The UMNA Business Meeting and Program will be on Thursday, March 23, 2023 at 10:00 AM.
at the Captain Kimberly Hampton Memorial Library, 304 Biltmore Rd, Easley, SC, 29640.
If you are unable to attend in person, please see the Zoom link sent out via google group email.
The speaker will be Rick Huffman, founder of Earth Design, Inc., and founder and past president of the South
Carolina Native Plant Society.
His title is: Awakening, Biodiversity of the Southern Blue Ridge. The lecture will be a journey through time, space, and geological processes that shaped the biodiversity of the Southern Blue Ridge. The program will showcase
our early botanical explorers and connect their legacy to our rich botanical heritage, here in the
Southern Blue Ridge.
Huffman was instrumental in founding the South Carolina Native Plant Society and the
National Native Plant Conservation Alliance. He has served on the regional board of the US
Green Building council. He co-authored the 2006 Nature Resource Publication of
the Year and has been awarded as the South Carolina environmental
educator of the year, Upstate Forever’s Volunteer of the year, and has received the Governor’s
Award for Environmental Awareness .
Volunteer Opportunities: Saturday, March 18, 10-3 BellFest at Devil’s Fork SP. Contact Dan Whitten at sdwhit10@aol.com to help on the interpretive trail or Cindy Hekking at cyndieneman@ att.net help with UMNA booth. Conestee Nature Preserve monthly litter sweeps, nesting box maintenance and other needs. See article for Naturalist in the Preserve and other opportunities. Friends of Bald Rock Heritage Preserve 8:30-11:30am Monthly cleanups resume for the cooler weather. See article for details. Contact Dave Redden Pickens County Cooperative Extension Service Office needs a garden steward. Contact Dr. James Blake. OLLI at Clemson seeks volunteer instructors. South Carolina Native Plant Society seeks grant and design/construction help to relocate greenhouse