Category: environment

green

this photo is from the Northern Neck of Virginia, near Slabtown. I didn’t plant any of this grass. The grassed area had been in a soybean/corn rotation for the past 30 years (at least). A contractor in the neighborhood likes to say that grass “just happens”. The grass visible in this photo volunteers in late fall, after the Panicum dichotomiflorum stops growing. I wish this grass was year round… What is it?

Maladera castanea, Asiatic garden beetles

breakfast buffet for crows
The Asiatic Garden Beetles are back, feeding at night on tender oak leaves. The AGBs are attracted to electric light. Don’t swim well. So this tupperware pool, lit from below, attracts about twenty-five beetles per night. The beetles tread water until just after dawn when the crows come and enjoy crunchy breakfast buffet.

A native of Japan and China, where it is not an important pest, the
Asiatic garden beetle (Maladera castanea) was first discovered in
the United States in New Jersey in 1922. Asiatic garden beetle grubs
feed off the roots of grasses and weeds in early spring. Adult beetles
attack many different vegetable, herb, fruit, and ornamental plants,
feeding mostly at night where they strip, shred, and notch the foliage
of their hosts. Asiatic garden beetle damage is especially prevalent
around the leaf margins.–University of New Hampshire

Hudson River Greenway

Hudson River Greenway
Walked south on the Hudson River Greenway. The Charlottesville greenbelt is a very different walk. In Charlottesville the intersection of river and the land retains natural function plus native flora and fauna. There is communication going on between river and land. Loved walking the Hudson but the Rivanna has more to say.

Smokey Bear for President!

In November 1951, the first Smokey Bear costume was fabricated by Wass of Philadelphia for the Virginia Division of Forestry.

Smokey Bear Guidelines March 2009
Individuals who wear and use the costume must agree to:
1. Use the costume only to further public information, education, and awareness of the prevention of wildfires.
2. NOT TO SPEAK during appearances. Conversations or explanations should be carried out by the accompanying official (escort).
3. Never appear in less than full costume.
4. Remain anonymous at every appearance and in any publicity connected with an appearance. This includes being photographed without the head.
5. Use only costumes that are clean, complete, and in good condition.
6. Keep costume out-of-sight before and after use.
7. Appear dignified and friendly. Avoid clowning and horseplay.
8. Always be accompanied by an appropriately uniformed escort in public appearances, except where not practical, such as on a parade float where space is limited.
9. Do not use alcohol or illicit drugs prior to and during the Smokey Bear appearance. This condition applies to uniformed escorts as well.

Appearances
1. The person wearing the costume must exhibit appropriate animation to be effective. Express sincerity and interest in the appearance by moving paws, head, and legs.
2. There shall be at least one uniformed escort to accompany the Bear. The escort shall guide the Bear at the elbow.
3. After donning the costume, the escort shall inspect the suit. Check for the following:
Is the drawstring tucked in?
Is the zipper out of sight?
Are the buttons fastened?
Is the belt firmly fastened to the pants?
Are the pant cuffs neat?
Is the hat crown up?
Is the head straight on the shoulders?
Is the fur brushed generously?
4. A private dressing room is necessary for putting on and taking off the costume.
5. The costumed bear should not force itself on anyone. Do not walk rapidly toward small children.
6. A round-point shovel is part of the Smokey Bear image. It shall be used for appearances, when appropriate.

Prunus × yedoensis

snap
D.C. packed above and below with tourists filling phone memory with cherry blossoms.

civility instruction
In a ceremony on March 27, 1912, First Lady Helen Herron Taft and Viscountess Chinda, wife of the Japanese ambassador, planted the first two of these trees on the north bank of the Tidal Basin in West Potomac Park.–Wikipedia
(March 26, 2016, Mr. Beaver’s call for civility was ignored. At least one tree was broken by climbers and stripped of flowers for personal adornment.)

grey and green touristinfrastructure
Republicans were once interested in the Environment, witness Teddy Roosevelt and National Parks, Dick Nixon and the EPA. What happened?
In 1965 Democrat Lady Bird Johnson accepted a bunch more Yoshino trees from the Japanese Government. They were planted on the grounds of the Washington Monument.

Couple on the tidal pool.
Many many selfie sticks in action on the perimeter of the Tidal Basin..

much of a muchness

swamp
Bennett’s Creek, the water later runs into the Chowan River then to Albemarle Sound. It is south and west of the Dismal Swamp

swamp
Merchants Mill Pond. via two-lane roads, south and east, skirting the Nottoway River, Courtland Road, Jerusalem Plank Road, Plank Road, through the town of Courtland, bypassing Franklin, crossing the Blackwater River, directly south to North Carolina on the Gates Road, rt.666, through Reynoldson, Wileyton. The Park is near Gatesville NC

open water
Much of a muchness? These clearly baldcypress, but upstream on Bennett’s creek, seemed that there were red maple and tupelo in the mix.

Rivanna Renaissance

Rivanna River Woolen Mills
“The degradation of the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem took place more than two centuries; it will take more than three decades to reverse. The newly signed Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement—with its clear, well-defined and achievable goals and outcomes, its flexibility to respond and adapt to changing conditions and its public engagement—sets the course and provides the watershedwide commitment to get us there.”–Nicholas DiPasquale, Director of the EPA’s Chesapeake Bay Program (left, DiPasquale paddling the Rivanna, October 1)
DiPasquale one of the speakers at today’s Rivanna Renaissance conference.