This past week, Gov. Moore signed the Utility RELIEF Act into law!
This legislation will hold data centers and utility companies accountable, modernize Maryland's energy infrastructure, and save Marylanders at least $150 on energy bills every year.
The Utility RELIEF Act will better manage data center development and have them pay for their own infrastructure upgrades instead of passing along the cost to consumers.
Thank you to everyone who has worked so tirelessly to advocate for this piece of legislation!
Read more using the link in our bio!
Leaves play an incredibly important role in an ecosystem, but did you know that leaf litter also plays an essential role?
Leaf litter keeps the forest floor healthy! Fallen leaves create a protective layer over the soil, keeping the soil cool, retaining moisture, and preventing erosion. Leaf litter also provides habitat for fireflies, snakes, worms, fungi, millipedes, butterflies, and more!
Box turtles are often found bruminating in the soil under the leaf litter.
Click the link in our bio to learn more and think twice before you rake!
- Daniel Cullen, Master Naturalist in-training
Keep learning this summer and join us for our Natural History Field Studies courses🦋🌲🌱
We are offering three courses: Butterflies of Summer, Summer Tree ID, and Introduction to Ferns & Lycophytes!
Butterflies of Summer with Rick Borchelt 🦋 June 3 - July 8 | Wednesday 7-9pm | in-person lectures at Woodend with three field trips
Summer Tree ID with Bradley Simpson 🌲 June 16 - August 18 | Tuesdays 6-8pm | mainly zoom lectures with four field trips
Introduction to Ferns & Lycophytes with Kit Sheffield 🌱 July 2-30 | Thursdays 6-8pm | zoom lectures with two field trips
Learn more using the link in our bio🌻
Tree reproduction- it’s something to sneeze about🌲
Does pollen trigger your allergies? Male flowers produce a powdery pollen that is blown by the wind to fertilize female flowers resulting in seed production. A new tree is born when seeds produced by the female flower are released and fall to the ground and take root. Of the thousands of seeds released only a few find the right conditions to become a tree.
Some tree species are Monoecious- not strictly male or female- but both. They have both male (pollen producing) and female (seed or fruit producing) flowers on the same tree. Pine trees produce cones instead of flowers. The female pine cones and male pollen producing cones live together briefly on one tree. Have you noticed yellow powder blowing from coniferous trees in the spring? That is the pollen released by the small soft and short-lived male cones. The wind blows the pollen from the male cones to the female cones. As they mature, the female cones become the recognizable wood pine cones that everyone is familiar with. It can take the female cones 1.5- 3 years to mature and release the seeds that are wind or bird dispersed. Each scale in the pine cone houses 2 seeds that are similar to the winged “helicopter” like seeds of the maple tree that blow in the wind.
Oak trees are also monoecious. The male flowers are called catkins, with clusters of dangly stems lined with small beadlike pollen producing and sneeze inducing flowers. When the female flowers are fertilized, they become acorns. The male and female flowers on an individual tree mature at different times, so fertilization is dependent on wind pollination from another tree.
Oak trees have boom (or mast years) producing hundreds to thousands of acorns, and bust years with no acorn production. Since acorns are a major food source for many animals, boom and bust years affect animal population and survival.
Check out a video of male pollen releasing cones using the link in our bio🐛
-Tali Stopak, Maryland Master Naturalist in-training
Is it a male tree or a female tree or both? Trees don’t really have gender- but a tree may have all male, all female or both types of flowers🌸🌻
When you walk in the park does everything look quiet and passive? The activity of the forest goes on in front of our eyes but we don’t see it; the metabolism going on within trees, the interplay of climate, soil, insects, fungus, birds and animals, and the reproduction of new trees, plants, flowers. Although we don’t witness all this activity, we see the results of the industrious forest, especially as trees start to create buds in the early spring. One of the early spring budding trees is the boxelder (which is actually in the maple family). Did you know that boxelder trees are either male or female? They are dioecious trees meaning that the trees either have all female or all male flowers on one tree.
The “male” trees have flowers that have stamens (the male sexual organ), where pollen is created and released. “Female” trees have flowers with female reproductive organs-stigmas that capture the pollen and produce ovules which develop into seeds/fruit. In dioecious trees such as Boxelder, pollination is mostly through the wind which carries the pollen from the male to female trees. Bees, birds, insects and other animals also have a role in dioecious reproduction and pollination. Box elder male spring flowers are wispy, yellow-green tassel like, the flowers emerge before the leaves.
The female flowers are more reddish green with fine hairs, and the flowers bloom along with the leaf.
These flowers become paired samaras (V shaped wings or “helicopters”) in the fall. The samaras contain the seeds that are carried by the wind and drift to the ground in the hopes of becoming a new tree.
Other dioecious trees are Holly, Juniper, Willow, Poplar, Persimmon, Ash , and Spicebush . The female trees are the ones that create fruits like the red berries of the Holly or the blue berry of the Juniper.
- Tali Stopak, Maryland Master Naturalist in-training
Plants and Ants🌱🐜
Spring is a magical time in the forest. In a short span of time , little buds on tree branches become a canopy of leaves. In those few weeks, before the leaves unfurl and block the sun from reaching the forest floor, the spring ephemerals (short lasting wildflowers) go through their brief life cycle from bloom to seed and then back to their dormant state underground.
Many of the spring wildflowers including trout lily, spring beauties, trillium and blood root have a special relationship with ants called myrmecochory. Ants help spread the seeds of these plants. The yellow trout lily flower gives way to a seed which has a nutrient rich coating called an elaiosome. Ants are attracted to the elaiosome, but they are unable to eat the seed. They carry the seeds to their nests to feed on the elaiosome, leaving the rest of the seed intact. Since the ants have no use for the seed, they dispose of the seed near their “waste” pile. The ants have now enjoyed a tasty and nutritious meal and “planted” the seed in a new location.
-Tali Stopak, Maryland Master Naturalist in-training
Happy Teacher Appreciation Week to all of our AWESOME educators at our Nature Preschool!
Rose, Amy, Melanie, Andrea, Maggie, Brooke, and Marie make every moment in our Oaks, Saplings, and Acorns classes wonderful. Thank you for everything you do to educate the next generation of tree huggers💚🌲
Owl Moon Raptor Center works to rescue and rehabilitate birds of prey who are sick, injured, or orphaned, educating the public along the way🦉 We are happy to share that they will be joining us at Woodend After Dark for their 5th time!
Hear from @owlmoonraptorcenter 's Executive Director, Suzanne, on why they decided to return to our annual fundraiser gala this year:
"Part of our mission is to show people, up close, just how beautiful and special raptors are, and to educate the public about all the hazards humans have created for raptors and other wildlife. By partnering with Nature Forward for this event, we can educate the parents and teachers, especially those who share our love of nature and who will pass along this love and knowledge to the next generation of wildlife stewards!"
Get your tickets now for Woodend After Dark on Thursday, June 4 from 6-9pm at Woodend Nature Sanctuary.
Your ticket supports Nature Forward’s vital mission work in environmental education, habitat restoration, and conservation advocacy across the Capital Region.
Link in bio🌱
What’s at Woodend this Week? Yesterday was National World Carnivorous Plant Day which are specialized plants that obtain nutrients by trapping and digesting insects and other animals. They have evolved in nutrient poor environments, where they supplement their diet to acquire essential nutrients. Maryland is home to several carnivorous plant species, many of which are found in the state’s wetlands, bogs, and other nutrient-poor habitats. Sundews, bladderworts, northern pitcher plants, and yellow pitcher plants are some of the most common species.
Plants are considered carnivorous if they have these five traits:
1.) Capture prey in traps
2.) Kill the captured prey
3.) digest the captured prey
4.) Absorb nutrients from the killed and digested prey
5.) Use those nutrients to grow and develop
Here are five basic trapping mechanisms that are found in carnivorous plants:
1.) Pitfall traps (pitcher plants) trap prey in a rolled leaf that contains a pool of digestive enzymes or bacteria.
2.) Flypaper traps use a sticky mucilage.
3.) Snap traps utilize rapid leaf movements.
4.) Bladder traps suck in prey with a bladder that generates an internal vacuum.
5.) Lobster-pot traps, also known as eel traps, use inward-pointing hairs to force prey to move towards a digestive organ.
First image: Pitcher Plant
Second image: Sundew
Fast facts about the Baltimore Oriole!
We love them so much, we made them the logo for our 46th Birdathon… Keep counting and supporting our spring fundraiser throughout May🐛🌱🪺 Link in bio!
Comment your favorite bird fact below🦩
📸: Rodney Campbell, Magee Marsh, Doug Greenberg, Jane Gamble, National Parks Gallery, Skip Russell, Glasshouse, Animalia, Khurt Williams
