Torrey Botanical Society Lecture and Banquet: "A Century of Change in the Structure and Composition of a Mature Urban Forest"

The New York Botanical Garden was founded in 1891 by members of the Torrey Botanical Society, who were passionate explorers and advocates of our local flora throughout the 19th century. Since 2016, the EcoFlora project has also contributed to this tradition of understanding, documenting, and conserving urban biodiversity. Today, both TBS and EcoFlora provide similar programming, including field trips, virtual lectures, and promotion of iNaturalist. In fact, many of our most active EcoFlora participants have been involved with TBS, including @xris @zihaowang @aberkov @mollyopsis @kayspurlock and @elaphrornis. One of the co-managers of EcoFlora, @glyptostrob0ides , will become the president of TBS later this month.

On March 14, the Torrey Botanical Society will hold its annual lecture and banquet. We want to invite our EcoFlora community members to join us in person or online for an informative lecture, good food, and chance to interact with other NYC flora enthusiasts!

A Century of Change in the Structure and Composition of a Mature Urban Forest

Eliot Nagele, Director of the Thain Family Forest, New York Botanical Garden

March 14, 5:30PM EST

Historically, urban natural areas have been undervalued and understudied, resulting in a scarcity of baseline data and thereby limiting our understanding of how these systems change over time. The New York Botanical Garden has been monitoring the species composition, structure and associated management of the Thain Family Forest since the late 1800s. In 2002, they established a continuous forest inventory (CFI) to guide ongoing management efforts. Utilizing this combination of baseline and continuous inventory data, this study assesses how the Thain Family Forest has changed alongside rapid urbanization and in response to forest management practices. This presentation will highlight key findings from the work assessing changes in forest structure and composition over time and will serve as a case study for the implementation of adaptive urban forest management programs.

The lecture will be held in the Mertz Library Reading Room at the New York Botanical Garden, and will be accompanied by a small exhibit containing material from the NYBG archives.

The talk is free to attend, but space is limited. It will also be streamed on Zoom for those unable to attend in person, and a recording will be available online at a later date.

Following the lecture, the banquet will be held in the Library Rotunda. Greek food, including gluten free and vegetarian options, will be available. The dinner will cost $25/person, and must be paid in advance (unless paying by check).

Register for In-Person Lecture and Banquet

Register for Virtual Lecture

Please contact us at torreybotanicalsociety@gmail.com with any questions!