AT: NPSOT “A Love Affair with Pollinators: Confessions of a Citizen Scientist” by Lauren Simpson, Citizen Scientist & Nature Lover.

Presentation Summary

When you want to help pollinators survive in the city, you plant a wildlife-habitat garden at home! In this presentation, Ms. Lauren Simpson will share the story of St. Julian’s Crossing, her Houston home’s own wildlife-habitat gardens, which have welcomed 44 species of butterfly, close to 30 species of bee, and over 25 species of wasp─among numerous other wildlife species. Hear how a simple desire to support wildlife sparked a true love affair with pollinators, the wildscapes sustaining them, and the citizen science supporting them. Ms. Simpson will also share some helpful tips, including creating a pollinator-friendly garden at home, collecting data as a citizen scientist, and sharing the wonder of pollinators with others.

About the Speaker

Since early 2015, Lauren Simpson has spent her spare time transforming her Houston home gardens into a pollinator-friendly habitat, currently a Certified Wildlife Habitat (National Wildlife Federation), a Monarch Waystation (Monarch Watch, Waystation No. 10925), and a Certified Butterfly Garden (North American Butterfly Association). She promotes pollinator conservation and wildscaping through state and local presentations, local events, and an educational Facebook community entitled “St. Julian’s Crossing-wildlife habitat” (https://www.facebook.com/St-Julians-Crossing-wildlife-habitat-1609337762653792/?ref=bookmarks) – the name adopted for her family’s Monarch Waystation. For most of 2016, Ms. Simpson also identified and cataloged the diurnal invertebrates that visited her family’s wildlife gardens on iNaturalist (username: “laurenjansensimpson”), and she continues to compile data on overwintering Monarchs for a Sam Houston State University study. Ms. Simpson is a member of Butterfly Enthusiasts of Southeast Texas and the Native Plant Society of Texas, and she actively volunteers in her neighborhood gardening group, the Oak Forest Community of Gardeners. She has also recently received the Level 1 certification through the NPSOT Native Landscape Certification Program.

Ms. Simpson is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Houston Law Center, where she teaches Lawyering Skills and Strategies. She earned her B.A. (cum laude) in French and International Studies at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri in 1988. She obtained her J.D. (cum laude) from the University of Houston Law Center in 1994. She is a spring 2016 recipient of the University of Houston Teaching Excellence Award (Instructor/Clinical category) and the spring 2017 Professor of the Year for Law Center faculty teaching in the part-time program.