Friends of Delaware Canal offer talk on native plants

Pennsylvania’s native plants benefit people, wildlife and the land; find out about them at a presentation hosted by The Friends of the Delaware Canal Thursday, Sept. 12.

The event will be held at 7:30 p.m. at the Old Library by Lake Afton, 46 W. Afton Ave., Yardley.

Kelly Sitch, an ecologist with the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources - Bureau of Forestry, will share an illustrated program about Pennsylvania’s native plant species.

As well as providing the basics, she will tell how they can be threatened, what the Commonwealth is doing to manage and protect them, and what the public can do to help conserve them.

Sitch will be joined by Kristi Allen, the coordinator for the Pennsylvania Plant Conservation Network (PPCN ). The PPCN is a new statewide program that coordinates conservation efforts of native plants by working with communities to promote stewardship.

Pennsylvania is home to about 3,000 plant species; two-thirds of these are considered native because they have adapted to the local environment and can exist without direct or indirect human intervention. The use of native plants in the landscape can save time, money and water, and provide vital habitat for birds and other wildlife.

There is no charge for this presentation, and registration is not required. Donations will be accepted and go toward canal improvement efforts.