It’s pretty clear where the phrase “busy as a bee” comes from! These honeybees are wasting no time collecting pollen to take back to their hive. And if you think this crew looks productive, you might be surprised to know that many of our native bee species are even more efficient pollinators!
Bumble bees and other native bees have special methods of collecting and carrying pollen that allows for more transfer between flowers.
Be sure to thank a pollinator next time you’re snacking on delicious fruits and veggies!
#Pollinator #NationalPollinatorWeek #Conservation #PNW #Oregon #TualatinSWCD #WashingtonCounty
Bees in your Backyard – Free Webinar
In this webinar, we focus on the main groups of bees that call Washington County home. We investigate how you can tell them apart by their nests, their social behaviors, the types of flowers they like, the time of day they’re active, and their morphological differences. We also discuss how ecologists and scientists monitor bee populations and local community science projects to help these efforts.
How to Make a Worm Compost Bin
Don’t have space for a compost system in your yard? Try making a worm bin instead!
Composting allows you to turn trash into treasure by creating a valuable soil amendment from stuff you would otherwise throw away. It helps reduce how much trash we are sending to landfills while also recycling nutrients back into the soil. By keeping food scraps out of our garbage disposals and sewer system, the amount of nutrients and solids that need to be removed from wastewater is also reduced. Composting with worms (or by its more formal name, vermiculture) is a process that uses red worms in a container to process compostable material into nutrient rich compost composed of worm castings (called vermicompost).
For more information about composting and conserving natural resources in your watershed, visit www.tualatinswcd.org.
How to Create Pollinator Habitat
More than three-fourths of the world’s flowering plants rely on pollinators to reproduce, equating to one of every three bites of food people eat!
Without the help of pollinators many plants and crops would be unable to reproduce. Many bee species have experienced population declines and need our help preserving their habitat by protecting nesting sites and nectar and pollen sources, as well as minimizing chemical use.
For more information about supporting pollinators and conserving natural resources in your watershed, visit www.tualatinswcd.org.
Get Started with Container Gardening
Even if you don’t have access to a yard for planting, you can still grow plants and provide habitat through various methods of container gardening!
Potted plants, hanging baskets, and railing planters are all ways to introduce native plants, herbs, or vegetables to an apartment balcony or patio space. Your container garden can provide resources for pollinators, absorb rainwater, and produce beautiful plants and fresh food for you to enjoy! So even a couple containers of plants can provide a benefit to your watershed!
For more information about conserving natural resources in your watershed, visit www.tualatinswcd.org.
How to Build a Rain Garden
Have you considered building a rain garden in your yard?
A rain garden is a “sunken garden bed” in your yard where you can direct runoff from your roof, driveway and other impervious surfaces on your property. The rainwater can then soak into the ground naturally rather than running off into storm drains. This helps prevent pollution from entering our local streams and wetlands. It also helps recharge groundwater and keeps water in our streams during Oregon’s dry summer months. Installing a rain garden on your property can help us maintain a healthy watershed!
For more information about conserving natural resources in your watershed, visit www.tualatinswcd.org.
We All Live in a Watershed!
We all live in a watershed and we can all contribute to maintaining watershed health! By caring for the water and soil in the places you live, work, and play, you are helping keep the entire watershed healthy. If you live within Washington County, Oregon, you’re a part of the Tualatin River Watershed.
For more information about conserving natural resources in your watershed, visit www.tualatinswcd.org.
Our #WildlifeWednesday pick this week is the industrious beaver! Beavers live in colonies that include a breeding pair and their young (called kits) from both the current and previous breeding years. As this beaver takes a dive, you can see its tell-tale characteristic: a flat tail.
#Wetlands #UrbanWildlife #Nature #PNW #TualatinSWCD #Beaver #AmericanBeaver #Wetlands #CastorCanadensis
Have you ever watched a great blue heron forage for food?? Whether in the water or in a field, they move ever so slowly in search of fish, rodents, amphibians, and other tasty treats that they can grab or spear with their bill. Great blue herons, which are common in Oregon, are the largest heron in North America!
#greatblueheron #wildlifewednesday #wetlands #urbanwildlife #nature #pnw #tualatinswcd
Restoration in action! Last week, this crew planted over 50,000 bare root tree and shrub species at a restoration project along East Fork Dairy Creek. Bare root plants are hardy and easy to handle, making them a great option for large projects. This planting included Douglas fir trees and snowberry, along with many other native species. Planting trees and shrubs along waterways helps filter out pollutants and shade the water to keep temperatures down.
