Xerces Society: Attracting Native Pollinators

Attracting Native Pollinators: The Xerces Society Guide, Protecting North America’s Bees and Butterflies is coauthored by four Xerces Society staff members Eric Mader, Matthew Shepherd, Mace Vaughan, and Scott Black in collaboration with Gretchen LeBuhn, a San Francisco State University botanist and director of the Great Sunflower Project.

Since Xerces published the groundbreaking Pollinator Conservation Handbook: A Guide to Understanding, Protecting, and Providing Habitat for Native Pollinator Insects in 2003 conservation practices have evolved, and that book has begun to show its age. At 380 pages, Attracting Native Pollinators provides dramatically expanded breadth and detail, reflecting the latest understanding about creating and managing pollinator habitat. Illustrated with hundreds of color photographs and dozens of specially created illustrations, Attracting Native Pollinators is divided into four sections:

Pollinators and Pollination explains the value of pollinators, and includes informative chapters on the natural    history and habitat needs of bees, butterflies, flies, beetles, and wasps.

Taking Action provides comprehensive information on ways to help pollinators and on creating nest sites and safe foraging areas. It includes guidance on conserving pollinators in all kinds of landscapes: gardens, natural areas, farms, recreation land, even ecoroofs.

Bees of North America provides help with identifying the more abundant and important bee species, and supplies detailed profiles of more than thirty commonly encountered genera.

Creating a Pollinator-Friendly Landscape shows how various kinds of land, including urban gardens, suburban parks, and farms, can be enhanced to support diverse pollinator populations. Sample planting designs and fifty pages of illustrated plant lists facilitate selection of the best plants for any region.”

Native Focus: Lomatium triternatum, Narrowleaf Desert-Parsley

(photo source)

Native Focus: Lomatium triternatum, Narrowleaf Desert-Parsley, leaves are borne on narrow stems and are long, thin, and divided in threes, usually three times. A leafless flower stalk is topped by a tight cluster of glowing yellow flowers which eventually spread very wide. Each plant usually produces one, six-to-twelve inch flower stalk with a three or four inch flower head. The plant is eye-catching because it commonly grows scattered in large patches.

“Triternatum” , means three times ternate, i.e., leaves are split three times and then again three times and then again — although William Weber points out that the plant does sometimes split into threes only twice.

The plant was first collected by Meriwether Lewis on the Lewis and Clark Expedition in present day Idaho, probably in 1806. Frederick Pursh named it Seseli triternatum in his Flora Americae Septentrionalis in 1814. It has gone through numerous name changes and the presently accepted name of Lomatium triternatum was given by John Coulter in 1900. (Southwest Colorado Wildflowers, Ferns and Trees)

The CSR EcoExpo 2011

Be sure to check out the CSR EcoExpo Facebook page for updates on this fun and informative event!

Gearing Up!

CSR’s new equipment has arrived for the Ruby Pipeline Restoration contract. Proof that saving the planet is fun!

Spring has Sprung!

Ranunculus glaberrimus, the Sagebrush Buttercup, is one of the first wildflowers to bloom in the spring. Wildlife species generally use sagebrush buttercup early in the year because palatability decreases as the plant matures. Deer and elk feed on sagebrush buttercup in the early spring before other, more preferred forage species become available. (source)

2011 Boise Flower & Garden Show

“The Boise Centre will spring to life with everything you need to make your garden beautiful at the 15th annual Boise Flower & Garden Show, March 25-27, 2011″. Conservation Seeding & Restoration Inc. will see you there!

Native Focus: Aconitum columbianum, Columbian monkshood

Native Focus: Aconitum columbianum, Columbian monkshood, is a usually tall, leafy plant with bilaterally symmetrical, hood-like, blue or blue-violet flowers in a showy raceme. The stems of this tuberous perennial are usually erect, stout and 2-6 ft. tall, but sometimes are weak and reclining. The lower leaves are palmately lobed, becoming smaller upward. Showy flowers in a lax spike are purplish-blue and hooded. Flowering starts at the bottom of the spike and progresses upward. Flowers attract bumblebees, hawkmoths and hummingbirds.

Plants of the genus Aconitum are poisonous to humans and animals if ingested. Roots, young leaves, and seeds are said to be especially toxic. Sensitivity to a toxin varies with a person’s age, weight, physical condition, and individual susceptibility. Children are most vulnerable because of their curiosity and small size. Toxicity can vary in a plant according to season, the plant’s different parts, and its stage of growth; and plants can absorb toxic substances, such as herbicides, pesticides, and pollutants from the water, air, and soil. (Lady Bird Johnson Wildflowers)

Battling Invasive Weeds Species

The CSR Shop guys, Aaron and Dale, are busy putting together the spray trucks for our annual battle with noxious and invasive weeds.

The services we offer do not revolve around chemical applications, but rather the restoration of native plant habitats. When we do use herbicides we treat weeds only so that native grasses and plants can establish themselves and out-compete weeds for water, light, nutrients, and space. These native plants are critical in the management of noxious weeds and play an important role in lessening the use of herbicides. A management methodology cannot simply treat infestations, but must take a holistic approach in order to understand how invasive weeds have become established, their ecological roles, and most importantly, realize that there must be a means to replace the noxious weed niche with a desirable plant regime.

INPS 2011 Photo Contest

Announcing the INPS Photo Contest!

Idaho Native Plant Society is requesting that INPS members submit photographs of plants native to Idaho to
use in an INPS calendar and/or in documents which promote native plants and habitats and bring greater
public awareness of the special flora of Idaho.

Who may submit photos?: INPS members or their immediate family members are eligible to submit photos – A maximum of 5 photos per individual please.

What is the deadline date?: Photos will only be accepted until 7/31/2011 in order to give the contest committee time to judge the photos and the calendar committee to produce a 2012 calendar.

What format of photo is acceptable?: Up to 5 high resolution digital images may be submitted by each individual. Prints and slides should be digitized by the entrant so the photo may be submitted in digitized format. A digital image to be eligible for a main page of the calendar must be of sufficient resolution to create a high quality print approximately 6” in height x 9” in width (landscape) or approximately 7.5” in height x 5” in width (portrait). For the 2010 calendar, landscape format photos were more easily incorporated in the calendar. Each image file may have the photographer’s name and contact information embedded in the file properties (IPTC metadata) but this is not required. You can locate these by right-clicking on the image and then going to the properties option. The actual name of the photo should not include any identifying photographer information to preserve anonymity during the judging period. Photographers will be credited in any calendar or other document in which their photographs are used.

How do I submit a photo entry?: Submit digital images by email preferably or by USPS on a CD. In either case the image must be accompanied by the entry form. To submit by email, send the image and entry form to inps-photo@idahonativeplants.org (Please use INPS photo contest in the subject line).

To submit by USPS, send CD of images accompanied by entry form to the following address:

Idaho Native Plant Society
INPS Photo Contest
2955 So Marsh Creek Road
McCammon, ID 83250

CSR’s “Goldie Haul”

CSR recently bought a semi tractor and low-boy to efficiently haul our earth-saving equipment (seeder, tractors, skid steers).  Pictured here is Keith Henstock, our wonder-driver, with “Goldie Haul” and the low-boy.  We also purchased a reefer trailer to provide a climate controlled environment for transporting native plant materials.  It is a large planet, but our ability to re-vegetate it with native good guys just got easier. Watch out highly disturbed habitats, we’re rollin’.