Donna VanBuecken
At last I’m seeing some blooming plants in our yard. Thank goodness for Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis), and bless its determination to grow in competition with the invasive Goutweed (Aegopodium podagraria). At least there is some forage material available to some of our insects.
See also Another Sign of Spring 2018.
See also Invasive Goutweed (Aegopodium podagraria).
March is Women’s History Month. Women have been celebrated nationally since 1981 when Congress passed a law creating “Women’s History Week.” That week was celebrated in March annually until 1987 when Congress began passing “Women’s History Month.” And then finally in 1995, Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama issued annual proclamations designating March as “Women’s History Month.”
So I thought it would be fitting to mention this year the Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame will be inducting on May 13, 2019, a woman infamous for her stand on sustainable forestry. Her name was Aroline Schmitt. [Read more…]
As we all know, winter is the only time to prune some of our most beloved trees, namely, the oaks and elms.
But winter is also the best time to remove unwanted trees and brush — native or non-native — to “tidy up” our woodlands. This is the time when plants are dormant so there is less disturbance to the soil.
I think we all know why we need to remove invasive non-native trees and shrubs, but why should we remove non-invasive trees and brush? Reference my recent post on Daylighting. It’s important to get light through the canopy down to the ground where the flowers and other groundcover live. The only way to do that is to remove unwanted trees and brush and their seedlings.
You’ll be amazed by how quickly wildflowers will return once dense shade is removed. Or how struggling saplings will thrive from the increase in sunlight. As we’ve learned from the “circle of life,” sunlight powers the plants, plants feed the pollinators, pollinators feed the bird babies, and on and on.
Before setting about haphazardly pulling or cutting and painting (with herbicide) unwanted trees and brush, consider the ecology of the woodland. Then begin thinning to enhance the remaining vegetation and create the biodiversified community you hope to achieve.
See also Can Your Woods be Too Tidy? It’s a great little article on woodscaping.
Even though we all may not have read the latest United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report on climate change, we have all heard the dismal findings. Humans must act now to decrease global warming or we’ll continue to suffer through more extreme weather events — hurricanes, floods, droughts, wildfires, below freezing temperatures and above normal heat waves.
Advocates for change tend to focus on reducing fossil fuel consumption through the use of natural energy resources such as solar and wind. But doing so is a slow process and one not so easily achieved through change. Technology advances and policy changes will need to be implemented in order to affect a change, but every day on the news, we see how even the discussions result in more fighting and partisanship than mutual advancement.
There are other natural resources, however, which may be used to affect change in a less partisan manner. They are the natural resources of native plants and natural landscapes. Thanks to their carbon sequestering and storage capabilities, forests and prairies/grasslands should be absolutely essential in mitigating climate change. And thanks to their sponge-like processes, wetlands should be absolutely essential for mitigating flooding. Natural climate solutions can help us achieve 37 percent of our climate target.
According to the EPA, the Average US resident emits about 20 tons of CO2 a year. Research tells us carbon absorption by American forests is more than 227.6 million tons per year, and the grasslands of the American West absorb about 190 million tons of carbon dioxide a year.
Forests store CO2 mostly in woody biomass and leaves, and grasslands sequester CO2 underground mostly in their roots and in the soil. This means when wildfires cause trees to go up in flames, the burned carbon they formerly stored is released back to the atmosphere. When fire burns grasslands, thankfully, the carbon stored underground tends to stay in the roots and soil. With our climate becoming increasingly unstable, this means grasslands will tend to be more adaptive to global warming.
Wetlands need to be included also in this discussion because of their ability to protect against flooding. Acting like a large sponge, they store snow melt and rainwater and slowly release it over time, removing the energy and pollution from the initial downfall. As we add more and more impervious surfaces and fill in more and more marshes, there is no where for the water to go so flooding occurs. By allowing our wetlands to flourish, we should reduce the impacts of drought and the impact of large surges of water.
As I end this post, I am so very grateful I am able to do my small part to affect climate change in a positive way. I know it’s not enough, but if we all do our part “to promote environmentally sound landscaping practices to preserve biodiversity through the preservation, restoration and establishment of native plant communities” we’ll get there.
Summary for Policymakers of IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius.