Julie Riley, a horticulture agent for the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service, will be the keynote speaker for the fifth annual invasive weeds workshop scheduled for May 17 at the Kachemak Bay Campus in Homer.

Riley has worked in Anchorage with home gardeners and Alaska's horticulture industry for more than 20 years. Her presentation, which is scheduled for 6 p.m., wraps up the day-long workshop. It is titled "Alien Invaders from the Garden: What's invasive and Why."

Riley has degrees in horticulture and landscape architecture from the University of Wisconsin where, in graduate school, she studied restoration and management of native plant communities.

The workshop begins at 10:30 a.m. and focuses on "noxious weeds invading the Kenai Peninsula."

Among the topics to be covered are what Friends of Alaska Refuges are doing to battle invasive plants, amendments to the Alaska noxious weed list and pest management strategies.

The event is free and open to the public.

For more information, visit the Homer Soil and Water Conservation District Web site at www.homerswcd.org or call Caleb Slemmons at 235-8177, ext. 5.