THE BIRDS, BEES & BUTTERFLIES
The Butterfly/Pollinator Hill at Gladstone Nature Park is a new, two-year FOGNAP rehabilitation project. The plan is to rehabilitate a 25-foot tall, 10,000 square-foot hill near the Gladstone Nature Park meadow using FOGNAP volunteers, school students and their families, to restore it with native plants that will attract butterflies, pollinators, and birds. We hope to create a showcase for beautiful Willamette Valley butterflies, flowers, and native gardening practices. The Butterfly/Pollinator Hill will be a working laboratory for local teachers and students to learn more about Oregon native habitat, biodiversity, and the importance of pollinators.
POLLINATORS ARE IN REAL TROUBLE
Pollinators are in serious trouble on our planet due to habitat loss, disease, urban development, and overuse of pesticides. Threats to pollinators are endangering three-quarters of the world's food supply that relies on beneficial insects, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization, a department within the United Nations.
THANK YOU ... GRANTS ARE IMPORTANT MILESTONES FOR OUR PARK
Thanks to Metro's 2019 Nature in Neighborhoods Restoration and Community Stewardship Grant, aiming to help FOGNAP attract buttterflies, pollinators, birds and visitors like you to the Gladstone Nature Park and the Gladstone area. The project is intended to be a demonstration site and will include interpretive signage to help visitors identify plants and species. OnPoint Community Credit Union also awarded FOGNAP a Community Impact Grant to purchase supplies for K-12 students to work on the Butterfly/Pollinator Hill.
The Butterfly/Pollinator Hill project would not be possible without FOGNAP's partners: Metro, Gladstone School District, City of Gladstone, Exceed Enterprises, Audubon Society, Bosky Dell Natives, and OnPoint Community Credit Union to name a few. Watch this project develop through June 2021.
The Butterfly/Pollinator Hill at Gladstone Nature Park is a new, two-year FOGNAP rehabilitation project. The plan is to rehabilitate a 25-foot tall, 10,000 square-foot hill near the Gladstone Nature Park meadow using FOGNAP volunteers, school students and their families, to restore it with native plants that will attract butterflies, pollinators, and birds. We hope to create a showcase for beautiful Willamette Valley butterflies, flowers, and native gardening practices. The Butterfly/Pollinator Hill will be a working laboratory for local teachers and students to learn more about Oregon native habitat, biodiversity, and the importance of pollinators.
POLLINATORS ARE IN REAL TROUBLE
Pollinators are in serious trouble on our planet due to habitat loss, disease, urban development, and overuse of pesticides. Threats to pollinators are endangering three-quarters of the world's food supply that relies on beneficial insects, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization, a department within the United Nations.
THANK YOU ... GRANTS ARE IMPORTANT MILESTONES FOR OUR PARK
Thanks to Metro's 2019 Nature in Neighborhoods Restoration and Community Stewardship Grant, aiming to help FOGNAP attract buttterflies, pollinators, birds and visitors like you to the Gladstone Nature Park and the Gladstone area. The project is intended to be a demonstration site and will include interpretive signage to help visitors identify plants and species. OnPoint Community Credit Union also awarded FOGNAP a Community Impact Grant to purchase supplies for K-12 students to work on the Butterfly/Pollinator Hill.
The Butterfly/Pollinator Hill project would not be possible without FOGNAP's partners: Metro, Gladstone School District, City of Gladstone, Exceed Enterprises, Audubon Society, Bosky Dell Natives, and OnPoint Community Credit Union to name a few. Watch this project develop through June 2021.
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HOW TO CLEAN YOUR MASON BEE HOUSE
If you installed a mason bee house in your yard last year, winter is the time to clean it and collect the babies for spring. For houses with trays, follow these steps:
1. Carefully remove each tray. You should see rows of cocoons encased in mud. Rinse with water to
soften the mud. This will not hurt the cocoons.
2. With a bamboo skewer or coffee stirring stick, carefully dislodge the cocoons from the wet mud and
collect them in a paper cup.
3. Rinse with water and stir to remove mud and debris. Inspect for mites or other insect invaders.
4. Air dry the cocoons and store them in a cardboard or tin container with small holes punched in it.
Make one of the holes 5/8 inch. This will be the exit for the new generation of mason bees. Store the
bee boxes in a larger box in the crisper of your refrigerator until a warm day in the spring. Keep a
moistened paper towel in the larger box to ensure humidity.
5. Thoroughly scrub and clean your trays with water. Dry and store them in your garage or garden shed.
6. In spring, place the container with the new cocoons in your mason bee house and grow your colony.
If your mason bee house has tubes, inspect them for damage and pests. Discard any that look suspicious and store the rest in your refrigerator until spring.
The Butterfly/Pollinator Hill in the Gladstone Nature Park has 10 mason bee houses thanks to the GHS shop classes. You can see them behind the Butterfly/Pollinator Hill near the fence. To keep your mason bees healthy, be sure to avoid pesticides in your yard.
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