The Ecological Health Network (EHN) Steering Committee held a half-day public event on May 13, 2019 at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, Missouri to mark the official launch of the Ecological Health Network. The event was timed to coincide with an international workshop hosted by the newly formed EHN on May 14-15, 2019.
The public talk, organized around the theme “Connecting Soil Health with Human Health in the St. Louis Region”, presented a vision for how ecological restoration can address specific human health and quality-of-life issues in the greater St. Louis area, and how this example extends to cities everywhere grappling with similar challenges related to their physical and social environments.
Keynote Speaker Ned Sullivan, President of Scenic Hudson, discussed his organization’s approach to creating partnerships in the Hudson River Valley of New York that boost tourism while at the same time preserving farmland and forests and managing environmental restoration activities. Many insights from their work are applicable in St. Louis and elsewhere.
The Missouri Botanical Garden graciously hosted us for this event and has provided critical support for developing the EcoHealth Network through their Center for Conservation and Sustainable Development. We were honored to have the President of Missouri Botanical Garden, Peter Wyse Jackson, on hand to welcome participants, as well as the Mayor of St. Louis, Lyda Krewson.