Tama Wong, Andrew Conboy, and Mark Gallagher
A participatory workshop on practical approaches for controlling invasive plants, planting for resilience, and adapting to change
Join panelists Tama Wong, Andrew Conboy, and Mark Gallagher in a participatory discussion of common sense, practical, and real-life approaches to controlling invasive plants, and designing, establishing, maintaining and restoring vibrant, resilient landscapes. Each panelist brings a different but overlapping expertise to the topic (forest, meadows and edge habitats, watersheds), and a shared passion for the health and resilience of the flora and fauna of our Mid-Atlantic region.
You will be invited to share knowledge, build community, and learn from real-world case studies—highlighting both successes and setbacks. You will leave with fresh ideas, practical strategies, and a deeper understanding of how to control disruptive plants while restoring balance to landscapes ranging from highway medians to backyard gardens.
Topics will include the difference between ‘maintenance’ and ‘stewardship’; finding value on roadsides and in vacant lots; use / misuse of herbicides; the ‘addition by subtraction’ approach to invasive plant management; mulching and mowing; native plant selection; and so much more.
Participants will include regional vegetation managers, landscape and municipal professionals, home gardeners, small scale farmers, native species reclamation enthusiasts, and more.
This interactive forum thrives on collaboration, so come ready to share your own challenges and insights! This program has been submitted for 3 LA CES CEUs.
Tama Matsuoka Wong worked as a corporate lawyer in Hong Kong, Tokyo and New York after graduating from Harvard Law School. Upon returning a decade ago to her native New Jersey with her family, she rediscovered her passion for the natural world and the wild plants that grew in her backyard. In 2007 she was awarded the New Jersey Forest Service Steward of the Year award. She has since worked with botanists and conservation groups to map wild plants and their ecological behavior throughout New Jersey, the mid-Atlantic and beyond. She is the author of the backyard field guide and cookbook Foraged Flavor (2012) and Into the Weeds (2024). She is the owner of Meadows + More, connecting great food with nature (meadowsandmore.com).
Andrew Conboy is an urban forester and ISA-certified arborist. Through his work at Morris Arboretum, on social media platforms, and through his ecological restoration non-profit (Community Canopy Project), he hopes to inspire a wider integration of native trees, plants, and greenery into the spaces where we live, work, and play. His user-friendly content on social media platforms (@Andrew_The_Arborist) aims to educate and encourage people to connect with the natural world around them.
Mark Gallagher is the Vice President of Princeton Hydro, a water resources-oriented consulting firm. He has over 39 years of experience in environmental consulting, much of which has been devoted to habitat restoration.
Gallagher has managed numerous wetland and habitat restoration projects. These projects covered a variety of project types including the enhancement of floodplains, hydrologic enhancement of wetlands, estuarine wetland creation and enhancement, urban wetland restoration, and vernal habitat creation and enhancement. He has also participated in the development of restoration designs for floodplain and riparian areas in association with dam removal projects. His natural design experiences have been applied toward the integration of natural design elements into stormwater management facilities as well as resilience relative to climate change. He recently served on the board of trustees at Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve and is currently on the board of Friends for the Abbott Marshlands and is involved with the Outdoor Equity Alliance as an advisory board member.
Friday, February 20th
2:00pm-4:00pm
Members: $35 | Non-members: $40
