Got Nature? Blog

Photo credit: Colin Hutton

An often overlooked part of the ecosystem responsible for our food and environmental health are the pollinators. This group of animals move pollen from flower to flower, fertilizing seeds, fruits and vegetables. Pollinators include honey bees, native bees, moths, beetles, birds and bats, and they are struggling. 40% of honey bee colonies have been lost in the last year, and in the past two decades, over 90% of Monarch butterflies have disappeared.

After noticing this sharp decline, large efforts are starting to take place to restore the pollinator population. The Pollinator Partnership has created a Pollinator Week every year from June 15-21 where the pollinator’s importance is highlighted through local events. The White House has announced a National Strategy to Promote Pollinator Health in hopes to return the pollinator population to a sustainable level. In Norway, a connected network of honeybee habitats dubbed the Bee Highway was created. At the large scale, many initiatives are starting to form, but it is important to know that we can also be helpful on an individual level.

Our gardens and landscapes are the homes of many pollinators, providing the food, water and shelter that they need. When planting a garden or landscape, it is important to take this into consideration and follow a few simple guidelines. For an adequate food supply, aim for at least three flower species in bloom at a time. For shelter, pollinators can benefit from a break from the wind and sun provided by plants, fences and other structures. Finally, pesticides should be limited and used in a controlled way. Pick spray instead of dust-based pesticide. Try to use it only when necessary, follow all label directions and spray only in the early morning or at dusk when pollinators are less active. Keep these guidelines in mind, and your garden or landscape will be an attractive home for pollinators!

For more information, please check out the June column of Purdue Yard & Garden News.

Resources
Gardening for Pollinators, Purdue Yard & Garden News
News Columns & Podcasts, Purdue Agriculture
How to Minimize Pesticide Damage of Honey Bees, The Education Store
Honey Bees, Indiana Department of Natural Resources
Pollinator Partnership

B. Rosie Lerner
Extension Consumer Horticulturist, Purdue Extension

Photo credit: Purdue Plant and Pest Diagnostic Lab

 

In this month’s column of In the Grow, B. Rosie Lerner, Purdue Extension Consumer Horticulturist, addresses algae that can pop up on stone, concrete, gravel or even lawns this summer as we are getting large amounts of hot, rainy weather.

This terrestrial algae known as Nostoc can look unappealing and also be a slippery safety hazard, but unfortunately, there isn’t much to do about it. Raking the algae will just spread it to larger areas. Keeping the area aerated and dry as much as you are able can help a little with controlling this algae, and applying copper sulfate will also shrink it a little bit, but it will just reappear when warm, rainy weather conditions occur again.

Resources
News Columns & Podcasts, Purdue Agricultural Communication
Nostoc: A Green, Jelly-Like Substance Growing in Lawns, Michigan State University Extension

B. Rosie Lerner
Purdue Extension Consumer Horticulturist

Faculty and staff in the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources (FNR) are engaged in environmental planning around the state. Extension programs help managers and decision-makers improve Indiana’s natural resource management and environmental planning. We deliver programs to help communities consider how to plan for their unique and life-sustaining environmental resources and provide education and technical assistance to plan commissions. Programs are developed and delivered in collaboration with the Purdue Extension Community Development Program and Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant. Some of the programs FNR faculty and extension staff have developed in collaboration with our partners include:

American Citizen Planner – Indiana (ACP-IN)

American Citizen Planner – Indiana provides training to Indiana citizen planners who currently serve or plan to serve on area or advisory plan commissions. The program features 31 topics detailing core planning theories, practices, and processes. A comprehensive assessment and four virtual training events reinforce the content learned in the units. The program is hosted by a local Purdue Extension educator for either a county or a region.

Conservation Through Community Leadership (CCL)

Communities face many challenges, and many of these are their natural resources. The Conservation through Community Leadership program serves as a roadmap for communities tackling complex land use and natural resource management challenges. The program provides information, tools, and resources to help communities work with diverse stakeholders.

Enhancing the Value of Public Spaces (EVPS)

The Purdue University Extension program, Enhancing the Value of Public Spaces, addresses public spaces and their role in enhancing the quality of place by helping regions, communities and neighborhoods plan and prepare for a sustainable future. The Indiana-based curriculum is designed for use by decision makers and local leaders with oversight and management of community public spaces such as parks boards and planning commission members, public officials and their staff and members of organizations whose missions provide services related to programs or management of public spaces. The program provides a framework for collecting data on community assets and using that data to plan public spaces improvements.

Green Infrastructure and Hazard Mitigation

Communities face several challenges and complex decisions related to natural hazards, which are increasingly exacerbated by climate change. The program supports a collaborative community planning approach to evaluate the relevance and effectiveness of existing community policies and to identify goals, motivations, and barriers for hazard mitigation planning, focusing on water resources, flooding, and green infrastructure.

Land Use

The Purdue University Land Use Team provides research-based resources and educational programs for Extension professionals, government officials, citizen planners, and residents on land use issues impacting their communities. Land Use Team efforts are underpinned by a timely and rigorous professional development system that prepares Purdue Extension professionals to effectively serve on Plan Commissions.

Rainscaping Education Program

Rainscaping is a combination of sustainable landscape design and management practices that prevents polluted runoff from reaching water bodies — directing stormwater to be absorbed by plants and soils. The program provides training and resources on rainscaping practices that can be installed in residential settings or small-scale public spaces projects.

Renewable Energy

Renewable Energy for Community Planning brings resources for general renewable energy, solar and wind. This includes: community planning guidebooks for renewable energy, solar development, landowner leasing for solar, qualifications for a wind lease, wind farm impact statements and much more.

Sustainable Communities

Extension programs that support sustainable community development strategies are available to communities throughout Indiana. These support decision makers with evaluating, prioritizing, and implementing sustainability strategies for their communities.

Remove perches from wildlife nest boxes like the bluebird box pictured here. Perches allow undesirable birds to harass native cavity nesters and take over a nest box.

Even though we have had some rough weather lately, this winter didn’t seem so bad to me. Now that the weather forecast is looking positive and the days are getting longer (this month, we gain about 75 minutes – I am embarrassed to admit that I check this frequently during the winter because it helps me get through the winter doldrums), it is a good time to think about wildlife habitat projects.

Sometimes landowners and homeowners can be overwhelmed by all the different ways they can help wildlife on their property. An easy project that is also fun to build and place on your property is a nest box. You don’t want to wait much longer. Erect your nest box well before the average start of the nesting season (most birds start in mid-April, but some start sooner). Some species will set up their nesting territory three to four weeks prior to egg laying.

Many species of native birds and mammals will utilize nest boxes. When we put out a nest box, all we are doing is replicating what nature already provides with cavities in both live and dead trees. Woodpeckers are primary cavity users because they create their own. Other birds and mammals are secondary cavity users because they use what is already there – either those that occur in older, dying trees or those that are created by woodpeckers. Installing nest boxes in areas where cavities are likely scarce such as urban environments or young woods may be particularly beneficial.

Tips

• ​Use quality materials that are weather resistant. Exterior grade plywood and lumber are good choices. Cedar and other rot-resistant woods are best. Avoid using treated lumber and metal.
• Avoid painting or staining inside nest boxes. Painting the outside can prolong its life and may be attractive for some species (white for purple martins, for example).
• The roof should be sloped to allow water runoff and should hang over the sides.
• Drill at least four 3/8-inch drainage holes on the floor.
• The roof or one side should open to allow easy access for cleaning.
• Avoid perches. Natural cavities don’t have them and neither should your nest box. Perches also allow European starlings and English house sparrows, non-native invasive species, to harass native cavity nesters and take over a nest box.
• Near the top of each side, leave gaps or drill 5/8-inch holes (at least two per side).

More tips on design, such as nest box specifics by species (dimensions, hole size and placement, box placement and location), maintenance and problem species, can be found in our Nest Boxes for Wildlife publication​.​

Other resources available:
Attracting Hummingbirds to Your Yard, The Education Store
Birds of Benton County, Indiana, The Education Store

Brian MacGowan​, Extension Wildlife Specialist
Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Purdue University