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How can homeowners mimic nature by creating a native habitat on their properties? This practical workshop takes viewers step-by-step through planning, designing, installing, and maintaining a beautiful, wildlife-friendly habitat garden.

About the speaker: Elaine Silverstein is certified in Sustainable Landscape Management by the New York Botanical Garden, where she has also earned the Urban Naturalist Certificate and continues to study botany, ecology, and landscape design. She is co-leader of the Bergen-Passaic chapter of the Native Plant Society of New Jersey and co-chair of the Glen Rock Shade Tree
Advisory Committee.

Dr. Linda Rohleder will present a new nonprofit organization she founded: Wild Woods Restoration Project. The group organizes volunteers to grow native plants for restoration projects in local parks and preserves. They use locally-collected seeds to preserve the genetics of local populations and the biodiversity of local natural areas. She’ll talk about some of the projects the group is working on this year and how you can get involved.

Dr. Rohleder studied at Rutgers University while earning her Ph.D. in Ecology. She worked as a park resource in Monmouth County, NJ, and taught Wetland Plant ID for Rutgers’ Wetland Delineation certification series. Dr. Rohleder created native plant wildlife habitats on her own properties both in New Jersey and New York over the course of 20 years.

Dr. Linda Rohleder recently ended a position as Director of Land Stewardship at the New York - New Jersey Trail Conference where she created and maintained their native plant gardens, through a volunteer group from 2016 through 2021, and conducted restoration projects at sites in NY and NJ parklands.

She simultaneously created the Trail Conference’s Invasives Strike Force volunteer program in 2011. By 2021, the program had trained over 400 invasives-mapping volunteers who collectively surveyed more than 1,500 miles of hiking trails for invasive plants. She organized more than 100 invasives-removal workdays and ran a seasonal conservation corps crew for 7 years to remove invasive plants in parks across southern New York and northern New Jersey. Dr. Rohleder was also the founding coordinator of the Lower Hudson Partnership for Regional Invasive Species Management (PRISM) in New York leading it for almost ten years. She grew the partnership to over 50 organizations and agencies.

The Strike Team is most known for its work in eradicating invasive species for the protection and conservation of rare species, including plants and wildlife. These talks include a discussion of the problems that invasives cause in the ecosystem and their impacts on natural areas. We also discuss ways to identify and control invasive species, including using our phone app to record and store data. We also discuss the creation of stewardship plans designed to most effectively and efficiently treat invasive species to protect biodiversity.

About the Speaker: Mike Van Clef has a Ph.D. in ecology from Rutgers University and over 25 years of experience in land stewardship, planning, and research, working extensively in the evaluation and management of rare and invasive species and deer management. He has consulted with over 30 organizations in NJ including the NJ Invasive Species Council for which he prepared the New Jersey Strategic Management Plan for Invasive Species.

Earth Day is an annual event celebrated in nearly 200 countries on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held in 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally by Earthday.org (formerly Earth Day Network).
 
To celebrate the 52 anniversary of Earth Day, Hudson County is hosting an “Investing in Our Planet” themed event from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Braddock Park, 91st Street, and Bergenline Avenue. Stop by for family fun including free rides and giveaways. Learn more about the Hudson County Improvement Authority and initiatives to build a cleaner, more sustainable future.
 
Earth Day was born when prominent environmentalist and United States Senator Gaylord Nelson proposed the idea to hold a nationwide environmental teach-in on April 22, 1970. He hired a young activist, Denis Hayes, to be the national coordinator. Across the United States, 20 million Americans — 10% of the U.S. population at the time — participated in the first Earth Day, many of them at schools, colleges, and universities. The event was instrumental in launching the modern environmental movement, and by the end of 1970, the United States Environmental Protection Agency had been created and various influential environmental laws had been passed, including the Clean Air Act (1970) and the Endangered Species Act (1973).
 
The first Earth Day was focused on the United States. In 1990, Denis Hayes took it international and organized events in 141 nations, where it was observed by some 200 million people. Since then, Earth Day has remained international in scope. Earth Day’s many activities include raising awareness about growing environmental concerns, especially the threat of climate change and the need for clean renewable energy sources. On Earth Day 2016, the Paris Agreement was signed by the United States, China, and 120 other countries.

Join the Hudson County Improvement Authority as we celebrate Earth Day 2022, "Investing In Our Planet" Bring the whole family to Lincoln Park in Jersey City for a day of family fun! Learn about the HCIA and initiatives to build a cleaner and more sustainable future.

Ryan Metz will speak on the importance and function of diversity in age, structure, and genetics, not just species diversity. It's something that often gets overlooked in the site and specimen selection process. About the Speaker: Born and raised in NJ, Ryan went to Rutgers for a BSc in Natural Resource Management and Applied Ecology, MSc from Cranfield University in the UK in Land Reclamation and Restoration. They are currently operating their own consulting firm Eco-Logical Consultants. Since they were a kid, he's always been interested in nature and particularly enjoys the creative problem-solving necessary in urban ecology. Ryan has worked in the private and public sectors and has been a part of tree-planting operations throughout NJ, NYC, and Jersey City for over 14 years.

Bring your garden divisions on an adventure sharing with fellow gardeners! Not sure if you have plants to exchange? Come out talk with our master gardeners to find out what is in your yard

Activities:
NATIVE/INVASIVE PLANTS
BEARS AND WILDLIFE
ANIMAL TRACKS
MAKE AND TAKE A NATURE CRAFT

We are so grateful to our amazing volunteers for working on these hot summer days to help us plant these wonderful natives that will bring not only beauty to the community but also beneficial nutrients to our local pollinators!! 🐝🦋 

🪻🌻🌷 Here are the plants we planted 🌷🌻🪻

• Common Milkweed
• Butterfly milkweed
• Blue Mistflower
• Lanceleaf Coreopsis
• Purple Coneflower
• Purple Lovegrass
• Flat Top Goldenrod
• Common Sneezeweed
• Narrowleaf Sunflower
• Oxeye Sunflower
• Dense Blazingstar
• Wild Bergamot
• Tall White Beardtongue
• Narrowleaf Mountainmint
• Orange Coneflower
• Smooth Blue Aster
• Aromatic Aster
• Culver’s Root

We are so excited to see this native garden grow and thrive! 💐

🦋 BUTTERFLY DAY 🦋

Learn all there is to know about butterflies from BCAS this Sunday, July 23rd from 10:00am-3:00pm at Dekorte Park.

Throughout the day: Butterfly walks and talks. Children's activities including a butterfly costume contest, scavenger hunt, The Monarch Migration Game, hands-on learning about pollination activity, and other games and crafts.

💙 Activities 💙

🥾 Butterfly walks: Half-hour walks starting at 10:30 AM and continuing throughout the day. Led by Bergen County Audubon Society and NJSEA expert guides.

🧵 Butterfly Costume Contest: Judging at 11:45 AM. For children 12 and under. Held at the amphitheater.

🪴 "How to Create a Butterfly Garden" - 12:30 PM talk by Bergen County Audubon President Don Torino at the Meadowlands Environment Center Auditorium.

🎶 Music by Hudson Woodpile

🐝 Information tables on butterflies and native plants (with Wild Ones NJ Gateway), including how to attract butterflies to your backyard.

This will be a fun event for all ages so come along this Sunday to Dekorte Park in Lyndhurst to enjoy! 🦋

Join us to turn over the garden at HCCC with the environmental club to learn more how to prepare a garden for the winter and add native plants to help the garden thrive!

When we garden, we can help migrating and resident birds with a healthy backyard habitat, especially important given the severe decline in songbirds. In this workshop you will learn how to bring beautiful birds to your backyard by planting native flowers and bushes.

Deb Ellis is an environmental activist, community builder, and teacher. She is passionate about teaching how to use native plants to promote biodiversity and heal the Earth. She is the founder and leader of the Essex chapter of the Native Plant Society of New Jersey, a Master Gardener, and a Rutgers Environmental Steward and formerly served on the Montclair Environmental Commission. A retired social justice lawyer, she was named a Champion of Change by the Obama White House in 2011.

Deb grew her garden while raising two kids and commuting from NJ to NYC, so she became an expert in “keep it simple” gardening with natives. She gives thanks for her love of gardening to her dad, Homer, who planted wildflowers with her when she was a girl, and her mom, Loismary, who made beautiful bouquets from the flowers.

We will provide water, snacks, gloves, tools, music, and a fun day of preparing our first official native garden for the winter.

Join Wild Ones Honorary Director Heather Holm as she explores the nesting habitats, life cycles, pollen collection, brood rearing, and general characteristics of some of the most common native bees in eastern North America, while highlighting the pollination of native plants and the mutualism between native plants and native bees.

When creating and managing thriving habitats for native bees, many factors such as seasonal phenology, nesting strategies, and flower preferences must be considered—and with approximately 3,600 species in North America (north of Mexico), there are many unique aspects to keep in mind when managing successful landscapes for bees. 

We have two sessions available to join, which you are welcome to join both.

The first is a Memorial Planting for the Dominguez Family's late Jon Carlo Dominguez. If you are interested in helping to memorialize Jon Carlo, we invite you the join the Church Service and Refreshments period before the planting 🕊️�'�

If you prefer to come after the memorial planting, we invite you to join us afterwards at 1:30 PM to plant the remaining trees around the cemetary. We would appreciate all the help we can get, so please join us! 🌱🧤

�-"️ Sunday, October 22nd
🌧️ Rain Date: Sunday, October 29th

⛪️ Church Service: 10:45 AM
🫖 Refreshments: 11:45 AM
🕊️ Memorial Planting: 12:30 PM
🌳 Remaining Tree Plantings: 1:30 PM - 5:00 PM

�"�Grove Church Cemetery
1132 46th St, North Bergen, NJ 07047

We will be providing the tools necessary to plant and mulch the trees, including gloves. Please wear long pants and comfortable shoes to work in. Please join us for as long or as little as you are available to offer help!

THANK YOU!! �'��'��'� We appreciate you and are very grateful to have your helping hands!

We will be providing some berries, flowers, and rocks to create dyes, paints, & pounding to design your very own wall decor. We urge you to bring your own favorite flowers and berries for an even more personally curated design! We will have gloves, brushes, & canvas for crafting.

As we look into the future, we invite you to become a voice in the direction we take by becoming a board member, and/or an active volunteer. You are encouraged to actively participate in the chapter. The Chapter Bylaws require that we hold annual board elections to fill vacant Board Director roles.

Join us for an enlightening webinar featuring authors, Neil Diboll and Hilary Cox, as they present their latest book, "The Gardener’s Guide to Prairie Plants." This comprehensive compendium is a treasure trove of knowledge for gardeners looking to incorporate native prairie plants into their landscapes. Neil and Hilary will delve into the making and application of this essential guide, sharing rich historical and ecological insights about prairie ecosystems, all while showcasing stunning images of prairie flora.