3/12/26 Meeting Notes and Follow ups

3 views
Skip to first unread message

Emma Terwilliger

unread,
Mar 13, 2026, 3:14:36 PMMar 13
to ASC Biodiversity
Hello All,

Thank you to the members who joined us for last night's meeting. Below are the notes from our discussion and some follow-up research we need to conduct. 
  • Developed a working mission statement to center the group's work
    • Current draft:  Improve and promote ecological function in an accessible and equitable way within the City of Albany.
      • Still under consideration and would appreciate more opinions.
  • Erin Johanns is working on a shorter memo for the group to share with internal city departments for education and project considerations. 
    • Erin also started working on a brochure; we need to consider what the contents will feature and what the goal of circulating it is.
      •  If people have experience with education or can research good examples of supportive general-audience literature to promote native gardening, we could use some guidance.  
  • We reviewed the current city code and discussed whether any changes should/could be considered and whether the code's phrasing is decided at the State level. 
    • We decided to look further at whether other NY communities have made changes to their codes to reduce ambiguity in wording. 
  • Lastly, we discussed the installation of a native garden in a City park.
    • We need to identify native wildflower vendors and decide on the species we want to incorporate. Then develop a project plan and budget for consideration and approval by the Sustainability Commission. 

If anyone has any questions, let us know by emailing asc-biod...@googlegroups.com or reaching out to me directly, eterwi...@albanyny.gov.

Emma Terwilliger
Energy Manager
Office of Sustainability at the City of Albany

Erin Johanns

unread,
Mar 16, 2026, 1:12:25 PMMar 16
to ASC Biodiversity, Emma Terwilliger
Hi Emma, 

Thank you so much for sending this! May I suggest one edit to the mission statement? I think it should say, "Educate and promote the ecological function of native plant species in an accessible and equitable way within the City of Albany". Does anyone else agree or disagree? 

Here are my suggestions for local native flower vendors: 

Capital Native Plants - Based out of Troy and frequently tables at Farmer's Market. Offers Free Delivery. 

Schenectady County Cornell Cooperative Extension - Sustainable Living Center 
Schenectady Central Park: 180 PTL Arthur Chaires Ln, Schenectady, NY 12309 
Contact: Angela Tompkins - am...@cornell.edu and (518) 372-1622 ext. 259 

Wild Ones - Tables at many events and farmer's Markets 
They also have a suggestion for other nurseries: https://capitalregionny.wildones.org/local-nurseries/

Home Earth Alliance - Tables at many events and the Delmar Farmer's Market 
Contact: Pam Skripak: p...@homeearthalliance.org
Cindy Ferrari: ci...@homeearthalliance.org 

I hope you find this information helpful and I'll be sure to send a separate email when I'm finished with the proposal and pamphlet drafts 

Erin Johanns 
Love Your Block Program Coordinator
From: 'Emma Terwilliger' via ASC Biodiversity <asc-biod...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Friday, March 13, 2026 3:14 PM
To: ASC Biodiversity <asc-biod...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [ASC-Biodiversity] 3/12/26 Meeting Notes and Follow ups
 
ATTENTION: This email came from an external source. Please do not open attachments or click on links from unknown senders or unexpected emails.
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ASC Biodiversity" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to asc-biodiversi...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/asc-biodiversity/5f1f303b-9065-44fc-b314-25edec73093en%40googlegroups.com.
Confidentiality Notice: This fax/e-mail transmission, with accompanying records, is intended only for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged information belonging to the sender, including individually identifiable health information subject to the privacy and security provisions of HIPAA. This information may be protected by pertinent privilege(s), e.g., attorney-client, doctor-patient, HIPAA etc., which will be enforced to the fullest extent of the law. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any examination, analysis, disclosure, copying, dissemination, distribution, sharing, or use of the information in this transmission is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message and associated documents in error, please notify the sender immediately for instructions. If this message was received by e-mail, please delete the original message

Zack Davis

unread,
Mar 16, 2026, 9:16:36 PMMar 16
to Erin Johanns, ASC Biodiversity, Emma Terwilliger
I think we should steer clear from declaring that the group is specifically focused on education. I also think the specific mention of native plants is not needed. Biodiversity is more than plants, and not everything we will be about or carried out through plants or necessarily education. Moreover, there are numerous entities already heavily involved in both of those endevors in the city or neighboring municipalities. 

From my perspective, we should act more as a nexus between those groups and the city.

Perhaps education can be part of working strategy for particular actions, but in sum "advisory council" and "working group" is more how I view our rol--not really education and outreach. Perhaps im splitting hairs.

Anyway, something along the lines of: 

"To advise on the protection and promotion of ecological function with and for, the city of Albany".



On Monday, March 16, 2026, 'Erin Johanns' via ASC Biodiversity <asc-biod...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
Hi Emma, 

Thank you so much for sending this! May I suggest one edit to the mission statement? I think it should say, "Educate and promote the ecological function of native plant species in an accessible and equitable way within the City of Albany". Does anyone else agree or disagree? 

Here are my suggestions for local native flower vendors: 

Capital Native Plants - Based out of Troy and frequently tables at Farmer's Market. Offers Free Delivery. 

Schenectady County Cornell Cooperative Extension - Sustainable Living Center 
Contact: Angela Tompkins - am...@cornell.edu and (518) 372-1622 ext. 259 

Wild Ones - Tables at many events and farmer's Markets 
They also have a suggestion for other nurseries: https://capitalregionny.wildones.org/local-nurseries/

Home Earth Alliance - Tables at many events and the Delmar Farmer's Market 
Contact: Pam Skripak: p...@homeearthalliance.org
Cindy Ferrari: ci...@homeearthalliance.org 

I hope you find this information helpful and I'll be sure to send a separate email when I'm finished with the proposal and pamphlet drafts 

Erin Johanns 
Love Your Block Program Coordinator
From: 'Emma Terwilliger' via ASC Biodiversity <asc-biodiversity@googlegroups.com>

Sent: Friday, March 13, 2026 3:14 PM
To: ASC Biodiversity <asc-biodiversity@googlegroups.com>

Subject: [ASC-Biodiversity] 3/12/26 Meeting Notes and Follow ups
ATTENTION: This email came from an external source. Please do not open attachments or click on links from unknown senders or unexpected emails.
Hello All,

Thank you to the members who joined us for last night's meeting. Below are the notes from our discussion and some follow-up research we need to conduct. 
  • Developed a working mission statement to center the group's work
    • Current draft:  Improve and promote ecological function in an accessible and equitable way within the City of Albany.
      • Still under consideration and would appreciate more opinions.
  • Erin Johanns is working on a shorter memo for the group to share with internal city departments for education and project considerations. 
    • Erin also started working on a brochure; we need to consider what the contents will feature and what the goal of circulating it is.
      •  If people have experience with education or can research good examples of supportive general-audience literature to promote native gardening, we could use some guidance.  
  • We reviewed the current city code and discussed whether any changes should/could be considered and whether the code's phrasing is decided at the State level. 
    • We decided to look further at whether other NY communities have made changes to their codes to reduce ambiguity in wording. 
  • Lastly, we discussed the installation of a native garden in a City park.
    • We need to identify native wildflower vendors and decide on the species we want to incorporate. Then develop a project plan and budget for consideration and approval by the Sustainability Commission. 

If anyone has any questions, let us know by emailing asc-biodiversity@googlegroups.com or reaching out to me directly, eterwi...@albanyny.gov.

Emma Terwilliger
Energy Manager
Office of Sustainability at the City of Albany

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ASC Biodiversity" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to asc-biodiversity+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
Confidentiality Notice: This fax/e-mail transmission, with accompanying records, is intended only for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged information belonging to the sender, including individually identifiable health information subject to the privacy and security provisions of HIPAA. This information may be protected by pertinent privilege(s), e.g., attorney-client, doctor-patient, HIPAA etc., which will be enforced to the fullest extent of the law. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any examination, analysis, disclosure, copying, dissemination, distribution, sharing, or use of the information in this transmission is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message and associated documents in error, please notify the sender immediately for instructions. If this message was received by e-mail, please delete the original message

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ASC Biodiversity" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to asc-biodiversity+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/asc-biodiversity/BLAPR09MB658084361784EF9A7636B327BE40A%40BLAPR09MB6580.namprd09.prod.outlook.com.

Erin Johanns

unread,
Mar 17, 2026, 11:38:37 AMMar 17
to Zack Davis, ASC Biodiversity, Emma Terwilliger
I can see your point about education and think that while it can be a component of the working group that is not its main goal. I also agree that taking a more wholistic approach to biodiversity rather than limiting it just to native plant species is important. Personally, I am most passionate and knowledgeable on native species where I plan on putting my energies in the group. 

However, I strongly disagree that the group should be for advisory purposes only. There is a lot of need and potential for change in Albany and I think that passing this responsibility along to other groups is perpetuating a problem of expecting other people to do the long and difficult work of changing culture, code, and ecosystems in an increasing chain of command. Obviously, most of us are very busy people and aren't able to give as much time or energy as we would like in order to avoid burn out. Delegation is important. However, if we as members don't have actionable items and goals every month then there is a strong likelihood that our conversations will be limited to theory instead of practice and not actually end up making a difference. If I am mistaken, please let me know. 

I am keeping the "in an accessible and equitable way" because I believe that addressing environmental justice and systematic oppression are intrinsically linked to environmental degradation and if we do not keep factors like racism, classism, and ablism etc. in mind when we make our decisions then we will be perpetuating these issues without addressing any of the root causes for species decline. 

Finally, I would like to specify native plants because as was mentioned during the meeting if we leave the definition purely at increasing the number of species then that opens the door to arguing that tropical and rainforest plants are increasing our biodiversity. Is that going to happen, probably not. But it does leave a logistical loophole that I'm not comfortable with. 

Here is my next version "To foster and promote the ecological function of native plants within the Capital Region in an accessible and equitable way". 

The reason why I switched it to Capital Region instead of Albany is because ecosystems don't stay within strict City boundaries. However, because we are apart of the City of Albany I understand if we need to switch it back. 

Erin Johanns 
Love Your Block Program Coordinator
From: asc-biod...@googlegroups.com <asc-biod...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Zack Davis <zack.davi...@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, March 16, 2026 9:16 PM
To: Erin Johanns <ejoh...@albanyny.gov>
Cc: ASC Biodiversity <asc-biod...@googlegroups.com>; Emma Terwilliger <eterwi...@albanyny.gov>
Subject: Re: [ASC-Biodiversity] 3/12/26 Meeting Notes and Follow ups
 
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to asc-biodiversi...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/asc-biodiversity/CAGoBw%3DRRvjOqLTU_HLQc3xpKZr0ToOrGQ_y6WnOfsxgR%2BFzFWQ%40mail.gmail.com.

Jason West

unread,
Mar 17, 2026, 12:43:42 PMMar 17
to Zack Davis, Erin Johanns, ASC Biodiversity, Emma Terwilliger
Something else to keep in mind is that this is a Working Group of the city's Sustainability Commission, so any actions that need to be taken should go through them to be made public or initiated.

Jason


Jason West
Director of Sustainability

City of Albany
Department of Engineering
628 Delaware Avenue
Albany, NY 12209



From: 'Erin Johanns' via ASC Biodiversity <asc-biod...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 17, 2026 11:38 AM
To: Zack Davis <zack.davi...@gmail.com>

Zack Davis

unread,
Mar 21, 2026, 5:18:23 PMMar 21
to Jason West, Erin Johanns, ASC Biodiversity, Emma Terwilliger
To implement, and advise on, best practices for stewarding ecological function with The City of Albany's Sustainability Commission.

Or something of the sort? 


On Tuesday, March 17, 2026, Jason West <jw...@albanyny.gov> wrote:
Something else to keep in mind is that this is a Working Group of the city's Sustainability Commission, so any actions that need to be taken should go through them to be made public or initiated.

Jason


Jason West
Director of Sustainability

City of Albany
Department of Engineering
628 Delaware Avenue
Albany, NY 12209



From: 'Erin Johanns' via ASC Biodiversity <asc-biodiversity@googlegroups.com>

Sent: Tuesday, March 17, 2026 11:38 AM
To: Zack Davis <zack.davi...@gmail.com>
Cc: ASC Biodiversity <asc-biodiversity@googlegroups.com>; Emma Terwilliger <eterwi...@albanyny.gov>

Subject: Re: [ASC-Biodiversity] 3/12/26 Meeting Notes and Follow ups
ATTENTION: This email came from an external source. Please do not open attachments or click on links from unknown senders or unexpected emails.
I can see your point about education and think that while it can be a component of the working group that is not its main goal. I also agree that taking a more wholistic approach to biodiversity rather than limiting it just to native plant species is important. Personally, I am most passionate and knowledgeable on native species where I plan on putting my energies in the group. 

However, I strongly disagree that the group should be for advisory purposes only. There is a lot of need and potential for change in Albany and I think that passing this responsibility along to other groups is perpetuating a problem of expecting other people to do the long and difficult work of changing culture, code, and ecosystems in an increasing chain of command. Obviously, most of us are very busy people and aren't able to give as much time or energy as we would like in order to avoid burn out. Delegation is important. However, if we as members don't have actionable items and goals every month then there is a strong likelihood that our conversations will be limited to theory instead of practice and not actually end up making a difference. If I am mistaken, please let me know. 

I am keeping the "in an accessible and equitable way" because I believe that addressing environmental justice and systematic oppression are intrinsically linked to environmental degradation and if we do not keep factors like racism, classism, and ablism etc. in mind when we make our decisions then we will be perpetuating these issues without addressing any of the root causes for species decline. 

Finally, I would like to specify native plants because as was mentioned during the meeting if we leave the definition purely at increasing the number of species then that opens the door to arguing that tropical and rainforest plants are increasing our biodiversity. Is that going to happen, probably not. But it does leave a logistical loophole that I'm not comfortable with. 

Here is my next version "To foster and promote the ecological function of native plants within the Capital Region in an accessible and equitable way". 

The reason why I switched it to Capital Region instead of Albany is because ecosystems don't stay within strict City boundaries. However, because we are apart of the City of Albany I understand if we need to switch it back. 

Erin Johanns 
Love Your Block Program Coordinator

Sent: Monday, March 16, 2026 9:16 PM
To: Erin Johanns <ejoh...@albanyny.gov>
Cc: ASC Biodiversity <asc-biodiversity@googlegroups.com>; Emma Terwilliger <eterwi...@albanyny.gov>
Confidentiality Notice: This fax/e-mail transmission, with accompanying records, is intended only for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged information belonging to the sender, including individually identifiable health information subject to the privacy and security provisions of HIPAA. This information may be protected by pertinent privilege(s), e.g., attorney-client, doctor-patient, HIPAA etc., which will be enforced to the fullest extent of the law. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any examination, analysis, disclosure, copying, dissemination, distribution, sharing, or use of the information in this transmission is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message and associated documents in error, please notify the sender immediately for instructions. If this message was received by e-mail, please delete the original message

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ASC Biodiversity" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to asc-biodiversity+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages