Science Pub: Uncommon Flora

Ash Gill takes the stage at McMenamins Kennedy School Theater on Tuesday, November 17, as part of the Science Pub series. It's a casual lecture night, the kind that works for ages 10 and up, so it's as much for families as it is for anyone who spends their weekends wandering through the woods.

Gill is an evolutionary biologist and a taxonomist with the Oregon Flora Project, and she's spending the evening on the rare flowering plants of the region. She'll walk through how their habitats have changed since European colonization—the shifts in the land that put these plants at risk in the first place—and then turn to the practical side: how citizen scientists can help protect them using the tools available through the Oregon Flora Project. If you've ever wondered what makes a plant "rare" or how a casual observer can actually contribute to conservation, that's the core of the talk.

Gill's background runs deep in botany. She got her start in the northern Appalachian Mountains, earned a BS in Botany and Plant Pathology from Oregon State University, and an MS in Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology from Ohio State University. These days she works as a botanist and wetland scientist at SWCA Environmental Consultants, and she has a particular soft spot for liverworts and mosses, documenting bryophyte biodiversity across the Pacific Northwest. That's the kind of person you want leading a conversation about the plants we usually walk right past.

The lecture runs from 7 to 9 PM at the Kennedy School Theater, 5736 NE 33rd Ave. There's a suggested donation of $8, and advance tickets are recommended since they're also available at the door on a first-come, first-served basis. If you can't make it in person, a Zoom option is available with advance registration, and food and drink are sold in the theater for those who want to eat while they listen.