Heather Holm is a pollinator conservationist and award-winning author of four books: Pollinators of Native Plants (2014),Bees (2017),Wasps(2021), andCommon Native Bees of the Eastern United States(2022). BothBees andWaspshave won multiple book awards including the American Horticultural Society Book Award (2018 and 2022 respectively). She is the founder and chair ofMinnesota Native Bees, an online field guide illustrating the native bees of Minnesota and beyond. Heather’s expertise includes the interactions between native pollinators and native plants, and the natural history and biology of native bees and predatory wasps. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Minneapolis Star Tribune, and many local publications. Heather is also an accomplished photographer and her pollinator photos are frequently featured in print and electronic publications.

Heather serves on the boards of the following non-profits: Friends of Cullen Nature Preserve and Bird Sanctuary, Friends of Minnetonka Parks, and the new Minnesota Oak Savanna Chapter ofThe Prairie Enthusiasts. In her spare time, she is an active community supporter, writing grants, and coordinating and participating in volunteer ecological landscape restoration projects of fire-dependent ecosystems. The latest project is a 13-acre oak savanna restoration that will provide thriving habitat for pollinators, birds, mammals, and passive, nature-based opportunities for people. ​ 

1:30PM - 3:00PM

Kevyn Juneau, Ph.D. is an associate professor of conservation and environmental science at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls where he teaches and researches ecological restoration. Kevyn has graduate degrees in entomology and forest science. His current research looks at how pollinator populations (bees, butterflies, and flower flies) communities respond to prairie strip establishment in agricultural fields. Each year, he also takes a group of UWRF undergraduate students to the Bahamas, where they help the Bahamas Forestry Division with forest restoration efforts to improve habitat for biodiversity, including the Atala butterfly. In this workshop we will discuss the biology and natural history of moths and butterflies (what’s the difference between the two groups!?), learn about the needs for pollinator conservation, and consider what you can do at home to support butterfly and moth biodiversity locally. Depending on the weather, we will go on a butterfly walk to document the butterfly diversity at the Rustic Road Gallery and Nature Center.