Morrison to speak at awards program

Darrel Morrison, the country’s leading authority on restoring native plants, will speak Thursday, Oct. 10, at the Friends of the Arboretum Leopold Restoration Awards dinner.

Morrison’s talk, “If the Prairie Could Speak” will be part of the event at the Arboretum to make two awards to those who have restored natural communities.

Photos of existing natural prairies as well as restorations will accompany Morrison’s talk about the formerly huge American prairie ecosystem, now just a few isolated remnant patches.

Morrison is professor and dean emeritus of the School of Environmental Design at the University of Georgia. His interest in prairie restoration dates to his days in the UW–Madison Department of Landscape Architecture (1969-83). He recently designed the UW Arboretum’s new native plant garden.

Also speaking at the awards event, named after UW pioneering conservationist Aldo Leopold, will be Leopold’s daughter, Nina Leopold Bradley. A biologist and botanist, she will talk about her father and his legacy of restoring land, which he began in the early days of the Arboretum.

Friends of the Arboretum board member Lyman Wible will present two awards of $2,000 each. Judges who are experts in land restoration selected the award winners based on nominations from across Wisconsin.

The John T. Curtis award will be given for career excellence. Its name honors the University of Wisconsin professor whose long work studying prairies resulted in the Arboretum’s 50-acre Curtis Prairie. The Virginia M. Kline Award will be given for excellence in community-based restoration. Its name honors the Arboretum’s first ecologist.

Corporate sponsor of the event is Xcel Energy, Wisconsin’s largest generator of renewable energy.

Dinner tickets, $60 each, from the Friends of the Arboretum, (608) 263-7760.