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Not many of us get the opportunity to see badgers in the wild. Gerry Good captured this shot of two young badger kits. (Can you see the one hidden in the grass looking much like a rock?)
American Badgers are members of the weasel family. They play a key role in grasslands by keeping rodent populations in check. Their tunnels aerate the soil and create habitat for other species. Conserving grasslands is key as they are one of the most endangered and least protected ecosystems.
Gerry's photo is fhe May feature in our 2021 calendar.
As soon as our new website launches the Submission Form will be uploaded so you can submit your photos for our 2022 calendar! Meanwhile check out the Submission Guidelines. Deadline for photos is June 30.
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On the Land
I’m so happy to look at my weather app and see double digits for 14 days straight so I’m dreaming of summer!
You might wonder what things look like at Legacy for the summer months…
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- Summer Students - Legacy is fortunate to be involved in the Canada Summer Jobs program, so we are looking forward to welcoming some young and bright faces to our team soon! These students will perform most of our project monitoring and also have heavy involvement in our other summer programming.
- Site Visits - I am looking forward to getting out of the office a bit and visiting all of our Conservation Easements. I will be meeting with landowners and reviewing the past monitoring reports from our six existing easements and arranging field visits for the upcoming season on those as well as two new easements. I will also be visiting several beautiful properties for potential upcoming projects. If you have a property you would like some help conserving, please reach out. I’d love to come check it out!
- Baseline Documentation - We will be doing Baseline Documentation on five new projects this summer. This includes plant community and habitat mapping, plant and wildlife species inventories, range and riparian health assessments and taking lots of photos! The Baseline Documentation Report is the basis for all of our annual monitoring, so this is an important step in our process.
- Volunteer Opportunities - How can you get involved? We are hoping to offer several outdoor programs this summer, but of course need to see what happens with restrictions on gathering. We'll be posting events on our website and social media and in our newsletter. One to keep in mind for sure is our 3rd Annual Buttercup Blitz in early July!
Happy Spring!
Mary Jane Block
Conservation Director
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Pussy willows are often the first plants to bloom in spring. That makes them a critical source of pollen and nectar for early spring insects, many of which over-wintered as adults—like Mourning Cloak and Milbert's Tortoise Shell butterflies and myriad bees and flies.
Willows depend entirely on insects for pollination. Unlike most flowering plants where the male and female parts are within the same flower, in willows they're on different plants.
In these photos the pussy willow "flowers" (called catkins) are male—pollen forms in the brownish tips on the end of each "stalk". Unlike poplar catkins that are wind-pollinated—it's the pollen that often causes allergy symptoms—willows are not. They depend entirely on insects.
How does that happen?
Pollen grains are very sticky. While this fly is busy eating, hundreds of tiny grains are sticking to every part of its body, even its eyes! When it lands on the next pussy willow some of those grains will be deposited on the new plant.
Voilà! Pollination.
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A Word's Worth
"There are never victories in conservation. If you want to save a species or a habitat, it's a fight forevermore. You can never turn your back."
George Schaller
Renowned field biologist
and conservationist
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Photographers
Gerry Good / Badgers
Mary Anne Sharpe / Ruddy Duck
Neil French / Sunset on the Marsh
Sally Banks / Pussy WIllows
Alicia Strelkov / Prairie Crocus
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