Learn the Land: An Intro to Conservation Land Stewardship & Finding Guidance from the Plants
November 9 @ 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm
Instructor
Charlotte Lorick on Zoom
Dates
Monday, November (11/9, 11/16, 11/23, 11/30) 2026 ; 6:30pm -8pm EST – Registration opens October 5th.
Course Description
Join Charlotte for an engaging, practical introduction to conservation land stewardship. Explore how to read your landscape, understand plants and ecosystems, and use biodiversity as a guide for making thoughtful management decisions.
Through real-world case studies and practical strategies, you’ll learn how to prioritize conservation goals and develop a clear stewardship approach, whether you care for less than an acre or hundreds. The course emphasizes actionable practices you can begin implementing right away while providing a framework to help you move from “Where do I start?” to a confident, informed plan.
Some of the topics covered in classes include:
- Reading the Landscape: how to get to know your land
- Plants as Clues: how individual plants help us to understand our land’s history & future
- From Overwhelm to Action: how to prioritize conservation action on your property
- Working With What You Have: key conservation practices to support biodiversity and where/when to conserve vs. plant and restore
- Native vs. Introduced vs. Invasive: a strategic approach to plant conservation
- Putting It All Together: interactive Q&A
Bring your questions! The session includes discussion and opportunities to apply the concepts to your own property, making the experience relevant to your own land, goals, and challenges.
Instructor Bio
Charlotte Lorick has been on a mission to conserve biodiversity and support resilient ecosystems through wholistic and regenerative land stewardship practices. She has been dubbed a “plant whisperer” for her contagious enthusiasm for plants and dedication to native plant conservation. Through her career in field botany, landscape ecology, ecological restoration and conservation land stewardship, she has worked for over a decade exploring human relationships with the land, developing conservation research and educational programs, and implementing regenerative land stewardship strategies.
She works full-time at Oak Spring Garden Foundation and part-time for her own education and consulting initiative called Forgotten Flora. In these roles, Charlotte celebrates and teaches about the fascinating world of plants. Her lessons support land stewards to conserve native biodiversity and resilient ecosystems whether in a small backyard, large estate, or community landscape. She has previously served on the boards of VA Master Naturalist (Shenandoah Chapter) and the VA Native Plant Society (Piedmont Chapter). Her work has been featured on the Tedx stage, Forgotten Flora newsletter, and most recently on the Natural History of Ecological Restoration Blog and Native Plants Healthy Planet Podcast.