Upcoming Events

The sunflower family is the most diverse plant family in Oklahoma and also one of the most important families for pollinators. Join us with guest speaker Abby Moore and learn tips & tricks for identifying native sunflowers!

Abby Moore is curator of the Robert Bebb Herbarium — home of the largest collection of plants in the state which houses over 250,000 specimens — and she is an assistant professor in the Oklahoma Biological Survey at the University of Oklahoma. She studies plant evolution and is especially interested in the sunflower family.  Abby grew up in Utah and has lived in Oklahoma since 2016.

The sunflower family is the most diverse plant family in Oklahoma and also one of the most important families for pollinators. Join us with guest speaker Abby Moore and learn tips & tricks for identifying native sunflowers!

Abby Moore is curator of the Robert Bebb Herbarium — home of the largest collection of plants in the state which houses over 250,000 specimens — and she is an assistant professor in the Oklahoma Biological Survey at the University of Oklahoma. She studies plant evolution and is especially interested in the sunflower family.  Abby grew up in Utah and has lived in Oklahoma since 2016.

Join us in this episode of TAP’s Climate Resilience series in which Mr. Clay Pope discusses soil health and the important role it plays in helping agriculture adapt to the extreme weather that our shifting climate is exacerbating. Mr. Pope will also detail techniques for reducing your footprint through carbon sequestration and reducing harmful emissions.

Clay has received numerous honors including the Oklahoma Farmers Union Legislative Leadership award, the NRCS Oklahoma Conservationist of the Year award, the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts President’s Award, the Oklahoma Farm Bureau Legislative Meritorious Service Award and the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association Representative of the Year award. In 1999, Clay was named Agriculture Man of the Year for Oklahoma by Progressive Farmer magazine and a ‘Graduate of Distinction’ from the College of Agriculture at Oklahoma State University in 2005. In 2013 he was recognized by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences with a regional Emmy Award for his outreach and educational work in conjunction with the Ken Burns documentary The Dust Bowl.

Amy Buthod is a botanical specialist at the University of Oklahoma, working with the Oklahoma Biological Survey and the Oklahoma Natural Heritage Inventory. She conducts floristic inventories throughout the state of Oklahoma, maintains the list of rare plant species for the state, and is the collections manager for the Robert Bebb herbarium.

Kristen Schmitt works for the Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science (NIACS) and the USDA Northern Forests Climate Hub. She works with partners on climate change adaptation planning for natural resources, as well as various training and educational events. A large part of Kristen’s role with NIACS is think about how adaptation resources can help address the needs of different partners in regions across the U.S. This can include developing new tools, for exampls adaptation menus focus on California forests or Great Lakes coastal ecosystems. 

Dr. “Chip” Taylor is the Founder and Director of Monarch Watch, and an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Kansas. Having trained as an insect ecologist at the University of Connecticut, his research projects have included studies of reproductive isolating mechanisms in sulfur butterflies, reproductive and life history patterns in plants, comparative biology of European and Neotropical African honey bees and migratory behavior of monarch butterflies. In 1992, Taylor founded Monarch Watch, an outreach program focused on education, research and conservation relative to monarch butterflies. Since then, Monarch Watch has enlisted the help of volunteers to tag monarchs during the fall migration. Since 1992 over 1.3 million monarchs have been tagged by volunteers. Of these, over sixteen thousand have been recovered. This program has provided many new insights about the dynamics of the fall monarch migration.

Indigenous knowledges and perspectives are not commonly recognized in climate adaptation planning focused on natural and cultural resource management. The Tibal Adaptation Menu (TAM), which was developed by a diverse group of collaborators representing tribal, academic, intertribal and government entities in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan, provides a framework to integrate indigenous and traditional knowledge, culture, language, and history into the climate adaptation planning process. It was created to help engage tribal and traditional values in climate adaptation planning processes such as the Northern Institue of Applied Climate Science Adaptation Workbook.

The TAM may be used as a tool to help bridge communication barriers for tribal and non-tribal persons or organizations interested in indigenous approaches to adaptation and the needs and values of diverse tribal communities. This presentation will offer a look at the creation, layout, and application of the Tribal Adaptation Menu.

• College of Menominee Nation
• Tribal Climate Resilience Liaison for Midwest and Northeast Climate adaptation Science Center

• Climate Change Scientist for Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC)

• Climate Change Program Coordinator for GLIFWC

Our distinguished speaker will be Dr. Ray Moranz of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. In this episode, Dr. Moranz will present his research findings on the impacts of intermittent burning on pollinators, plants and fire-adapted ecosystems. He will also propose best management practices regarding fire and pollinators. Controlled burning–a culturally significant practice of many Native American tribes since time immemorial–is gaining research support and popularity among the public as a way to reverse woody plant encroachment and increase resilience to wildfires. Join us as we learn how these practices can be beneficial for our plant and pollinator populations!

Interested in getting your hands dirty and learning how to identify native Oklahoma prairie plants? We are planning a prairie restoration workshop for around the middle of May, so keep a lookout for our newsletter!