Join natural science educator Barbara Blackie for the next Green Thumb Education Series presentation, “Small but Beautiful: Bryophyte Ecology and Diversity,” and learn more about the important role that bryophytes — mosses, liverworts and hornworts that thrive in our moist environment adding to our area’s biodiversity and beauty — play in our ecosystem.

This Green Thumb Education Series presentation will be held in person from noon-1 p.m. Thursday, June 27,at St. Andrews Episcopal Church, 510 E. Park Ave., Port Angeles, and on Zoom. To join via Zoom, go to wsu.zoom.us/j/93629898830 (meeting ID 936 2989 8830, passcode 676224) or join by phone by calling 253-215-8782.

Blackie will explore some of the botanical distinctions among the three groups of bryophytes and will offer some tools to help you identify several common types. She’ll also delve into the important ecological roles that bryophytes play in our local forests, streams and mountains. She has lived on and explored the Olympic Peninsula for many decades. She teaches natural sciences, including botany, at Peninsula College and natural history of the Pacific Northwest at Western Washington University College of the Environment – Salish Sea Region.

Previously she was a research specialist with the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary; Program Director with Olympic Park Institute (a.k.a. NatureBridge); a backcountry ranger and biological technician Olympic National Park; and a biological technician for Glacier Bay National Park and Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge.

Blackie earned a master’s degree in Wildlife Science from Oregon State University, a master’s degree in education from Lesley University and a bachelor’s degree in zoology from Miami University.

The Green Thumb Education Series, sponsored by the Washington State University Clallam County Master Gardeners, is held on the second and fourth Thursday of each month through October. In November, December, and January, one lecture is offered. Scheduled presentations are subject to change. Visit the WSU Extension Clallam County website calendar for the latest information on upcoming presentations. For questions, call 360-565-2678.