Catherine is an award-winning director of photography, celebrates her 40th year as a documentary filmmaker, working primarily on education and environmental issues. Environmental videos of hers include global warming documentaries for CNN Presents and New York Times Television; Save Rainforests/Save Lives, Freshfarm Markets, Wildlife Without Borders: Connecting People and Nature in the Americas, and America’s Sustainable Garden: United States Botanic Garden.
Catherine is also a certified horticulturist and landscape designer based in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.
2017 INLS Speaking Topic: Creating Habitat Heroes Across the Nation
Zimmerman and film crew spent two years traveling the country to create the documentary film: Hometown Habitat, Stories of Bringing Nature Home. Zimmerman’s film features renowned entomologist Dr. Douglas Tallamy, whose research, books and lectures on the use of non-native plants in landscaping, sound the alarm about habitat and species loss.
This presentation will discuss the success stories and works in progress, that re-awaken and redefine our relationship with Nature. The goal: Build a new army of habitat heroes and make natural landscaping the new landscaping norm.
Tony is a plant ecologist with seven years of professional experience working on multidisciplinary teams focused on the restoration and remediation of natural and anthropogenic ecosystems. Currently, Dr. Eallonardo is O'Brien & Gere’s Natural Resources and Restoration lead on the Onondaga Lake superfund cleanup program, which is one of the largest programs currently ongoing in the U.S.
2017 INLS Speaking Topic: Lessons Learned in Sustainable Remediation Incorporating Ecological Restoration
The Onondaga Lake (Syracuse, NY) superfund restoration program has provided an outstanding opportunity to refine and develop new ecological restoration approaches. While this session will draw on lessons from Onondaga Lake, underlying concepts can be broadly applied – particularly in urban and postindustrial settings. Specific initiatives include the restoration of over 50 acres each of wetlands and grasslands in a variety of settings, 10 acres of green parking areas, and extensive living shoreline systems. Across each of these initiatives is the effort to tie plant functions and ecological processes to desired outcomes and landscape values.
Christian Zimmerman (FASLA) is Vice President of Capital and Landscape Management at Prospect Park Alliance.
Since 1990, Christian has been the guiding hand for one of the most respected ongoing park restorations in the country. He oversees capital design, construction and landscape management, leading a team of architects, landscape architects, horticulturists, arborists and ecologists. Christian is nationally recognized for his historic preservation work, and has been a consultant to the National Parks Service and other parks around the country. In 2010, he was named a American Society of Landscape Architects Fellow.
2017 INLS Speaking Topics:
Woodland Restoration and recreation of historic water course through Prospect Park
Prospect Park’s New Lakeside Center: 26 acres of shoreline restoration, island creation, green roof, historic preservation and contemporary design
For over 20 years the Prospect Park Alliance has been actively restoring Brooklyn’s last forest and water course.
These presentations will cover the importance of this Olmsted and Vaux landscape from historical and ecological perspectives.
Also covered will be the successes and failures in this effort as well as the current and future challenges in taking care of a forest within a densely populated city.
Janet is president and co-founder of the local Wild Ones chapter Habitat Gardening in Central New York (HGCNY). Janet has contributed articles to the Wild One’s Journal, Upstate Gardners’ Journal, Woodlands and Prairies Magazine, National Wildlife Federation's Habitats Newsletter, and many more.
2017 INLS Speaking Topic: Creating a Bird-Friendly Yard
Learn how to provide the basic habitat elements birds need: food, water, cover, and places for them to raise their young. Learn about the vital role of native plants in providing for their needs. Finally, learn how you can provide a safe place for birds in your yard and in the world beyond. Create a bird-friendly yard and enjoy the daily companionship of birds right at home!
Carrie Brown-Lima is a Senior Extension Associate and the Director of the NY Invasive Species Research Institute at Cornell University. In this role, she works closely with research scientists, state and federal agencies, the NY Invasive Species Council and Advisory Committee and regional managers and stakeholders to promote innovation and improve the scientific basis of invasive species management. Carrie has nearly 20 years of experience working with natural resource conservation and management across ecosystems and borders. Prior to her position with the Institute, Carrie spent 11 years promoting conservation strategies and partnerships in Brazil and throughout Latin America on diverse programs such as sustainable fisheries certifications, agriculture and conservation, and transboundary protected areas.
2017 INLS Speaking Topic: Addressing Invasive Species in a Changing World: A New York State Perspective
Gain insight into current approaches to reducing the impact and proliferation of invasive species in New York State. Carrie will discuss recent research that is impacting the way we think about and manage invasive species in our changing world.
Josh is an Assistant Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies at Cornell University Department of Landscape Architecture in Ithaca, New York. Prior to joining Cornell, Cerra practiced as a designer and an ecologist on projects in the Pacific Northwest and China. His academic and professional work addresses relationships between urban ecosystems, communities and site development processes, and their implications for urban ecological design and climate adaptation. He was the recipient of the Cornell CALS Young Faculty Teaching Excellence Award in 2014 and the CELA Excellence in Design Studio Teaching Junior Level Award in 2015.
2017 INLS Speaking Topic: Building Social and Ecological Resilience in Cities
This presentation will introduce aspects of social and ecological resilience, and two projects that seek to build citizen awareness of climate change and capacity for climate adaptation through experience and participation. The first, the Cornell Climate Change Garden, provides a physical, comparative environment for visitors to observe impacts of temperature variables associated with climate change on plants. The second, the Cornell Climate-adaptive Design Studio, works with Hudson River Valley municipalities to inspire alternative design strategies for climate adaptation that address water, ecological, and built environment needs within the context of urban growth and a changing climate.
2017 INLS Speakers and Presentation Details
Click here for schedule information
Tara is a landscape architect with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation Highway Division. Her work includes plant design for a variety of site conditions from wetlands to roundabouts, design review, and planting oversight on MassDOT construction projects. Ms. Mitchell also assists with vegetation management, including invasive plant control, reduced mowing efforts, and the use of native seed to improve the ecological functions of roadside rights-of-ways. She received a MLA from Cornell University.
2017 INLS Speaking Topic: The Role of Plants in Soil Development: From the Naturalized to the Designed Landscape
Traditional landscape practices rely on fertilizers, mulches, and other amendments to create soil and sustain plant growth. However, plants in association with fungi have been creating and protecting soils for millions of years on their own. How can we incorporate these naturally occurring processes into our designs? Ms. Mitchell will take a closer look at some of the ways in which plants over time build, change, and protect soil in natural systems. Using examples of constructed urban landscapes, she will discuss how plant selection, design decisions, and land care practices may be used to promote the cycles of plant growth and decay necessary for healthy soils and self-sustaining landscapes.
Heidi Henrichs is a graduate student in the Department of Natural Resources at Cornell University. Her master’s thesis examines bird damage in fruit crops as part of a multi-state, interdisciplinary USDA-SCRI project. In 2016, Heidi helped conduct a study of Canada goose management in Stewart Park, Ithaca, NY, a popular waterfront park with an overabundance of geese. With cooperation from the DEC, Cornell University, the City of Ithaca, and Friends of Stewart Park, this study explored potential deterrent methods for hazing geese out of the park in order to reduce human-goose conflict, including the fecal matter left behind. Heidi earned her B.S. in Wildlife Biology from the University of Vermont in 2009.
2017 INLS Speaking Topic: Understanding and Managing the Canada Goose Population in Stewart Park
This presentation will describe some of the potential deterrent methods that can be used to deter Canada geese from turf areas, such as parks and athletic fields. Results from a 2016 study in Ithaca, NY will be presented and discussed. The study utilized multiple methods to haze geese from a local park, including a drone, fireworks, laser gun, and a remote-controlled vehicle.
Rick Manning Landscape Architect (RMLA), ASLA, is a landscape architecture consulting firm located in Ithaca in Upstate New York's Finger Lakes region. RMLA is involved in a variety of projects, including greenways and trails, bicycle and pedestrian plans, parks, transit and health facilities, and both private and public gardens. Rick is very active in his Ithaca community as the Director of the Friends of Stewart Park and Coordinator of the Cayuga Waterfront Trail Initiative.
2017 INLS Speaking Topic:
Stewart Park Revitalization – Update and Introduction to the Canada Geese Situation
Rick Manning, ASLA, founded the Friends of Stewart Park with his friend Scott Wiggins of La Tourelle (former INLS host prior to our happy landing at Cinemapolis) to lead our community’s effort to revitalize Ithaca’s Lakefront Gem, Stewart Park. Rick will provide a brief update on FSP’s park revitalization efforts focusing on completed projects, those currently underway, and some key larger projects to be completed by the parks centennial celebration in 2021. This will serve as an introduction to Heidi Henrich’s presentation on the research that she conducted with her mentor, Paul Curtis, Understanding and Managing the Canada Goose Population in Stewart Park.
Dan Segal owns The Plantsmen Nursery which specializes in native plants, local plant production, and native and natural landscaping. Dan has worked with native plants for over 20 years, in California, the Mid-Atlantic, and New York. His areas of expertise include ecological restoration, plant propagation, plant bio-geography and the study of native plant communities.
2017 INLS Speaking Topic:
Big Horticulture vs. Little Horticulture: How local native plant nurseries can survive, thrive and grow in the shadow of the Garden Center Model
Horticulture has followed the same trajectory as many other industries—the product has become more homogenous, because the business model has become more global. One significant consequence is that local native species are bypassed, because they don’t fit this model. Their essential value is based on ecological factors such as genetic diversity, their regional fitness and their co-evolution with their fellow regional organisms—none of which is conducive to showy marketing campaigns. This tension between industry and ecology underlies the Big Hort vs. Little Hort scenario. Small, local native plant nurseries are perfectly suited to fill a niche that Big Hort can’t fill, and doesn’t want to. So what are we waiting for?