The Sedgwick County Conservation District Board of Supervisors will NOT meet in June. June is a busy month for farmers in Kansas. We look forward to meeting July 14, 2020.
0 Comments
The Sedgwick County Conservation District holds monthly board meetings. We meet on the second Tuesday of the month at 7:30 am in the conference room at the USDA Service Center at 11832 W Central, Suite 100. In these meetings we set cost-share priorities for this county as well as review the finances of the District and consider our outreach objectives.
Due to COVID-19, we cancelled our April, 2020 meeting. We will meet on the second Tuesday in May at 8 am; however, we will meet by telephone in order to minimize the risk of spreading the Coronavirus. If you wish to call in and join the meeting, you may do so by using the following number and Meeting ID: Phone Number: (312)626-6799 Meeting ID: 955 7956 1856 Thank you to Kal and Eric for this great tour of the inside of a bee hive! Feeling inspired by these busy bees? Make this bee bookmark!
Today's featured pollinator is the honeybee. This creature feature video was created by Friends University student Kal Salzman. Here are a few pollinator-themed activities for kids! The first one is a Minecraft activity about designing a pollinator garden.
The second is a pollinator activity book that you can download and print. Today's featured pollinators are the flies. This creature feature video was created by Friends University student Denise Saldana. Our Stewardship Week interviews continue with Sarah Jones’ interview with Brad Guhr from Dyck Arboretum about pollinators and native plants.
SJ: Please describe your job at Dyck Arboretum. BG: I am the education/prairie restoration/concert series coordinator at Dyck Arboretum of the Plains. The focus of my work and description of my job varies quite a bit from season to season. It includes coordinating and teaching the Kansas Earth Partnership for Schools K-12 teacher training program along with other elements of native plant gardening/restoration for all ages, planting and management of our Prairie Window Project prairie reconstruction, coordination of our Prairie Window Concert Series, and grant writing. SJ: What drew you to the Arboretum – what are you passionate about? BG: I am passionate about the conservation and restoration of native plant communities and their ecosystems. In Kansas, that mostly refers to the prairie. I channel that passion into helping people of all ages learn about and experience the prairie through either large-scale prairie restoration or small-scale prairie gardening. The Dyck Arboretum of the Plains with a mission "to cultivate transformative relationships between people and the land" is a great place to carry out this passion I have for prairie restoration and education. SJ: Why are pollinators, in general, important? BG: Pollinators are important in helping plants complete their life cycle. They also are important elements of a thriving ecosystem. SJ: What are the most common pollinators we have in this area? BG: As a plant person with an education based in botany and ecology, my knowledge of insect pollinators is based only on what I learned from one entomology class in graduate school many years ago and what I've learned through observation in the last couple of decades. Based solely on qualitative observations, I'd say the most common pollinators I see in Kansas would be native bees and flies. That said, I also see many beetles, butterflies and wasps on flowers as well. SJ: What are native growing plants people should make sure to leave (ones beneficial to local pollinators)? BG: All native plants play an important role in providing beneficial nectar and pollen for pollinators, so it is difficult to pick any one plant or group of plants being more important than another. To better answer this question, it would be helpful to narrow the focus to season and the group of pollinators being considered. For example, in fall, asters and goldenrods are among the more important groups of nectar plants through the prairie states for migrating monarch butterflies. SJ: Are there benefits of native plants vs non-native plants in terms of pollinators? BG: Native plants have evolved over thousands of years with a reliance on being pollinated by certain pollinators that have evolved along with them. These plants and pollinators have developed specific sizes, shapes, and a coexistent time scales of activity that usually helps them meet the needs of each other. When a non-native plant is introduced to a new area, it is not always assured that a pollinator will be present and have the right characteristics to benefit from the flowers of that non-native species. SJ: What are some easy window box type plants that aid pollinators? (So people can still help pollinators even when stuck inside under lockdown.) BG: Species of plants from the genera of Coreopsis, Gaillardia, Agastache, Salvia, and Asters (short in stature) are all easy and quick bloomers that come to mind as good examples for planting in window boxes. SJ: What are the best plants to have in your yard to help pollinators? BG: The best plants to establish in your yard for pollinators are the native species that will fit the conditions of that yard best. So, prairie species for sunny areas, woodland understory species for shady areas or on the north side of structures, wetland plants for lower areas that stay wet, etc. When using species native to an area that fit the conditions of the location, the plants will thrive, flower, set seed, and provide food as host plant and pollination source (for pollinators) alike. SJ: Are there classes or resources that Dyck Arboretum offers for people interested in gardening with native plants and gardening to attract pollinators? BG: Dyck Arboretum of the Plains regularly hosts native plant gardening/landscaping classes every late winter and late summer to help inspire and educate the public before the two most popular planting times of spring and fall. We also sell native plants at our FloraKS Native Plant Sales in spring and fall. One can learn more about our classes and native plant sales at www.dyckarboretum.org. Today's featured pollinator is the Io moth.
This creature feature handout was created by Friends University student Sarah Jones. To learn more about pollinators, Friends University student Abby Gates interviewed Dr. Patrick Mathews, Professor of Biology and Director of Zoo Science at Friends University.
AG: What is your education or experience with pollinators? PM: My PhD is in entomology, so insects are my thing. My doctoral research focused on supplementing the nectar diet of adult female parasitic wasps that lay their eggs on a pest called the Southern Pine Beetle. Pollination wasn’t a key consideration, but they get their food from flowers and in doing so act as accidental / occasional pollinators. AG: Can you please give a kid-friendly description of pollination? PM: Pollination is the movement of pollen from one flower to another by an animal. Some flowers don’t use animals as pollinators, but rely on the wind to move pollen around. However, that method is less efficient and less effective that using animals. To get animals to do the work, flowers offer a reward in the form of nectar, which is sugar-water. The animal wants the nectar and moves the pollen by accident. AG: What is a pollinator? And what are some pollinators that we have here in Kansas? PM: A pollinator is any animal that regularly moves pollen for flowering plants (not a one-time thing, but a regular practice). Common pollinators are mostly insects like honeybees, bumble bees, solitary bees, some wasps, some flies, many butterflies and moths, and some beetles. However, birds and bats may also move pollen regularly – hummingbirds are a great example. In some places, even mice and lizards can be regular pollinators. Here in Kansas we get most of the insect pollinators as well as one species of hummingbird (the ruby-throated hummingbird). We don’t have any bat pollinators. AG: Why is pollination so important to both plant life and us as humans? PM: Plants that depend on animals to move their pollen can’t complete regular reproduction without them. Some can self-fertilize and produce seeds that way, but this cuts off the ability to share DNA with other individuals, which is important to long-term survival of any species. For humans, we depend on pollinators to help us produce certain crops such as almonds, oranges, apples, bananas, avocados, and my personal favorite, cacao (gives us chocolate). AG: What challenges do pollinators face in the world right now? PM: Pollinators are sometimes insects that people don’t want around – like solitary bees, carpenter bees, some flies and some wasps. So there is a danger in having their populations reduced simply by having so many people on the earth who don’t want these insects around and therefore try to kill them. But worse are the accidental effects of using pesticides and other agricultural chemicals meant to control pests, but that may decrease the populations of both wild and captive honeybees and other bees. AG: How can we help and support pollinators and pollination? PM: Planting flowers around homes and businesses is a good start as this provides food for bees and other pollinators. Protecting milkweed plants for monarch butterflies is also helpful. Some people start beekeeping as a hobby, and this can help too. Reducing pesticide use is always a good idea. Since today's featured pollinator is the hummingbird, we are offering some suggestions for making your own hummingbird feeder. We hope that even during this pandemic, you may have some odds and ends around the house that can be re-purposed to help our pollinator friends.
This one uses a 4-oz mason jar Or perhaps you have some plastic water bottles on hand. Here's one made from a water bottle and a sandwich container. Now that you have a feeder, check out the National Audubon Society's recipe for hummingbird nectar - no red dye needed! |