Workshops

Upcoming events

Restoring Habitat for pollinators | Tuesday, March 23rd, 12:30PM - 3:00PM PST

Join us for the first in a series of workshops that will provide practical guidance for restoring habitats for California’s pollinators. The result of these interactive sessions will be an eco-regional toolkit to help land managers respond rapidly to planting opportunities.

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Pollinator Conservation in the Western u.S. | 12:30 PM - 12:50 PM PST

Greg Butcher, Migratory Species Coordinator, U.S. Forest Service - International Programs, D.C.
Greg works to promote the conservation of birds, bats and monarch butterflies. Most of the work is done south of the US border which supplements the Forest Service conservation efforts in the US. Greg is also a longtime member of the Sonoran Joint Venture (SJV) Management Board where he aids in the Forest Service plan for full-annual-cycle conservation. In addition, Greg is a member of the North American Bird Conservation Initiative, Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network, and Partners in Flight’s landbird conservation program. Recently, Greg has been involved in the development of the Tropical Dry Forest Bird Conservation Business planning process of Partners in Flight. The conservation business is an expansion upon Greg’s conservation work through SJV

RESTORING HABITAT FOR BEES | 12:50 PM - 1:20 PM PST

Lauren Ponisio, Assistant Professor of Entomology University of Oregon, Oregon
Lauren aims to discover new insights into how communities form, evolve, and persist through time and space, aiding in the prediction and prevention of community collapse. She combines modeling, synthesis and field-based work, and adhere to the principles of reproducible, open science. In addition, her personal connection to issues concerning agriculture sustainability as a native of the Central Valley and Latina woman has motivated her to study how to design agricultural systems to better support humans and wildlife. She has investigated strategies for designing agricultural systems to promote biodiversity conservation and the links between conservation strategies and improving livelihoods.

CALIFORNIA’S HUMMINGBIRDS AND THEIR FLORAL RESOURCES | 1:20 PM - 1:45 Pm PST

Scott Logan, Wild Wings Backyard, Los Angeles, California
Scott Logan is a partner in Wild Wings Backyard Nature Store located in Sherman Oaks, the only independent urban naturalist retail outlet in the Los Angeles area. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Logan has been exploring the chaparral-clad Santa Monica Mountains since childhood. He knows the native wildlife intimately, with birds always being the focus of his attention. Whether it’s educating people, leading bird excursions or doing a species review, Logan is always eager to help connect nature enthusiasts to the amazing wildlife that thrives in the City of Angels.

STATUS OF THE WESTERN MONARCH BUTTERFLY | 1:45 PM - 2:00 PM PST

Cat Darst, Asst. Field Supervisor for Listing and Recovery U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, California
Cat Darst is the Assistant Field Supervisor for Listing and Recovery with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Ventura, California. Cat supports Species Status Assessment development, Endangered Species Act listing decisions, and Recovery Plan formulation and implementation for at-risk, threatened, and endangered species. Previously, Cat worked on Recovery Plan development and implementation with the Service's Desert Tortoise Recovery Office based in Reno, Nevada. Cat began her federal career as a Presidential Management Fellow in Washington, D.C. Cat has a Ph.D. in evolutionary ecology from University of Texas, Austin and undergraduate degrees in ecology and English from the University of California, Davis.

The Western Monarch Butterfly | 2:00 PM - 2:20 PM PST

Stephanie McKnight, Endangered Species Conservation Biologist, Xerces Society
Stephanie works on the western population of monarch butterflies including development of best management practices for monarchs and pollinators on public lands. Stephanie completed a bachelor's of science in botany at Oregon State University. Previously, Stephanie worked as a botanist with the U.S. Forest Service in California and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Oregon.

RESTORING HABITAT FOR THE WESTERN MONARCH BUTTERFLY | 2:20 PM - 2:40 PM PST

Stephanie Frischie, Native Plant Materials Specialist, Xerces Societty
Based in northwest Indiana, Stephanie provides pollinator habitat expertise to farms in Canada and the U.S. She also works with the native seed industry and researchers to plan and develop seed supply of important plant species for restoration of insect habitat. Before joining Xerces, Stephanie conducted research on the potential of native cover crops in Spanish olive orchards at Semillas Silvestres, S.L. through the Native Seed Science, Technology and Conservation (NASSTEC) grant. Previously, she was the plant materials and conservation programs manager for eleven years at the Nature Conservancy’s Kankakee Sands restoration project in northwest Indiana. Stephanie volunteers as a rare plant monitor with Plants of Concern and is the secretary of the International Network for Seed-based Restoration. Her master's of science is from Northwestern University/Chicago Botanic Garden’s Conservation Land Management Program and she holds a bachelor's of science in international agronomy from Purdue University.