Boxborough Conservation Trust’s Annual Meeting “Invasive Plants in Our Backyard and Beyond.” is free and open to the public (via Zoom), Wednesday, March 31st at 7:00pm. The meeting will begin with a brief summary of activities of the BCTrust over the past year, and a vote by members on the slate of Board members up for election.
The Keynote Speaker this year is Kristin O’Brien, Sudbury Valley Trustees (SVT) Land Steward, who will give a presentation on how to manage invasive plants. Invasive plant species crowd out native plants, destroy wildlife habitats, and threaten the ecology of the region. Each species has their preferred habitats and methods of growth and dispersal, understanding these habits is essential to effective management. In this presentation Kristin will introduce Massachusetts’s worst offenders, the impact they have on natives, and the various tools you can use to manage them.
Kristin manages over 3,000 acres of protected lands across 90 conservation restrictions and is the coordinator for both the Metrowest Conservation Alliance and the SuAsCo CISMA. Both organizations work with local partners to increase conservation efforts in the region. Kristin has a BS in biology: ecology and evolution from Hofstra University and an MS in biology: habitat management from Eastern Washington University.