Stewardship Connection
We hope you enjoy the new look for Stewardship Connection, Summer 2015, a newsletter  for our conservation easement landowners. Let your stewardship specialists know if you have any questions or suggestions: Katie Busch and Shannon O'Neil are here to help by email or phone, 703-354-5093.
Tackling the invasives problem
NVCT begins restoration project in Arlington

 

Thanks to a grant from the Dominion Foundation, we are restoring one of our parcels in Arlington County, the Rock Spring neighborhood. On the recommendation of the County's Department of Parks and Recreation, the Trust has hired Invasive Plant Control, Inc., to treat invasive arrow bamboo on a half-acre parcel. The first treatment took place last week and a follow-up treatment is scheduled in early September.

 

IPC will apply two foliar treatments of 5% Rodeo to the bamboo stand. The chemical ingredient, Glyphosate, becomes inactive once it contacts the soil, and it biodegrades relatively quickly. It presents minimal danger to people and wildlife when handled properly. After the treatments are completed this fall, NVCT will organize a volunteer workday to cut and haul the bamboo stalks. 

Bamboos form dense thickets that displace native plants and create areas of shade, making it difficult for most native plants to grow.As with any invasive removal project, it's very important to put replacement plants in the ground quickly because the fastest growing plants around are generally invasives. To protect the effort and time put into removing the bamboo, NVCT will be seeding native plants along with a fast-growing native ground cover to sprout up and hold off any invasives carried by wind or upstream water run-off.

 

This is the first step of the restoration process for this property. Removing invasive plants is a big commitment; it takes time, energy, and persistence. With the help and dedication of passionate environmental stewards, we can tackle these invaders one step at a time. 

--Written by Shannon O'Neil
Remedies for those pesky garden pests
photos of garden pests

Do you have garden pests? Have you recently noticed holes or damage on your plants? We grow plants because they taste good or look pretty, but plenty of creatures think you're growing things for them!

Click on the link below for a handy chart to find out what you should look for with some common insect and animal pests, with suggestion of how to protect your plants

 


Did you ID these five insect pests? Clockwise from top left: banana slug, aphids, spider mite damage, tomato hornworm, and spider mites.

--Written by Katie Bush
Welcome birds to your yard with a bird box
CU bird box on Fairfax conservation easement
Placing a bird box in your yard is a great way to attract and provide habitat for  cavity nesting birds that usually nest in holes in trees. These birds--the eastern bluebirds, house wrens, wood ducks, black capped chickadees, and purple martins--are losing suitable nesting sites because of habitat destruction. They also have competition from non-native invasive birds, such as English house sparrows and European starlings. 

A well-monitored nest box in your backyard garden, next to a pond, or in a field, can be the perfect place for a bluebird, tree swallow or kestrel to raise their Bluebird box in Loudoun County young. These two bird boxes have been provided by landowners on their conserved land. 

 

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, www.allaboutbirds.org, is the perfect place to start researching how, where, and when to place a nest box on your land. This renowned bird lab can help you decide on the type of bird box that will work on your land, what materials you will need to build it, and how to monitor and care for it. They even have a citizen science tracking project where you can enter observations from your nest box online at http://nestwatch.org/. 
 

In addition to nest boxes, there are countless other types of habitat structures that can help support wildlife on your land. Nesting platforms for osprey, bat boxes, brush piles, snags for raptors, and turtle basking platforms are just a few of the possibilities. 

--Written by Shannon O'Neil
Eating nearby nature
A great way to savor nearby nature is to experiment with new or favorite foods, and there's a lot to choose from! 
zucchini blossoms
Zucchini blossoms
make great eating

If you have recipes to share, please send them to Katie or Shannon, the stewardship team. We're happy to taste and share local produce ideas, favorite family gems, and even new taste bud ticklers. Please let us know whether or not you would like your name included with your recipes. We hope you enjoy these two zucchini favorites from conservation easement landowners Amanda and Dave Scheetz.

 

Click for Recipes for eating nearby nature

                                Chocolate Zucchini Bread

                                Stuffed Zucchini Blossoms

 --Written by Katie Busch
Things to share from nearby nature
National Park Service, Great Falls
Just in time for summer, the National Park Service has launched a website,  FindYourChesapeake.com , to help people find outdoor adventures both nearby and throughout the watershed.You'll be amazed by the 140 sites in Virginia--including this one at Great Falls--and even more in neighboring states.

Do you have a question about your lawn and garden, trees, soil, natural resources, food and health? The Virginia Cooperative Extension offers education, resources, programs, and assistance right here in Northern Virginia, with offices in each county. Their services include:

  • Advice from certified arborists
  • Soil test kits and analyses (for a small fee)
  • Free weed identification (by photo or sample)
  • Master Gardener program and co-sponsoring the Master Naturalist program
  • Master Food Volunteer program
  • Plant disease diagnostics
  • Forest legacy planning resources
  • And much more. Check with the Virginia Cooperative Extension office assistance at http://www.ext.vt.edu/offices/ for more information.
NVCT sign

The Trust has all-weather signs available for conservation easement landowners that show your commitment to the land. If you'd like to have a sign, let your stewardship team know. Katie Busch and Shannon O'Neil are always available to answer questions.
What we've seen on your land
A hairy woodpecker
on a conservation easement in Arlington
Along Pope's Head Creek, a conservation easement in Fairfax
Two ospreys in their nest on the Potomac River, Fairfax 
Conservation easement landowners protect valuable places forever. Thanks for sharing in the vision of saving nearby nature. P lease contact us with any questions: 703-354-5093, [email protected], or www.nvct.org.  And look for us on Facebook. We welcome comments on this newsletter and story ideas for future editions.