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������appnative plants, insects featured in webinar series

A series of webinars highlighting Alaska’s diverse native plants and their uses is scheduled for May, which is ������appNative Plant Month.

The series, available statewide, is a collaboration between the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service and the ������appNative Plant Society.

The webinars are on Wednesdays, from noon to 1 p.m.

On May 7, Sarah Jansen of St. Isadore Farm will talk about the trials and triumphs of growing wildflowers on a multigenerational family farm. Jansen, a fifth-generation farmer, will teach what her family has learned about gathering, cleaning and planting wildflower seeds. She now grows wildflowers with her children on the land her family has farmed for 40 years. 

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On May 14, Sabrina Farmer, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, will talk about ������apppollinators and offer tips for improving your gardening habits to support these insects. Many pollinators, which are essential to gardens, food security and ecosystems, are declining across the world. 

Farmer focuses on pollinator conservation, outreach and education, and environmental policy. She is leading work on the endangered Aleutian shield fern and a species status assessment for Suckley's cuckoo bumble bee. 

• or visit .

On May 21, Vivian Yéilk’ Mork, a Tlingit traditional foods and medicine educator, will share how ������appNative cultures use seasonal knowledge, ecological observation and cultural protocols to harvest Native plants for food and medicine.

Mork has a master's degree in cross-cultural studies with an emphasis on Indigenous knowledge systems. She has been teaching traditional foods and medicine for almost 25 years. 

• or visit .

Join Jeff Lowenfels for a webinar on May 28. He will emphasize the importance of microbial life for healthy plants and ecosystems, describe how the soil food web operates and offer practical gardening tips.

Lowenfels is a well-known gardening and sustainability writer. He writes the longest-running garden column in North America and is the author of the “Teaming with…”  book series. He also founded the national program “Plant A Row for the Hungry.”  

• or visit .

The that promotes the study and conservation of ������appNative plants.  

For more information, contact Molly Johansson at mjohansson@alaska.edu or 907-786-6313. 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Accommodation requests related to a disability should be made five business days in advance to Johansson. Language access services, such as interpretation or translation of vital information, will be provided free of charge to individuals with limited English proficiency upon request to amnorris2@alaska.edu. 

This work is supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

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