[Pollinator] Maintaining pollinator habitat

Fri Apr 20 14:16:42 PDT 2018

Dear Rick:  I don’t want to sound judgemental about chemistry.  I’m very conscious of how little I know—I guess I am worried that there is a lot none of know.   I do know you’re right about plastic, though we try very hard to use the lumber wrap over and over again – mostly give to schools who are trying to get rid of turf to create pollinator or school gardens.   I guess the burning of the ground doesn’t seem too off to me as I live in a fire prone region , so the ground has been fried a lot in the past.  But maybe this is a different thing entirely.  Thanks for the comments and food for thought.  It’s one of the toughest things I’ve ever done- restore a meadow!  Very hard work and it seems no right way or one way only.

Nancy Holmes

From: Roulston, T'ai H. (thr8z) [mailto:thr8z at virginia.edu]
Sent: April-20-18 12:21 PM
To: Richard Johnstone <ivmpartners at gmail.com>; Holmes, Nancy <nancy.holmes at ubc.ca>
Cc: pollinator at nappc.org
Subject: Re: [Pollinator] Maintaining pollinator habitat

I look forward to hearing about the chemistry that targets invasive not native plants, invasive but not native grasses, invasive but not native stink bugs, etc.

I’m glad the government has been so productive.

T’ai

From: Pollinator <pollinator-bounces+tai.roulston=virginia.edu at lists.sonic.net<mailto:pollinator-bounces+tai.roulston=virginia.edu at lists.sonic.net>> on behalf of Richard Johnstone <ivmpartners at gmail.com<mailto:ivmpartners at gmail.com>>
Date: Friday, April 20, 2018 at 3:10 PM
To: "Holmes, Nancy" <nancy.holmes at ubc.ca<mailto:nancy.holmes at ubc.ca>>
Cc: "pollinator at nappc.org<mailto:pollinator at nappc.org>" <pollinator at nappc.org<mailto:pollinator at nappc.org>>
Subject: Re: [Pollinator] Maintaining pollinator habitat

I always find it interesting how so many people are afraid of using chemistry that is developed, tested and registered with our government to target only specific pests, i.e plants for herbicides, while not adversely affecting other species such as insects, grubs, worms, ants and nesting bees, etc. Is no one concerned that the plastic is literally cooking the life out of a multitude of species???
Rick

On Fri, Apr 20, 2018 at 11:16 AM, Holmes, Nancy <nancy.holmes at ubc.ca<mailto:nancy.holmes at ubc.ca>> wrote:
Hi Sabrina: If you’re like me and don’t like the idea of using herbicides (mostly just afraid of worsening my already fraught relationship with the earth)  I think there are other options, but they’re slow.  I’ve had permaculture guys suggest grazers too but in the end I just couldn’t figure out how to do that properly.  Getting a great native meadow-building book or guide is helpful.  We have been experimenting on various methods for replacing invasive grasses and other species over the past two years on our Pollinator Pasture site http://borderfreebees.com/kelowna-public-art-pollinator-pasture/.  We have been most successful with plastic solarisation methods that kill the invasive grasses and species, then we  seed over.  We get donated plastic from lumber yards—that big lumber wrap.  We’d done about half an acre at a time  (and we donate the plastic to others to use as solarisation sheets to try to keep stuff out of the landfill!)   The solarisation does a great job of killing off the invasive grasses (we left the plastic on for spring and summer one season- ok- and a whole year – better!) but pesky bindweed seems pretty unkillable!  But I think we’re making the conversion slowly though I am trying to not expect perfection!

Best of luck,

Nancy Holmes

From: Pollinator [mailto:pollinator-bounces+nancy.holmes<mailto:pollinator-bounces%2Bnancy.holmes>=ubc.ca at lists.sonic.net<mailto:ubc.ca at lists.sonic.net>] On Behalf Of Richard Johnstone
Sent: April-19-18 11:53 AM
To: Kathleen Law <kl at pollinator.org<mailto:kl at pollinator.org>>
Cc: pollinator at nappc.org<mailto:pollinator at nappc.org>
Subject: Re: [Pollinator] Maintaining pollinator habitat

You should use selective herbicides to target the non-native grasses first to allow your forbs to grow. With the right herbicides there is no need to mow or use sheep. If you use sheep without killing the non-native grasses, they will most likely eat the native grasses and forbs first, and leave the non-native grasses alone to dominate the site.
Rick Johnstone

On Thu, Apr 19, 2018 at 2:24 PM, Kathleen Law <kl at pollinator.org<mailto:kl at pollinator.org>> wrote:
Hi Sabrina,
I have no direct experience but here's a list of studies on the topic to get you started:

Bai, Y. G., Z. Abouguendia, and R. E. Redmann. 2001. Relationship between plant species diversity and grassland condition. Journal of Range Management 54:177–183.

Black, S. H., N. Hodges, M. Vaughan, and M. Shepherd. 2007. Pollinators in natural areas: a primer on habitat management. Lloydia (Cincinnati):8.

Carvell, C. 2002. Habitat use and conservation of bumblebees (Bombus spp.) under different grassland management regimes. Biological Conservation 103:33–49.

Dover, J. W., S. Spencer, S. Collins, I. Hadjigeorgiou, and A. Rescia. 2011. Grassland butterflies and low intensity farming in Europe. Journal of Insect Conservation 15:129–137.

Elwell, S. L., T. Griswold, and E. Elle. 2016. Habitat type plays a greater role than livestock grazing in structuring shrubsteppe plant–pollinator communities. Journal of Insect Conservation.

Farruggia, A., B. Dumont, A. Scohier, T. Leroy, P. Pradel, and J. P. Garel. 2012. An alternative rotational stocking management designed to favour butterflies in permanent grasslands. Grass and Forage Science 67:136–149.

Fischer, S. J., E. H. Williams, L. P. Brower, and P. A. Palmiotto. 2015. Enhancing Monarch Butterfly Reproduction by Mowing Fields of Common Milkweed. The American Midland Naturalist 173:229–240.

Hoffman, S., M. Shepherd, and M. Vaughan. 2011. Range Management for Pollinators. Society for Range Management 33:9–13.

Hudewenz, A., A. M. Klein, C. Scherber, L. Stanke, T. Tscharntke, A. Vogel, A. Weigelt, W. W. Weisser, and A. Ebeling. 2012. Herbivore and pollinator responses to grassland management intensity along experimental changes in plant species richness. Biological Conservation 150:42–52.

Kruess, A., and T. Tscharntke. 2002. Contrasting responses of plant and insect diversity to variation in grazing intensity. Biological Conservation 106:293–302.

Kruess, A., and T. Tscharntke. 2014. Grazing intensity and the diversity of grasshoppers, butterflies and trap-nest bees and wasps. Conservation Biology 16:1570–1580.

Machmuller, M. B., M. G. Kramer, T. K. Cyle, N. Hill, D. Hancock, and A. Thompson. 2015. Emerging land use practices rapidly increase soil organic matter. Nature Communications 6:6995.

MacPhail, V., and J. Kyle. 2012. Rotational Grazing in Extensive Pastures. Guelph.

McGraw, R. L., F. W. Shockley, J. F. Thompson, and C. A. Roberts. (n.d.). Evaluation of native legume species for forage yield, quality and seed production. Native Plants:152–160.

Morandin, L. A., M. L. Winston, V. A. Abbott, and M. T. Franklin. 2007. Can pastureland increase wild bee abundance in agriculturally intense areas? Basic and Applied Ecology 8:117–124.

Sjödin, N. E., J. Bengtsson, B. Ekbom, N. E. Sj, J. Bengtsson, and B. Ekbom. 2015. The influence of grazing intensity and landscape on the diversity and abundance of composition insects 45:763–772.

Sjödin, N. E., J. Bengtsson, and B. Ekbom. 2008. The influence of grazing intensity and landscape composition on the diversity and abundance of flower-visiting insects. Journal of Applied Ecology 45:763–772.

Technical, B., N. No, and D. May. 2011. Attachment to Biology Technical Note No. KS-37 Dated May 31, 2011:1–23.

Vulliamy, B., S. G. Potts, and P. G. Willmer. 2006. The effects of cattle grazing on plant-pollinator communities in a fragmented Mediterranean landscape. Oikos 114:529–543.

Enjoy!

Kathleen Law
Outreach Program Manager
Pollinator Partnership
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On Thu, Apr 19, 2018 at 2:17 PM, Sabrina Malach <sabrinamalach at gmail.com<mailto:sabrinamalach at gmail.com>> wrote:
Hello everyone!

I am in the process of creating a 20-acre bee sanctuary with native plants. Two years ago, we piloted the project and planted 4-acre. The first year we had a drought and little showed up and last year there was tons of rain and things were blooming.

I was advised to mow 3 times a year to keep the non-native grasses that had been there for decades at bay.

We hired someone to mow for us but it was expensive and carbon heavy. My friend has offered to let sheeps do the work and im wondering if anyone has utlitzed animals for ecological restoration. If so, please share your experience and lessons learned.

Thank you,

Sabrina

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IVM Partners is a 501-C-3 non-profit corporation operated exclusively for charitable, scientific, literary, and educational purposes to develop, educate professionals and the public with respect to, and apply best vegetation management and conservation practices and related activities.
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