Environmental Educator in the Field

The story below is the first in what may be an ongoing feature on N.C. Certified Environmental Educators. Below, Joy Fields, an environmental educator with the Piedmont Triad Regional Council tells how a recent conference enhanced her skills and broadened her knowledge of the environment. Environmental educators never stop learning!

Environmental Educator in the Field: Cullowhee Native Plant Conference

By Joy Fields

As an environmental educator, I am constantly looking for ways to learn novel approaches to reach new audiences and help them relate the environment to how they work and play. With so many concerns pulling at our audiences, this can be difficult.  Fortunately, the Cullowhee Native Plant Conference at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, N.C., which I recently attended, provided me with a wealth of new information to include in programs I provide on riparian buffers and native plants. 

The conference, which celebrated its 30th anniversary this year,  offers network and education opportunities  about native plants for the nursery trade, educators, landscape architects, master gardeners and others concerned about preserving America’s natural heritage.  Educational opportunities from this year’s conference included, presentations, workshops and field trips that focused on mushrooms, native pollinators, maintaining curb appeal with native plants, edible natives and much more.  


One highlight of the conference that was especially exciting to me as a gardener and an environmental educator was a presentation by Nancy Adamson with the Xerces Society, who spoke about how one in every three bites of food that we take requires pollinators.  To produce vegetables and fruits, many plants require the help of pollinators to move pollen from one flower to another.  With the non-native honey bee populations plummeting, it is very important to encourage native pollinators so commercial crops, and our backyard gardens, continue to produce vegetables and fruit.  Many native pollinators rely on native plant species for habitat or food during times when agricultural crops may not be in bloom.  By encouraging native plants in riparian buffers and hedgerows, we can ensure habitat for pollinators and foster their presence around our farms and gardens.  This knowledge makes it much easier to address the economic benefits farmers and homeowners obtain by planting native plants along streams and hedgerows. 

The Cullowhee Native Plant Conference Steering Committee values education and annually makes scholarships available to educators who may not otherwise be able to attend this informative meeting.  I was the lucky recipient of one of those scholarships this year, and for that I am deeply grateful.  As an educator for Stormwater SMART, I speak to diverse groups about the importance of using native plants in rain gardens and riparian buffers. I focus on native plants because they tend to have longer roots than European or Asian introductions, and they are able to survive without the application of fertilizers and pesticides, which protects our rivers and streams from pollution caused by excess application and runoff of chemicals or manures.  The Cullowhee Native Plant Conference gave me additional tools to add to my communications to help landscapers, gardeners and farmers understand the importance of native plants and the economic benefits received by supporting our native pollinators.