MPF: Protecting Prairie & Promoting Native Plants |
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Lots of great news in this issue!
— Jan. 27–29: For the Love of Birds Festival benefitting MPF!
— January through March 2021 webinars and master classes—save the dates for these weekly online programs.
— Three upcoming MPF and Grow Native! webinars: Jan. 27, Feb. 3, and Feb. 4
– Order Heather Holm's new book on wasps before her Grow Native! webinar on February 17
– Call for MPF Prairie Garden Grant program applications
— Nature Revisited Podcast: North American Prairie
— Prairie Postcard: Urban Prairie Plantings in Joplin & MPF
Wishing you well,
Carol Davit
MPF Executive Director & the MPF team
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For the Love of Birds Festival Jan. 27-29 |
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Support MPF by attending the virtual For the Love of Birds Festival this January 27–29. This birding festival will donate 20% of ticket sale proceeds to MPF and two other charitable organizations.
This festival is bringing together world-renowned artists, masters in their fields, and individuals who have devoted a lifetime to connecting deeply with nature to share their expertise with you.
Some of the topics include:
- Tips to Identifying Bird Feathers ~ From a forensic ornithologist
- How to Learn What Ravens Are Saying
- Why Bird Nests Are The Ultimate Sign
- The Gyrfalcon ~ Through the lens of a National Geographic photographer
- A Simple Trick to Draw Birds Like a Pro
- How Folks With Hearing Loss Can Learn to See Bird Song Again
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Webinars and Master Classes January–March 2021 |
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Our online programming continues in 2021 with weekly webinars or master classes Wednesdays at 4:00 p.m. (unless otherwise noted) through March. We will send a link to recordings of the programming to all registrants.
Most webinars are 30 minutes, followed by a question and answer period. They are free to all. One-half CEU is available for landscape architects for most webinars.
Master classes are 50 minutes, followed by a question and answer period. Master classes are free to all MPF dues-paying members (including Grow Native! professional members) and $15 for non-members. One CEU is available for landscape architects for all Grow Native! master classes. CEUs may also be available for Master Gardeners—gardeners may want to check with their coordinators.
Feb. 24 - Grow Native! Webinar: Invasive Plant Q & A: Dr. Quinn Long and Matt Arndt Note: as with all of our online programming, attendees may ask questions of the presenters of this Feb. 24 program via the Zoom chat feature. However, we also invite you to submit questions about the invasive nature of specific plants by Feb. 10, to allow time for Quinn and Matt to prepare especially for those questions.
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Jan. 27: Grow Native! Webinar: Designing with Native Plants: Ronda Burnett
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Learn the basics of selecting native plants for your next project with Ronda Burnett, Chair of MPF's Grow Native! program and Community Conservation Planner for the Missouri Department of Conservation. Design themes, site programming, and maintenance needs will be considered along with physical site conditions, plant availability, and green infrastructure services. An overview of art and design principles will be included to help attendees visualize how native plants can be used to achieve any look in the developed landscape.
When: Wednesday, Jan. 27 at 4:00 p.m. This webinar will be 45 minutes, followed by a Q & A session.
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Feb. 3: MPF Webinar: Grassland Amphibians & Reptiles: Brian Edmond |
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Learn from MPF Board of Directors member Brian Edmond about the frogs, snakes, turtles, and other amphibians and reptiles that depend on grassland habitat, including prairies, to survive.
When: Wednesday, Feb. 3 at 4:00 p.m. The webinar, to be held via Zoom, will be 45 minutes, followed by a Q & A session.
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Feb. 4: Native by Design: Digging into 2021 with your Garden Plan |
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Join southwestern Illinois regional native plant experts and enthusiasts for a Q & A workshop about planning your native garden. Get tips on how to lay out your garden, where to source plants, what to plant and when, and more!
When: Thursday, Feb. 4 at 7:00 p.m.
Photo by Scott Woodbury
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Order Heather Holm's New Book |
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WASPS, the new book from Heather Holm,
is the first full-color, illustrated guide featuring approximately 150 species of flower-visiting wasps that occur in eastern North America and the specific native plants and habitat upon which each species depends.
Written with an ecological lens, this richly illustrated book details wasp diversity and has full-page profiles for each wasp species that include identification tips, geographic range maps, biology, prey, natural history, and habitat.
Order Heather Holm's WASPS from MPF by Thursday, Jan. 28 at 8:00 a.m. and we will get your order to you. Proceeds benefit MPF's Grow Native! program. Order here.
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Nature Revisited: The North American Prairie |
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Nature Revisited, a podcast produced and directed by gardener and independent filmmaker Stefan van Norden of New Hampshire, explores the human relationship with the natural world.
Note: Episode 21 features James Faupel of Grow Native! professional member Litzsinger Road Ecology Center, speaking about urban ecology.
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Call for MPF Prairie Garden Grant Applications |
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Gardening and other conservation groups, parks, schools, and other entities are invited to submit proposals to MPF’s Prairie Garden Grants Program. In 2021, MPF will award several grants to help fund the establishment of prairie gardens or plantings. Grants will not exceed $800 each. Those with smaller projects are encouraged to apply as well.
Gardens must be available to the public and must incorporate native prairie species (not cultivars). Matching funds are not required, but proposals with secured matching funds may be evaluated higher than others. Deadline for submission is March 15, 2021 with funding dispersed in April.
Photo above: 2019 MPF Prairie Garden Grant recipient KC Farm School at Gibbs Road
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Prairie Plantings at City of Joplin Parks & MPF |
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On January 19, MPF's Jerod Huebner and volunteers burned a total of 40 acres of native plantings within three City of Joplin parks.
Through a cooperative agreement with the City of Joplin and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, MPF oversees the management of these urban prairie plantings, which enhance habitat for pollinating insects and grassland birds, reduce mowing, manage stormwater, and beautify city property.
Photo by Jerod Huebner
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Newsletter content ownership: Missouri Prairie Foundation.
You are receiving this message because you are a Missouri Prairie Foundation member, supporter of Missouri's prairies, and/or interested in native plants. If you are not a member, please join us! Member support is vital to our outstanding prairie protection efforts. E-mail us at [email protected], call us at 1-888-843-6739, or visit us at www.moprairie.org. Please forward this message to other prairie supporters. If you do not wish to receive these periodic messages, please unsubscribe below.
Carol Davit
Executive Director & the MPF Team
MPF is a Missouri Bicentennial Alliance member
Nature is an open book for those who care to read. Each grass-covered hillside is a page on which is written the history of the past, conditions of the present and predictions of the future. Some see without understanding; but let us look closely and understandingly, and act wisely, and in time bring our methods of land use and conservation activities into close harmony with the dictates of nature.
—John Weaver, North American Prairie, 1954
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Missouri Prairie Foundation
PO Box 200
Columbia, MO 65205
(888) 843-6739
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