This is my first post!
Please enjoy my elderberry cuttings I'm hoping to grow!

#nature #neature #elderberry #outdoors

#UCDavis - Students Lead #HabitatRestoration at #RussellRanch

Fri, March 20, 2026

"At Russell Ranch, just west of campus along Russell Boulevard, a transformation is underway. What was once grazed #pasture and alfalfa field is becoming a thriving #NativeHabitat led by UC Davis students and funded by #TheGreenInitiativeFund, or #TGIF.

"The Russell Ranch Slough Restoration Project, designed and implemented by the Arboretum and Public Garden’s Learning by Leading™ Ecological Land Management, or #ELM, team, is now at its midpoint. Site preparation is complete, invasive species have been cleared, and nearly 200 native trees and shrubs have been planted along the seasonal slough.

" 'Projects like this show students that restoration isn’t theoretical. It’s something they can design and implement themselves,' said Miles DaPrato, environmental steward for the Arboretum and Public Garden and staff mentor for the ELM team.

"Turning Working Land into #WildlifeHabitat

"The 2.5-acre site sits within the #PutahCreek Riparian Reserve, surrounded by agriculture and rural residences. Rather than separating nature from working landscapes, the project shows how the two can work together — creating habitat while improving the ecological function of the land.

"This past fall, students removed old livestock fencing that blocked #wildlife movement, prepared the soil, and seeded the site with locally adapted #NativeGrasses and #wildflowers timed to the first seasonal rains.

"Over the winter, the team planted nearly 200 native trees and shrubs, including #ValleyOak, #Cottonwood, #Willow, #Elderberry and #Toyon. Temporary drip irrigation has been installed to help the young plants establish during their first critical summers. 'You can study restoration in class, but being out here actually doing the work is completely different,' said Keira Folkers, Environmental Engineering, 2026, and Kayden Delvo, Environmental Science and Management, 2026. 'You start to understand the land, the timing of the seasons and the decisions that go into every step.' "

Learn more:
https://publicgarden.ucdavis.edu/news/students-lead-habitat-restoration-russell-ranch

#SolarPunkSunday #California #HabitatRestoration #Wildlife #CoExistence

How Do You Design A #WildlifeCorridor For #Maine Garden Design?

Excerpt:

"Plant Palette: #NativeSpecies and Layering for Maine

Choose plants that are native to your Maine ecoregion and that provide multiple functions: forage, cover, nesting structure, and seasonal continuity.

- Canopy and large trees (plant for future shade and mast): white pine (Pinus strobus), red #maple (Acer rubrum), sugar maple (Acer saccharum), paper birch (Betula papyrifera), red oak (Quercus rubra), balsam fir.
- Small trees and large shrubs (structure and fruit): serviceberry (Amelanchier spp.), crabapple (Malus spp. native selections), chokecherry (Prunus virginiana), witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana).
- Shrubs for berries and cover: highbush #blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum), #winterberry holly (Ilex verticillata), highbush #cranberry (Viburnum trilobum), black #chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa), #elderberry (Sambucus canadensis), #bayberry (Morella pensylvanica).
- Herbaceous layer and pollinator plants: common #milkweed (Asclepias syriaca), joe-pye weed (Eutrochium spp.), #asters (Symphyotrichum spp.), #goldenrod (Solidago spp.), mountain mint (Pycnanthemum spp.), columbine (Aquilegia canadensis).
- Groundcover and forest floor: bunchberry (Cornus canadensis), wild ginger (Asarum canadense), sedges (Carex spp.), native ferns where appropriate.
- Wetland edge species for riparian corridors: blueflag iris (Iris versicolor), buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis), #sedges, and #NativeRushes.

Plant choice should reflect site moisture, sunlight, and soil pH. Avoid ornamental cultivars with little #wildlife value and never plant species known to be invasive in Maine such as Japanese #barberry or #bittersweet."

Learn more:
https://cultivatingflora.com/how-do-you-design-a-wildlife-corridor-for-maine-garden-design/

#SolarPunkSunday #WildlifeCorridor #NativeSpecies #GardeningForPolinators #Rewilding

How #Indigenous #FoodSovereignty can improve #FoodSecurity

Sustainable Bites: Food and Our Future What can we do to help make our food systems more sustainable? UBC researchers share small steps that can make a big collective impact. 

March 24, 2025

"Indigenous households experience food insecurity at rates two to three times higher than non-Indigenous households in Canada. #Agroecologist Dr. #JenniferGrenz, an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Forestry and Faculty of Land and Food Systems, studies Indigenous food sovereignty and food systems, and how to revitalize them.

Did you know?

#Kwetlal, or #camas, a lily-like plant with a starchy bulb, was an important staple for #IndigenousPeoples along the #SalishSea.
Kwetlal was cultivated in Garry oak #ecosystems by #W̱SÁNEĆ and Quw’utsun Peoples, until #colonization nearly destroyed these unique food systems.

What does Indigenous food sovereignty mean?

" 'Indigenous food sovereignty is the reclamation and revitalization of our food systems,' says Dr. Grenz, who is Nlaka’pamux of mixed ancestry, whose family comes from the #Lytton First Nation. She grew up and lives on the coast of BC.

"The lands across #BritishColumbia, Dr. Grenz explains, were purposefully shaped since time immemorial for foods, medicines and technologies by the Indigenous Peoples who lived there until colonial settlers dispossessed them of their lands, culture and traditions.

" 'Indigenous food sovereignty is also about #CulturalResurgence: being able to access those foods and medicines again and find new ones as we face a changing climate,' said Dr. Grenz. 'Heal the people, heal the land. Heal the land, heal the people. I think that’s really what food sovereignty is about.'

"Revitalizing Indigenous food systems can help diversify and localize food systems in ways that could buffer against #FoodInsecurity in a changing climate.

"Dr. Grenz’s research team is working alongside Indigenous communities impacted by the 2021 heat dome and wildfires to understand the effects on culturally important plants.

" 'If you think of land as just vegetation and an aesthetic notion of what belongs, you’re going to have very different approaches and different outcomes to recovery than if you see that land as a food system, not just for humans, but for our animal, bird, fish and insect relations,' says Dr. Grenz. 'We’re working alongside communities to develop those Indigenized processes around wildfire recovery that honour Indigenous food systems, sustainability and resiliency.”'

How can #Settlers support the revitalization of Indigenous food systems?

"Learn about the histories of the lands you live on and what the traditional food systems were, what they are now and what they could be, says Dr. Grenz.

"Incorporating reciprocity into your relationship with the land is also important. 'Learn about the plants of those lands and find a way to invite them into your life. How can you take care of them, nurture them and steward them?' asks Dr. Grenz.

"One way might be to Indigenize your own back yard or community garden. Or learn about Indigenous food system protocols and the concept of '#HonourableHarvest.'

How can land-based learning support Indigenous food sovereignty?

"Land-based learning is an opportunity to get students and people out on the land—and start taking steps to give back while they are learning.

"At #UBCFarm, Dr. Grenz and students are starting two different Indigenous food systems to work as part of the agrarian food system that exists there — 'essentially bridging two food systems, #decolonizing and #Indigenizing our understandings of what foods are and how those two systems work together to benefit both.'

"In one, they are establishing a Garry oak ecosystem and growing camas, which is a traditional food system of the W̱SÁNEĆ  and Quw’utsun Peoples. Another type of #ForestGarden, similar to other Coast #Salish, #Tsimshian or #Haida food systems, will see the forest shaped by different plants like beaked #hazelnut, #elderberry, #salmonberry and #thimbleberry.

The students will be able to practice how to care for plants ordinarily thought of as forest plants, and 'learn how to reclaim traditional #LandStewardship practices to actually increase the production of those berries.' "

Source [includes video links]:
https://beyond.ubc.ca/how-indigenous-food-sovereignty-can-improve-food-security/

#SolarPunkSunday #FirstNations #Quwutsun #ClimateChange #Resilience #DecolonizeYourDiet #HonorIndigenousFoodSystems #LandBasedLearning #IndigenousFoodSovereignty #IndigenousFoods #BuildingCommunity #CommunityGardens #FoodForests