Dr. Robert K. Pelant is the founding director of the nonprofit Pacific Rim Institute (PRI) on Whidbey Island. A veterinarian by training, Pelant worked and lived in Asia, Latin America and Africa for 30 years working on environmentally sound food production at the grassroots and national levels. PRI is composed of 175 acres of glacial out-wash prairie, oak and fir savanna and fir-hemlock-yew forest. They currently propagate over 30 species of native plants and have just tripled the size of their nursery. PRI provides formal and informal workshops and courses including college-level courses through a consortium of over 60 colleges in the US and Canada. PRI also maintains an herbarium that is open to the public by appointment, and is preparing to join the global Index Herbariorum. Over two miles of trails are open to the public, and tours are available by appointment.

Dr. Pelant will discuss why and how the Pacific Rim Institute - PRI - is restoring habitat on their Whidbey Island site, as well as throughout the Puget Sound. PRI works with federal, state and private organizations, and communities to manage a regional native plant seed bank network and give native plants, animals and pollinators a fighting chance in the 21st century. Not attempting to restore land to some idyllic state reminiscent of the distant past, PRI focuses on a bio-diverse and resilient habitat to increase the odds of our natural world not only surviving but also thriving in the future. Why do we have degraded lands? What is restoration and why do we do it? What are the end goals? Please join us and Dr. Robert K. Pelant the CEO of PRI for an evening to explore these concepts and questions.

Doors open at 6:00 PM for the Native Plant Identification Workshop; Program
begins at 7:00 PM.

Refreshments, Public Invited, Admission is free.

Donations are appreciated!