Native Plants As Habitat For Wildlife - Native Plant Society of ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Various birds delight or frustrate me. Every year the goldfinches congregate, waiting for the gaillardia and meadow blazingstar seed to be just right – just before it’s the ripeness we want for harvest. After two years of watching these plots ravaged, we now protect them in cages of half-inch mesh hardware cloth or bird netting. The netting is best on the roof because the birds can get tangled if loose sections of it lie on the ground. Last year we also had pine siskins which shared the goldfinches’ interest in these seeds. A couple of these birds managed to squeeze into both plots but were quite upset about not finding a way out, and it only happened once. We have silver buffaloberry bushes along the edge of the plots. Sometime cedar waxwings eat the berries but more often a flock of robins will strip the bushes in a day or two. Another fairly common visitor to the wildflowers is the ruby-throated hummingbird. I had been told that red flowers would attract them but from my observations, colour doesn’t seem to be important. In the spring, they hover around the smooth blue beardtongue and the early yellow locoweed. I have watched one spend quite a bit of time at the drab flowers of alumroot when western red lilies were blooming in the adjacent plot. Last year they were seen most often at the patch of white evening primrose. Insects and spiders thrive in these plots. Sometimes if the sunlight is at the right angle I can see hundreds of strands of spider webs, often going from one plot to another. Monarch butterflies found our dwarf milkweed plants the first year they bloomed, laid their eggs and we had caterpillars. Last year we had an infestation of the superb plant bug. This sucking insect, which normally attacks alfalfa, was only on our ground plum, although several other legumes are nearby. The book ‘Insect Pests of the Prairies’ describes the effects as “reduced vegetative growth and destroyed or blasted flower buds”. Our ground plum had no flowers as a result of the feeding of these bugs. The heads of prairie muhly grass often have tiny yellow balls resulting from a parasitic insect attacking a seed. Some of the bees or butterflies seem to prefer a particular plant species while others move from one to another. Even if wildlife can utilize different plants, a greater variety is important because in some years certain plants will do poorly. As a result of watching the wildlife attracted to the many wildflowers and grasses, I am convinced of the importance of plant diversity in supporting many different species of wildlife. (Note: Nora’s plots are located in the Moose Mountains north of Arcola.) 26
Native Plant Industry Trends Andy Hammermeister Native Plant Society of Saskatchewan These notes were taken from a presentation by Terry Anderson (Prairie Seeds Inc.) at Forage and Turf Seed Conference in Saskatoon (January 20 th , 2001) and The Seed Source (Prairie Seeds Inc. newsletter). Native seed markets are strongly influenced by the political environment • Not a rational crop because incentives are required, turf and agronomic forage seed are more reliable markets • Government regulations in SK and AB push for native species, this is not typical across Canada • Government promoted conservation programs increase demand Opportunities • Reclamation market is primary source of demand o Includes conservation/restoration markets as well as industrial disturbance • Emerging markets: o Bioenergy # Native plants as fuel sources (e.g. switch grass) # Increasing potential if fuel prices continue to rise # Lots of information on internet o Low-maintenance turf # Many breeding challenges, has to look as good as conventional turf # Disadvantage for natives in production economics o Farm forages # Has potential if economics are favourable # Advantageous to include in rotations o Herbal remedies # Good potential for useful products • Native legumes o Commercial production continues to be a problem (weeds, disease, pest) Canadian production primarily in competition with northern U.S. production • Canadian advantages o Lower land values than U.S. o Downey brome not a large problem (yet) o Varieties adapted to north should produce best here • Canadian disadvantages o Climatic variability – dry conditions (U.S. irrigates or has more consistent precipitation) o Slower reaction time – U.S. responds to market demand in 9 months versus 16 months in Canada o Harvest 2-3 months earlier in U.S. which gives advantage for fall market 27
Page 1 and 2: The Native Plant Society of Saskatc
Page 3 and 4: Workshop Program and Table of Conte
Page 5 and 6: Biodiversity and the Link Between N
Page 7 and 8: maintenance of a wide array of ecol
Page 9 and 10: Prairie Conservation Action Plan -
Page 11 and 12: The Government of Canada Habitat St
Page 13 and 14: glacial moraine covers approximatel
Page 15 and 16: Loss and Degradation of Native Mixe
Page 17 and 18: Some Plant-Animal Relationships in
Page 19 and 20: The Missouri Coteau - Biodiversity
Page 21 and 22: Guiding principles for the developm
Page 23 and 24: In the first study widespread loss
Page 25 and 26: Saskatchewan’s Grassland Mammals:
Page 27 and 28: The Saskatchewan Burrowing Owl Inte
Page 29: Wildlife and Plants, a Nature Enthu
Page 33 and 34: NPSS Role in the Native Seed Indust
Page 35 and 36: Winter Twig and Shrub Identificatio
Page 37 and 38: Acer negundo (Manitoba maple or box
Page 39 and 40: Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (bearberry
Page 41 and 42: Elaeagnus commutata (wolf willow or
Page 43 and 44: Use: Depending on their size and fo
Page 45 and 46: summer. The grey-green compound lea
Page 47 and 48: need control. They are susceptible
Page 49 and 50: Rosa arkansana (prairie rose) - Thi

Native Plants As Habitat For Wildlife - Native Plant Society of ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?