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Matthew Shepherd
Director of Outreach & Education, The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation
We’ve all read about the declining populations of bees and other insects. The good news is that there are things we can do to make our gardens, parks, and other greenspaces better for these essential animals. Grow flowers, yes. Avoid pesticides, yes. But there is more we should be doing. Matthew Shepherd of the Xerces Society will introduce you to some simple things you can do to make your garden welcoming for insects by introducing conditions and features that will support the entire life cycle of the “little things that run the world.”
Matthew Shepherd has spent more than thirty years collaborating with people from all walks of life to create better places for wildlife. Matthew’s career began in England and took him to Kenya before his arrival in the United States a couple of decades ago. He has worked for the Xerces Society since 1999, initially at the vanguard of a national campaign to protect pollinators, but now focused on outreach, community engagement, and urban conservation. Matthew is author of numerous articles and other publications, including Attracting Native Pollinators (Storey Publishing, 2011) and Gardening for Butterflies (Timber Press, 2016).