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Growing Native Plants for Restoration Projects

March 8, 2023 @ 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm

Linda Rohleder (standing to left of a truck) with volunteers at a planting workday
Linda (standing to left of the truck) with volunteers at a planting workday

This talk by Dr. Linda Rohleder will describe a project that works to restore our local woodlands. Many parks and natural areas are bereft of native plants, especially in the understory, because of overpopulation of deer and encroachment of invasive species. To help restore our woods, Dr. Linda Rohleder founded the Wild Woods Restoration Project, a nonprofit that organizes volunteers to grow native plants for restoration projects in local parks and preserves. They use locally-collected seeds to preserve the genetics of local populations and the biodiversity of local natural areas. She’ll talk about some of the projects the group is working on this year and how you can get involved. In June, the Bergen-Passaic chapter will have an opportunity to visit Dr. Rohleder’s property to see restoration in action.

Dr. Linda Rohleder Bio

Dr. Rohleder studied the effects of deer on forest understories at Rutgers University while earning her Ph.D. in Ecology. She also worked as a seasonal park resource assistant in Monmouth County, NJ, and taught Wetland Plant ID for Rutgers’ Wetland Delineation certification series. In a private capacity, Dr. Rohleder created native plant wildlife habitat on her own properties both in New Jersey and New York over the course of 20 years. Dr. Rohleder recently ended a position as Director of Land Stewardship at the New York – New Jersey Trail Conference, where she created and maintained the Trail Conference’s native plant gardens, through a volunteer group, and conducted restoration projects at sites on New York and New Jersey state park lands. In 2011, she created the Trail Conference’s Invasives Strike Force volunteer program. By 2021, the program had trained over 400 volunteers who surveyed more than 1,500 miles of hiking trails for invasive plants. She organized more than 100 invasives-removal workdays and ran a seasonal conservation corps crew to remove invasive plants in parks across southern New York and northern New Jersey.

Register in advance for this webinar:

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_vgbjzR3eQCeJojsuFueUfA

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