Entry bubble Bye Bye, Blue Pike

By: Stephanie | September 10, 2009 | Category: General

Today Jane Goodall, famously known as the woman who lived with chimpanzees in Tanzania and noted conservationist, is lecturing at the Library of Congress on endangered species. Conservation efforts like Goodall’s were on my mind last weekend as I walked past endangered Galapagos Tortoises and Madagascar lemurs at a zoo. Seeing those animals made me curious about endangered species in the United States.

dead fishI learned that the U.S. currently has 1,320 endangered or threatened animal and plant species. An endangered species is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range, and a threatened species is likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), the current rate of extinction is much higher now than in the past, mainly due to habitat loss. Other reasons are disease, pollution, the introduction of harmful nonnative species, and over-exploitation of wildlife for commercial purposes.

You can search for a specific species of plant or animal to find its status, or see the status of some of the more popular species.

A number of species have been removed from the endangered or threatened list. It’s chilling to me to see the species that are no longer on the list because they’re now extinct: the blue pike, the Santa Barbara song sparrow, and the Mariana mallard, to name a few.

Still, other species are no longer on the list because they’ve been saved by conservation efforts. The gray wolf, the Yellowstone grizzly bear, and, as GovGabber Jake noted, the bald eagle, are some of the success stories.

Learn more about endangered and threatened species from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. And consider buying Federal Duck Stamps, where 98 cents of every dollar go directly to buying or leasing wetland habitat for protection in the National Wildlife Refuge System.

What do you think about wildlife and plant conservation?

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Entry bubble Ready? Set? Garden!

By: Joanne | March 24, 2009 | Category: Home and Family

three open pea podsThere’s something special about March, and I’m not talking about college basketball. March is when I start gardening. I ordered seeds before I left for South by Southwest Interactive and they arrived while I was gone. Now I’m home and eager to get dirty.

It’s still too cold to plant most things, but I can start seeds indoors, go out and turn some manure into the soil, and I can also plant that half pound of snap peas. Can you believe I plant a half pound of peas and never have any to freeze? My kids devour them.

You should think about planting some veggies this spring. If you don’t have much space, or if digging is a problem, you can do amazing things with container gardens. My mother has great luck with tomato plants in big flower pots on the side of her house.

We all know that growing your own vegetables is a tasty and nutritious hobby, but it also saves energy because your food doesn’t have to travel hundreds of miles in a truck to reach your table, it saves money, and you get some fresh air and exercise. Another benefit is that when you grow your own food, you know where it came from. In these days of industrial food factories, and processing, and salmonella, and E. coli, I like to control the safety of my food.

| View Comments [8] | envelope E-mail This Entry | Tags: garden   joanne   plant   seed   spring   vegetable  

 

Entry bubble Landscaping with Native Species

By: Joanne | April 08, 2008 | Category: Fun

The weather is finally starting to warm up and I was so happy to spend most of my weekend outside digging in the yard and garden. I’m preparing to plant, buying seeds and considering landscape improvements I can make to our property.

When I walk into the garden center I’m always thrilled by so many beautiful plants and I want them all! Experience is teaching me though, that this isn’t always the best strategy. These days I’m trying to put more thought into what to plant and my focus now is on native species. By taking care of the lawn and garden properly, I can save money, time, and help the environment. I don’t know about you, but those are all things I’d like to do.

Native plants are the plants that occur naturally in your region. Since native species are already well suited to live in your region, you’ve already won the first battle – it wants to live in your yard and shouldn’t require a lot of attention to keep alive. Also, native species, especially those with berries, fruits and flowers will encourage the butterflies and birds to visit. butterfly on a coneflower

It takes a little research to find the plants and wildflowers suited to your area, and your state Natural Resources Department can help you identify plants native to your region.

Whatever you do, be careful not to buy an invasive species for your yard. We’ve got a lot of multiflora rose growing on our property. We didn’t put it there, but I don’t know how we’re going to get rid of it all. …maybe I need one of those landscaping flamethrowers?

| View Comments [3] | envelope E-mail This Entry | Tags: bush   flower   greenscape   invasive   joanne   native   noxious   plant   shrub   tree  

 

Entry bubble Arbor Day is Coming Up – What Will You Plant?

By: Joanne | February 26, 2008 | Category: General

Joanne and her children pose with their 8 foot snowman

It’s hard to think about planting trees when you’re building an 8 foot snowman, but did you know that Arbor Day is just around the corner? What a perfect way for me to continue to pine (ha-ha, I didn’t even mean to do that) away for spring.

National Arbor Day is the last Friday in April, but many states observe Arbor Day on different dates according to their best tree-planting times. In most states, Arbor Day is in March or April, but if you live in Alabama, it’s this week, so get digging!

Why bother? Take some responsibility for your carbon footprint! Trees gladly consume carbon dioxide and provide us with lovely oxygen. Did you know that trees can reduce your home heating and cooling costs? True! I spend almost nothing to cool my home in the summer and that wouldn’t be the case without the ancient maple trees surrounding my house. Let’s not overlook that attractive landscaping increases the appeal of your home, and trees are beautiful all year around and come in all shapes and sizes. What better place is there for a backyard picnic than under a shady tree? If you don’t have your own property to plant on, you can volunteer to improve public land. There are opportunities all across the country.

You know that I plant my Christmas tree each year, but we try to do more than that. My husband usually gets a tree for Father’s Day, and each year we plant a few trees to landscape our property or we put a few in our little orchard. Can you ever have too many varieties of apples? I don’t know the answer to that yet, but I hope one day I will…

| View Comments [4] | envelope E-mail This Entry | Tags: arbor   greenscape   joanne   landscape   plant   snowman   spring   tree