Managing Meadows:
Best Practices for Biodiversity and Beauty
On November 7, 2025, Perfect Earth Project and Ecological Landscape Alliance hosted a day-long symposium at Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture about best practices for maintaining meadows. It was an enriching day filled with advice on best care practices, non-chemical management of weeds, techniques like burning and grazing, how to support biodiversity, and, of course, beauty! The day concluded with tours of local meadows including Lenoir Preserve, Manitoga, Muscoot Farm, The Native Plant Center at Westchester Community College, Round Rock Preserve, Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture, and Ward Pound Ridge. Order access to the symposium video here. Photos by Christine Zhang.
THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS
Platinum: Westchester Parks Foundation, Inc.
Gold: The Garden Conservancy, Hollander Design | Landscape Architects, Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture
Silver: Everything Botanical, New York Botanical Garden, The Friends of the Trailside Nature Museum and Ward Pound Ridge Reservation
Bronze: Compostwerks LLC, Grace Fuller Design, Green Jay Landscape Design, Friends of Hilltop Hanover Farm, Friends of Lasdon Park & Arboretum, Friends of Muscoot, Manitoga, Meadow Lab, Native Plant Center, SER-Mid-Atlantic, Silva et Pratum
Supporters: Jayni Chase, Abby Clough, Design Wild, Jean-Marc Flack, John Hill, Leo S Walsh Foundation, Schatzi Mclean, Northeast Seed Network
Symposium Talks
Insects, Turtles, and Birds: How to Support Different Taxa
Bella Ciabattoni (Deputy Director of Horticulture, Brooklyn Bridge Park), Leah Cass (Curator of Natural Resources, Westchester County Parks), and Claudia Knab-Vispo and Conrad Vispo (Co-Coordinators, Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program)
Moderated by Sarah Kornbluth (Field Associate, Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History)
How can you balance meadow management techniques to support different taxonomic groups–to maximize biodiversity and minimize harm? This panel will explore this question, sharing insights from distinct meadow projects. Panelists will discuss habitat creation, successional dynamics, and management practices that support diverse habitats to meet the needs of various species.
Taming Unruly Guests: Weed Management Strategies for Meadows
Chris Charpin (Field Operations Manager, Larry Weaner Landscape Associates) and Ethan Dropkin (Associate & Horticultural Specialist, Larry Weaner Landscape Associates)
In this presentation, Chris Charpin and Ethan Dropkin will draw on over three decades of experience from Larry Weaner Landscape Associates to share meadow management techniques for the Northeast, focusing on mechanical weed control and native species promotion. Topics will include evaluating meadow conditions, weed management strategies, and increasing biodiversity based on site-specific goals.
Grazing and Burning: Utilizing Historic Meadow Management Practices
Ted Kendziora (Biologist, USFWS) and Chad Bitler (Senior Director of Research and Agroecology, Greenacres Foundation)
Moderated by Elijah Goodwin (Ecological Monitoring Director, Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture)
How can historic practices like grazing and controlled burns help us manage meadows today? This panel will explore this question, emphasizing how these disturbances can support ecological health. Participants will learn how to align management techniques with landscape goals, evaluate funding sources, determine feasibility, and consider the complexities of project decisions before beginning a meadow restoration or management initiative.
