Great Natives Of Mid-western Ecotype

Green energy may soon be coming is some very interest-ing forms…

Climate change is a reality that is having an effect on everyone’s daily lives. Whether it is increased cost of produce due to transporta-tion or higher electrical bills, you simply cannot ignore the energy component of global climate change.

With this increased aware-ness, so comes an increase in energy innovations.

Methane is responsible for nearly as much global warm-ing as all other non-CO2 greenhouse gases put to-gether. Methane is 21 times more powerful a greenhouse gas than CO2. While atmos-pheric concentrations of CO2 have risen by about 31% since pre-industrial times, methane concentrations have more than doubled.

It seems logical that this flam-mable fuel source would be-come a focus of renewable energy.

Animal agriculture is the lead-ing source of methane pro-ducing emissions. But har-nessing this fuel (as in the picture above) has not had an effective process thus far.

That is until now. A company is Sweden has produced the world’s first train to run exclu-sively on the biogas methane.

The process, which utilizes dis-carded animal parts from the slaughter process, is getting world-wide attention. It seems that the winds of change might be blowing in a new direction!

Volume 4 , Issue 1

THE BIG PICTURE

January 1 , 2009

Did you know...

• Scientists are work-ing on developing “burpless” grass for livestock to assist in reducing global methane emissions?

• A single dairy cow can produce be-tween 500-700 li-ters of methane a day?

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :

Plant Profile 2

Native on the Net 2

Best Books 2

Organization Spotlight 3

Native News 3

Planting with a Purpose 3

Berry Good Bees Invasives! Fantastic Fauna Focus on the Future

4

5

5

6

GNOME NEWS

F I N D T H E G N O M E !

Nothing is better than stretching your brain a little. The role of this word game is to get you thinking a bit! Look for the word gnome within the text (no logo). I will vary the ways it is pre-sented. It might be the first

letters of five consecutive sentences, it might be cross-word style, or something more creative. Let me know if you find it and maybe I will include your name in the next GNOME News!

Congratulations to Debbie Clifford and Jennifer Hackathorn for finding the gnome in December’s news-letter. It was located in the last article in the first para-graph. Let me know if you find it!

Methane– the biogas of the future?

Our new site should make it easier to participate in “Name that Native” . Yellow Cone-flower (Ratibiba pinnata) was the selection for December. Don’t forget you can vote at the new site all month!

This plant is typically associated with mesic prairies and is a relatively common member of both restored and original rem-nants.

Growing up to 4 feet tall, it has irregular-shaped basal leaves. It is in the aster family and has

large daisy-like flowers. These have no scent, but the seed heads have a very definite anise smell when crushed.

Many kinds of insects visit the flowers, but es-pecially bees. Other in-sect visitors include wasps, flies, small butter-flies, and beetles. . It is larval hosts to Chlosyne nycteis (Silvery Checker-

spot), Eynchlora acida (Wavy-Lined Emerald) and Eupithe-cia miserulata (Common Eupithecia). Gold Finches occasionally eat the seeds, while some mammalian her-bivores eat the foliage and flowering stems, particularly groundhogs and livestock.

This plant will tolerate most light conditions and soil types with the exception of deep shade. It prefers sun. It is very easy to grow. The one thing that will affect blooms is too much water or too fer-tile soil. This will cause the blooms to flop.

I have mine interspersed with tall grasses for support.

One other thing I really love about this book is that many of the plans use the “one board” philosophy. This means that you can go to the store and get just what you need without much effort. It also reduces waste in the amount of wood you have left over after the project.

Enhancing your habitat can be rewarding. This book by Carrol L. Henderson is one of a series put out by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and can help you on your way There are many things about it that make it wonderful.

First, it is spiral-bound. I’m not sure why other publishers don’t use spiral binding for “how-to” books, but they should. It is very helpful on the workbench side of things.

These projects are very kid friendly too. It is a great way to get young

people involved in habitat enhance-ment.

The book also in-cludes require-ments by species according to in-cluded plans that will allow you to place your creation for optimal use.

Page 2

N A T I V E O N T H E N E T

Ratibiba pinnata– Yellow Coneflower

B E S T B O O K S – W O O D W O R K I N G F O R W I L D L I F E

Ok– I am plugging my own site. But I am hoping that this site will provide all of the com-ponents in a format that lets you get information quickly and also lets you share it with others.

Name that Native and Fea-tured Sites as well as other sections are taken from this

newsletter. You can also see the featured plant profiles and books from GNOME News.

The One Yard’s Story section is where you can see what I am doing with my own out-door space. This includes plant species that I have used in my landscaping.

Millions of links are out there re-lated to native plants- 2,100,000 according to Google. In this section I will share sites that I think have a lot of merit and are useful to other native plant enthusiasts.

This month’s featured site is : Great Natives Of Midwestern Ecotype

http://gnomenative.webs.com/

“My green thumb came only as a result of the mistakes I made while learning to see things from the plant’s point of view.”

- H. Fred Ale

Yellow Coneflower adds a summer feel to any bed! Seed-head potpourri is a bonus!

Volume 4 , Issue 1

This is a must have for adding habitat enhancing components!

GNOME News

“To ensure the health of raptors and the community we share through education, research, and conservation.” So states the mission of The Northern Illinois Raptor Center.

Website:

http://www.tnirc.org/ This is a relatively new organiza-tion to the Midwest. So new that it doesn’t even have a home facility yet. Unlike many other nature centers, this or-ganization is dedicated to those amazing birds of prey- raptors.

They offer various pro-grams including sessions on falconry , owl pellet dissection, and identifying local Chicago area raptors.

This organization creates ties between these apex predators and their habi-tat. By offering a close up look at these fascinating birds, awareness of raptors in the wild is also in-creased. Being close to raptors is an opportunity that you will never forget!

Information for public demon-strations and educational ses-sions can be found at their site.

There is no membership avail-able at this time, however you may donate to the organiza-tion. You can also use a link from their site to purchase items from Amazon.com. You will pay the same amount, but Amazon pays a commission to the organization.

Here are some suggestions of native trees and shrubs by soil type. These are only a few. Wet or Moist Areas: buttonbush, native dogwoods, spice-bush, witchhazel, sweet pepperbush, Virginia sweetspire, and redbud

Last month this section pre-sented the concept of using plants as a sort of “living fence” that I called bio-borders. Neighborhood corridors could provide a lot of habitat for all sorts of species while reducing maintenance costs in the proc-ess. So what to plant? To answer that question, you have to ana-lyze the area(s) you consider for planting.

Average Areas: serviceberry, pasture rose, ar-row wood viburnum, nanny-berry, American hazel, nine-bark, and American plum

Dry Areas: fragrant sumac, native sumacs, wolfberry, coralberry, shadbush, and Canada yew.

Page 3

N A T I V E N E W S : G R E E N WA Y S B E N E F I T P L A N T S A S W E L L A S A N I M A L S

ORG A N I Z AT I O N SP O T L I G H T: T H E N O R T H E R N I L L I N O I S R A P T O R C E N T E R

P L A N T I N G W I T H A P U R P O S E : B I O - B O R D E R S

( P A R T 2 )

It has long been theorized that these corridors provide animals with a way to traverse safely between larger areas. Now plants appear to be doing the same.

“Corridors surprisingly benefit pretty much everything, including species that have no obvious mechanism for getting around in

the first place,” said Doug Levey, a UF professor of zool-ogy.

The benefit of connecting lar-ger areas with corridors seems to be validated with every new study. The fact that some of these new studies focus on native plant populations is exciting. I’m sure we haven’t heard the last on this subject.

University of Florida researchers working at the world’s largest experimental landscape de-voted to wildlife corridors has made a mysterious discovery– plants with no evident means of movement (including not being dispersed by birds or wind) are able to spread quickly through these greenways.

“Some of nature's most exquisite handiwork is on a miniature scale, as anyone knows who has applied a magnifying glass to a snowflake.” - Rachel Carson

An educational center with live, flight-capable birds as educational emissaries

Bio-borders provide for people and wildlife!

Bees are big business. Did you know that the main “job” of hived honeybees (mainly of non-native stock like European Honeybees) is not honey production? While that does account for about $285 million dollars annually in the US, pollination accounts for about $24 billion dol-lars in produce. Roughly 1/3 of what we con-sume has been pollinated by bees.

It is evident that bees play a significant part not only in food production, but economically as well. That is where the problems lies. Hived bee numbers are in serious decline. Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is decimating hived bees across the county.

Everything from cell towers to insecticides have been blamed for this collapse. New research has indicated a pathogenic gut microbe named Nosema apis to be a factor as well. It is likely that several factors, including stress of moving colonies from location to location and African-ized honey bees, are combining to weaken bees and reduce numbers.

With commercial bee numbers in decline, scien-tists are looking for native replacements to give the industry a boost. Agricultural Research Service entomologist James H. Cane has pro-duced a study showing that the native bee Osmia aglaia, the emerald-green bee, has a special talent when it comes to berry plants like raspberries.

In an outdoor experiment based in both Oregon and Utah, these bees (native to California and Oregon) visited just as many red raspberry blos-soms as honey bees in the same amount of time.

The study also indicated that the berries pro-duced by this pollination (bees are not neces-sary for pollination in these plants) were 30% bigger than those not visited by bees of either kind.

While this is certainly not the solution to the pollination problem that the US faces in the future, it may be one piece of the puzzle. Sup-plemental pollination from native bees will likely be a necessary component.

So– what can you do to help the native bees? It turns out to be as easy as drilling holes in wood.

Unlike honey bees, many native bees are soli-tary, meaning that they don’t live with others of the same species. In the past, bees have used holes in dead wood created by insects as sites to deposit eggs. Unfortunately, this habitat has been reduced greatly. Fortunately, these native bees take readily to human-made dwellings. Enter the Bee House.

There are many commercial mason bee houses available for sale. These range from bamboo tubes to blocks with holes. One only needs to do a Google search for them. But one can also make their own easily as well.

Using a drill with sizes varying from 1/4” to 3/8”, space holes about 3/4” apart in any pat-tern. The holes should be drilled to a depth of about 4 inches or deeper. I usually vary the depths and hole sizes. Use untreated wood (cedar is a good choice for longevity) so as not to harm the bees. Sand the entrances smooth.

These solitary bees are not territorial and put-ting up a bee house is not inviting stings. Watch for mud plugs in the ends. That means you’ve got bees! Your flowers will thank you!

Page 4

BE R RY GO O D BE E S- N A T I V E B E E S B O O S T F R U I T P R O D U C T I O N

Osmia aglaia are as efficient as European Honeybees.

Volume 4 , Issue 1

Mason bee houses are simple to make and beneficial for all types of plants.

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.”

- Lao Tzu

GNOME News

I have decided to highlight a different invasive species each month to increase awareness, help identify, and hopefully help to re-duced the spread or infesta-tion of the highlighted spe-cies. Last month I covered the Emerald Ash Borer. Ailanthus altissima, also known as Chinese Sumac, tree of heaven, or stinking shumac has pretty much taken America by storm. Introduced as early as 1784, it has been written about ever since. A Tree Grows In Brook-lyn focuses on this genus and Alan Weisman mentions it in The World Without Us.

This tree will grow anywhere– even in the cracks in side-walks. Shade seems to be the only deterrent, and not a good one at that. Identification is very impor-tant with this plant, as many

native sumac and other trees like black walnut have similar compound leaves with numerous leaflets. A single tree can pro-duce 325,000 winged seeds in a year. The tree also suckers, forming dense clumps. For a great resource for identifying and eliminating these trees visit MIPN.org

“It may be doubted whether there are many other animals which have played so important a part in the history of the world, as have these lowly organized creatures” -Charles Darwin

There are about 1,678 earthworm taxa in twelve different families found in North America. Ap-proximately 60 of these are exotic/introduced.

These creatures do many wonderful things both in a yard and as a part of the larger ecosystem as a whole. There are many benefits to having them under foot, so to speak, so let’s take a look at some ways that they enhance our envi-ronment.

Page 5

F A N T A S T I C F A U N A : T H E L O W L Y E A R T H W O R M

IN VA S I V E S- TR E E OF HE AV E N

1– Earthworms convert organic material into hu-mus, thus improving soil fertility. 2– Earthworms also ingest inorganic matter grind-ing it into smaller particles that create castings. It is estimated that a single worm can create 10 lbs. of castings a year. These casting are rich in phos-phates, nitrogen, and potash– all things needed for great plant growth. 3– Earthworms create physical channels allowing air and water to get to the roots of plants. It is when these channels become flooded that they come to the surface after rain to keep from drown-ing. Free aerators– who would have thought? 4– Earthworms are a valuable food source, particu-larly during nesting season for birds.

These are just a few benefits from many.

Unfortunately, many are unable to reap these bene-fits due to use of artificial chemicals. Nitrogenous fertilizers commonly applied to lawns often create acidic soil conditions fatal to earthworms. There-fore, the most reliable way to increase worm popu-lations is to avoid artificial chemicals altogether.

Worms– they’re not just for bait anymore!

“I think we consider too much the good luck of the early bird and not enough the bad luck of the early worm.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt

Tree of Heaven National Distribution

Earthworms are a main component of a healthy ecosystem

Primary Business Address 1753 Wick Way Montgomery, IL 60538

Great Nat ives Of Mid-western Ecotype

I can see the biggest differ-ence in the general separa-tion of land use. It feels like we try to keep nature in pock-ets in suburbia. A preserve here, a prairie there. Lines seem to be much more de-fined. Many would not be very excited to find a snake in their yard– though I haven’t seen one anywhere since moving here.

“Why don’t we have as many birds at our feed-ers as we did at our old house, Dad?” A good question posed by my now 10 year old son one winter evening.

I began to discuss how we don’t have the ma-ture trees that we had there, how we lacked cover, how even our old house was once new and likely didn’t have the same species of birds that visited and lived there when we called it home. But now I find myself questioning my answer. Is there more to that than I was thinking?

There seems to be a funda-mental philosophical differ-ence between our current suburban community and our old rural one in Iowa.

Maybe it is simply that rural people tend to be more lax in their ways– especially their driving as I can attest upon going back. Maybe the fence line sprouting saplings is on “next year’s” project list. Is that how those trees get to be full grown? The lines just seem to blur to me.

The bottom line is that there are pros and cons to living anywhere I guess. I would like to think that by sharing

my interests and thoughts with my children, it might cause a little more blurring of lines down the road. It is more about interrelation than separation. That is, after all, in all probability how I got my own views.

The quote “Bloom where you’re planted” comes to mind. Happy blooming!

FO CU S O N T H E FU T U R E

E-mail: GNOME.Native@gmail.com

There’s no place like GNOME!

Short-eared Owl near South Amana, Iowa 2007

GNOME

Great Natives of Mid-western Ecotype (GNOME) is an organization focused on the preservation and expansion of native floral and faunal species. The mission is to provide a net-based forum where members can share their passion, plans, ideas, and questions with other people having a common interest in native species.

Check out our new site!!!

Join our facebook group! Add the “groups” application and search for us!

(http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=45643568296)

This is our primary forum location. The newsletter as well as open discussions are there and also other links to people and groups that focus on natives.

If you have articles or photos that you would like to share, please email us. We would love to add others to the creation of this newsletter.

We’re on the Web! http://gnomenative.webs.com/