Events

Ken-O-Sha: Working for Reconciliation in a West Michigan Watershed ZOOM presentation by Dr. Dave Warners, Professor, Calvin University Department of Biology, Director, Plaster Creek Stewards Registration required • REGISTER This presentation will take a deep dive into the history of the Plaster Creek Watershed, from around 360 million years ago to the present. The historical account will help us better understand how Plaster Creek has become such a degraded human health hazard. We will consider how different people groups—Hopewell, Ottawa, European immigrants—have interacted with the creek and what has to happen to return the creek to a more healthy, life-supporting waterway again. SPOILER ALERT: More native plants are needed! Download the resources pdf for this presentation. Dave Warners grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan and graduated from Calvin College with a major in biology and chemistry in 1985. Dave holds a Master's degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a PhD in Botany from the University of Michigan. Between graduate degrees, Dave and his wife Teri lived and worked for the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee in Tanzania from 1990-1992. He has been teaching ecology, botany and research courses at Calvin for 22 years while doing research with students in conservation, restoration, and plant evolution. Dave is the Director of Plaster Creek Stewards, a community-based watershed restoration initiative at Calvin University, work that has included reintroducing native gardens into urban and industrial areas. Together with Garrett Crow he has also been involved with the Emma Cole Project, and effort to re-visit and botanically evaluate all the sites that Emma Cole mention in her 1901 book, Grand Rapids Flora. REGISTER