Events Archive: 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | Upcoming Events
September 2025
WONA social hike: Nature's Ridge Trail
Nature's Ridge Trailhead
Public Welcome Chapter Social Nature Walk/Hike Free Public Parking Lots of Physical Activity
Join WONA for our monthly member/social hike.
Email [email protected] to register, or register on facebook.
Difficulty: Easy
Distance: 2.5 miles
Rain date: 9/15/2025 @ 9 AM
WONA members: free
Kids 12 and under: free
non-members: $5
Free Webinar: "EcoBeneficial Landscape Strategies for the Climate Crisis" with Kim Eierman
Hosted by Wild Ones NationalOnline/Virtual
Public Welcome Recording Available Free Event Program/Speaker Presentation
Discover how ecological landscaping with native plants can make your landscape more resilient and help address the climate crisis. This webinar will highlight practical, evidence-based approaches to designing and maintaining landscapes that build resilience to climate change and support native biodiversity. Join Wild Ones for a free webinar, “EcoBeneficial Landscape Strategies for the Climate Crisis,” featuring environmental horticulturalist and ecological landscape designer Kim Eierman.
WONA: Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge
South Huntsville Public Library, 7901 Bailey Cove Rd SE, Huntsville, AL, 35802 Map
Live Stream Available
Public Welcome Free Event Program/Speaker Presentation Wheelchair Accessible Public Restroom Free Public Parking Drinking Fountains
Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge annually hosts thousands of overwintering sandhill cranes, ducks, geese, pelicans and other waterfowl. It also hosts an increasing number of majestic and endangered Whooping cranes. The 34,500 acres of varied habitat on the refuge—wetlands, open water, mixed forests, sloughs and agricultural fields provide a home to almost 300 species of birds, plus mammals and reptiles including bobcats, otters, deer, coyotes and, yes, alligators! The refuge was established in 1938 and the ensuing decades have seen a change in the wildlife that are present on the refuge. Come hear about this natural wonder and learn about the birds and other wildlife that inhabit the refuge's 34,500 acres, and how those inhabitants have changed over the years. This presentation will be delivered by Tom Ress.
October 2025
WONA Member-only Fall garden tour: Woodring HOA Native Garden Members Only
South Huntsville
Members Only Family-Friendly Free Event Home/Private Garden Tour Group Tour
Denise planned and designed her suburban garden to be a pollinator habitat and to attract hummingbirds and birds. She lives in a newer subdivision with an HOA and moved into her new house in 2020. The flower beds were installed in the spring of 2020. The entire front yard is a native perennial flower bed with pathways through the garden. The backyard slopes down to a pond and has a 1,000 sq ft native perennial flower bed in the middle of the yard. The backyard also includes flower beds planted with native trees and shrubs and a bubbling rock water feature.
This is a WildOnes member-only event. You must be a current member (individual, business or household) to tour the property. Tours are one of the perks of a WildOnes membership. This tour will be held in both the Spring and Fall to demonstrate how native gardens change across time. Denise's address will be sent to registered member participants in advance of the tour.
Please register in advance of the event to receive the address.
WONA social hike: Lost Sink Trail
Public Welcome Chapter Social Nature Walk/Hike Free Public Parking Lots of Physical Activity
Join WONA for our monthly member hike to socialize and learn to identify plants.
Email [email protected] to register, or register on facebook.
Difficulty: Moderate
Distance: 3 miles
Rain date: 10/13/2025 @ 9 AM
WONA members: free
Kids 12 and under: free
non-members: $5
Free Webinar: "Next Steps for Nature" with Doug Tallamy
Hosted by Wild Ones NationalOnline/Virtual
Public Welcome Recording Available Free Event Program/Speaker Presentation
Even after reading books and attending talks, many still have pressing questions about ecological landscaping. In this talk, Tallamy addresses common concerns on biodiversity, invasive species, native plants, and conservation strategies, providing practical guidance and motivation to restore nature in everyday spaces.
November 2025
WONA social hike: Goldsmith-Schiffman
Goldsmith-Schiffman Wildlife Sanctuary, Terry Drake Rd, Owens Cross Roads, AL, 35763 Map
Public Welcome Chapter Social Nature Walk/Hike Free Public Parking Lots of Physical Activity
Join WONA for our monthly social hike and learn to identify plants with other nature enthusiasts.
Email [email protected] to register, or register on facebook.
Difficulty: Easy
Distance: 2.5 miles
Rain date: 11/11/2025 @ 2PM
WONA members: free
Kids 12 and under: free
non-members: $5
Free Webinar: "Living in the Liberated Landscape" with Larry Weaner
Hosted by Wild Ones NationalOnline/Virtual
Public Welcome Recording Available Free Event Program/Speaker Presentation
Details coming soon!
December 2025
WONA social hike: Piney Loop
Public Welcome Chapter Social Nature Walk/Hike Free Public Parking Lots of Physical Activity
Join WONA for our monthly member hike and learn to identify plants.
Difficulty: Easy
Distance: 2.3 miles
Members: free
Kids 12 and under: free
non-members: $5
January 2026
Sewanee Purple Phacelia (Phacelia sewaneensis) -- The Story of How We Discovered and Named a New Species of Plant that was Hiding in Plain Sight on our Campus.
South Huntsville Public Library, 7901 Bailey Cove Rd SE, Huntsville, AL, 35802 Map
Live Stream Available
Public Welcome Free Event Program/Speaker Presentation Wheelchair Accessible Public Restroom Free Public Parking Drinking Fountains
NOTE: This event will be a hybrid zoom event. Dr. Evans will join via Zoom, and you have the option to join via zoom or join the WildOnes group at the South Huntsville Public Library for a watch party. Please email [email protected] in advance for a zoom link if you are not a WildOnes member.
These days, it is a rare and highly unusual opportunity in the life of a botanist to be able to name a new species of plant. It is even more unusual when that new species happens to be one of the most charismatic spring wildflowers found on your own campus and whose flowers are also exactly the school color! In this talk, I describe the ecological and genetic research over the last four years that led my lab to the conclusion that we had two distinct species of Phacelia living in Shakerag Hollow rather than just one. My explanation for why I believe this species was missed by botanists for over 200 years, goes beyond science and involves a French spy from the 1700s. Finally, I will explain the complicated process of how one goes about naming a new species and why we chose to name this species, Phacelia sewanensis, the Sewanee Purple Phacelia!
Dr. Jon Evans is a Professor of Biology at the University of the South in Sewanee, TN. His research in plant ecology focuses on plant population dynamics and the processes that determine the composition and structure of plant communities over time and across landscapes. He is specifically interested in the role of clonal growth as a mechanism for population persistence in plant communities. He also studies land-use history and exotic species introductions as drivers of long-term change in forest communities. Much of his research is conducted within ecosystems of the southern United States, concentrated on the southern Cumberland Plateau and on the coastal barrier islands.
Since 1995, he and his students have conducted research on the dynamics of old-growth, upland forests of the Cumberland Plateau. Long-term plots established in Franklin State Forest and Fall Creek Falls have informed our understanding of the importance of old-growth upland forests to the maintenance of biological diversity on the Plateau and the critical role they now play in combating climate change by sequestering and storing large
amounts of carbon.
He also leads University efforts to promote landscape–level conservation across the Cumberland Plateau region. As founding Director of Sewanee’s Landscape Analysis Laboratory, he led a federally funded, multi-disciplinary project that used GIS and remote sensing to examine the environmental consequences of native hardwood conversion to pine plantations on the Cumberland Plateau. This research led to fundamental changes in land-use decision-making within the region and helped to catalyze major conservation initiatives.
He has been a faculty member at Sewanee since 1994 and teaches courses in ecology, botany and conservation biology. He also directs the Sewanee Herbarium, which maintains an extensive vascular plant collection for the University’s 13,000 acre campus and surrounding region.
Free National Webinar- January 2026
Hosted by Wild Ones NationalOnline/Virtual
Public Welcome Recording Available Free Event Program/Speaker Presentation
Details coming soon!
February 2026
Free National Webinar- February 2026
Hosted by Wild Ones NationalOnline/Virtual
Public Welcome Recording Available Free Event Program/Speaker Presentation
Details coming soon!
March 2026
Free National Webinar- March 2026
Hosted by Wild Ones NationalOnline/Virtual
Public Welcome Recording Available Free Event Program/Speaker Presentation
Details coming soon!
September 2026
Free National Webinar- September 2026
Hosted by Wild Ones NationalOnline/Virtual
Public Welcome Recording Available Free Event Program/Speaker Presentation
Details coming soon!
October 2026
Free National Webinar- October 2026
Hosted by Wild Ones NationalOnline/Virtual
Public Welcome Recording Available Free Event Program/Speaker Presentation
Details coming soon!
November 2026
Free National Webinar- November 2026
Hosted by Wild Ones NationalOnline/Virtual
Public Welcome Recording Available Free Event Program/Speaker Presentation
Details coming soon!