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Community Engagement and Conservation: Introducing Two Resources for Environmental Educators

Environmental educators everywhere work in a constantly shifting landscape, from changing demographics that offer new opportunities and challenges, to an increase in the scale and scope of environmental and social issues facing every community on the...

Resource
3/26/21
From One Photo to a Whole Flora

Haiti is home to an incredible flora of around 5,000 documented plant species. Within these, over 210 endemic shrub and tree species have been identified. These plants have only one home in the world, and it is here. Many other species have small...

Resource
3/11/21
Pollinator Toolkits and Worksheets

Bees, bats and butterflies all have one thing in common — they are pollinators! Pollination is a process that is imperative to the success of nearly all-terrestrial life on earth. Humans need healthy pollinator populations to support our food system...

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2/12/21
Seeing the Landscape from the Trees: An Ecosystemic Approach to Urban Forestry

The term “urban forest” is often used to refer to all the trees within a city or town. But the urban forest is part of a much larger social-ecological landscape that supports a complex web of biodiversity, ecosystem services, values, and cultures.  The...

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1/29/21
Using botanic gardens and arboreta to help identify urban trees for the future

Diversification of urban forests is essential to enhance their resilience to future biotic
threats as well as those posed by a changing climate. Arboreta and botanic gardens
host a wide range of plant material that can be evaluated to...

Resource
11/9/20
Interpreting the Science: A Toolkit to Communicate the Value of Native Plants

Native plants are important to the landscape. However, there is little clear information out there informing the lay public on native plant scientific benefits, uses in the landscape, and sourcing of plants. As centers of science, public gardens have a...

Resource
8/7/20
Outdoor Programs for Veterans: Public Land Policies and Practices to Support Therapeutic Opportunities

Many veterans returning from military deployment experience stress- or trauma-related symptoms
that make reintegration with civilian society difficult. Nature exposure and outdoor recreation can
be important parts of alternative and...

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6/23/20
Field Guide for Camps on Implementation of CDC Guidance

The objective of the Field Guide for Camps on Implementation of CDC Guidance is to provide educational materials for camp staff to reduce potential exposures to and spread of COVID-19. 

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5/21/20
Education Community COVID-19 Forum: Summer Camps and Programming

Notes from the Education Community COVID-19 Forum: Summer Camps and Programming held on April 13, 2020. 

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5/5/20
Integrating Food Systems and Local Food in Family and Consumer Sciences: Perspectives from the Pilot Extension Master Food Volunteer Program

Cooperative Extension programs across the United States are embracing food systems and local food as a new topic area. Previous studies indicate that successful local food programming requires cross program collaboration. However, research in this area...

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2/25/20
A Master Gardener Survey: Promoting Pollinator-friendly Plants Through Education and Outreach

As land-use patterns change over time, some pollinating insects continue to decline both in abundance and diversity. This is due, in part, to reductions in floral resources that provide sufficient nectar and pollen. Our overall goal is to help increase...

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1/28/20
Crop Science Special Issue: Connecting Agriculture, Public Gardens and Science

North America’s agricultural and natural landscapes are vital to feeding humanity—they are home to many populations of important food plants and their wild relatives. Climate change is projected to significantly impact the agricultural sector and any...

Resource
11/25/19
Network modelling, citizen science and targeted interventions to predict, monitor and reverse bee decline

Pollination is fundamentally important to ecosystem function and human food security.
Recent reports of dramatic insect declines, and pollinator decline in particular,
have increased public awareness and political motivation to act to...

Resource
11/15/19
Campus-Based Ecotourism: A Case Study on the Power of Local Ecotourism

Academic campuses across the Great Plains can serve as landscapes for teaching and learning about native flora of cultural importance with regard to food, medicine, and lifeways. Campus visitors (tourists) and local community members could benefit from...

Resource
10/30/19
Experience Bees: Community Outreach Tool for Bee Conservation Efforts

Despite the importance of bees, there is a gap in the public's understanding of them. To help address this gap, we developed the outreach tool Experience Bees, a series of simple learning and hands-on activities to teach community members about bees...

Resource
10/24/19
Asset-Based Community Development Institute Toolkit

The following is a collection of tools from ABCD faculty members as well as individuals and organizations that embody the principles of ABCD in their work. The addition of the toolkit was made possible by a generous grant from the Alumnae of...

Resource
10/16/19
Top 10 Plants: Increasing Awareness of Plants

Urbanization, lack of contact with the natural world, and growing up removed from agriculture has contributed to a void of knowledge relating to food and food production, along with a phenomenon known as plant blindness. We sought to change this lack...

Resource
9/26/19
The Wilbur D. May Arboretum and Botanical Garden Interpretive Plan

This comprehensive master interpretive plan has been prepared specifically for the Wilbur D. May
Arboretum located in Reno, Nevada. The Arboretum is owned and operated by Washoe County and continues to receive funding from the May Foundation as...

Resource
6/11/19
Resetting the table for people and plants: Botanic gardens and research organizations collaborate to address food and agricultural plant blindness

Of the myriad gifts plants provide to humanity, food is among the most visible, as everyone needs to eat, every single day. Due to their universal importance, food and agricultural plants would appear to represent ideal entryways to address plant...

Resource
5/28/19

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