Oaks, Fire, and Climate Change with Heather Holm

Wild Ones of Central North Carolina Chapter and the North Carolina Sierra Club Foothills Group, in collaboration with the Town of Lewisville, NC and the Gateway Nature Preserve in Winston-Salem, NC, are pleased to invite you to this extraordinary program focused on the importance of ecological restoration.

This multi-event program on November 8-9th, 2024 consists of a lecture and a panel discussion.

Heather Holm, National Honorary Director for Wild Ones, sets the stage for this program by stating: “Natural landscapes in the US and Canada have been drastically altered by human activities such as infrastructure development, logging, overgrazing, introduction of invasive species, and fire suppression. With the current threat of climate change, it is crucial to understand the past and present ecological conditions of these landscapes to inform future restoration efforts.”

Clearly, massive restoration efforts are necessary to overcome the challenges unfolding because of our reckless destruction of nature. Climate change is a serious concern. We need to restore depleted parts of our ecosystem to prevent it from demise. If we can save enough of the ecosystem, we will have enough elements of Nature’s benefits to survive.

Our program highlights the importance of protecting planet Earth, the role of ecological restoration, and how mankind can be a force of healing and regeneration of planet Earth and its inhabitants. Our guest speakers emphasize the need to conserve, preserve, and restore planet Earth so that it can regenerate. The program provides practical informaton on how to take an active role in the regenerative process.

Heather Holm’s lecture, titled Oaks, Fire and Climate Change, examines the past to understand grassland systems at the time of Euro-American settlement and discuss how Native Americans managed and influenced the composition of these grassland systems with their regular use of fire. Heather will also discuss the impacts of fire as a strong selective pressure on keystone plants and bees. Pivoting to look into the future using projected climate modeling, Heather will address the ecological conditions today, focusing on oak ecosystems and grasslands, then paint a picture of what a functional, biodiverse, and resilient landscape may look like in the future, and what actions are needed to achieve these outcomes.

In the panel discussion, What's the Buzz About Ecological Restoration, Heather Holm, Dr. Ken Bridle, and Dr. Gary Gunderson will emphasize the importance of actively engaging in restorative activities to protect, conserve and restore the health of planet Earth. Dr. Gunderson, an ordained minister, brings a spiritual focus to restoration. Mankind has been endowed with the responsibility to protect the Earth and all its creatures. We must reclaim a role that has been ours all along. Dr. Kenneth Bridle, Conservation Advisor for the Piedmont Land Conservancy, will share how we can all contribute to these efforts in our own personal and collective ways. Since 1990, the Piedmont Land Conservancy has been active in protecting our region’s natural lands, family farms, and waters for the benefit of all living things through land protection, stewardship of conserved spaces, and connecting people with nature.

The program is free. See registration links below. Please note that the events are held in different locations and have different Eventbrite registration links.

For more information, please contact Siham Muntasser: [email protected].

Host or Publisher Wild Ones Central North Carolina