Recently in Wildlife & Species Habitat / Land Management Category
Nonetheless, EPA, USDA, universities and the private sector have moved into action. The Agency is addressing the CCD through regulatory and voluntary programs. And it’s actively participating in the Colony Collapse Disorder Steering Committee and Working Group. One of the many collaborative efforts to address the issue has been a partnership between the Agency and the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign.
Mothers and fathers are becoming aware that food is part of their impact on the world...and their own health. More young adults are getting worried about the politics of food -- how far it travels, how safe it is, how pesticides affect the environment.
On top of these social concerns, the young professionals are beginning to realize how much they are spending on organic produce. Driven by these growing food costs, concerns about global food shortages, and a new environmental consciousness, concerned consumers like are beginning to look at old fashioned 'victory gardens" to produce food on their own plots of land and urban balconies.
Some Tips for first Time Gardeners Find a USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map. Study it so you will know which plants grow well in your area.
You might like to start with some transplants from a quality local nursery. These are expensive, but they get you started learning how to care for plants, and they start your garden-to-table habit while you are highly enthused! It takes patience, discipline and staying power to plant seeds and wait 60 to 90 days for the harvest!
Start Easy, Start Small There are plants for food and plants that are just for looks. And some easy plants to grow are foods that you just might not like to eat! Some of the easiest "organic", "local", and highly nutritious foods to produce by first time gardeners include:
- Salad fixins: leaf lettuce, radishes, carrots, green onions, cucumbers
- Tomatoes
- Herbs: thyme, sage, mint,
- Squash
- Peppers
Vegetable Container Gardens Just Make Good Cents!
While it makes just makes sense that you can container garden with herbs and flowers, it makes real cents to add a small vegetable container garden as well. Here's a short overview of a very ambitious gardener! You might not want to plant all these plants...but this video shows you what seedlings look like!
Radish, carrots, tomatoes and small vegetables are a perfect choice.
How to Start a Fruit and Vegetable Garden
Container Vegetable Gardens and Vegetable Plants Suitable for Containers
And ... add a few plants for your local, native wildlife. They need food from gardens, too! Wildlife need local, native plants. Check with your local native plant nursery or native plant society for suggestions. You'll enjoy having butterflies, birds and native bees come visit your garden. AND they are pollinators for your plants, helping increase your harvest of many flowering plants.
Edible forest gardening is the art and science of putting plants
together in woodlandlike patterns that forge mutually beneficial
relationships, creating a garden ecosystem that is more than the sum of
its parts. You can grow fruits, nuts, vegetables, herbs, mushrooms,
other useful plants, and animals in a way that mimics natural
ecosystems. You can create a beautiful, diverse, high-yield garden. If
designed with care and deep understanding of ecosystem function, you
can also design a garden that is largely self-maintaining. In many of
the world's temperate-climate regions, your garden would soon start
reverting to forest if you were to stop managing it. We humans work
hard to hold back succession—mowing, weeding, plowing, and spraying. If
the successional process were the wind, we would be constantly motoring
against it. Why not put up a sail and glide along with the land's
natural tendency to grow trees? By mimicking the structure and function
of forest ecosystems we can gain a number of benefits.Why Grow an Edible Forest Garden?
While each forest gardener will have unique design goals, forest gardening in general has three primary practical intentions:
- High yields of diverse products such as food, fuel, fiber, fodder, fertilizer, 'farmaceuticals' and fun;
- A largely self-maintaining garden and;
- A healthy ecosystem.
As Masanobu Fukuoka once said, "The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings."
SOURCE: www.edibleforestgardens.com
PIVOT's interactive graphics, maps and photos are designed to help users better understand the issues and visually track progress toward achieving habitat restoration goals in the 28 National Estuary Programs.
An interactive graphic shows how everyday human activities along the coast increase pressures on natural habitat and can impact the health of our estuaries in other ways as well.
Links are provided to information about watersheds, maps, and performance measures useful for reporting progress toward improving the health of coastal watersheds.
The National Estuary Program works with local communities to improve the health of our nation's estuaries. Community support and involvement is fundamental to the success of these efforts. Through an extensive stakeholder planning process, NEP communities develop comprehensive conservation and management plans, or CCMPs. These plans serve as documentation of the communities' environmental goals for their estuaries and watersheds as well as blueprints for achieving those goals. As this is a long-term process, keeping the community well informed and connected with plan activities and progress is critical to keeping the plan a vital, living process for the community.
Performance reporting is not only essential for garnering and maintaining community support, it is often mandated. Enabling legislation or other laws—federal or local—may require responsible agencies to report on what progress they are making toward established goals. For the National Estuary Program, several pieces of federal legislation weigh in on performance reporting.
28 National Estuary Programs
Each of the 28 National Estuary Programs was charged with developing and implementing a Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP) which establishes priorities for activities, research, and funding for the estuary. The CCMP serves as a blueprint to guide future decisions and actions and addresses a wide range of environmental protection issues including water quality, habitat, fish and wildlife, pathogens, land use, and introduced species to name a few. The CCMP is based on a scientific characterization of the estuary and is developed and approved by a broad-based coalition of stakeholders.
Threat to Freshwater Ecosystems
Invasive species are one of the largest threats to our terrestrial, coastal and freshwater ecosystems, as well as being a major global concern.
Invasive species can affect aquatic ecosystems directly or by affecting the land in ways that harm aquatic ecosystems.
Threat to Biodiversity
Invasive species represent the second leading cause of species extinction and loss of biodiversity in aquatic environments worldwide. They also result in considerable economic effects through direct economic losses and management/control costs, while dramatically altering ecosystems supporting commercial and recreational activities.
Effects on aquatic ecosystems result in decreased native populations, modified water tables, changes in run-off dynamics and fire frequency, among other alterations. These ecological changes in turn impact many recreational and commercial activities dependent on aquatic ecosystems. Common sources of aquatic invasive species introduction include ballast water, aquaculture escapes, and accidental and/or intentional introductions, among others.
Ballast Water Carries Invasive Species
A major concern is the
introduction of invasive species through ship ballast water carrying
viable organisms from one waterbody to another. All mainland coasts of
the United States - East, West, Gulf, and Great Lakes, as well as the
coastal waters of Alaska, Hawaii, and the Pacific Islands - have felt
the effects of successful aquatic species invasions.
Over two-thirds of
recent non-native species introductions in marine and coastal areas are
likely due to ship-borne vectors, and ballast water transport and
discharge is the most universal and ubiquitous of these.
EPA is working in conjunction with our Federal and State partners to address this source of aquatic invasive species both domestically and internationally.
Solutions For LandscapersWe don't think about how our purchasing habits affect natural systems. But heavy global traffic on the oceans directly affects the invasive species on both water and land. In the water, we are finding clams, water plants are hitching a ride.
These same ships bring containers that contain seeds and eggs for snakes, spiders, even parrots that escape their confines and invade areas with little or no natural deterrents such as wildlife that eats them for food, or bacteria that control their growth and reproduction.
A simple solution is to buy local, native plants whenever possible. Even tools and equipment bought locally or in the US is a move to reduce ocean traffic to a manageable level.
When international trade is essential, it is important to work with reputable distribution systems that have safeguards in place and have stringent control systems that are explained to you...and measured.
Learn! Explore! Take Action!
Celebrate the vital importance of wetlands to the Nation's
ecological, economic, and social health. May, American Wetlands Month is also a great opportunity to discover and teach others about the important role that wetlands play in our environment and the significant benefits they provide - improved water quality, increased water storage and supply, reduced flood and storm surge risk, and critical habitat for plants, fish, and wildlife.
In organizing its activities this year, EPA is placing special emphasis on encouraging Americans to:
- Learn about wetlands. This is a great time to better understand what a wetland is, where wetlands can be found, and the importance of wetlands. Activities may include reading and studying about wetland areas, drawing maps or illustrations of wetlands, and identifying native species found in wetlands. Information on wetlands and the important benefits they provide is available on this website, through EPA's wetland fact sheet series, or by visiting the websites of our partners.
- Explore a wetland near you. Unless you live in the most extreme climate zones, there is a good chance a scenic wetland exists nearby for you to visit and explore during American Wetlands Month and throughout the year. To find a wetland near you, consult your local parks department, state natural resource agency, or the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (http://www.fws.gov/refuges). If you live in the Washington, DC area, a guide has been created to highlight wetlands and wildlife sanctuaries.
- Take action to protect and restore wetlands. Support and promote wetlands informing community members about wetlands' vital roles, "adopting" a wetland, joining a local watershed group, or participating in a wetland monitoring, restoration, or cleanup project. There are many other actions Americans can take to help conserve wetlands.To learn more about what you can do to help protect and restore these valuable natural resources in your state or local area, visit http://www.epa.gov/owow/wetlands/awm/#you.
...I bet it isn't easy being Green. I do not care to enumerate
the sacrifices I've made over the last 40 years in order to
meet my own standards for living as environmentally soundly as I can
manage. These are personal decisions made to mesh with my own value
system, which includes viewing other parts of the Earth and its
inhabitants as being equal to myself. The most I feel I can ask of others
is to become conscious of what they are choosing for themselves.
Frequently, awareness initiates change.
Our collegues have made us aware of the issues regarding hydrogels and
their soy alternatives, so I leave you with Maya Angelou's famous "When
you know better, you do better."
Regards,
Lois
LOIS de Vries' Garden Views
Thoughts on Gardening and Environmental Issues
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS; http://www.usgs.gov) is a research arm of DOI, and USGS scientists conduct extensive, worldwide research on invasive species that provide a basis for regulating importation and interstate transport of animals in the U.S.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS; http://www.fws.gov), is responsible for fisheries management, regulations, law enforcement, and education. The mission of the FWS is to work with others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, and plants for the continued benefit of the American people.
For More Information, Contact:
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Division of Environmental Quality
Branch of Invasive Species
4401 N. Fairfax Drive, Suite 840
Arlington, VA 22203
(703) 358-2148
http://contaminants.fws.gov/Issues/InvasiveSpecies.cfm
U.S. Geological Survey
Florida Integrated Science Center
Gainesville Office
7920 N.W. 71st Street
Gainesville, FL 32653
(352) 378-8181
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(800) 344-WILD (800-344-9453)
http://www.fws.gov
