In a previous post, we talked about ways to provide habitat for native pollinators. This week, we will explain more in depth how to plant flowers that can attract native pollinators to your yard. Planting flowering plants is the best way to attract pollinators to your yard, since they provide nectar, pollen, and nesting materials. [...]
On August 18 during the Indigenous Studies Field Course (INST301) the students gathered to to harvest sweetgrass. As has been mentioned in other posts, the sweetgrass has grown really well in the garden here at St Mary’s University. The principles of the Honourable Harvest were laid out for us in an excerpt of a recorded [...]
Due to StMU’s position adjacent to Fish Creek Provincial Park, we get all kinds of animals on campus, some of which are native to prairie ecosystems. With the fall semester back in session, campus will be the busiest it has been since our prairie restoration project began, and because of this, we thought it would [...]
Here at St Mary’s University we have our own collection of wild animals that eat plants, i.e. they are herbivores. These include Richardson’s Ground Squirrels (RGS), snowshoe hares and many small rodents like mice, voles, etc. Being adjacent to Fish Creek Provincial Park also means that animals from the park come onto campus, [...]
If you have been on the StMU campus recently, you may have noticed many small rodents inhabiting the grounds. These cute creatures are Richardson’s ground squirrels, a species that is often labeled as a pest, but that has an important function in prairie ecosystems. Through their burrowing, Richardson’s ground squirrels increase water penetration in the [...]
After our last post on prairie restoration and why it is important, we thought it would be helpful to let the StMU community know exactly what we are doing to restore the patch of land we have selected on campus. The land we are working on, because of its location on a slope, is a [...]
Prairies are landscapes dominated by grasses, flowering plants & some shrubs. See the above image for a view of remnant prairie in Fish Creek PP. There are several species of grasses – note the differences in leaf colour - some are bluer than others. There are also several species of flowering plants – creamy heads [...]
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