Conservation is for everyone! We help Washington County residents care for the land and water. Providing local solutions to local problems. www.tualatinswcd.org
Operating as usual
Did you miss last month’s Weed Watcher Workshop? 🌱🔍
Never fear! You can always sign up for the workshop on our website. Learn more about the Tualatin Watershed Invasives Species Team (TWIST) and how you can join this community science effort!
Details: https://tualatinswcd.org/programs/invasive-species/#workshop
#OregonInvasiveSpeciesWeek #InvasiveSpecies #WeedWatcherWorkshop #Conservation #TualatinSWCD
It's farmer's market season! During the summer, there’s a farmers market almost every day of the week in Washington County.🍓🥬🌽
Check out the Oregon Farmers Markets Association map to find a market near you: https://www.oregonfarmersmarkets.org/regular-season-markets
#farmersmarket #shoplocal #food
Here’s a pop of color for #WildflowerWednesday! This beauty is orange honeysuckle (also called trumpet honeysuckle), a climbing vine that is native to Oregon. It is often found in open woods or along the edges of forests. Hummingbirds and bumble bees love these flowers!
#Wildflower #Honeysuckle #Lonicera #PNW #Conservation #Oregon #TualatinSWCD #WashingtonCounty
May is #WildfireAwarenessMonth and Oregon State University Extension Service has the resources to help you prepare for wildfires in agricultural settings. Here are two opportunities:
1) Wildfire Readiness for the Agriculture Community webinar, May 24th, noon to 1pm
2) Wildfire Preparedness in Agriculture self-paced online course
Click the link below to learn more! 🔥🔥🔥
Did you know Oregon State University Extension has a dedicated team of six wildland fire specialists serving six geographic regions across Oregon? With funding from the Oregon Legislature, OSU Extension implemented a new statewide fire program to help facilitate land management priorities, as well as create a healthy understanding and respect of fire through education and outreach efforts.
Learn more about the Fire Program's resources: https://bit.ly/3CwmQ9v
#OSUExtensionImpact #WildfireAwarenessMonth
Forestry and Natural Resources Extension - Oregon State University College of Forestry at Oregon State University The Beaver Caucus Oregon Department of Forestry
Join Oregon Agriculture in the Classroom for a virtual field trip next Thursday, May 26th! 🐐
We invite students to join us virtually to learn about dairy goat farming at Fraga Farm Dairy Goat Creamery in Gales Creek, Oregon!
Grades 3-5: May 26, 2022, 10:00 am-10:30 am PST
We are inviting classes to tune in virtually!
Apply for a spot by filling out the form. We will be in touch regarding your registration status shortly after. https://oregonaitc.org/programs/virtual-farm-field-trips/fraga-farm-creamery/
#teachag #teachagriculture #virtuallearning #farmfieldtrip #oregonagriculture #teacherresources #freeteacherresources
Clay soils? Sandy soils? Loamy soils? When you're trying to grow your own food and flowers you may run into the question of, "what kind of soil do I have?" Soil texture is one thing you can learn about outdoor soils to help you choose the best plants for your setting.
It only takes a few minutes and free hand. Visit our guide on "Knowing Your Soil Texture" to find out how: https://tualatinswcd.org/know-your-soil-texture/
#gardening #soilhealth
Who doesn’t love a rainy day?! 🌧️ But have you ever thought about where all our rainwater goes?
When it rains, water washes over our community’s streets, roofs, and lawns picking up trash and chemicals that can pollute our natural areas. By collecting water as it falls on structures or other surfaces we can store it for later use. It also prevents pollutants from reaching out waterways.
Join us for our Rainwater Harvesting webinar to discover rainwater harvesting options for spaces big and small! We’ll examine rain gardens, rain cisterns and much, much more.
Details and registration: https://tualatinswcd.org/event/rainwater-harvesting/
Are you looking to begin planning your estate, but don't know where to start?
This single session course on May 24th (CRN 24434) is online through Portland Community College Community Education from 6:30 – 8:00 pm.
Read more here: https://www.pcc.edu/staff/sherri-noxel/
📸 Credit: Andy Bauer
#estate #planning #succession #business
In nature, what you see is not always what you get. Plants and animals that practice mimicry pretend to be something they're not to help them survive.
The monarch and viceroy butterflies share a similar appearance and both are toxic to predators. By mimicking the other, they ward off animals who may have had an unpleasant experience eating either one of their species. This is called Mullerian mimicry because both butterflies benefit from looking alike.
There are many types of mimicry. Check out our blog to read more!
https://tualatinswcd.org/mimicry-in-nature/
Check out these helpful gardening tips and reminders for the month of May!
We are thrilled to be supporting these great experiences through our Conservation Education Grant program! Thank you to Confluence for your work building communities and promoting connections with the land and water.
Through our Tualatin River Environmental Enhancement Grant (TREE), Scholls Valley Native Nursery LLC researched the use of native plants as groundcovers in non-crop areas to protect soils, support pollinators, and reduce the need to manage pesky weeds. Out of the 76 species tested, 40 are recommended for planting in Tualatin Valley and Willamette Valley farms!🦋🌷🌱
Read the story here: https://tualatinswcd.org/local-research-shows-benefits-of-native-groundcovers-for-agricultural-settings/
#pollinators #agriculture #soil #native
Big thanks to our presenters and participants who spent the entire month of April learning about and celebrating the best stuff on Earth: SOIL!
The series of recordings are now up for those who missed a session or want to refer back to the lessons that were presented.
Check it out here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyLj4gSpGcW9wcWJ0FVfKQiYyyIGj_tYo
We love to see it!
Everyone is out enjoying the sun today! Our insects like lady beetles (aka ladybugs) are voracious eaters and play an enormous part in helping reduce unhelpful pest populations. Want to learn more about these and other local creatures? Check out our upcoming free online workshops on May 16 & May 23 all about Beneficial Insects at tualatinswcd.org, on our events page!
#wildlifewednesday #beneficialinsects
Photo credit: Norio Nomura on Flickr
Even while you're working from a computer in a building far from the wild, you are benefiting from nature. The air you breathe is provided by plants. The food you eat is grown by soil. The phone in your pocket is powered by precious metals and rare minerals.
The way we treat the environment affects our access to these benefits (called ecosystem services). Exploiting ecosystems reduces their ability to provide for us. Whereas conserving ecosystems strengthens their ability to keep us healthy and safe.
Check out our blog to learn about the different kinds of ecosystem services and how everyone can help conserve them.
Ecosystem services are any benefit ecosystems provide to people. Maintaining these services is key to having a healthy and safe planet.
There’s still time to sign up for our Naturescaping: Site Design webinar on Wednesday night! 🌼🌿
Join us to learn how to apply the principles of naturescaping while planning a design for your yard, garden, or community space. Naturescaping (or gardening with native plants) is a landscaping practice that mimics nature and welcomes wildlife. It saves you time, money, and energy – all while providing a beautiful habitat for birds, wildlife, and you.
Details and registration: https://tualatinswcd.org/event/naturescaping-site-design-2022/
Even though this alert was a couple of days ago, peak bird migration extends through the middle of May. Help keep migrating birds safe by turning off your outside lights and drawing your blinds! 🐦
Lights Out Alert! Tonight, approximately 3.9 million birds will migrate through Oregon's skies. Help keep them safe by turning off your outside lights tonight and drawing your blinds.
Why is it important? As migrating birds pass over brightly lit cities, skyglow drowns out the stars, confusing them and luring them into urban areas. Once trapped in the windowed maze of the city, birds either hit buildings directly or circle them until they collapse from exhaustion. Lights Out programs help to prevent birds from being attracted to urban areas.
As always thank you to CSU's Aeroeco Lab for posting the nightly numbers. https://aeroecolab.com/oregon
Pollinators, like swallowtail butterflies🦋, love Gilia capitata (Blue thimble flower)! This native flower can grow in many habitats including sandy or rocky soils. Not to mention, it's an annual species that flowers during spring and winter🌸
📸 Credit: Scholls Valley Native Nursery
#WildlifeWednesday #pollinators #native #WildflowerWednesday
Check out this online course offered by the Oregon State University Small Farms Program!
OSU's self-paced online Growing Farms course helps startup and early-stage farms succeed. Land management, stewardship, marketing and more. Register now.
Today we celebrate the 52nd anniversary of Earth Day! 🌎
Not sure how to celebrate? Here are some ideas:
-Take a walk in a local park 🚶♂️
-Attend local events 🎉
-Plant a native species🌸
-Find a farmer's market to attend🌽
Photo Credit: Andy Bauer
#EarthDay #nature #local
There are 3 more classes in the series being offered! Check out the link below for more info🐎
Share Print Apr 12 - May 24, 2022 The online classes in the series will be held on the following Tuesdays from 6:00pm-7:30pm, Tuesday April 12, Tuesday April 26th, Tuesday May 10th, Tuesday May 24th. You register for each class separately. $5.00 Per Class - Scholarships are available, email [email ...
We're closing out soil school 2022 with one of our most popular topics: regenerative farming and gardening. Rhianna Simes from Cultivate Oregon will teach us how to implement regenerative practices that will restore our soils and create more benefits along the way!
Register for our LAST session here: https://tualatinswcd.org/event/soil-school-2022/
North American birds are in decline. Here are 8 simple ways you can help : Life Kit
Birds are what scientists call "indicator species" – their health helps us understand the health of our environment. In this episode of Life Kit, we get expert tips on how we can help birds survive, and thrive.
We’ve got #WildlifeWednesday and #WildflowerWednesday wrapped up in one today! This happy bumble bee is foraging on a native goldenrod bloom. You won’t see these blooms until late summer, but once they’re out they’ll be a hotspot for pollinator activity!
7175 NE Evergreen Pkwy #400
Hillsboro, OR
97124
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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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
Hillsboro Education Association
17933 NW Evergreen Place STE#220, BeavertonNorthwest Regional Education Service District
5825 NE Ray CirWashington County Chamber of Commerce
5193 NE Elam Young Pkwy, Ste AWashington County Disability, Aging and Veter
5240 NE Elam Young Pkwy, Ste 300Westside Montessori International
1870 NE 106th Ave, Beaverton
Washington County Sheriff's Office
215 SW Adams Ave
Northwest Regional Education Service District
5825 NE Ray Cir