Note: This talk may be presented in person or on Zoom (TBD). Check the Chapter weekly email news for updates. Please visit www.cnps-scv.org/stay-in-touch for how to subscribe.

Native plants, animals and people deserve to live their lives in dignity and health on the land where they belong, with familiar care and in transgenerational community. Focusing on straight-species, locally-native plants and material support for indigenous people, we will explore how each/all of us can take accountability for the history of native plants, animals and people in so-called California, and build on our current conditions to create more opportunities for habitat and community in the future.

Throughout the talk, photos and lessons will be drawn from recently-installed native gardens and projects. We will end with a walkthrough of how to design, install and maintain your own beginner-friendly, locally-native, straight-species habitat garden.

Educational handouts, resources and a list of helpful local organizations will be provided and a brief Q&A will follow.

Christopher Telomen (they/any) is a white, queer, trans/NB, chronically ill, and ADHD California native habitat care worker. They design, install and maintain native gardens around the so-called San Francisco Bay Area on stolen indigenous land. Their work is necessarily intersectional, incorporating frameworks of pollinator relationships, sustainable material sourcing, invasive plant management, white supremacy, disability, settler-colonialism, land back, climate change, immigration and poverty. They center indigenous people, plants, and animals in their work and they provide sliding scale services for people who need them.