Friends of the Montezuma Wetlands Complex present:
Grow Native: It’s for the Birds! Native Plant Festival
Come for the flowers, stay for the food & fun!
Schedule of Events
8:00 am to 9:00 am
Calling all nature lovers! Please join NYS Master Naturalist Volunteer, PeteSaracino, beforehand for a guided “Nature Appreciation” Walk.
The walk will start promptly at 8:00 am. Please meet Pete in front of the Visitor Center prior to 8:00 am.
9:30 am to 10:30 am Krissy Boys (Cornell Botanic Gardens) and Janice Wiles (Go Natives!Perennials) “Re-naturalizing Our Landscapes: Why and How”
Learn why restoring landscapes with native vegetation is so important and take away some strategies to make it happen on your property.
10:30 am to 11:00 am AND 11:45 am to 12:15 am on the visitor center lawn Christopher and Madison Rosier (Wood Flower Homestead) “Natural Beekeeping”
Join Christopher & Madison as they discuss their journey to become natural beekeepers. They will share the benefits of and information about how they built swarm traps that allowed them to catch local swarms of bees.
11:00 am to 11:45 am Linda Ziemba (Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge, Biologist) “Managing the Marsh”
Discover how native plants are an integral part of wildlife and Refuge management.
12:15 pm to 1:00 pm Zeb Strickland(Forest and Water Solutions, LLC.)“Invasive Plants”
Find out more about the effect of invasive plants on local ecosystems and what’s being done to control them.
1:30 pm to 2:30 pm Jean Soprano(Kindred Kingdoms Wildlife Rehabilitation Center) "Wildlife Ambassadors"
Join Jean to learn more about her work as a rehabilitator as she introduces you to several of her wildlife “ambassadors”. Meet live birds of prey and learn why preservation of their natural habitat is vital to their survival.