Spring- The “New Life” Season

Kevin Brown, Ag Resource Specialist, BCCD
Of all the seasons, I love fall the best.  A nice cool day after it has been 90 degrees or more for maybe weeks on end.  The colors.  It is just a really nice, enjoyable time to be out.  However, who could argue with spring?  It has been a “not-so-ideal spring” so far, for sure.  Cold, rainy, just plain miserable at times.  With that said, as I continue to write this article, the clouds are parting, the sun is shining, and it is leading to what could be the best weekend in 8 months.  Yes, I said it.  Eight months!!!  They said on the news this morning that it had been September since we have seen both days on the weekend be at, or above, 80 degrees.  WOW!

Now, not only will every outdoor-loving person in northeastern Pennsylvania be out doing everything you can imagine (picking up the mess from winter, planting flowers, going for some fantastic walk in nature, and just soaking up the sun and warmth for the first time in a long time), but almost every creature on earth will be doing the same thing.  If you have a flowering tree nearby, go stand under it and just watch and listen.  There will be hundreds, if not thousands, of bees and insects getting their first taste of sweet, beautiful nectar for the first time in 5 or 6 months.  They are also enjoying their “best day ever”.   Although, for them, their best day ever is also about just trying to survive.  Can they make enough food to continue to live for another year?  (As they pollinate ¾ of all the food we eat.)  I am sure they think they have “died and went to Heaven”. 

And just when they thought things couldn’t get any better, here you come with the lawn mower and kill every one of them trying to get some nutrition from that beautiful little flower in your lawn.  There are plenty of different ones out there that they can use, including that one that everyone loves to hate- dandelion.  So far this year, we have had cloudy, cool, damp weather.  This has made it easy to be able to mow lawns and not kill every bee in sight.  They haven’t been out much, yet.  I know.  I watch for them.  Sometimes, slamming on the brakes or trying to push them off the flower with the wheel of the tractor just to try and save them.  However, that is all going to change this weekend.  They will be everywhere, and there will be mass casualties of them because we (vein) human beings just can’t get past our lawns not looking better than our neighbors.  What looks best to every other creature in the world would be taller grass, more flowers in it, more clover in it, and less mass casualty lawn mowers coming by every 5-7 days because the grass grown ¼”. 

We see the signs in a construction zone, “Give Them a Brake”.  Let’s try to do that with the most important creatures on earth.  They do unbelievable things for us, just look it up.  Let’s give them a break.  A break from wiping them out once per week.  Go to a 2–3-week schedule, or at least mow when they are not out as much.  There are communities out there that have “No Mow May”, or “No Mow April”.   Here is a great article on reduced mowing, saving pollinators, etc. https://beecityusa.org/no-mow-may/   It is more and more important every day.  We think about habitat destruction being bulldozers and housing developments and all kinds of things, but we destroy their environment every week when we mow lawn.   Even just mowing less often will save some of them.  With the weather that is coming, THIS will be the big weekend.  Don’t make it the worst one ever for that pollinator.
 
The Bradford County Conservation District is committed to helping people manage resources wisely.  You can visit the Bradford County Conservation District at 200 Lake Rd in Wysox across from the Wysox Fire Hall. Contact us at (570) 485-3144 or visit our web page at www.bccdpa.com.