Napa RCD Weekly Activity Digest - 16th Edition
Greetings from Napa RCD!
What a unique place we live in, with so many different ecosystems to explore. From the valley floor's riparian and valley oak woodland environments to the chaparral-dominated Vaca Mountains to the east and the green Mayacamas Mountains to the west. Napa County boasts a rich variety of life. Every living and non-living thing, including us, is part of an ecosystem. In that ecosystem, we are all connected in a giant web of life. Join us this week as we suggest ways to experience and learn about various ecosystems globally, locally, and even in our own homes.
Would you like to slow down and spend time connecting with local ecology this summer? Visit
Napa Outdoors
for ideas on where to play outside or pick up a copy of the
Napa Valley Historical Ecology Atlas
to learn about the past, present, and possible future of our home’s unique landscapes.
Tag us on social media @NapaRCD and #WILDnapa, or email
Education@NapaRCD.org.
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Many thanks to the following education and outreach activity sponsors for their support: NOAA, County of Napa, Napa County Stormwater Pollution Prevention Program, City of Napa, the Watershed Information and Conservation Council, and Friends of the Napa River.
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Virtual Tours and Podcasts
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You don’t always have to venture outdoors to explore ecosystems. There are many virtual opportunities to experience and learn about different environments near and far. Take an adventure in one of the
US National Parks
, stand among the
giant redwoods
, or search online for virtual experiences in many places across the globe.
Podcasts are another wonderful way to learn about nature. Try one from the list below to dive deeper into ecology, conservation, or gardening.
- Future Ecologies: Listen as this podcast examines the “ecological processes that define planet earth: how they affect us, how we’ve affected them, and how we can align with them to create vibrant, biodiverse, and resilient societies.”
- Today’s Voices of Conservation Science: Join the Department of Ecology at Montana State University as they talk with scientists about the science needed to conserve everything from alpine meadows to great white sharks.
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Shrink the scope of nature to fit inside your home by building a bottle biosphere with a self-sustaining ecosystem inside! This experiment allows you to experience the delicate balance within an ecosystem, and learn what’s needed to make and keep one healthy.
If your bottle ecosystem is a healthy one, it can last for years, like
this one
that has been thriving since 1960!
Below are components of a healthy ecosystem:
- sunlight (energy source)
- living organisms (producers, consumers, decomposers, predator/prey)
- nonliving things (landforms, water sources, soil, rocks)
- dead organisms
- natural boundaries (set by the living and nonliving things in that area)
- native plant and animal populations interacting in balance with each other and nonliving things
Does your bottle ecosystem meet the criteria? Show us your experiments by tagging us on social media @NapaRCD or emailing
Education@NapaRCD.org
.
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American Canyon Community and Parks Foundation is teaming up with Napa RCD and other environmental and education nonprofits in Napa County to offer a fun and educational experience for youth this summer. Students will build their naturalists skills and learn how scientists observe and understand nature, all while having fun with outdoor activities.
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“There is a deep interconnectedness of all life on earth, from the tiniest organisms, to the largest ecosystems, and absolutely between each person.”- Bryant McGill
This week’s nature journal activity looks at the webs that connect all of us to each other and the world around us. Let's start by focusing on a particular area of nature. In your journal, sketch or describe a defined place, like a creek bank, patch of oak trees. Take some time to label the different living and nonliving things in this area. How do these things connect to each other?
You can try this on a smaller scale: zoom in on a log and look for the connections among living and nonliving things.
Try drawing a food web within your observed ecosystem as a way to represent how things are connected. How do humans fit into your scene? Then, think about one of those living or nonliving things disappearing. How would the web of life in your scene change? Would other species be affected? Would humans be affected?
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Don't Forget About the Oak Crew!
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The Oak Crew is a group of youth volunteers (14-25) who will work with Napa RCD staff to take care of young oak plantings on multiple days in July and August. Work will primarily consist of weeding around and applying mulch to young oaks to keep weeds at bay and ensure success of as many plantings as possible.
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This week's nature nugget was found at Moore Creek Park and might make some people a bit uneasy, but it's an important topic in Napa County right now: snakes!
This very much harmless snake is a Pacific gopher snake
(Pituophis catenifer catenifer)
. Gopher snakes are camouflaged perfectly for the dry trails and roads of Napa County, so be careful as you're out and about so you don't squish any of them. These snakes are an important part of our Napa County ecosystems, as they help keep our rodent populations in check and are a food source for foxes, hawks, and coyotes.
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Help support RCD Programs -
Donate
Today!
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Napa County Resource Conservation District | 707-252-4189 |
NapaRCD.org
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