7:20-7:30 PM Optional early login
7:30-7:45 PM Actual start at 7:30 PM with announcements
7:45-8:45 PM Garden for Wildlife: How to Certify Your Yard for the National Wildlife Federation
From a small suburban yard, or container garden on a balcony, to a multiacre parcel of land, people everywhere are having fun, and finding joy, right outside their window by creating a welcome haven for wildlife. This one hour program will show you how easy it can be to provide the essentials: food, water, cover, and a place to raise young in order to off-set habitat loss for birds, bees, butterflies and more.
You will also be introduced to the concept of “homegrown national parks”, a grassroots effort to regenerate biodiversity in our corner of the planet. Everyone who attends and provides an email address will be sent a FREE resource guide.
A naturalist and educator for almost 20 years, Laurel Zoet has worked for the Michigan DNR, the Huron-Clinton Metroparks, West Bloomfield Parks and Recreation, and non-profit nature centers. In 2013 she started her freelance nature education business, Nature on the GO! LLC, to travel throughout the state of Michigan teaching about Michigan wildlife and ecology at schools, libraries, scout troops, and senior living facilities. In March of 2017, Laurel and her husband Mitch opened the Wild Birds Unlimited nature shop at the Green Oak Village Place Mall in Brighton, Michigan, as a way to connect people to nature through the hobby of backyard bird feeding. Laurel teaches in-store nature education programs every month while also offering community outreach programs to local garden clubs, churches, libraries, Audubon groups, and more.
When teaching outreach programs, Laurel donates her speaker fee towards funding Wild Bird’s Unlimited “Ornitherapy” and “Birds in the Schoolyard” programs which provide bird feeding stations, and bird food, to local senior living facilities, other care facilities, and classroom teachers so they can connect their students to nature right outside their classroom window.