Sedona AZ — Keep Sedona Beautiful will hold its next Preserving the Wonder™ Speaker Series event on Wednesday, March 18 at 5:00 p.m. at KSB’s EcoHub, 360 Brewer Road, Sedona. This month’s speaker is Wendy Hodgson, Herbarium Curator Emerita and Senior Research Botanist at the Desert Botanical Garden. The event is free and open to the public. Doors open at 4:30 p.m. Please visit the KSB website, www.keepsedonabeautiful.org for details.
Wendy will discuss agaves significance to indigenous peoples. Researchers have revealed that pre-Columbian farmers grew no less than six and possibly eight or more domesticated agaves in Arizona dating to at least A.D. 600. These relict agaves have persisted in the landscape to the present, unchanged since they were last cultivated within a prehistoric cultural context, thus providing a rare opportunity to study pre-Columbian nutrition, trade, migration and agricultural practices. Understanding these plants and their ecological/cultural roles requires interdisciplinary collaboration that must involve Indigenous Peoples.
Wendy is Herbarium Curator Emerita and Senior Research Botanist at the Desert Botanical Garden where she has worked for 52 years. Her studies include the flora of southwest U.S. and northern Mexico, especially the Grand Canyon, agaves, including pre-contact agave domesticates, yuccas, and Hesperoyuccas. She believes in diverse participation and collaboration, including community scientists and especially Indigenous Peoples whose voices we have neglected to hear far too long.
The Preserving the Wonder™ Speaker series is held on the third Wednesday of each month. For over 50 years, Keep Sedona Beautiful has been dedicated to protecting and enhancing the scenic beauty and natural environment of Sedona and the Verde Valley. For more information about Keep Sedona Beautiful, please visit www.keepsedonabeautiful.org.