At Berks Nature event, environmentalist advocates for native plants

Saving the planet starts in your backyard.

Planting native plants and trees there can save species and in turn save ourselves.

And it’s imperative to start now, author Doug Tallamy told the more than 350 people gathered Thursday at Doubletree by Hilton in Reading to hear about Berks Nature’s annual State of the Environment.

It’s the 10th report.

About a third of the attendees were high school and college students. Kim Murphy, president of Berks Nature, said it was largest crowd yet for the event.

This year’s State of the Environment focused on healing nature in backyards.

Berks County’s top environmental organization highlighted places where people were growing native plants for climate and wildlife.

The publication connected to an augmented reality app in which viewers could see videos of gardens.

The report also provided tips on finding the right plant for the right place, maintaining native beds and planting to meet the needs of insects and birds.

Tallamy advocates for smaller lawns and increasing the size of native plant gardens to bridge the gaps between parks and preserves in providing habitat for native species.

He said that the loss of insects threatens life of humans. Specific insects have specific plants they depend on for food and habitat.

He noted a United Nations report that says 1 million species face extinction. Most insects that eat plants, he said, can develop and reproduce only on the plants with which they share an evolutionary history.

While he noted the loss of insects and diversity of species, Tallamy spent much of his talk advocating for a cure.

“A cure that will take small efforts for a lot of people,” said Tallamy, an entomologist from Oxford, Chester County. He is a professor at the University of Delaware and author of the bestseller “Nature’s Best Hope.”

Building a personal park at home, as he called it, helps people develop a personal relationship with nature.

Murphy said she wanted to plant a seed in the audience of environmental advocates to think about as they operate in their communities. She noted that many communities are looking at how to spend federal American Rescue Plan dollars.

“Imagine if 50% of those funds were put towards native gardening, native plantings,” Murphy said. “It would help a lot of our flooding issues that we’re seeing and many other issues that we are seeing related to climate change.”

Berks Nature’s year

Murphy recounted the year’s successes and outlook for the future that includes more visitors at Berks Nature’s headquarters at Angelica Creek Park, The Nature Place.

The facility is undergoing an upgrade that includes a rooftop observation deck and a second-floor classroom that together can accommodate 300 more people. She said it is expected to reopen in February.

“By the end of 2021, we will permanently protect three different properties covering 163.5 acres of forest, farm, wetland and open space,” Murphy said. “This includes a 68.5-acre easement on the Ormai farm in Maxatawny Township.”

Berks Nature added to an already existing 29-acre easement an additional 65 acres to the Batchelor-Coyle farm in Union Township.

Next month, Murphy said, 30 acres of wetlands and forested headwaters of the exceptional value Pine Creek will be permanently protected on the Morning family property in Pike Township.

“This adds to our overall total of 9,467 acres of land protected or owned by Berks Nature,” Murphy said.

The organization, formerly known as Berks County Conservancy, restores hundreds of acres of degraded land and habitats each year.

One restoration activity is tree planting. In 2021 Berks Nature planted 714 native trees with help from volunteers, Murphy said.

“And I should say that our efforts are more than just planting trees, we want them to grow,” she said. “So, we plant large (2- to 6-year-old) native trees with Berks Nature Ambassadors and our local watershed associations.”

Trees benefit air and water quality and quantity, and help with storing carbon, so they are important in mitigating climate change.

Murphy talked about expanding Berks Nature’s environmental and conservation education programs.

The organization has been understaffed for many years and is now building its staff, adding a preserve and trail specialist position and an engagement and volunteer coordinator.

It will be filling positions for a Spanish-speaking educator and a lobby and store manager.

Murphy said Berks Nature plans to dedicate the Hay Creek pedestrian bridge in two weeks.

Bringing nature home

Keystone plants are those that if you take them out of the local food web, the web collapses.

Tallamy said to think of keystone plants as the two-by-fours of an ecological house you are building outdoors.

“You can’t build a house out of wallpaper and that’s what we’ve been trying to do with ornamental plants for the last 100 years,” Tallamy said.

To find out what the keystone plants are for our region go to https://bit.ly/3EPqM6b.

Tallamy also advocates for connecting native plant backyards in pollinator corridors and in what he likens to a national park consisting of backyards. To find out more about the Homegrown National Park go to https://bit.ly/3q8vJ5W

Source: Berkshire mont