “eco artist”
         Stacy is a sculptor who works with natural patterns and processes often using water and water flow patterns. Many of her works address environmental problems at the same time they make the functioning of the environment visible. Her presentation gave examples of how you can achieve both beautiful garden design while adhering to sound environmental practices.
 
 5) Women in Conservation Panel
 
         Teresa Pierno, President and CEO National Parks Conservation Association
         Diane Rigas, President and CEO of Trust for Public Lands
         Jennifer Morris, CEO The Nature Conservancy
         Gina McCarthy, President, The Nature Resources Defense Fund
 
 
November 18th - Afternoon Speakers

  1. Richard Louv, author
         Richard has written several books about connecting children to nature such as “Last Child in the Woods” and “Our Wild Calling”. He coined the phrase that our children have a nature defect disorder and helped establish the non profit organization, Children and Nature Network. He cited several of the studies he used for his presentation that prove bonding with nature helps well being and health.
 
2) Jim Blackburn, environmental lawyer and professor at Baker Institute of Public Policy, Rice University
         The Baker Institute is developing national practices for storing (carbon capture) and selling carbon, thereby linking economics with ecology. According to Jim, more and more banks and other lending institutions are requiring corporations to have a “carbon plan” to demonstrate how they are avoiding, minimizing or capturing and storing carbon emissions. The incentives are also there to find was to use this stored carbon in making other products. So, amazingly, The Baker Institute is creating a market for carbon! 
He also spoke about carbon farming solutions whereby landowners volunteer not to plow for 10 years and grow native plants and then can sell the CO2 accumulated underground.
 
3) Katy Kinsolving, Millbrook Garden Club, Vice Chair of Sustainable Agriculture and NAL
         Katy spoke about the connection between climate change and how it affects our food. She gave a presentation of how to make a Thanksgiving side dish of wild rice and organic vegetables.
 
4) Dr Cullen Geiselman, Bracken Cave Preserve and and former Chair of Bat Conservation International
         Cullen’s fascinating presentation could turn you into a bat lover!
Bats are helpful in many ways. For example, insect eating bats reduce the need for pesticides and fruit eating bats help propagate plants. 
She stressed the importance of conserving their habitats to avoid another pandemic. 

Picture

​Contact us by writing to: GTGC, 10936 N. Port Washington Rd., #276, Mequon, WI 53092 
  • Home
  • OUR COMMUNITY
    • PROJECTS
    • Art en Fleurs >
      • AeF Club Presentation
    • Civic Contributions
  • Committees
    • GTGC Officers and Committee Chairmen
    • Conservation >
      • Conservation Study Conference 2020
      • Conservation Committee's Featured Movie
    • Floral Design >
      • Past Floral Design Highlights
    • Garden History & Design
    • Horticulture >
      • Gardening Tips
    • Visiting Gardens and Wanderin' Wonders
    • Photography
    • Ways and Means >
      • Summer Blooms
  • Calendar and Newsletters
    • Programs/Calendar 2022-23
    • Newsletters
    • Membership Meeting Minutes
    • Club Bylaws (revised 2015)
  • Highlights, Member Bio, Slideshows, Awards, Recipes, Stuff
    • GTGC Highlights
    • Members Bios
    • Annual Slideshows
    • GTGC Members and Flower Show Awards
    • Recipes
    • And Other Interesting Things
    • For Sale/Borrow/Give Away
  • Membership Directory
  • MEMBER NEWS
  • GTGC Memories
  • Board Members Only
    • Board Meeting Minutes
    • Committee Reports >
      • Communications
  • New Page