Earth Day is almost here. This is a great day to celebrate our planet and show our appreciation for all it provides us with by implementing more sustainable practices to our daily lives and routines. At Denver Botanic Gardens, sustainability is a top priority and is one of our core values as a public institution. </p> We welcome you to join us on Thursday, April 21, for our monthly SCFD Free Day and an Earth Day celebration event</a> where you will not only see beautiful gardens and spring-blooming bulbs, trees and plants, but also a variety of hands-on educational demonstrations:</p> sustainable gardening techniques & practices that you can take home and apply to your garden and landscape</li> learn about composting and soil amendment techniques</li> all-natural insect and pest management practices </li> beneficial pollinators found in Colorado</li> </ul> There will be fun activities such as:</p> flower-matching games</li> learning carts </li> DIY insect hotel tutorials</li> engaging tours that show how the Gardens helps keep our environment green</li> </ul> The new Gold LEED-certified Freyer –Newman Center building will also be open, and the Sturm Family Auditorium will show Earth Day-related films and documentaries</a> that are great for the whole family. </p> Come to Denver Botanic Gardens on Thursday, April 21, to be part of our Earth Day celebration event and be inspired to continue making our community more environmentally friendly and sustainable! See the full schedule of activities</a>. </p> </picture> </div> </div> </article>
Conservation of rare species involves knowing where they are found and how many individuals are in a population. If a species can only survive in certain habitats, then any changes to that habitat can drive a species to extinction. Similarly, as the population size decreases, chance events can have an increasing impact. </p> A rare cactus found only in western Colorado has recently been recommended for delisting from the Endangered Species Act because we know more about its natural history now than we did at the time of listing. We have a clearer understanding of how much genetic diversity is present within and among populations (enough to propose naming a new species). We know more about how survival, growth and reproductive rates drive population size (pretty stable). Lastly, and maybe most importantly to this decision, we have better estimates of the number of individuals in each population (many more than previously documented). Estimates of the minimum cactus abundance provide a snapshot of the current status and show that population sizes are large enough to persist through random fluctuations in germination and reproduction. </p>
Enjoy spring at the Gardens! Take advantage of this season to see new growth and notice the small things in life that bring so much joy. Colorful tulips popping up, birds singing and new plants sprouting from their frosty beds encapsulates spring. </p> </p>
Denver Botanic Gardens is all about sustainability. We implement sustainable practices like regenerative agriculture at Chatfield Farms</a>, we sustain rare books in our Helen Fowler Library</a> for the enjoyment of future generations, outfit flat-roofed buildings with solar panels to preserve the energy of the sun and navigate the challenges of water conservation (see recent blog post, The Start of Something Big</a>). Sustainability is embedded in everything we do!</p> This principle can be applied to your support of the Gardens. When you make a gift to the Gardens, you play an essential part in providing support for core programs including horticulture, education, research and conservation. Your gift today sustains the Gardens and supports the many ways we serve our communities. You love supporting the organizations you care about during your life. Now your support can continue beyond your lifespan. </p> When you include a gift to Denver Botanic Gardens in your will, you invest in your legacy. Your planned gift emphasizes the importance you place on connecting people with plants and conserving this habit for future generations.</p> Including a provision for the Gardens in your will is not difficult or cumbersome. In fact, you are almost there! Without leaving the Gardens’ website, navigate to FreeWill</a> to create your own living will. FreeWill is a no-cost will creation tool that anyone can use to create a living will. All estate plans made using FreeWill are 100% legal and specifically tailored to your jurisdiction.</p> We love to celebrate our amazing champions and friends, so if you have already included Denver Botanic Gardens in your will, or have plans to do so, please let us know! By including the Gardens in your estate plans, you are invited to join our Perennial Friends Society</a>, a legacy society made up of individuals who have made a commitment to the Gardens’ future with a bequest or other estate plan arrangement. Members of the Perennial Friends Society enjoy:</p> Annual recognition events including a hosted picnic at a summer concert and the holiday luncheon hosted by the Gardens’ board of trustees</li> Special tours and lectures specific to research and travel by Gardens’ scientific staff, annual outdoor art exhibitions and specific gardens and programming throughout all of Denver Botanic Gardens</li> Recognition in the annual report and other publications (with permission) </li> </ul> Curious about planting your legacy? Please contact the Development Department at development@botanicgardens.org</a> or 720-865-3517.</p> </p> This information is not intended as legal or financial planning advice. An attorney specializing in estate and charitable gift planning is essential to advise you about the best charitable estate planning strategies. It is also important to include your accountant in your discussions.</p>
The digital age gave us a new dimension that infiltrates nearly all aspects of our existence. But, as we navigate this decade, the bearing that nature holds on our everyday lives has reestablished itself as inescapably relevant. Atmospheric carbon pollution is altering every landscape, bringing fires, floods and mass displacement. A virus leap-frogged animal hosts into our global population, upending society faster than any of us could have previously considered possible. </p> This narrative of doom tends to drown out the good when discussing our relationship with nature. Biodiversity is a source of healing and solace to so many. I hung a feeder outside my window to attract the company of chickadees and sparrows. Friends have adopted more house plants than they have room for. A forest hike near a creek or digging a garden has never felt so revitalizing. No matter how much we thought the digital realm had come to dominate our routines, community and economy, nature prevails as the ultimate force. Nevertheless, over the last half century ecologists and biologists have been uniting these domains, creating digital tools to garner understanding of life on Earth, delivering us to this moment when the fundamental unit of discovery, data, has become undeniably relevant to each of us. </p>
