[Pollinator] Help w/insect ID - habitat creation/restoration

[Robin Eisman]

Dear Pollinator Colleagues:

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.  

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).

Thanks for any suggestions.  

Robin Eisman


 
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