Glenn Harris: Why Plants Grow Where They Do

Glenn, a retired BLM employee, now volunteers with the Maturango Museum, giving environmental education talks to children and adults.Have you ever wondered why certain plants grow where they do? We have all looked at landscapes with their variety of plant colors and physical features. Glenn Harris will delve into this subject in his presentation on Friday evening. Ecologists have classified the Earth into a series of similar areas called biomes. The biomes include aquatic, grassland, forest, desert, and tundra. This illustrated presentation will focus on the Desert Biome and, in particular, the desert region where we live. The presentation will include discussions of landscape, community, and individual plant-level factors affecting plant distribution. Glenn is familiar with the desert area, having worked in the region for over 45 years, 39 of them for BLM. He serves as a volunteer with the BLM and a docent with the Maturango Museum. With the museum, he takes environmental education into the classroom and public groups, giving talks on geology, earthquakes, volcanoes, and insects. He has worked with the annual Wildflower Exhibit as both a collector and taxonomist, identifying the collected specimens for many years.