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As I sat down to write this essay, my email pinged with an iNaturalist update for an observation that I made in Alabama almost a year ago. iNaturalist is an app for identifying wild organisms through crowdsourcing, and volunteer naturalists confirm or dispute your initial id. When enough reviewers agree, your observation becomes "research grade" and can be used by scientists studying biodiversity. The email was telling me that this photo from Fairhope had reached research grade--what a gift that a man in Arkansas took the time to study my photo of roundleaf bluets and nudge it into the realm of usable scientific data.
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I spent the last few weeks of 2024 reading The End of Eden: Wild Nature in the Age of Climate Breakdown by Adam Welz. Through the stories of yellow-billed hornbills in the Kalahari, Southern pine beetles in the New Jersey Pine Barrens, and dozens of other plants and animals, Welz chronicles the devastating impacts of fire, extreme weather, pollution, intense heat, and disease on wildlife populations around the world. In his conclusion, Welz describes how carrying these stories has changed his life, how this knowledge can be immobilizing, and how he hopes his stories will foster action.
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My feelings after finishing The End of Eden reminded me of words that Eudora Welty wrote about one of her characters, "(She) never doubted that all the opposites on earth were close together, love close to hate, living to dying; but of them all, hope and despair were the closest blood—unrecognizable one from the other sometimes, making moments double on themselves, and in the doubling double again.”
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As I enter into the new year, I know that I am living those doubling moments, holding both the sadness from Welz's accounts and the hopeful joy of spending even five minutes looking through the sightings collected on iNaturalist, where over 8 million volunteers in love with the natural world have contributed more than 223 million observations.
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Just as individuals collecting data have a powerful cumulative effect for building scientific knowledge, so does individual action to improve the biodiversity of our ecosystem. Replacing lawn with native plants is not frivolous or decorative. Imagine the effects of converting half of Pennsylvania's two million acres of turf grass: dramatic decreases in water usage, fertilizer runoff into streams, and air pollution from mowing. Dramatic increases in wildlife to document on iNaturalist.
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Journeywork will be offering support to yard owners throughout the new year, starting with tips for clearing English ivy at our volunteer removal event in January (see below). Sam Makler, Nursery Manager of Collins Nursery, will tell us about unusual and underused native plants at our spring gathering in March. This year, there will be an opportunity to sign up for Pollinator Palooza in April for fall planting. We have five yards signed up to receive volunteers in the spring--you could add yours to the line up!
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Former Ambler Arboretum Director and author Jenny Rose Carey will deliver our first Summer Solstice Lecture in June. Also in June, you will have a chance to use iNaturalist for a Bioblitz at Gwynedd Friends Meeting, in collaboration with Wissahickon Trails. And in July, we will visit the Blue Bell front yard meadow that Sara Weaner Cooper and her husband created over the past two growing seasons.
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And that's just for starters.
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Many thanks to our 44 new members! We are so grateful to all of you who contributed to our year-end fundraising, which raised $4,249 for more plant grants and increased outreach. Even though annual giving is over, you can always become a member if you haven't yet!
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Here's to more planting, more observing, and more learning with you!
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2024 in review by the numbers
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English ivy pulling
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Do you have English ivy in your yard that you want to remove but don't know where to start? Even though English ivy is included on the Pennsylvania DCNR invasive species list, it is still for sale at many nurseries. English ivy can smother a tree if left undisturbed and make a tree more susceptible to blowing over in a severe storm. It can also harbor Bacterial Leaf Scorch, which threatens native trees.
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Journeywork is partnering with Community Canopy Project, another great local ecological restoration organization, to remove English ivy in Harriet Wetherill Park on Saturday, January 18 from 9:30-12. Come help us make space for spring ephemeral flowers and learn about how to clear English ivy on your own property. If you want Journeywork to help remove English ivy at your house, just let us know!
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- Saturday, March 22: spring community gathering, featuring Sam Makler from Collins Nursery*
- Tuesday, April 22: registration begins for fall Pollinator Palooza--what's this?
- Saturday, May 17: plant pick up for spring Pollinator Palooza
- Saturday, June 7: Bioblitz at Gwynedd Friends Meeting
- Friday, June 20: summer solstice lecture by Jenny Rose Carey*
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*Members will receive discounts on these events.
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Board happenings
With the beginning of Journeywork's third full season, we welcome two new members to our board and give thanks to another member as he steps off.
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Klara Hartwell is a junior at Cheltenham high school who has been an advocate for environmental policy and sustainability for as long as she can remember. Inspired by the documentary Seaspiracy by Ali Tabrizi, Klara has been a home grower and vegetarian for the past 4 years. As the president of her schools Environmental and Organic Farming clubs, Klara consistently works to provide her community with more sustainable options. She loves to hike, birdwatch, garden, and enjoy nature. As a Journeywork board member, Klara is excited to implement sustainable practices and provide her community with pollinator havens.
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Anna Kent has worked in educational environments for most of her career, and currently manages internal and external technology-related communications at a local university. Her expertise includes audience-focused communications and information management, satisfaction surveys, and managing teams in educational environments. In previous roles she managed events and giving campaigns in non-profit and educational organizations including independent schools and a natural history museum. An early volunteer with Journeywork, Anna has been hands-on, helping clear brush, plant native plugs, and is now in the process of installing her second pollinator patch at home. Anna sees Journeywork's mission as a unique and effective way for people from all walks of life to engage at a personal level in making our world a better place.
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We have appreciated John Cardina's horticultural advice and wisdom, his thoughtful input in board decisions, and his hours of service tabling, watering, and wordsmithing a grant proposal. We will miss his participation on the board but are pleased and grateful that he will continue to volunteer when he can.
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Thank you, John, and welcome, Klara and Anna!
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Join the Board for a Strategy Retreat
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The Journeywork board invites interested newsletter readers to attend our annual strategic retreat on Saturday, January 25, 1:30-4:00. We welcome your ideas and expertise about future programming and potential partnerships. RSVP here.
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You still have time to sow some winter seeds
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cozy winter reading
Here are a few books from my pile that I hope to read on the coldest, snowiest days of winter:
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*The Language of Trees by Katie Holten
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*American Plants for American Gardens by Edith Adelaide Roberts & Elsa Rehmann
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*Botany for Gardeners by Brian Capon
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If Journeywork inspires you to sheet mulch, start seeds, or plant some native plants in your yard, please send us a picture! Let's celebrate and support each other!
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