Our guest speaker will be Larry Cornelis, an award winning naturalist, who will guide us on how to invite nature into our lives and backyards.

Larry says we need our landscapes to do more and be better for our natural environment. Learn how to attract and benefit birds, pollinators and other creatures by creating an ecologically functional and responsible landscape.

The presentation will focus on the success of Larry’s home landscape. Larry Cornelis was born and raised in Sarnia, but his passion for nature was born on the family farm situated on the banks of the Sydenham River near Wallaceburg, Ont.

Larry is a naturalist, horticulturist and self-taught ecologist. He’s been active with many naturalist clubs and conservation organizations including Carolinian Canada Coalition, Lambton Wildlife, Nature Conservancy of Canada, Ontario Nature, Ontario Nativescape (a division of Rural Lambton Stewardship Network) and the Sydenham Field Naturalists. He has been involved in many conservation projects, including 25 acres of habitat on the family farm. He has been instrumental in protecting ecologically significant properties in Southwestern Ontario, such as the recently protected Sydenham River Nature Reserve now owned by Ontario Nature.