How will climate change affect our native plants? How can we use native plants to counter the effects of climate change?
On February 1, Dr. Richard Hebda will conduct a discussion in Nelson about climate change in the Columbia Basin and how native plants are both threatened by these changes and provide opportunities that can help us adapt.
The talk will take place at 6:30 p.m. at the Nelson United Church, hosted by the Kootenay Native Plant Society.
“Climate change is here and plant communities are designed to adapt. Native plants offer solutions for preparing for an uncertain future” says Dr. Hebda.
In his presentation, titled ‘Restoring the Future: Native Plants for a Changing Climate,’ Dr. Hebda will explore the many changes in our local landscapes. How will our native plant species, their plant communities, and our relationships to them change in response? What can we do to preserve native plant biodiversity, and work with it to foster new landscapes rooted in the rich legacy of the past? How can we involve our native species to adapt to climate change?
As the Curator for Botany and Earth History for the Royal British Columbia Museum, Dr. Hebda is an expert on a number of environmental topics including the climate history of BC, restoration of natural systems, ethnobotany of BC First Nations, and plant ecology.
The Kootenay Native Plant Society is a non-profit community organization whose mission is to promote knowledge, appreciation, conservation and restoration of West Kootenay native plants and natural habitats through education, research, and on-the-ground activities.