CONNECTING PEOPLE AND NATURE

July 24-26, 2009

Hope Hotel in Dayton, Ohio (by Wright Patterson AFB)
Presented by the Midwest Native Plant Society, Flora-Quest & Greater Cincinnati Wild Ones.

Featured speakers:
�� Chris Bedel, Edge of Appalachia, Preserve Director
�� Carolyn Harstad, author of Go Native!
�� Jim McCormac, botanist and all around naturalist, author of Birds of Ohio

This conference will include educational programs and field trips designed to connect people and nature. The focus will be on native prairies and wetlands with emphasis on the importance of native plant communities and how you can include these elements in your landscapes.

A percentage of the proceeds will benefit the Beavercreek Wetland Association and the Marianist Environmental Education Center(MEEC). Local vendors will be available to address your native plant needs.

For further information or contact Jim McCormac at email or Kathy McDonald at email.

August 1, 2009

Q0309 National Wild Ones Board Meeting

3rd Quarter National Board Meeting will be held this summer on August 1, 2009 at Michigan Community College in Flint, Michigan hosted by the Flint Chapter.

Chapter President Rebecca Gale-Gonzalez writes: There are many wonderful happenings in Flint, despite national news coverage to the contrary... You are coming to Flint during the Buick Open Golf Championship tournament and Train Festival 2009. Here is a link to some of our area's finest attractions. At the meeting we will provide a continental breakfast catered by the Bear Bistro, our campus restaurant, so please RSVP your intentions so we know for how many to plan.

For those who arrive early and stay over we are planning an informal social gathering at a local restaurant downtown called Blackstones at 6 pm Friday, July 31. Blackstones is a bar & grill so you can order dinner or just wet your whistle. Please also RSVP to let me know if you plan to attend this activity.

Our meeting location is in the Prahl College Center Genesee Room (building 8) on the beautiful campus of Mott Community College, 1401 E. Court Street, Flint, MI 48503. The campus features a native plant garden in the Prahl College Center courtyard, and our neighbors at Applewood Estate boast a wonderful restoration project that includes daylighting of the Gilkey Creek. Estate manager and Flint River Wild Ones member Deborah Elliott insisted they use exclusively native plants in their design. I hope you will have time to tour these sites briefly on your visit to campus.

For lunch we have several options to choose from, Ya Ya's, Taco Bell, Wendy's, Subway...you name its all within 5 minutes of campus. But our best recommendation for lunch is to visit the Flint Farmers Market just off Robert T. Longway, near campus. There you will find an array of fresh baked goods, fresh produce, and even a dining experience at Steady Eddy's up stairs.

Following lunch we have planned a tour of the Flushing Township Nature Park, where our former Flint River Wild Ones president Tom Enright and current park Manager and member Heather Griffin made great inroads with native habitat restoration. This is a short drive north, about 25 to 30 minutes. We are proud of the city and our parks and hope you will plan to attend just for the fun of it.

August 3, 2009

2009 Wild Ones Photo Contest Entries Due

Mailed entries due August 3, 2009. Judging August 21st. For more information

PART 8 OF A 7 PART SERIES

August 22, 2009

Whitewater, Wisconcin

GREEN GABLES in Whitewater, Wisconsin which has been the topic of a recent 7-part series in the Wild Ones Journal. The Madison Chapter is sponsoring an open “yard” at the 15 year-old native / natural landscaped yard of Richard and Kim Ehrenberg.

After reading of this transformation, here is an opportunity to mingle with other Wild Ones, enjoy a cup of coffee, cold soda, and cookies while experiencing an .80 acre yard totally designed with nature in mind. See how to use sumac, how 70 trees fit into a normal size front yard, and how prairie plants fit between forest plant communities. 505 East Clay Street, Whitewater 12 am-4 pm Saturday August 22, 2009

RSVPs appreciated to the Ehrenbergs at 262-473-7491.

October 16, 2009

Q0409 National Wild Ones Board Meeting

4th Quarter National Board Meeting will be held on October 16, 2009 at the Mequon Nature Center in Mequon, Wisconsin hosted by the Milwaukee-Southwest/Wehr Chapter.

A NATURAL LANDSCAPING CONFERENCE

October 17, 2009

Cardinal Stritch University, Kleibahn Conference Center, 6801 Yates Road, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Sponsored by the Milwaukee-North and Milwaukee-Southwest/Wehr Chapters of Wild Ones.

Registration 7:30 to 8:30 am Vendors will be on-site.
Sessions start at 8:30 am

$25 pre-registration
$15 student pre-registration
$30 at the door, no credit cards accepted

Bring a bag lunch and plan on attending the Wild Ones Annual Meeting, being held during the lunch break. Lunch is also available in the University cafeteria and at local restaurants nearby. Please bring your own coffee mug to cut down on waste with disposables.

Registration brochures will be available later this summer, and online registration will be available through the Wild Ones website www.for-wild.org. For questions, call 414-299-9888, ext 3

SPEAKERS

2009 Wild Ones Annual Meeting'

The Annual Meeting/Conference will be held October 17, 2009 at Cardinal Stritch College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin hosted by the Milwaukee-North and Milwaukee-Southwest/Wehr Chapters. More detailed information coming soon.

October 17, 2009

Wild Ones Strategy Planning Update

2009 WILD ONES STRATEGY PLANNING SESSION - to be held late afternoon and evening of October 17, 2009 at the Mequon Nature Center in Mequon, Wisconsin. More detailed information coming soon.

WILD ONES HAS A NEW HOME

In June 2008 we closed on the rest of the Wild Ones Ecology Center site which enables us to move our headquarters to a permanent facility with plenty of space for demonstration gardens and other restoration efforts for the riparian woodland and marsh. But we still have lots of work to do to make the facility handicap accessible before we can move in, so please keep your donations coming in to offset the expenses. To donate.

A RARE OPPORTUNITY has befallen Wild Ones in becoming the owner of this valuable property on the west shore of Little Lake Butte des Morts near our current headquarters. Because this property is located in the area already designated as West Shore Preserves, we are calling this property the West Shore Preserves Environmental Center.

Wild Ones will has been able to assume ownership of this property through grants from the Trustees Council for the Fox River and from the Habitat Area funds from the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program and very generous donations from Wild Ones members. The overall goal of the Environmental Center is to involve citizens in the protection and restoration of habitats associated with the Fox River ecosystem which is part of the Great Lakes Watershed.

Our purpose in creating the Center is to provide both an indoor and outdoor “home” for organizations, individuals and students who are working on projects and/or learning about about ways to protect and restore the environmental quality of life in our communities.

HELP US MAKE IT HAPPEN!

For more information about this very significant opportunity for Wild Ones, go to Wild Ones EcoCenter.

Please join us in our good fortune to be part of this rare opportunity. If you have questions e-mail us at Preserve.

If you want to volunteer your services in helping to fulfill all the requirements related to opening the center (grant writing, invasive weeds removal, carpentry, gardening, etc) e-mail us at Help Us Make It Happen.

If you wish to donate toward the fulfillment of the amenities (gardens, boardwalk, computer center, laboratory, library, etc) which will eventually be part of the West Shore Preserves Environmental Center please go to Help Us Make It Happen!.