At the monthly meeting of the Gila Native Plant Society on May 19, 2017, Dr. Joneen (Jony) Cockman, BLM Biologist, will give a presentation entitled "STEM, Citizen Science and the Safford BLM Rare Plant Program: How a Two Year Community College Provides Critical Information and Support to the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service."

Dr. Jony Cockman has been working with New Mexico and Arizona flora since 1984. She is currently immersed in riparian habit ecological assessment and restoration work in Eastern Arizona with the Bureau of Land Management and is assisted by interns from Eastern Arizona College. She will discuss the grass roots relationship between EAC and BLM and the role of citizen science, the plant communities and stressors on the resources, and the joy of hiking and kayaking into wilderness areas with 20-year-olds.

The meeting will be held at 7:00 pm in the ABC Room of the Besse-Forward Global Resource Center on the WNMU campus at the corner of 12th and Kentucky Streets. Free and open to the public. Refreshments following the program. For further information contact gilanative@gmail.com.

The Gila Native Plant Society is committed to promoting education, research and appreciation of the native flora of the Southwest, encouraging the preservation of rare and endangered plant species and supporting the use of suitable native plants in landscaping. For information on programs, publications and membership, please visit www.gilanps.org.