<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt"><DIV>Dear Pollinator Colleagues:</DIV>
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<DIV>An acquaintance where I live, a suburban township just ouside Philadelphia, is starting a program to convert lawns (or other surfaces) to "decorative gardens", with one goal being "environmental improvement". While not primarily a habitat project, he's encouraging use of natives, and environmental education is a key approach; the main concept is putting demonstration gardens in high-visibility public areas as realistic examples of what can be done by homeowners/small businesses. Seems to have great potential for creating lots of mini-habitat. </DIV>
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<DIV>Here's where I need advice/help: to increase the chance of future grants as well as to provide empiric evidence of success, it would be great to actually demonstrate increased use of these mini-habitats by pollinators as well as other wildlife (and given the extensive media coverage of CCD, I'd hope the public is more receptive to such info). I don't have the knowledge to identify insects - are there any resources you can suggest for monitoring? Does USDA-ARS do such things as a public service? We have nearby the ARS Eastern Reg'l Research Center (Wyndmoor).</DIV>
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<DIV>Thanks for any suggestions. </DIV>
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<DIV>Robin Eisman</DIV>
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