
4 minute read
Impact Conference program

October 12, 2021

Registration/Check-in 7:30 AM - 8:30 AM
PROGRAM EMCEE
JENNIFER JEWELL Cultivating Place
Jennifer Jewell is the host of the national award-winning weekly public radio program and podcast Cultivating Place: Conversations on Natural History and the Human Impulse to Garden. She is the author of The Earth in Her Hands, 75 Extraordinary Women Working in the World of Plants (Timber Press, 2020), and Under Western Skies, Visionary Gardens from the Rockies to the Pacific Coast (Timber Press 2021). Her greatest passion is elevating the way we think and talk about gardening, the empowerment of gardeners, and the possibility inherent in the intersection between places, environments, cultures, individuals and the gardens that bring them together beautifully — for the better of all the lives on this generous planet.
INTRODUCTIONS
8:30 AM - 8:45 AM Alsdorf Auditorium
Brandon Losey, ILT Vignocchi Committee Chair Scott Grams ILCA Executive Director
OPENING KEYNOTE
Doug Tallamy, University of Delaware
Recent headlines about global insect declines and three billion fewer birds in North America are a bleak reality check about how ineffective our current landscape designs have been at sustaining the plants and animals that sustain us. To create landscapes that enhance local ecosystems rather than degrade them, we must add the native plant communities that sustain food webs, sequester carbon, maintain diverse native bee communities, and manage our watersheds. If you do this in half of the area now in lawn, you can help create Homegrown National Park, a 20 million acre network of viable habitats that will provide vital corridors connecting the few natural areas that remain. This approach to conservation empowers you to play a significant role in the future of the natural world.
BREAKOUT SESSIONS — 10:10 AM - 11:10 AM Alsdorf Auditorium Marketing Organic Lawn Care
Alec McClennan, Good Nature Organic Lawn Care
Everyone wants to be organic until they have a dandelion. Alec McClennan, Founder of Good Nature Organic Lawn are has been providing organic lawn and land care services to clients since 1999. He’ll share his story and lessons learned about how to help clients become and stay organic.
Pullman Room Refugia Greenway Network
Jeff Lorenz & Kayla Fell Refugia Ltd.

Refugia Ltd.
BREAK — 10:00 AM - 10:10 AM
BREAKOUT SESSIONS — 11:20 AM - 12:35 PM Alsdorf Auditorium Foodscaping with Natives
Brie Arthur, Brie Grows
Thoughtful design and management of landscapes is more important than ever as concerns of climate, water quality and invasive plants increase. Brie will discuss how to create a foodscape using native plants mixed with favorite seasonal food crops. The best organic products are featured and easy, earth friendly maintenance strategies are highlighted. Learn about native edible plants and the pollinators they attract that aid in ecological restoration. Get inspired to see the potential every landscape offers by transforming them into purposeful spaces that embrace solutions to modern day landscape practices
Pullman Room Panel Discussion: Eradicating Invasive Shrub Species
Lydia Scott, The Morton Arboretum Ken Williams, Horticulturist Monica Buckley, Red Stem Native
LUNCH / VENDOR HALL — 12:30 PM - 2:00 PM
BREAKOUT SESSIONS — 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM Pullman Room Natural Pools & Swimming Ponds: Recreational Watershapes for the Sustainable Landscape
Alan Weene Reflections Water Gardens
Natural pools, swimming ponds, and recreational ponds are eco-friendly man made water features designed for human swimming and bathing. These biologically purified watershapes promote biodiversity and help to restore native wildlife habitats while providing relaxation and enjoyment for families who value and appreciate an environmentally sustainable outdoor lifestyle. With organic and chemical-free landscape practices receiving greater attention and demand than ever before, natural pools offer a holistic approach to aquatic recreation in the residential landscape..
Alsdorf Auditorium New Naturalism: Lessons from Wild Plant Communities
Kelly Norris, Author and Plantsman
An in-depth lecture that applies elements of plant ecology and real-world examples from wild plant communities to the built landscape; highly recommended for conferences and venues geared towards landscape designers and managers. Kelly’s love for native plants and his experiences with wild plant communities have shaped his career in profound ways. As a so-called hort-ecologist, Kelly strives to interpret native ecosystems into beautiful, functional landscapes in the urban context. Too often, professional horticulturists appropriate plants as if they were inanimate objects, instead of truly understanding how plants interact and function within the landscape environment. Join Kelly in an exploration of wild plant communities and their constituents from across North America that will inspire and inform your professional practice whether as a grower, retailer or designer.
CLOSING KEYNOTE
3:10 PM - 4:10 PM Alsdorf Auditorium Interview with Refugia Ltd.
Jeff Lorenz Kayla Fell Refugia Ltd.
Jennifer Jewell Cultivating Place

Refugia Ltd.
NETWORKING RECEPTION & RAFFLES
4:15 PM - 6:00 PM — NETWORKING RECEPTION
Burstein Hall
