Backyard Bird Population in Decline Due to Non-native Invasives

A new study from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute has linked the decline in backyard birds with the abundance of non-native plants.  Song birds depend on insects to feed their young and insects need native hosts for their caterpillars.  Just like the monarch butterfly needs milkweed, all native insects have a native host plant.

The study was conducted in the Washington DC area and focused on  Carolina Chickadees in the which depend on caterpillars to feed their nestlings.  The authors found a significant decline in the population in yards that were predominately landscaped with non-native flowers and shrubs.   The only yards that were able to produce enough chickadees to sustain a stable population were those with a plant composition made up of more than 70 percent of native plants.

We know that there is a decline in native song birds when invasives take over the parks, but this is the first study that directly links the decline to non-native landscaping. 

Take away - plant natives!  Montgomery County has a  program that will pay you to do conservation landscaping.  Check out RainScapes.org  for more information.

*******************************
Press Release:
New Smithsonian Study Links Declines in Suburban Backyard Birds to Presence of Non-native Plants

http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2018/10/16/1809259115

Findings Give Landowners a Simple Roadmap To Provide Essential Habitat for Breeding Birds

Insect-eating birds that depend on the availability of high-calorie, high-protein cuisine—namely caterpillars and spiders—during the breeding season to feed their young are finding the menu severely lacking in backyards landscaped with even a small proportion of non-native plants, according to a new study from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute. This reduction of food availability has led to a decline in the breeding success and population growth of the Carolina chickadee, the study found.

“Landowners are using nonnative plants in their yards because they’re pretty and exotic, they’re easy to maintain, and they tend to have fewer pests on them,” said Desirée Narango, a graduate student researcher at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and first author of the study published October 22 in PNAS. “But it turns out that a lot of those insects they see as pests are actually critical food resources for our breeding birds. For landowners who want to make a difference, our study shows that a simple change they make in their yards can be profoundly helpful for bird conservation.”

The study is the first to directly link the decline of a common resident bird species to the lack of insect prey that results from the use of nonnative plants in landscaping. Narango and colleagues placed nest boxes in more than 160 yards in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area and collected data from homeowners monitoring the nest boxes weekly for Carolina chickadee nests, eggs and nestlings. In those same yards, they also studied adult and juvenile survival by gathering data from the homeowners on individually marked birds they had resighted.

The researchers found that the only yards that were able to produce enough chickadees to sustain a stable population were those with a plant composition made up of more than 70 percent of native plants. Because more than 90 percent of herbivorous insects will only eat one or a few native plants, the use of these plants in landscaping is essential to ensure breeding birds have enough insect prey to eat. For the same reason, native plants are also likely critical for other resident birds, endangered species and migratory species—and not just in backyards on the East Coast.

“These novel, artificial suburban landscapes are found across the country,” Narango said. “But a gingko that you plant in D.C. and a gingko that you plant in L.A. are doing the same thing for bird conservation—nothing. By using native plants, we can provide food for not only our common North American species, but we’re also providing vital stopover habitat and resources for migratory birds during their perilous journeys.”

Because more than 80 percent of land in the contiguous United States is privately managed, conservationists are trying to get a handle on the ways these human-dominated landscapes threaten wildlife—and how they can be managed in a way that can help. The study’s authors will continue to guide landowners in their landscaping decisions by next looking at whether some native plant species are disproportionately important for supporting insect prey to breeding birds.

This study was conducted in partnership with the University of Delaware and funded by the National Science Foundation. It relied on data collected by landowners participating in the Smithsonian’s Neighborhood Nestwatch program, a citizen-science program that engages communities in monitoring the annual survival and reproductive success of specific bird species.

“Urbanization is one of the primary ways we’re losing natural habitat around the world, and it remains essential that we figure out how we minimize our impacts while maximizing the protection of biodiversity,” said Pete Marra, director of the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center and co-author of the paper. “By working together with citizen scientists participating in the Neighborhood Nestwatch program, people actually living within the urban matrix, we have collectively found a solution that’s good for birds and also for people.

 Resources on native plants can be found online at Audubon’s Native Plants Database, National Wildlife Federation’s Native Plant Finder and the United States Department of Agriculture’s Plant Hardiness Zone Map.

The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute plays a leading role in the Smithsonian’s global efforts to save wildlife species from extinction and train future generations of conservationists. SCBI spearheads research programs at its headquarters in Front Royal, Virginia, the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, D.C., and at field research stations and training sites worldwide. SCBI scientists tackle some of today’s most complex conservation challenges by applying and sharing what they learn about animal behavior and reproduction, ecology, genetics, migration and conservation sustainability.

The paper’s third author is Douglas W. Tallamy with the University of Delaware.

Testimony in Favor of Full Funding for Montgomery Parks

Montgomery County is in the middle of budget hearings for FY 19 Operating budgets.  Our Executive Director, Sarah Morse, presented to following in support of fully funding Montgomery Parks both for operating budget for FY 19 and for Capital Improvement Projects for FY 19-24.  The Council is still taking comments.  Send your thoughts to county.council@montgomerycountymd.gov.

Testimony

Sarah Morse

Executive Director, Little Falls Watershed Alliance

Thursday, April 12, 2017

Montgomery County Council hearing on FY19 Operating Budget 

and amendments to the FY 19-24 CIP

I’m Sarah Morse, the Executive Director of the Little Falls Watershed Alliance, an environmental stewardship group for Little Falls Branch, the Willett Branch and surrounding area.  We are  located in lower Montgomery County in the Bethesda-Chevy Chase area.  We have over 2,000 members and work closely with the community on projects and issues affecting the natural areas in our neighborhood.  We are lucky to have many parks in our watershed;  the largest is the Little Falls Stream Valley Park with 4 miles of trails, and also there is the Capital Crescent Trail which cuts through the watershed.  

I’m here to advocate for the Park budget.  The County Executive’s proposed operating  budget is $5 million less than the Planning Board deemed necessary to support our extraordinary park system.  And the recommended Capital Improvements Program (CIP) budget falls $26 million less than the Parks’ request. 

It’s especially significant that these hearings are in April as the County is getting ready to celebrate Earth Day,  a day of environmental activism where we recognize the obligation that humans have to be stewards of the planet.  The park system in Montgomery County is an essential part of our stewardship to the environment.  As the County becomes more and more developed, as trees and meadows give way to commercial and residential units, these parks become more and more important as the last green areas. 

While the environmental obligation is compelling in itself, there are also economic and health benefits from having a robust park system.  Many studies show that housing prices rise the closer a property is to a park – some studies say properties are as much as 70% more expensive if they are located park-side.  Mental and physical health improve from park use.  More and more doctors are touting the mental health advantages of simply walking in the woods.  In Japan  “forest bathing” is a  part of its national health program.  And of course, everyone recognizes the benefits that a daily run or walk on park trails brings.  Healthier citizens are also an economic plus for the County.

With all this in mind, the little Falls Watershed Alliance requests that the Council fully fund Montgomery Parks moving forward and restore the entire $5 million to their operating budget for FY19,  as well as fully fund their Capital Improvement Program budget for FY19-24.  We need  parks and we need them to be fully funded.  

The Little Falls Watershed Alliance has a close partnership with Montgomery Parks and we have seen how they get a lot of bang-for-the-buck from community volunteer efforts.  We work with Tenley Wurglitz and Carole Bergmann on the Weed Warriors Program hosting almost weekly events to restore native plants.  These two remarkable Park employees have developed a nationally recognized program that utilizes thousands of volunteers to combat non-native invasives that are killing our native trees and plants.  Volunteers in their program spent over 5,700 hours last year on behalf of the Parks – the equivalent of almost 3 full time employees.  Almost 100,000 volunteer hours have been logged since the program began in 1999.  Yet, the Weed Warrior program is just staffed part-time, with 2.25 employees.  Think of what could be leveraged if the staffing was doubled.  Think of what a loss it would be if this program was cut due to budget concerns.

Parks  is already operating on a lean budget.  The trails in the Little Falls Stream Valley Park are in terrible shape.  They are buckling, sinking, and crumbling.  Because we are located in a densely urban area, our park is well used by mothers pushing strollers, children playing in the creek, dog walkers, joggers, bird watchers and a surprising number of elderly residents out for fresh air.  The park is an important part of our lives.  But when we ask for trail renovation, we are told that there isn’t the money for it at this time.  In partnership with the Weed Warriors Program, we restored a meadow in Norwood Park.  Native wildflowers grow where there was once a wasteland of dead trees and vines, but when we inquired about doing another meadow, the same response - no budget for it. 

Money is also needed for stormwater management in the Little Falls Stream Valley Park.  Every time it rains, we have considerable flooding making the trails impassible to anyone who is not able to wade through two or three inches of water.  Where storm drains flow unchecked onto park land, huge canyons are forming sending silt downstream into the creek.  Again, when we ask for retrofits to mitigate these issues – we are told that there isn’t money at this time.

To cut the Park operating budget means that these and other projects will not come to fruition.  To cut the budget means that the infrastructures will suffer - not only park amenities like playgrounds and tennis courts, but projects like stream protection and pollution prevention that are key to our stewardship of the environment.  We cannot expect to continue to have a nationally recognized park system without the budget to maintain it.  We cannot meet our obligation to the environment that the County celebrates every Earth Day without the budget to maintain our Parks.  And we cannot expect to reap the economic benefits that the County realizes from properties located park-side if the parks are allowed to fall into disrepair. 

Montgomery County has long been a leader in environmental stewardship with one of the strongest stormwater management permits in the Country, the best park system in the Country.  Our quality of life is second to none and the County is one of the most desirable places in the Country to live.  Help us maintain this standard of excellent and fully fund the Park.  

Effects of Road Salt on our Creek

All over the snowy regions, scientists are finding that road-salt runoff poses an increasing threat to aquatic ecosystems. Although, the salt keeps the roads safer by lowering the melting temperature, there is an environmental cost.  With the rain, the salt washes into creeks and rivers and raises the salinity of the water.  Fish and other stream life cannot live in the salty water.

The Izaak Walton League has a program for citizen scientists to track the impact of road salts on local streams.  We would love to have a tester in the watershed.  Please contact Little Falls Watershed Alliance at stormwater@LFWA.org if you are interested.  

The Izaak Walton League of America will send you free chloride test strips to take to your stream: one for a baseline reading, one for a reading after salt has been applied, and a couple more for readings after warm weather or storm runoff has washed the salt into the stream. You then upload your results through the Water Reporter app to a map. More information is HERE.

For a lot of good information on what northern states are doing to minimize the effect of road salt, visit the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services at https://www.des.nh.gov/organization/divisions/water/wmb/was/salt-reduction-initiative/impacts.htm

And here's some information about how Minnesota DOT is cutting back on salt use.  https://www.mprnews.org/story/2017/03/31/mndot-cutting-back-road-salt

Update on Westbard Self Storage

Westbard Storage Moves Building out of the Buffer!

The latest submission from Westbard Storage have moved their proposed self-storage facility out of the stream valley buffer.  While this is cause for celebration, there is still much about the building plans that LFWA is not in agreement with.  

We are advocating for:

Treatment of surface run-off and vegetative areas that allow the water from the driveways and parking lots to soak into the ground.  

The Westbard Storage Facility stormwater management plan relies entirely on roof-top solutions for filtering the water while leaving the surface run-off untreated and flowing directly into the Willett Branch.  The primary goal of a good stormwater management plan is to return the water to the ground where it will be cleaned by natural processes and recharge the ground water. While green roofs have a lot of benefit to the environment, returning water to the ground is not one of them. Instead, the water is soaked up by the roof top plants and any excess is channeled into the storm drains.   

Wider Pathway into the new Willett Branch Park.

The Sector Plan specifically calls for a welcoming gateway to the new Willett Branch park.  The corridor between the building and the McDonald's that leads to the new Park, is only 18 feet wide.  There will be a sixty foot wall on one side and the McDonald's retaining wall on the other.  We feel this is too narrow to be safe or welcoming.  A 24 foot wide path would allow for plantings and a light to enter the area.  

The Westbard Storage Facility is the first test of the new Sector Plan and the first building to be approved on the banks of the Willett Branch.  We need to get this right.

Please send comments to the Planning staff and Permitting Department.  They need to hear from the public that the park is important and we want the best building we can have so that generations of residents can enjoy the new green space.  

Department of Permitting Services
Mark Etheridge, mark.etheridge@montgomerycountymd.gov,  Manager, Water Resources Plan Review

Montgomery Planning
Elza Hisel-McCoy, elza.hisel-mccoy@montgomeryplanning.org

Our comments from July 2 can be found at http://www.lfwa.org/updates/westbard-self-storage-threatens-stream-buffer  While the building has been moved out of the stream buffer, many of the comments are still unaddressed.

Thank you for your support on this,

Sarah Morse

Mow Your Leaves for a Better Environment!

Mow Your Leaves for a Better Environment!

Big piles of leaves by the curb, a certain sign of autumn and lots of fun for kids to jump in. What could be wrong with that? Not to be the Grinch Who Stole Leaf Pile Jumping, but everything. Leaf piles by the side of the road make their way to the creek where they decompose and cause nutrient bloom. Leaf piles left for pick-up mean no leaves around the base of your trees where they provide an organic blanket for the trees during the winter. Leaf piles in general mean you are wasting valuable nutrients for your lawn. If you leave the leaves, they will feed your lawn all winter long and in the spring, your grass will thank you.

So, this year, take a tip from Winterthur, the spectacular DuPont gardens in Delaware and mow your leaves right on the lawn.

From a Washington Post article

For more than 20 years, the gardeners at this expansive and famously leafy estate have been mowing leaves with (...) lawn mowers. The machines inhale the leaves, chop them into shreds and deposit them as the mower moves along. Engine noise is confined to the muted chug of the mower, not the incessant high-pitch whine of the leaf blower.And there are no bags to unhook and drag anywhere, just a confetti-like litter left on the grass. Ripped into morsel-size pieces, the flakes melt away in two or three weeks as microbes and worms do their work of enriching the soil.

It is such a simple system that (Chris) Strand, garden director, and Long, assistant garden curator, wonder why it hasn't caught on. They are certainly converts in their own gardens. "I spend a fraction of the time I used to spend raking and transporting leaves," says Strand.

This process is endorsed by none other than the Scotts Fertilizer Company. On their website, they recommend you

Take the grass catcher off your mower and mow over the leaves on your lawn. You want to reduce your leaf clutter to dime-size pieces. You'll know you're done when about half an inch of grass can be seen through the mulched leaf layer. Once the leaf bits settle in, microbes and worms get to work recycling them. Any kind of rotary-action mower will do the job, and any kind of leaves can be chopped up. With several passes of your mower, you can mulch up to 18 inches of leaf clutter.

Give your rake a rest, save the local government some money and help the environment all by mowing your leaves. It works for the Winterthur Estates and it will work for you. When spring arrives, you'll see great results. The leaf litter you mowed this fall will have disappeared. And your grass will look greener than ever.

And if your children need a pile to jump it, rake them one and when they're jumped out, put those leaves under your trees and around your shrubs - free and beautiful mulch!

Stop Raking Your Leaves - from the Washington Post, October 7, 2016

Stop Raking Your Leaves by Christopher Ingraham

. . . .According to Sam Bauer, a turf grass researcher at the University of Minnesota, the best thing to do with your leaves may be to forget about raking and bagging, and simply go over them with a lawnmower from time to time.

"The leaves have organic matter in them, you're adding good organic matter to your soil when you're not picking them up," Bauer said in an interview.

You don't need any special equipment to do this -- you can just run the leaves over with your regular mower. If your lawnmower has a side discharge outlet, where a bag or chute usually goes, just close it up, Bauer says. "What that does is it keeps the leaves in the housing of the mower and they get chopped up much more finely."

If you want to get really fancy about it, you can buy a specialized mulching blade for your mower that'll chop them up even more finely.

If you take this approach, the benefits to your lawn are two-fold. First, all the organic material adds good nutrients to your soil, which will help your grass grow better next year. Bauer says he sometimes hears from people worried that too much leaf material will alter their soil chemistry in a bad way. "To me, none of that is valid," he said. He's done some research into this, and found no evidence that too much leaf mulch will alter your soil in a way that hurts your grass.

The other great thing mulching does: It suppresses weeds. Bauer points to experiments showing that leaf mulch reduced the appearance of dandelions by up to 84 percent the following season. . . . .:

Great Lawn Fertilizer and Winter Habitat

The National Wildlife Federation states "In addition to becoming natural fertilizer for your soil, leaves that stay where they fall create “mini ecosystems,” according to another post by the group. Chipmunks, salamanders, earthworms, turtles and other small creatures live in the leaves or use them for food and nesting material, and butterflies and moth pupae like to spend the winter in the leaf layers."

University of Michigan Study Endorses Mulching

Here's another good article about mowing your leaves that sings praises to the value of mulching your leaves right on the grass.

http://www.mlive.com/homeandgarden/index.ssf/2012/10/mulched_leaves_offer_food_prot.html

The author addresses the problem of oak leaves - hard to mulch, but with patience, they will shread.

Fine Gardening Magazine Encourages Leaving the Leaves

Mowing leaves into your lawn can improve its vigor, and unraked leaves in planting beds don’t smother shade-tolerant perennials
by Terry Ettinger

If you dread the annual fall leaf-raking marathon, I have good news for you: Raking and collecting leaves every autumn is a tradition without scientific basis. Research has proven that mowing leaves into your lawn can improve its vigor, and observation shows that unraked leaves in planting beds don’t smother shade-tolerant perennials.  Click HERE to read more.

Mediation Canceled for Cemetery Dispute

After six months and only two meetings, the Conflict Resolution Center of Montgomery County has terminated the mediation process between Westbard developer Equity One (now Regency Centers), the County planning staff, and the Macedonia Baptist Church regarding the post-Civil War African American cemetery located on the banks of the Willett Branch behind the Westwood Tower Apartment. The developer, along with its partner in this project, the Housing Opportunities Commission (HOC) has proposed to build a parking garage and housing over the cemetery.  The goal of the mediation was to come to some agreement between all parties on how to prevent the further desecration of this hallowed land. 

We have no further information on what will happen to this sacred spot.  We would like to see the area become part of the proposed new Willett Branch Park, not only because of the sacredness of the land, but because it lies next to the stream.  We are asking that the county follow their own environmental guidelines and prohibit building in the 100 foot stream buffer.

Read a letter from the NAACP regarding the termination of the process HERE>

Background:

The cemetery has always been an issue for the Little Falls Watershed Alliance as it is located right in the heart of the proposed new park for the Westbard Sector.  It's in the stream valley buffer and lies between River Road and Westbard where the park spreads out and invites people to enter it.  Very early in the planning process, Equity One with their partner HOC, who leases the Westwood Tower Apartments, have wanted to build a parking structure in the buffer and on the cemetery.   Even before the new sector plan was developed, HOC stated that not being allowed to build a parking garage by in the stream valley buffer was a key impediment to their providing affordable housing in the Westbard Sector.  Click HERE to see a copy of the letter dated February 2016.

In February 2017,  the planning board refused Equity One permission to build on the cemetery until a cemetery delineation had been done.  Macedonia Baptist Church, as the descendant community, was to be involved in the delineation process and determination of how the cemetery should be honored. The time table given at the meeting was to revisit the plan in April 2017.  In March 2017, the County hired the Conflict Resolution Center of Montgomery County, to mediate the process.

From the Washington Post, March 17
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/montgomery-county-looks-to-mediator-to-resolve-westbard-cemetery-dispute/2017/03/17/ded6528c-0b4a-11e7-93dc-00f9bdd74ed1_story.html?utm_term=.59912d9c78ba#comments

Montgomery County will hire a mediator in an attempt to resolve an emotionally charged dispute over the search for a lost African American cemetery that has pitted a Baptist church in Bethesda against planning officials and a real estate developer.

The cemetery is believed to be under land north and northeast of the Westwood Tower Apartments on Westbard Drive. The area includes a paved parking lot and driveway. Records describing an early 20th century cemetery on the site were discovered by county staff in the process of evaluating a proposal for new construction from Equity One. The New York firm recently merged with the Florida-based Regency Centers Corp.

In a letter Thursday to Montgomery Planning Board Chair Casey Anderson, County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) and Council President Roger Berliner (D-Potomac-Bethesda), said “added measures” were necessary “to assist those who believe their ancestors were buried on this site.”

Equity One hired a cultural resource firm to conduct a study of the site, but members of Macedonia Baptist Church on River Road objected to having the consultants work for the developer. The church has also said it wants to see a memorial and museum at the site honoring the black community that lived in Westbard from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century.

County Planning Director Gwen Wright agreed to hire two independent anthropologists chosen by the congregation to serve as peer reviewers. But Wright and the anthropologists have not been able to come to terms on the scope of their work.

Leggett and Berliner recommended that the Planning Board, church leaders and county representatives sit down with a mediator.

“Because the community remains understandably concerned about the process thus far, we agree that it would be wise for us to pause for a moment, bring all the parties together to address the various concerns that have been expressed and seek a solution,” they wrote.

Native Plant Sales

A garden full of plants native to Maryland is a great way to reduce stormwater pollution while providing habitat and food for butterflies, birds, and pollinators.

I just got news of two native plant sales.  They are not close, but not that far and worth it for all natives.

In Howard County, Lauren’s Garden Service – Native Plant Nursery is having a fall sale!

September 23rd from 10am – 1pm
3575 Sharp Rd
Glenwood, MD 21738
Lauren’s Garden Service Native Plant Nursery is having a sale. Come shop a variety of native perennials, shrubs, and trees at our nursery! We also stock a variety of garden accents, including containers, baskets, trellises, and torches. Experienced gardeners will be present to help you with your selection and answer any questions you may have. Can’t make this sale? See more events on our website: http://www.laurensgardenservice.com/2017-events All plants are locally native to Howard County and locally grown. 

And in Annapolis, Cape Conservation Corps Sale

October 7, 9am-12pm
Cape St Claire
1223 River Bay Road
Annapolis, MD 21409
Many of us are interested in including more native plants in our yards… but it is hard to find them at our nurseries! And the best time to plant in our region is fall … but most plant sales are in the spring. We at the Cape Conservation Corps in Cape St. Claire, Annapolis area are holding a Native Plant Fall Festival, featuring hundreds of native shrubs, perennials and grasses that you can plant right now. We’ll have experts on hand to help with your selection, plus speakers on pollinators and native plants – even an observational bee hive so you can see native bees at work! 

And of course, there is always Herring Run Nursery, a project of Blue Water Baltimore.
6131 Hillen Road
Baltimore, Maryland 21234
Visit their website at https://www.bluewaterbaltimore.org/herring-run-nursery/