Jessica Beckham, Ph.D. candidate at the University of North Texas, PowWow Steering Committee and Webmistress
Jessica Beckham is a native Texan whose research involves an interdisciplinary approach to studying the bumble bees of this great state. In particular, she is interested in finding ways that humans and bees can coexist in urban environments. Her research has included studying bumble bees in community gardens and other urban spaces in Denton County, as well as roadside surveys across northeast Texas to catalog bumble bee species presence. Before returning to graduate school she taught high school biology in Austin ISD. When she’s not stalking bees she enjoys baking, taking pictures and spending time with her husband and their two year-old son.
Jessica Beckham is a native Texan whose research involves an interdisciplinary approach to studying the bumble bees of this great state. In particular, she is interested in finding ways that humans and bees can coexist in urban environments. Her research has included studying bumble bees in community gardens and other urban spaces in Denton County, as well as roadside surveys across northeast Texas to catalog bumble bee species presence. Before returning to graduate school she taught high school biology in Austin ISD. When she’s not stalking bees she enjoys baking, taking pictures and spending time with her husband and their two year-old son.
Ben Eldredge, Director of Education, Cibolo Nature Center & Farm
Restoring monarch populations: Cultivating abundance for all : Monarch butterflies face a treacherous journey as they make their way from Central Michoacan, Mexico to Canada and then back to Mexico each year. Their journey often takes them across drought-scorched and badly managed landscapes, through agricultural fields and suburban landscapes laden with pesticides and devoid of milkweed and nectar. It is clear that this loss of habitat and chemical assault is the primary cause of declines in Monarch butterflies that overwinter in Mexico. Yet, it doesn't have to be this way. Agriculture and & horticulture practices that go beyond organic not only produce abundant food for humans but also provide monarch butterflies and other pollinators with the nutrient rich and diverse habitats in which they thrive. This presentation will explore the journey of the Monarch butterflies and offer solutions to the challenges that greet them along the way.
Ben Eldredge is the Director of Education at the Cibolo Nature Center & Farm. In this capacity he oversees the children and adult education, citizen science programs, as well as a significant program expansion to the neighboring Herff Farm, include agriculture, permaculture, and land restoration education. He also oversees land stewardship of the nature center and farm’s four habitats, including planning the teaching garden, restoration practices and permaculture design as well as associated citizen science projects. Prior to working at the nature center, Ben was the manager of a 5,000-acre ranch in the Texas Hill Country.
Restoring monarch populations: Cultivating abundance for all : Monarch butterflies face a treacherous journey as they make their way from Central Michoacan, Mexico to Canada and then back to Mexico each year. Their journey often takes them across drought-scorched and badly managed landscapes, through agricultural fields and suburban landscapes laden with pesticides and devoid of milkweed and nectar. It is clear that this loss of habitat and chemical assault is the primary cause of declines in Monarch butterflies that overwinter in Mexico. Yet, it doesn't have to be this way. Agriculture and & horticulture practices that go beyond organic not only produce abundant food for humans but also provide monarch butterflies and other pollinators with the nutrient rich and diverse habitats in which they thrive. This presentation will explore the journey of the Monarch butterflies and offer solutions to the challenges that greet them along the way.
Ben Eldredge is the Director of Education at the Cibolo Nature Center & Farm. In this capacity he oversees the children and adult education, citizen science programs, as well as a significant program expansion to the neighboring Herff Farm, include agriculture, permaculture, and land restoration education. He also oversees land stewardship of the nature center and farm’s four habitats, including planning the teaching garden, restoration practices and permaculture design as well as associated citizen science projects. Prior to working at the nature center, Ben was the manager of a 5,000-acre ranch in the Texas Hill Country.
Shalene Jha, Ph.D – Assistant Professor, Integrative Biology Department, University of Texas at Austin
Pollination mutualisms: from genes to landscapes : Plant-pollinator mutualisms are a critical part of terrestrial ecosystems, across both cultivated and natural landscapes. This talk will cover the diversity of such mutualisms, their role in driving populatin and community-level processes, and their dynamics across landscapes. I’ll also discuss how natural and human-altered landscapes impact pollinators and what recent research tells us about managing landscapes for optimal pollination services.
Shalene Jha is an Assistant Professor within the Integrative Biology Department at the University of Texas at Austin. Shalene’s research investigates how global land use change influences gene flow, foraging patterns, and population viability for plants and animals. Specifically, her lab is conducting research on plant and pollinator landscape ecology, population genetics and disease ecology, and the provision of ecosystem services (e.g., pollination) within human-altered landscapes in California, Texas, Panama, and Mexico.
Pollination mutualisms: from genes to landscapes : Plant-pollinator mutualisms are a critical part of terrestrial ecosystems, across both cultivated and natural landscapes. This talk will cover the diversity of such mutualisms, their role in driving populatin and community-level processes, and their dynamics across landscapes. I’ll also discuss how natural and human-altered landscapes impact pollinators and what recent research tells us about managing landscapes for optimal pollination services.
Shalene Jha is an Assistant Professor within the Integrative Biology Department at the University of Texas at Austin. Shalene’s research investigates how global land use change influences gene flow, foraging patterns, and population viability for plants and animals. Specifically, her lab is conducting research on plant and pollinator landscape ecology, population genetics and disease ecology, and the provision of ecosystem services (e.g., pollination) within human-altered landscapes in California, Texas, Panama, and Mexico.
Brett Johnson, Urban Wildlife Biologist, Texas Parks & Wildlife Department
Ecological Services of Birds: Pollinators and Interactions : Birds play an important role in land management and conservation planning. They provide significant ecological services in a wide variety of ways. In some cases, like hummingbirds and white-winged doves, the birds themselves are important pollinators. But, in addition to being pollinators, birds provide a wide variety of ecological services critical to the conservation of other pollinators. This can influence some conservation planning strategies.
Brett grew up in the DFW area. After developing an interest in conservation while in the Boy Scouts, he went on to get a BS in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences from Texas A&M, and an MS from Texas Tech. Past research interests include white-tailed deer, red imported fire ants, turkey, black bears, and currently, assisting with the Tarrant County-based "urban bobcat" studies. Brett has been an Urban Wildlife Biologist with TPWD since February of 2004.
Ecological Services of Birds: Pollinators and Interactions : Birds play an important role in land management and conservation planning. They provide significant ecological services in a wide variety of ways. In some cases, like hummingbirds and white-winged doves, the birds themselves are important pollinators. But, in addition to being pollinators, birds provide a wide variety of ecological services critical to the conservation of other pollinators. This can influence some conservation planning strategies.
Brett grew up in the DFW area. After developing an interest in conservation while in the Boy Scouts, he went on to get a BS in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences from Texas A&M, and an MS from Texas Tech. Past research interests include white-tailed deer, red imported fire ants, turkey, black bears, and currently, assisting with the Tarrant County-based "urban bobcat" studies. Brett has been an Urban Wildlife Biologist with TPWD since February of 2004.
Randy Johnson, Dallas Zoo Horticulture Manager, Randy Johnson Organics, and PowWow Steering Committee
Pollinators and Natives: An Ancient Marriage : Plants and pollinators form a perfect union, co-evolving with and for each other. Together they form the foundation for almost every ecosystem on Earth, life as we know it could not exist without them. Today, native flora and fauna are facing huge challenges to their existence: habitat loss and degradation, environmental toxins and a general lack of knowledge of what they are and the important role they serve. This presentation is intended to introduce you to native plants and their role in the support of pollinators and biodiversity.
Randy Johnson is from Mesquite, TX and he is a graduate of Texas A&M where he earned a degree in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences. Randy is the past Director of Horticulture at Texas Discovery Gardens in Dallas; he is the current Horticulture Manager at The Dallas Zoo. In addition, he offers organic horticulture and environmental consultations through his personal business, Randy Johnson Organics. Randy grows and sells native plants from seed he collects from local prairie remnants and forests. He is the current president of the Dallas chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas, and he serves on the Board of Directors at Lake Highlands Community Garden.
Pollinators and Natives: An Ancient Marriage : Plants and pollinators form a perfect union, co-evolving with and for each other. Together they form the foundation for almost every ecosystem on Earth, life as we know it could not exist without them. Today, native flora and fauna are facing huge challenges to their existence: habitat loss and degradation, environmental toxins and a general lack of knowledge of what they are and the important role they serve. This presentation is intended to introduce you to native plants and their role in the support of pollinators and biodiversity.
Randy Johnson is from Mesquite, TX and he is a graduate of Texas A&M where he earned a degree in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences. Randy is the past Director of Horticulture at Texas Discovery Gardens in Dallas; he is the current Horticulture Manager at The Dallas Zoo. In addition, he offers organic horticulture and environmental consultations through his personal business, Randy Johnson Organics. Randy grows and sells native plants from seed he collects from local prairie remnants and forests. He is the current president of the Dallas chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas, and he serves on the Board of Directors at Lake Highlands Community Garden.
Ricky Linex, USDA/NRCS Wildlife Biologist and Author, PowWow Coordinator
Farm Bill Programs & Plantings for Pollinators: Discover new USDA Farm Bill programs which benefit pollinators. And... what type of flowering plants should you use for one-acre or larger pollinator plantings which will be of best benefit to conservation pollination?
Ricky Linex is a wildlife biologist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service headquartered in Weatherford, Texas. Linex works 51 counties in north central Texas covering the Rolling Plains, Cross Timbers, Blackland Prairie and Post Oak Savannah vegetational regions. He has worked 32 years with NRCS in Goldthwaite, Snyder, and Abilene with the past 11 of those years in Weatherford. He serves as an instructor with the Rolling Plains Bobwhite Brigade and the North Texas Buckskin Brigade. In 2009 he was selected as Educator of the Year by the Texas Chapter, The Wildlife Society. He is the author of the brand new Range Plants of North Central Texas: A Land Users Guide to Their Identification, Value and Management, a plant identification book for north central Texas. This book has 324 grasses, forbs and woody plants of the area and is full of photos. A valuable addition within this book is the detailed browsing, grazing and seed value of each plant for cattle, sheep, goats, deer, dove, quail and turkey.
Farm Bill Programs & Plantings for Pollinators: Discover new USDA Farm Bill programs which benefit pollinators. And... what type of flowering plants should you use for one-acre or larger pollinator plantings which will be of best benefit to conservation pollination?
Ricky Linex is a wildlife biologist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service headquartered in Weatherford, Texas. Linex works 51 counties in north central Texas covering the Rolling Plains, Cross Timbers, Blackland Prairie and Post Oak Savannah vegetational regions. He has worked 32 years with NRCS in Goldthwaite, Snyder, and Abilene with the past 11 of those years in Weatherford. He serves as an instructor with the Rolling Plains Bobwhite Brigade and the North Texas Buckskin Brigade. In 2009 he was selected as Educator of the Year by the Texas Chapter, The Wildlife Society. He is the author of the brand new Range Plants of North Central Texas: A Land Users Guide to Their Identification, Value and Management, a plant identification book for north central Texas. This book has 324 grasses, forbs and woody plants of the area and is full of photos. A valuable addition within this book is the detailed browsing, grazing and seed value of each plant for cattle, sheep, goats, deer, dove, quail and turkey.
Carrie McLaughlin, Texas Master Naturalist, PowWow Moderator and Steering Committee
Carrie has been a certified Texas Master Naturalist since 2007, and has completed nearly 4,000 hours of volunteer time for that worthy organization. She has planned and coordinated several successful, well-attended training seminars for naturalists, botanists, field researchers and others in the North Central Texas area in the past few years. Carrie has also labored intermittently at plant nurseries and grower's farms for the last decade, and has gardened since her earliest childhood when she stubbornly persisted in transplanting Alleghany Highland woodland wildflowers to the Shenandoah Valley year after year in spite of overwhelming and continual defeat. She is an Audubon Society Master Birder, a Botanical Research Institute of TX herbarium volunteer, a Texas Bluebird Society member, and a volunteer park ranger at Dinosaur Valley State Park.
Carrie is a born-bred-and-raised Virginian who has visited in Texas for an awfully long time now. She is deeply committed to being a good steward of the precious gifts of nature that God has given us, and is a passionate lover of same.
Carrie has been a certified Texas Master Naturalist since 2007, and has completed nearly 4,000 hours of volunteer time for that worthy organization. She has planned and coordinated several successful, well-attended training seminars for naturalists, botanists, field researchers and others in the North Central Texas area in the past few years. Carrie has also labored intermittently at plant nurseries and grower's farms for the last decade, and has gardened since her earliest childhood when she stubbornly persisted in transplanting Alleghany Highland woodland wildflowers to the Shenandoah Valley year after year in spite of overwhelming and continual defeat. She is an Audubon Society Master Birder, a Botanical Research Institute of TX herbarium volunteer, a Texas Bluebird Society member, and a volunteer park ranger at Dinosaur Valley State Park.
Carrie is a born-bred-and-raised Virginian who has visited in Texas for an awfully long time now. She is deeply committed to being a good steward of the precious gifts of nature that God has given us, and is a passionate lover of same.
Rebeca Quiñonez-Piñón, Ph.D, Executive Director, Forests for Monarchs -- La Cruz Habitat Protection Project, Inc.
Conservation and Forest Restoration of the Monarch Butterfly Wintering Habitat: Monarch butterflies returning to the forests of México occupied less than 1 hectare of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve (MBBR) during the winter of 2013. This was the third consecutive year of dramatic decreases in the Monarch butterfly population: a topic of great concern for all scientists and conservationists. Another hazard for the Monarch butterfly population is the extraction of timber, agricultural conversion, and domestic wood harvest by a rapidly growing population of subsistence farm families living in and around the MBBR. One way to help is by preserving the natural habitats of the Monarch butterflies. Forests for Monarchs, a program of La Cruz Habitat Protection Project, helps by reforesting the Monarchs’ wintering habitat in Central Michoacán, México. Learn more about the successful conservation and forest restoration strategy of La Cruz, which since 1997 has distributed almost 8 million native tree seedlings, and in 2014 distributed and planted one million tree seedlings!
Dr. Rebeca Quiñonez-Piñón earned her Doctorate in Geomatics Engineering from the University of Calgary Geomatics Department, in Alberta, Canada, where she majored in Environmental Engineering and minored in Forest Hydrology. Her scientific contributions are related to the topics of estimating hydrologic data error propagation, scaling actual evaporation and transpiration to large scales, and improving techniques to accurately measure actual transpiration. Boreal, Tropical and Temperate Forests have been part of her areas of study. In 2010 and 2011, Dr. Quiñonez-Piñón led a project funded by the Ecosystems Network (ECORed) of CONACYT, whose main topic was to initiate the creation of a National Environmental Monitoring System in Mexico. By 2011, CONACYT decided to support a larger effort to consolidate this project, and she is part of the evaluating Committee of such effort. Along her career, she has either led or participated in 14 research projects. Dr. Quiñonez-Piñón supervised two MSc Dissertations, up to six Bachelor’s Treatises, and served as a member of the CONACYT physics and mathematics scientific evaluation committee for two years. She has fifteen years of experience as a University Professor at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana in Mexico City, and about three years of consulting experience, primarily for Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX). She resides now in Austin, Texas and is writing several journal papers and serving as a reviewer for the International Journal of Remote Sensing. In 2013, she became the Executive Director of La Cruz Habitat Protection Project where she focuses most of her efforts on increasing the forest restoration rates in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve through the Forests for Monarchs program.
Conservation and Forest Restoration of the Monarch Butterfly Wintering Habitat: Monarch butterflies returning to the forests of México occupied less than 1 hectare of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve (MBBR) during the winter of 2013. This was the third consecutive year of dramatic decreases in the Monarch butterfly population: a topic of great concern for all scientists and conservationists. Another hazard for the Monarch butterfly population is the extraction of timber, agricultural conversion, and domestic wood harvest by a rapidly growing population of subsistence farm families living in and around the MBBR. One way to help is by preserving the natural habitats of the Monarch butterflies. Forests for Monarchs, a program of La Cruz Habitat Protection Project, helps by reforesting the Monarchs’ wintering habitat in Central Michoacán, México. Learn more about the successful conservation and forest restoration strategy of La Cruz, which since 1997 has distributed almost 8 million native tree seedlings, and in 2014 distributed and planted one million tree seedlings!
Dr. Rebeca Quiñonez-Piñón earned her Doctorate in Geomatics Engineering from the University of Calgary Geomatics Department, in Alberta, Canada, where she majored in Environmental Engineering and minored in Forest Hydrology. Her scientific contributions are related to the topics of estimating hydrologic data error propagation, scaling actual evaporation and transpiration to large scales, and improving techniques to accurately measure actual transpiration. Boreal, Tropical and Temperate Forests have been part of her areas of study. In 2010 and 2011, Dr. Quiñonez-Piñón led a project funded by the Ecosystems Network (ECORed) of CONACYT, whose main topic was to initiate the creation of a National Environmental Monitoring System in Mexico. By 2011, CONACYT decided to support a larger effort to consolidate this project, and she is part of the evaluating Committee of such effort. Along her career, she has either led or participated in 14 research projects. Dr. Quiñonez-Piñón supervised two MSc Dissertations, up to six Bachelor’s Treatises, and served as a member of the CONACYT physics and mathematics scientific evaluation committee for two years. She has fifteen years of experience as a University Professor at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana in Mexico City, and about three years of consulting experience, primarily for Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX). She resides now in Austin, Texas and is writing several journal papers and serving as a reviewer for the International Journal of Remote Sensing. In 2013, she became the Executive Director of La Cruz Habitat Protection Project where she focuses most of her efforts on increasing the forest restoration rates in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve through the Forests for Monarchs program.
Merlin Tuttle, Ph.D, Founder & CEO, Merlin Tuttle's Bat Conservation
Bat Pollinators of the Americas: Dr. Tuttle will share with us his knowledge and photos of an amazing diversity of bat pollinators, from the United States to Ecuador and Cuba.
Merlin Tuttle, a resident of Austin, Texas, has studied and photographed bats worldwide for 55 years. He is the Founder and CEO of the recently formed Merlin Tuttle's Bat Conservation. Merlin was also the Founder and leader of Bat Conservation International for 30 years. He has published five articles in National Geographic, most recently on sophisticated bat pollinators. His research has appeared in the world’s most prestigious journals, and he continues a busy schedule of lecturing and teaching workshops worldwide, last year from South Africa to Bulgaria and Brunei, and he’ll continue in Cambodia and China this April. His newest book, The Secret Lives of Bats, My Adventures with the World’s Most Misunderstood Mammals, will be published in October 2015.
Bat Pollinators of the Americas: Dr. Tuttle will share with us his knowledge and photos of an amazing diversity of bat pollinators, from the United States to Ecuador and Cuba.
Merlin Tuttle, a resident of Austin, Texas, has studied and photographed bats worldwide for 55 years. He is the Founder and CEO of the recently formed Merlin Tuttle's Bat Conservation. Merlin was also the Founder and leader of Bat Conservation International for 30 years. He has published five articles in National Geographic, most recently on sophisticated bat pollinators. His research has appeared in the world’s most prestigious journals, and he continues a busy schedule of lecturing and teaching workshops worldwide, last year from South Africa to Bulgaria and Brunei, and he’ll continue in Cambodia and China this April. His newest book, The Secret Lives of Bats, My Adventures with the World’s Most Misunderstood Mammals, will be published in October 2015.
Michael Warriner, Program Leader of Nongame and Rare Species Program, Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, and PowWow Steering Committee
Native Bees of Texas: Native bees are critical to native plant reproduction and are key players in the maintenance of Texas’s natural ecosystems. A large number of native plants pollinated by these bees produce fruit, nuts, or seeds that thousands of animal species depend upon for food, including some popular game animals. Native bees also play economically important roles in agricultural production. The value of native bees to U.S. agriculture is estimated to be approximately $3 billion annually.
Michael Warriner is an invertebrate biologist, and the Program Leader of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Nongame and Rare Species Program. Prior to coming to Texas, he worked as the invertebrate zoologist for the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission and as a research associate working on forest entomology at Mississippi State University. He is also the coordinator of TPWD's Texas Bumblebee Watch, and the author of nativebeecoop.com.
Native Bees of Texas: Native bees are critical to native plant reproduction and are key players in the maintenance of Texas’s natural ecosystems. A large number of native plants pollinated by these bees produce fruit, nuts, or seeds that thousands of animal species depend upon for food, including some popular game animals. Native bees also play economically important roles in agricultural production. The value of native bees to U.S. agriculture is estimated to be approximately $3 billion annually.
Michael Warriner is an invertebrate biologist, and the Program Leader of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Nongame and Rare Species Program. Prior to coming to Texas, he worked as the invertebrate zoologist for the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission and as a research associate working on forest entomology at Mississippi State University. He is also the coordinator of TPWD's Texas Bumblebee Watch, and the author of nativebeecoop.com.