If you were on the fence about joining the chapter meeting on Thursday, November 13, this update will pique your interest! Our featured topic is Intro to Pocket Prairies with John Hart Asher. Free and open to the public. The meeting begins at 7:00 PM. The guest presentation begins after a short business meeting.
About our topic: It’s time to up the biodiversity in your life and grasslands are a great way to do so!
About our speaker: John Hart Asher has over 15 years of experience designing and building functional ecosystems within urban conditions. He has conducted basic research in ecological engineering, ecological restoration, and land management, offered workshops to professionals and the general public, and provided fee-supported ecological consulting expertise to clients across Texas. As part of the consulting team at Blackland Collaborative, John Hart works with integrated design teams composed of engineers, architects, landscape architects, and developers to integrate sustainable design, practices, and philosophies into projects. He specializes in translating sustainable design into successful projects that provide varying layers of ecosystem services. His main interest is the application of ecological design, resulting in functional sustainable landscapes within urban ecologies. A few of his current projects include: Tall grass prairie restoration in an urban riparian corridor, native prairie green roof design, residential pocket prairies, sustainable roadsides, and green infrastructure.
John Hart worked on the green roof design and implementation for Bercy Chen Studio’s Edgeland House, which was featured in Dwell and Texas Architect magazines and has won several awards, including Architizer’s A+ Jury and Popular Choice Awards, the 2016 Design Award of Excellence from Green Roofs for Healthy Cities and the Texas Society of Architects 2016 Design Award. Edgeland House was also featured in Phaidon’s “Elemental Living: Contemporary Houses in Nature,” and most recently was documented in AppleTV’s HOME series that explores exemplary and innovative designs. He holds a bachelor’s in history from the University of Mississippi and a master’s in landscape architecture from The University of Texas at Austin, which awarded him a President’s Outstanding Staff Award in April 2018. He’s a dedicated environmental professional who specializes in bridging design concepts and ecological function and demonstrates strong project management skills with the proven ability to design, assess, and investigate landscape restoration installations, performance, and measures. He has carried out research and development of green roof technology with the aim of improving performance and application within semi-arid, sub-tropical climates, and has helped design and build numerous native prairie green roofs all over the state of Texas. In 2019 he also stepped in to serve as host of the nationally syndicated PBS show, Central Texas Gardener. You can bet he’s got a pocket prairie in his yard!
[Updated Nov 12] The presentation will be recorded for YouTube.
==> This month’s in-person location is the Georgetown Public Library, 2nd floor, 402 West 8th St, Georgetown, TX 78626. Come early (6:30 PM) for expert advice, to check out the seed swap board, or just to visit.
==> To attend via Zoom, register at https://npsot-org.zoom.us/meeting/register/VvNFIPIbTiWZqyl1gB1zqA#/registration
At every meeting, we give away a book — about native plants or the meeting topic — to one randomly chosen in-person attendee!
* If we have permission from our guest speaker, we record the presentation for our YouTube channel. (See a list of past topics at this link.)
Have an idea for a speaker? Let Program Leader Susie Hickman know via email to wilco-chapter@npsot.org.
NPSOT-Williamson County meetings are free and open to the public. We hope you attend! Meetings may be in person, virtual, or both, so be sure to check details in the meeting announcement. Meetings are announced on our website, our calendar and Facebook. See upcoming topics on our Home page or on the Calendar.