The Kinnikinnick Native Plant Society has monthly presentations.
The meetings are held on the 2nd Saturday of each month, January thru June and September thru November.
Currently all meetings will be held on ZOOM and in the large meeting room at the East Bonner County Library’s main branch, located at 1407 Cedar Street in Sandpoint. See the meeting listing for signup information.
Programs
Floristic Quality Assessment of Terrestrial Landscape
KNPS’s program on Saturday, May 21st, will be presented via Zoom both in-person in the large meeting room B at the East Bonner County Library’s main branch (1407 Cedar Street, Sandpoint) and on Zoom. Registration (see below) is only required for Zoom attendance. Our guest speaker will be Dr. Gerould, Director of Research at the Conservation Research Institute. The program is co-sponsored by the East Bonner County Library District and Sandpoint Parks & Recreation. The Zoom presentation will also be recorded for later viewing on our YouTube Channel.
For those attending in person at the library, coffee/tea and treats will be available beginning at 9:30 a.m. with announcements and program starting at 10:00 a.m.
About the program: In the evaluation of landscapes, a critical question is the contemporary ecological health of the vegetation it supports. There are some landscapes that bear sufficient remnants of soil, vegetation, and associated organisms that any significant change in their stewardship or ecological character would render them irreplaceably destroyed. The doctrinal advice in the National Environmental Act of 1969 asks Americans to evaluate the degree to which any impact is “irreversible or irretrievable.” Floristic Quality Assessment (FQA) is a tool that enables us to accommodate that directive. One of the principal aspects of the FQA is the assignment, by trained botanists, of a Coefficient of Conservatism to each vascular plant, so that each species is given an equal franchise at informing us about the integrity of its habitat. FQA also enables us to monitor and evaluate attempts to rehabilitate partly managed systems and the progress of landscape restoration, as well as to predict whether a landscape would be irreplaceably destroyed by development.
About the speaker: Dr. Gerould Wilhelm is a foremost botanist, research taxonomist, and educator. After an undergraduate degree in Marine Biology at Florida State University, and a stint as a conscript in the Army, he joined the staff of the Morton Arboretum, in Lisle, Illinois, in 1974. He received his Ph.D. in Botany in 1984 at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. He co-authored the definitive flora Plants of the Chicago Region, and recently completed the Flora of the Chicago Region, a Floristic and Ecological Synthesis, with wildlife biologist Laura Rericha. He currently is working on the lichens of the 53-county Southern Lake Michigan Region. He is noted for his development of the Floristic Quality Assessment (FQA) methodology, which has become widely adapted for use in at least 34 states and provinces.
COVID-19 protocols for in-person attendance: Please attend only if you are fully vaccinated and feeling well. Masks are optional.
Registration (required only for Zoom attendance):
When the live program will begin: May 21, 2022 at 10:00 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
To register, go to this link or paste it into your web browser: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAofuyurT4iG9BiCfru2qhk65Vi80_LfW5t
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about how to join Zoom on April 21st.
If you have questions about this or other KNPS programs, please contact Preston Andrews, Program Coordinator, at programs@nativeplantsociety.org.