“Homegrown National Park: Conversation at Home”

WDB Lecture Series

Douglas Tallamy: Tuesday, March 9, 2027 | Noon | Payson Library, Surfboard Room

Our parks, preserves, and remaining wildlands – no matter how grand in scale – are too small and separated from one another to sustain the native trees, plants, insects, and animals on which our ecosystems depend. In his W. David Baird Distinugished Lecture entitled,“Homegrown National Park: Conversation at Home,” Doug Tallamay will address this very issue. Tallamy specifically claims that, "We can fix this problem by practicing conservation outside of wildlands, where we live, work, shop, farm, and ranch. Thus, the concept for Homegrown National Park (HNP): a national challenge to create diverse ecosystems in our yards, communities, farms, and surrounding lands by reducing lawn, planting native, and removing invasives. The goal of HNP is to create a national movement to restore 20 million acres with natives, an area representing half of what is now in lawn, as well as millions more acres in agriculture and woodlots. We are at a critical point where we are losing so many native plant and animal species that our life support systems are in jeopardy. However, if many people make small changes, we can restore healthy ecological networks and weather the changes ahead."

About the Speaker: Doug Tallamy is the T. A. Baker Professor of Agriculture in the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware, where he has authored 120 research publications and has taught insect related courses for 45 years. Chief among his research goals is to better understand the many ways insects interact with plants and how such interactions determine the diversity of animal communities. His books include Bringing Nature Home, The Living Landscape, co-authored with Rick Darke, Nature's Best Hope, a New York Times Best Seller, The Nature of Oaks, winner of the American Horticultural Society’s 2022 book award, and his latest book How Can I Help.  In 2021 he cofounded Homegrown National Park with Michelle Alfandari (HomegrownNationalPark.org). His awards include recognition from The Garden Writer’s Association, Audubon, The National Wildlife Federation, Allegheny College, Ecoforesters, The Garden Club of America, The Herb Society, Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, and The American Horticultural Association.