10/9/25--Floral Visitors, the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Upcoming Programs
Except where noted, all meetings will begin at 7:00 p.m. at the Montrose Field House Summit Room at the corner of Rio Grande Avenue and Colorado Avenue (South 9th St.). All are welcome and there is no charge, though donations are gratefully appreciated. For additional information or to let us know that you would like to do a presentation, please contact Caroline Evans via the BCAS email.
October Program
Thursday, October 9, at 7 pm. Montrose Field House Summit Room
“Floral Visitors, the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly”
Dr. Alison Brody, Retired Professor of Botany, University of Vermont
Dr. Alison Brody, like many of us, is a transplant to Montrose. She loves the Mountain West, and has led botanical research projects on plant adaptation and evolution at the Rocky Mountain Research Station in Gothic, Colorado. Alison is a newly elected BCAS Board Member and is engaged in several activities including support for our Wrenderings Newsletter.
Dr. Brody writes, “ Plants are rooted to the spot in which they grow and thus most depend on animals for pollination. Showy flowers, sweet scents, ample and brightly colored pollen, have all evolved to attract pollinators. Each of these attractants work! Yet, they also attract animals that do plants harm such as florivores (plant eaters), seed predators, nectar-robbing bumblebees, and even birds that do not always pollinate the plants they visit.” Dr. Brody has focused on the evolutionary outcome of traits that attract both mutualist pollinators and antagonist herbivores, pre-dispersal seed predators, and pollen-thieves. She will provide examples of the push-me-pull-you nature of floral attractants from her own work and that of others. She writes, “I hope to engage you in thinking about the complex evolution of floral traits.”
November Program
Thursday, November 13, at 7 pm. Montrose Field House Summit Room
“Why are Beavers so Important to Birds (and so many other species)?”
Jackie Corday, Corday Natural Resources Consulting
Jackie Corday is a land and water conservation attorney who previously headed CPW's Water Resources Section in Denver. She moved to Montrose in late 2019 to begin her natural resources consulting company. Corday and Abby Burk (Audubon Rockies) are the Co-Chairs of the Colorado Healthy Headwaters Working Group. They collaborate with local, state, and federal agencies as well as with non-profits to support stream and watershed health.
Corday will cover beaver natural history and how their dam building creates and maintains wetland habitat in Western Colorado that is crucial to many bird species in addition to numerous aquatic and terrestrial species. Colorado and the West face unprecedented drought conditions, impacts from wildfires, and water scarcity. These changes threaten our local and regional water supplies and our wildlife. She will discuss how beaver wetlands play a critical role in improving the resiliency of our watersheds to wildfire and drought.
December Program
Thursday, December 11, at 7 pm. Montrose Field House Summit Room
Topic: TBD
Speaker: Amy Seglund