My co-worker Danielle and I had been dreaming about this day for weeks. Our backpacks were filled with water bottles, snacks and I of course brought not one, but two insect field guides. We had signed up for the aquatics insect team, not my specialty per say (I always managed to catch more grasshoppers than anything), but I was certainly ready to learn.

It’s probably best that we weren’t on the bird or mammal teams because the animals would have heard us coming miles away. But our non-stop enthusiastic chatter wouldn’t bother our aquatic friends. Nets in hand, plastic containers in our pockets and armed with new pairs of forceps the group set off for the first shift of the day around noon.

Hunting was not going to be easy today. Hardly any sun and a few drizzles here and there posed a challenge for the team. We did manage to find a few caddisfly, damselfly and dragonfly larvae along with the tiniest rove beetle that I have ever seen. True to my grasshopper-locating background, I managed to catch a pygmy grasshopper camouflaged in the small muddy sections of the river’s shoreline. Not exactly what we were supposed to be looking for but we would pass it along to the terrestrial insect team. Even the ferocious tiger beetle couldn’t be bothered to make an appearance along the sandy shores of the river.

Pickings were slim in the river so Danielle and I headed towards dry land in search of fallen tree branches and logs. Turning over one ancient looking log we had found our prize. A plump, lazy millipede slept curled in a tight little coil. Our excited squeals and slight poking with the forceps couldn’t rouse this gentle arthropod from its slumber. A light brown centipede quickly crawled under the decaying leaves and wood probably in search of its next meal. A shy wood cockroach ran for the comfort and safety of the dark underside of the log. After noting our findings we gently rolled the log back into position.

The distant call of songbirds, the gentle rushing river, the deep emerald green of the forest…I truly couldn’t imagine a better way to celebrate biodiversity and Endangered Species Day.

If you haven’t done so already, I’d like to invite you to send your Members of Congress a special message in support of the Endangered Species Recovery Act and also fair funding for endangered species management. The official Endangered Species Day may be over, but we can still take action to protect the wildlife and wild places that we cherish for future generations.

According too the Pollinator Partnership website, nearly 80% of our world’s crop plants require pollination. Bees as well as birds, butterflies, beetles, flies and bats transfer pollen between plants. Plant reproduction hinges on this vital task. With honey bees taking the center stage in the media recently we wanted to provide some information about the National Wildlife Federation’s role in protecting these pollinating power-houses.

NWF promotes pollinator friendly gardening and habitat management techniques by encouraging everyone to reduce their use of pesticides in addition to planting native wildflowers and other flowering plants in their yards and businesses. Native plants are especially important because they provide most of the foods that the vast majority of bee species need to survive. We also recommend that organic produce and other products should be bought whenever possible.

It is important to note that the majority of bees that have been in the media lately are the introduced honey bee. Most native bees are solitary and under-researched, so there wouldn’t be an easy way to know if their populations are being affected by the same problem as the honey bee. However, we do know that pollinators overall are being affected by very similar issues.

The latest news on pollinators can be found at http://www.pollinator.org (mentioned previously). This website is run by the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign, a network of pollinator enthusiasts of which the National Wildlife Federation is a partner. If you are a pollinator enthusiast like me, be sure to check out their information about National Pollinator Week in June!

For more information about NWF’s gardening and habitat management programs, please visit
http://www.nwf.org/gardenforwildlife/.

Also, please check out our newest report The Gardener’s Guide to Global Warming for information about how non-native plants negatively affect your backyard.