March 6, 2009 For immediate release
Douglas Tallamy argues for gardens that nourish birds on March 16 Douglas Tallamy, author of a new book that calls for planting gardens that appeal to wildlife—especially insects--brings his important message to St. Paul on Monday, March 16. The author of Bringing Nature Home, How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens , will speak at 7:00 p.m. in the John B. Davis Lecture Hall in the Ruth Stricker Dayton Campus Center at Macalester College. The event is free and open to the public. Many birders, gardeners, and landscapers are already great fans of Tallamy’s book and viewpoint. An entomologist and dynamic speaker, he will discuss the clear link between native plant species and native wildlife. Tallamy makes the case that non-native plants are nearly invisible to native insects and other wildlife: if insect larvae haven’t evolved with a plant they can’t use it. In this way we lose strands in the web of life, a scenario occurring all over the world. How important is this? Research shows that 96 percent of North American’s land birds rely on insects to feed their nestlings, and insects rely on native plants. If more and more of us filled our yards and gardens with native plants, we’d help create the biodiversity that sustains all life forms, including our own. “We help decide which animals will make it and which will not every time we plant or remove something from our yards,” Tallamy says. For everyone interested in the conservation of birds and other wildlife and everyone who gardens, this is a “don’t miss” event. The Tallamy event is free and no registration is required. It’s sponsored by St. Paul Audubon and Audubon Minnesota and will be held in the building marked #25 on the campus map at: http://www.macalester.edu/about/macalester_campusmap.pdf . Free parking is available in all campus lots. ---- Join or Leave mou-net:http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives:http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
