Our parks are blooming in all their glory right now! The amount of biodiversity within them gives me a warm fuzzy feeliing. The volume of pollinators, butterflies and bumblebees, is amazing!! One of my favorite breaks in my day is to just stand still anywhere in our parks and watch and listen to the incredible amount of activity buzzing around. The removal of invasive species and planting in of native species, during our ROOT volunteer times, adds to the habitat for those important buzzing critters. Why should we care about adding habitat for buzzing critters? Did you know that insects provide services in the value of up to at least $57billion annually in the United States alone! The Xerces Society has a wonderful abundance of resources on this topic. One recent article on their website talks about the multicontinental decline of insects and the need for action. One action item called out states, "If we hope to stem the losses of insect diversity and the services insects provide, society must take steps at all levels to protect, restore, and enhance habitat for these animals across all landscapes, from wildlands to farmlands to urban cores." Read more here:https://xerces.org/2019/06/24/insect-declines/   And come join us for a ROOT session to help enhance insect and pollinator habitat! (See times below)

This is also the prime time, in our season, to get a handle on eradicating those summer blooming invasive species. We've had volunteers and interns out pulling Dame's rocket, burdock and thistle and an amazing amount of work has been accomplished! But, of course, we could always use your help, too! Stop in to meet our Land Stewardship summer interns and Drew, our new year round Assistant Land Steward!

 Join our Land Stewardship staff to walk and see what's emerging and blooming in our parks during our Botany Walks, 3 times per month. We will learn to recognize common plant family patterns and individual species characteristics. The walks will alternate weeks, occurring once per month at each branch on Fridays from 9-10:30am. 1st Fridays of the month at Menomonee Valley; 2nd Fridays at Riverside Park; 3rd at Washington Park. Join us for any or all and have the opportunity to get to know the plants and the land at all three of our beautiful parks!

See below for ROOT times, below, to come help us improve the habitat diversity at all three of our branches! 

Join the ROOT times (Restoring Our Outdoors Together) at each of our Urban Ecology Center branches each week to improve biodiversity, connect to the land and help restore and improve vital habitat and native Wisconsin plant community types!

ROOT Times: (ROOT may be canceled if the temperatures are above 100F, below 0F or if there are thunder and lightning)

*Please, arrive dressed for the weather in clothes and shoes you don't mind getting dirty. What to expect this week:

Menomonee Valley ROOT: 
We will be working on invasive species removal in Three Bridges Park. Help us remove invasive species to provide more room for native species to improve the diversity of habitat in our parks. We will also be working on planting of native species and smothering a patch of invasives within 3 Bridges Park. 

Wednesdays 9-11am 

Thursdays 9-11am 

Washington Park ROOT: 
We will be planting in the newly uncovered woodland area and continue smothering the next section to prepare it for next year. We will also be working on removing invasive species from other areas. Visit us to see the blooming woodland wildflowers from last year's planting!

Tuesdays 9-11am 

Thursdays 3:30-5:30pm 

Riverside Park ROOT: 

We will be working on invasive species removal to make space for native species to improve the habitat diversity of Riverside Park. Burdock and thistle are big targets this time of year, before they go to seed. We will also be working on tree protection for our newly planted and existing trees.

Tuesdays 9-11am; Tuesdays 2-4pm 

Fridays 2-4pm (Cancelled 8/9 for summer intern celebration!)

1st Saturday of each month (April to Nov) 9:30-11am

Recent Land Stewardship Blog Posts:

• Native Plant: Common Witch Hazel
• Native Plant: New England Aster & Downy Gentian
• Native Plants: Indian grass
• Plant Defenses
• Native Plant Spotlight: Meadow Blazing Star