PRESENTER: JIM KESSLER
Hosted by the Climate Justice Working Group and the Garden Committee

Jim will share powerful and inspiring stories, illustrated with colorful photos, of how creating native plant habitat has positively impacted the mental, physical, and spiritual health of his Quaker family. The presentation also describes how songbird, pollinator, and wildlife populations have dramatically increased in response to the introduction of native plants onto the Kessler Prairie property. Following a spiritual leading, Jim has shared over 100 presentations and workshops about the importance of reintroducing native plantings into personal and public landscapes during the last 12 years. His goal is to motivate others to plant butterfly gardens and larger native plant habitats to confront the extinction and climate crises. Loss of biodiversity can be reversed by the actions of ordinary people. Handouts that explain how to plan, plant, and maintain publicly acceptable native plant butterfly gardens and habitats will be provided for participants

Registration is required for this event at: https://secure.quakerearthcare.org/civicrm/event/info?id=92&reset=1

Biographical Information
Jim was born on an Iowa farm in 1946 near Oskaloosa to Quaker parents. In 1970 while in graduate school, he read a Sierra Club book – A Moment in the Sun. This new awareness of environmental issues was a turning point. Soon after accepting a position teaching Biology at Newton High School (NHS) in Newton, Iowa in 1972, Jim visited an incredibly beautiful virgin prairie that was plowed a year later. Soon he planted a prairie garden in his backyard and began to manage the NHS prairie. Jim has been married to Kathy Kessler for over 50 years. They have 2 sons and 7 grandchildren. In 1998, they bought 30 acres south of Grinnell and restored prairie, oak savanna, wetland, and woodland habitats. In 2017, they donated most of the property to the Bur Oak Land Trust in Iowa City. During the past 8 years, Jim has shared over 100 native planting presentations and workshops with audiences in Iowa and in other states. He taught Biology at NHS from 1972 – 2005 and Environmental Biology at Iowa Valley Community College from 2005 – 2020. Jim and Kathy are members of Grinnell Friends Church in Grinnell, Iowa.