Accent on Natural Landscaping

Donna VanBuecken

  • Home
  • About Me
  • Resources
  • Organizations & Blogs
  • Archives
  • Contact

Senators Vote Unanimous – April 2021 Is National Native Plant Month

April 4, 2021

It finally happened! In a grand bipartisan move, the U.S. Senate authorized this April 2021 as National Native Plant Month.

We hope the benefits of our native plants lead to an understanding of our pollinators that depend on it. Royal catchfly (Silene regia) outstanding among the bergamot (Monarda fistulosa), purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) and black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta). Photo by Joan Rudolph.

Senate Resolution 109 was introduced and co-sponsored by Rob Portman (R-OH) and Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) to the Senate on March 15th. It was passed by unanimous vote on March 25th. Please join us in thanking our senators for supporting this resolution.

The two senators recognize the importance of native plants to environmental conservation and restoration, as well as in supporting a diversity of wildlife. Senator Hirono also co-sponsored the “Botany Bill” which seeks to improve management of botanical resources on federal public lands.

Supporters

This resolution includes Wild Ones and the Native Plant Societies of Florida, Oregon, Washington, and North Carolina, as well as our partners, the Garden Club of America and Doug Tallamy.

Here is the Wild Ones response: “Native Plants, Natural Landscapes promotes environmentally sound landscaping practices to preserve biodiversity through the preservation, restoration and establishment of native plant communities. Recognition of a Native Plant Month supports education and advocacy efforts in many organizations to restore native ecosystems and support all of our efforts to heal our planet,” said Jen Ainsworth, Executive Director of Wild Ones: Native Plants, Natural Landscapes.

What can you do to help?

Please take a minute to mention this to like-minded friends, colleagues, and professional acquaintances, letting them know that April 2021 is Native Plant Month for the United States. Let’s see if the House of Representatives will agree.

You can help by reaching out to your representatives to let them know you support the bill and to ask them to co-sponsor/sign-on to the bill. E-mail or call your representative to ask them to introduce or co-sponsor a House companion resolution to Senate Resolution 109 designating April as National Native Plant Month. The benefits of native plants to the biodiversity, beauty, resilience, and economic security of this nation are grossly under-appreciated. This resolution will help raise awareness about the need to enjoy, conserve, and restore our country’s unique native-plant communities. Find Your Representative.

If the House sponsors a resolution, there is a renewed hope! We must keep the Botany Bill legislation alive.

Read: Botany Bill S2384.

Read: Botany Bill HR1572.

We hope this new recognition of the benefits of our native plants leads to an understanding of the circle of life. Who knows? The native plants may harvest carbon dioxide more efficiently through photosynthesis.

Read the full Press Release for the Resolution.

Read the Resolution.

 

   Send article as PDF   

When Dead Doesn’t Mean Dead

March 30, 2021

Dead trees, also called “snags,” can stand for many decades and are useful in every stage of their decay. When standing, they are used by wildlife as shelter, food sources, lookouts, and hiding places. Photo by Donna VanBuecken.

by Lawanda Jungwirth

A dead tree is never entirely dead even though it may seem that way at first glance. Observe a dead tree for a while, and you will see that it is teeming with life. The healthiest, most biologically diverse forests have a good share of dead trees, broken tops, and downed logs along with living trees. They are not the tidiest looking forests, but they are the most ecologically healthy.

Dead trees in forests and home landscapes provide habitat for more than 1,200 wildlife species in the United States. According to the U.S. Forest Service, this includes about 85 species of birds, at least 50 mammals, and about a dozen reptiles and amphibians that rely on dead trees for survival. Then there are the dozens of invertebrates such as millipedes,  beetles, spiders, worms, ants and more who call dead trees home or a snack bar. (Plus countless microscopic species essential to the natural community.) Some estimates indicate that removal of dead trees from wooded areas can cause loss of habitat for one out of five animals in a forest’s ecosystem.

Always a delight: flickers resting in a snag. Photo by Lawanda Jungwirth.

At least 30 kinds of birds use snags as foraging perches, whether they are flycatchers scooping up flying insects – kingfishers, eagles and ospreys diving for fish – or owls and hawks searching for field mice. In addition, many bird species perch atop dead trees to sing their little hearts out. Dead trees are necessary at some point in the life cycles of up to 45 percent of all North American bird species.

The most well-known and observable use of dead trees is the cavities birds use for nests. Only 30 species of birds are able to make their own nest cavities in trees, but another 80 bird and animal species, called secondary nesters, depend on those premade cavities for their homes. Some of the secondary nesters are larger birds, squirrels, bats, raccoons, porcupines, and opossums. It is not uncommon for a series of ever-larger birds and animals to call the same cavity home.

Dead trees attract insects, and in the past, that was one of the reasons snags were removed from forests. However, those very insects draw predator insects and birds that actually help control the insect pests that can harm the overall forest.

Both standing dead trees and downed logs are home to hundreds of species of pollinating insects such as bees and wasps, the primary pollinators of a forest’s flowers and berry-producing shrubs.

How Many Dead Trees Are Enough?

For wooded acreage, three snags per acre is the minimum recommended to be left standing. A single dead tree in a small yard is also vital, sometimes even more so than on acreage. There is no upper limit for number of dead trees, just as there is no lower limit for size. Even a tree with a 6-inch diameter at breast height can host smaller birds. In general, though, the larger the snag the better, and the more snags the better.

When a Tree Should Go

When a dead tree is leaning against your house or may fall or drop branches on your house, car, or children – or your neighbor’s house, car, or children, it should go. Consider that it may be possible to remove part of the tree and let the remainder stand, or to move the dead tree or its branches to another part of your property.

After the Fall

But one day, after years of providing for birds, animals, and insects, a dead tree will finally topple. Even then it continues to perform useful ecological services, perhaps even more so than when it was standing. If it is propped up by its branches, animals such as bears, foxes, and porcupines may make a den in the protection of its branches. Generations of grouse may use it as a drumming stand.

Eventually, even those supportive branches will give way, and the trunk will lie flat on the ground where fungi and soil microbes will soften the wood, and insects and worms will arrive and thrive. Now the rotting log is performing ecological benefits such as soil fertilizer, erosion control, soil-moisture stabilization, and carbon control.

Blue-spotted salamander (Ambystoma laterale) are often abundant in lowland hardwood forests. Photo by WDNR.

At this point, salamanders arrive and search the downed log for food. Salamanders don’t get much press, but did you know that Wisconsin has seven species of salamanders? And that in eastern forests salamanders make up more biomass than deer? Salamanders eat insects such as beetle larvae, ground beetles, spiders, sow bugs, and round worms that would like to consume all the leaf litter on the forest floor. When salamanders prey on these species, a deeper layer of leaf litter remains in the forest, holding moisture that is important for other forest plants and helping reduce erosion. Below that leaf litter is another layer of life dependent upon dead wood. A complex food web made up of bacteria, fungi, protozoa, springtails, mites, and more tiny organisms work to improve the soil for forest regeneration.

Back to salamanders for a minute. Do you know what eats them? Wild turkeys for one, so you can see how allowing downed logs to remain in the forest can directly affect the results of the spring turkey hunt. Other animals that prey on salamanders include snakes, birds, shrews, frogs, fish, skunks, raccoons, and other small mammals.

Eastern candlewax lichen (Ahtiana aurescens) growing on the limb of a fallen pine tree. Photo by Donna VanBuecken.

Deer also benefit from dead trees. They eat the lichens that often grow on the bark of dead or dying trees. They will also eat mushrooms that grow in the damp rotting wood and leaves, as do insects, turtles, birds, mice, and squirrels. Mushrooms can make all the difference in a deer’s survival of a difficult winter. 

Over the years, as a log slowly decomposes, it releases its nutrients into the soil and becomes what is known as a nurse log. Bright green mosses and colorful mushrooms may grow on it, and tiny plants and even tree seedlings will find purchase on the rich decomposing wood.

When a tree ends up falling into a stream instead of the forest floor, it slows the movement of the water and traps sediment behind it. This provides habitat for fish and amphibians. Most trout fishermen know that streams edged with downed trees produce more fish. Scientists have not pinpointed a maximum density of logs in a stream that would be too much. Basically, the more wood, the more fish.

Note: Lawanda Jungwirth is a member of the Wild Ones Fox Valley Area Chapter and a Master Gardener. She has written a garden column in the Oshkosh Northwestern since 2000 and the “Plant Matters” column in Badger Sportsman magazine since 2010. A lifelong gardener, she has an intense interest in environmental issues. Lawanda received the 2010 Invader Crusader award from the Wisconsin Invasive Species Council.

__________________

E-mail photo by Donna VanBuecken.

   Send article as PDF   

Monarch Numbers Drop to Below 2017-2018 Levels

March 23, 2021

Monarch Status

Something unbelievable has happened to the monarch butterfly population. Due to the extreme climate conditions, the loss of milkweed habitat in the United States and Canada, and deforestation of Mexico, the monarchs’ status dropped to below the 2017-2018 levels.

Scientists estimate 2.1 hectares of North American monarchs overwintering in Mexico during 2020-2021. At least 6 hectares is necessary for a sustainable population of eastern monarchs. Photo by Wendy Caldwell of Monarch Joint Venture.

Illegal Logging

Illegal logging in the monarchs’ wintering grounds rose to almost 13.4 hectares (33 acres). Plus, wind storms, drought, beetles, and disease caused the loss of another 6.9 hectares (17 acres) in the reserve. In addition, the butterflies are looking for water since the forests are dry from the drought. They look for water at the lower level of the slopes, leaving the warmth of the pine and fir trees in the upper level.

What Can You Do to Help?

Habitat loss, particularly the host plant milkweed, pesticide and herbicide use, as well as climate change, all pose threats to the species’ migration.

Reference The Amazing Monarch Migration. Monarchs need milkweed for the spring, and during the summer and fall migration, the adults need nectar. They use asters, meadow blazingstar, coneflowers, black-eyed Susans, beebalm, and other native flowers (as well as some non-native ones). The efforts to create, maintain, enhance, and protect habitat for monarchs and pollinators can make a difference. Creating and maintaining habitat, educating others, contributing data to citizen science programs, and advocating for the protection of wild spaces are things we all can do.

__________

The e-mail photo is by Wendy Caldwell.

   Send article as PDF   

Women’s History Month

March 16, 2021

It’s Women’s History Month. Since 1987, Women’s History Month has been observed during March in the United States. This year’s theme is a celebration of women’s contributions to history, culture, and society.

History of Women’s History Month

The actual celebration of Women’s History Month grew out of a week-long celebration of women’s contributions to culture, history, and society organized by the school district of Sonoma, California, in 1978. Presentations were given at dozens of schools, hundreds of students participated in a “Real Woman” essay contest, and a parade was held in downtown Santa Rosa.

A few years later, the idea had caught on within communities, school districts, and organizations across the country. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter issued the first presidential proclamation declaring the week of March 8 as National Women’s History Week. The U.S. Congress followed suit the next year, passing a resolution establishing a national celebration. Six years later, the National Women’s History Project successfully petitioned Congress to expand the event to the entire month of March.

Women’s History Month is a dedicated month to reflect on the often-overlooked contributions of women to United States history. From Abigail Adams to Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth to Rosa Parks, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Hillary Clinton, the timeline of women’s history milestones stretches back to the founding of the United States. (History)

Wisconsin’s Women of Conservation

They is more to do. Graphic illustration by National Women’s History Alliance

Wisconsin women have significantly contributed to the continuing knowledge and practice of the conservation ethic by engaging in education, scientific, literary, historical, and charitable pursuits that recognize the principles of the conservation movement, as featured by the Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame.

According to Data USA, 78.5 percent of conservation scientists and foresters in the U.S. are male. As recently as the 1940s, there were almost no women working professionally in Wisconsin conservation. (Schlitz Audubon Nature Center)

Some of Wisconsin’s outstanding women:

Nina Leopold Bradley Inducted 2013

Ruth Clusen inducted 2002

Emily Earley inducted 2010

Frances Hamerstrom inducted 1996

Ruth Hine

Wilhelmine La Budde inducted 1990

Ingebord “Ingie” Lother inducted 2018

Charlotte Lukes inducted 2018

Karen Oberhauser

Lorrie Otto inducted 1999

Pearl Pohl inducted 1991

Katherine Rill

Aroline Schmitt inducted 2019

Christine Thomas inducted 2017

Olive Thomson

Emma Toft

Dorothy Vallier inducted 1996

Milly Zantow inducted 2017

As Kamala Harris said, at the victory speech at Wilmington, Delaware: “Dream with ambition, lead with conviction, and see yourselves in a way that others may not, simply because they’ve never seen it before, but know that we will applaud you every step of the way.” I wish for you to be everything that you have dreamed about.

__________

The e-mail photo is by Donna VanBuecken.

   Send article as PDF   
  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • …
  • 173
  • Next Page »
Signup button.

Recent Posts

  • Ephemerals
  • $1.7 Million for Monarch Butterfly and Pollinators Conservation Fund
  • Spring Is Here!
  • WCHF Announces 2021 Inductee – Gary Eldred
  • Senators Vote Unanimous – April 2021 Is National Native Plant Month

Category Archives

  • Biodiversity
    • Monarchs
    • Pollinators
  • Birds
  • Climate Change
  • Events
  • Funding
  • Garden and Landscape Design
  • Heroes
  • Homestead
    • Recipe
  • Invasive Plants
  • Native plant garden design
  • Native Plants
  • Natural Landscaping
  • Prairie
  • Public Comment Opportunity
  • Railroad
  • The Sky
  • Wellbeing
  • Wetlands
  • Wildflowers
    • Trees & Shrubs
  • Wildlife
    • Wolves
  • Wisconsin
  • Women
  • Woodlands

Copyright 2005-2018
Donna VanBuecken