Events

Portland Public Library, Downtown Branch

5 Monument Square, Portland, ME 04101

In the Rines Auditorium

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This presentation will describe the fundamentals of making habitat at home with native plants. As extreme weather becomes more common, our spaces can serve as a vital habitat and climate refuge for wildlife, providing much-needed relief from heat waves, desiccating winds, and heavy downpours.

‍Tyler Refsland, Manager of Applied Ecology at the Wild Seed Project (WSP), has an extensive background in plant ecology, forest restoration, and climate change. He holds a Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolution from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he studied how land management practices affect the drought resilience and carbon storing capacity of oak-hickory woodlands. Prior to his role at WSP, Tyler was a postdoctoral researcher at Michigan State University, working in collaboration with the U.S. Forest Service and Wisconsin DNR to develop seed collection and planting strategies to promote climate resilient forests in the Great Lakes region. He lives in Portland with his partner, their two children, and dog Harriet.
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Portland’s Sustainability Series is co-hosted by the Portland Public Library and Momentum Conservation. We think about sustainability as the endurance of systems and processes through time. The Portland Sustainability Series provides a diverse range of speakers to educate and share different aspects of the movement towards greater endurance and resilience in all areas of Maine life. This series exists to explore how Maine can strive towards long-term environmental and community resilience. Additionally, the speaker series offers an inclusive and community-oriented space in which people can gather to learn about sustainability, stewardship, and place, energizing our community through shared learning. A central goal of this series is to bring together a diverse range of people working in various fields related to sustainability in order to foster meaningful conversations about the many facets of sustainability and eco-system care in Maine.

Past examples include film showings, author talks, and representatives from conservation organizations and municipalities across Maine. All events are free and open to the public. Most events are hosted at Portland Public Library, however we sometimes host them at other locations in the Portland community.

If you are interested in speaking, have topics that you would like to learn more about, or want to host a Sustainability series event in your space, email lindy@momentumconservation.org. Please join us as we engage in these important issues and conversations!

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