Stinky Flowers and the Pollinators That Love Them

Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens honors the impact of National Pollinator Month each June by highlighting the essential role pollinators play in supporting biodiversity, healthy ecosystems, and nearly one out of every three bites of food we eat.
Join us for a lecture and Q&A with renowned biodiversity explorer and Naturalist, Damon Tighe. When most people think of pollinators, they think of bees. California has over 1,500 species of native bees, and the honey bee is not one of them. However, in this talk, we are going to look at another group of winged arthropods that deserves a fresh PR campaign: flies. We will dive into these important pollinators and look at the native plants they pollinate.

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR
Damon Tighe grew up in Calaveras County, California and made his way to the Bay Area to attend Saint Mary's College in Moraga to student Biology and Chemistry. After stints as a teacher in Portland, Oregon, a filmmaker in Bozeman, Montana, he returned to the Bay Area to work on the Human Genome Project at the Joint Genome Institute and now works for Bio-Rad Laboratories helping teachers bring biotechnology and modern biology education into classrooms. He has fallen head over heals for fungi ever since running out of food on the John Muir Trail and wondering of the mushrooms "can I eat that?" He currently volunteers with the Fungal Diversity Survey helping to build a DNA sequence and voucher-based herbarium to understand California's diversity of mushrooms.

EXTRA EXPLORATION
Take a deeper dive into the fascinating world of pollinators by pairing the talk and field walk for a full day of discovery. After exploring the often-overlooked importance of flies and other native pollinators during the talk, join Damon Tighe in the gardens for a hands-on opportunity to spot, photograph, and better understand the pollinators and plants that keep our ecosystems thriving.
Pollinator Walk – www.gardenbythesea.org/learn/pollinator-walk

REGISTRATION
Capacity is limited! Registration for this talk must be completed in advance online (www.gardenbythesea.org/learn/pollinators-talk)or at the MCBG Store. The registration fee is $36.00 per participant and covers your admission for the day. The discounted rate for current MCBG Members is $26.00 – sign in to access your discount.