Ecological Features

BeaverCON 2022: A Dam Good Time

August 30, 2022 By Community Relations Manager

By Clara Brill-Carlat, Assistant Land Manager

Earlier this summer, I had the opportunity to attend BeaverCON, a three-day conference all about beavers that was held in Baltimore County. While its name evokes images of Comic-Con, there were no people in beaver costumes running through the hallways at BeaverCON (at least until the last day, when a mascot named Castor made a brief appearance). Instead, there were experts from the East and West Coasts and even from Europe who presented on beaver dam analogs (BDAs), flow devices, beaver relocation, fish passage, and much more. Many of my fellow conference attendees were experts in their own right and had attended BeaverCON in 2020 as well, while I first learned about the conference this fall when I started to research BDAs and their many ecological benefits. Read more from an article I wrote about BDAs for ACLT’s Spring Newsletter here. (See pg. 3)

I quickly made my newcomer status known at BeaverCON when I tried to strike up a conversation with a young graduate student who, like me, had received a scholarship to attend the conference. “What are you studying in grad school?” I asked. She gave me a quizzical, almost pitying look and said, “Beavers.”

During the first two and a half days of the conference, I attended presentations about stream restoration projects, human conflict and coexistence with beavers, mapping beaver habitat, and even the history of beavers in North American literature. One of the most engaging talks was by Emily Fairfax, a researcher at California State University Channel Islands, who studies how beaver complexes protect land during wildfires. She presented striking satellite images of landscapes in the Western U.S. before and after fires; the images showed that areas with active beaver populations burned much less than areas without beavers. Her most recent research has focused on megafires, which are becoming increasingly common due to climate change. Megafires cover much larger areas than typical wildfires (over 100,000 acres), often spread extremely fast, and burn landscapes so severely that ecosystems struggle to recover. While people are often unable to control these fast-spreading megafires, Fairfax found that beavers are still able to significantly reduce the acreage that gets severely burned.

Watch the presentation here: https://youtu.be/wa1B4ijrgcc

Another particularly memorable presentation was by NOAA Fisheries biologist Chris Jordan, who dispelled some common misconceptions about streams. Humans have spent countless time and money transforming streams into conveyance systems that efficiently transport water from one place to the next while rarely overflowing their banks. However, a truly healthy stream is inefficient (to the human eye), meandering, and messy. We might imagine that a stream channel lined with old, tall trees is the epitome of ecological health, but counterintuitively, the presence of such trees can indicate that the stream has been prevented from flooding its banks. When it comes to trying to reverse the damage done to streams, Jordan explained, we are our own worst enemy. He spoke about how regulations designed to protect infrastructure from flooding and to protect streams from environmental degradation have created unintended barriers against nature-based restoration projects. For example, although building BDAs is a relatively low-tech way to reconnect a stream with its floodplain by raising the water level of the stream, regulations meant to prevent flooding make the implementation challenging. Having researched the permitting process for building BDAs at ACLT, this part of Jordan’s presentation certainly rang true. Luckily, as I would soon see, large-scale BDA projects are possible and are becoming more popular here on the East Coast.

Watch the presentation here: https://youtu.be/6h005lBptLE

After the official end of BeaverCON, I joined an impromptu tour of a stream restoration site composed of BDAs and log jam structures. Ecotone, an ecological restoration company based in Maryland, had designed the project on the Carroll Branch in Baltimore County. The tour was led by Scott McGill (a co-founder of BeaverCON and the CEO of Ecotone) and was made possible by the persistent begging of some of my fellow conference attendees.

This was the highlight of BeaverCON for me since we were able to walk right up to each of the structures, which had only been put in place about eight weeks before, and pester McGill with questions. I was struck by how the restoration was both a science and an art. The project had clearly been thoroughly planned, down to each impeccably sharpened cedar post that formed the backbone of the BDAs. At the same time, the materials used (sticks, logs, mud, vines, and netting) and the spacing between the structures varied such that no two dams were exactly the same. Most of the structures were BDAs, meaning that they spanned the entire channel, but a few were constructed log jams that only took up part of the stream. Since all the structures were so new, we could see that they were beginning to slow down the water but had not ponded it yet, and Ecotone was in the process of extending some of them farther onto the banks because the stream was cutting around them. McGill explained that adaptive management is critical for nature-based restoration projects like this one and that Ecotone had a five-year grant to continue managing the restoration.

After the three days of the conference were up, I returned to ACLT with a lot to chew on. Although I felt like a kit (the term for a baby beaver) compared to all the experts, restoration professionals, and beaver-researching grad students in the room, I learned more about beavers in those three days than I have in most of the rest of my life. I know the knowledge and connections I gained at BeaverCON will be helpful as we continue to explore the possibility of beaver dam analogs here at ACLT.

The Birds Are Coming – Part 2

April 27, 2022 By Community Relations Manager

By Judy Ferris, Master Naturalist and Guest Blogger

You may not be able to tell by looking out your window, but spring songbird migration has already begun! Songbirds were slowly pushing northward into the U.S. as early as March. The tide of migratory birds will gradually increase through April, then reach a peak here in Maryland in the first two weeks of May. This phenomenon generally occurs at exactly the same time each year no matter how good or how bad our weather is.

Northern Parula – Winters in the Caribbean and Central America. Nests in eastern U. S. and Canada. Breeds and nests at ACLT. One of our first songbirds to arrive in spring. Click on the link below to listen to its song “Pa-ruuuuLA!” You will hear Parulas in the treetops of ACLT about the time the trees start to leaf out. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Parula

In light of our recent weather, you might well ask “How do birds who winter in the tropics know when to start migrating?”. They have no idea what sort of weather we are having here. Some bird species are triggered by day length. As we move from winter to spring, the days become longer. This triggers hormones in migratory birds. The most obvious effects of these hormones are 1) polyphagia – the desire to eat lots of food! Glutinous eating ensures that the birds put on plenty of fat – their primary fuel – before they head north. 2) Sexual hormones kick in. Sexual organs which shrank last fall are now reemerging. The birds begin to feel the imperative to fly north in order to be the first to claim territory and mates at their favorite nesting ground.

Scarlet Tanager – Winters in northern South America. Nests in northeastern U.S. Breeding bird at ACLT. Click below for its song which you will likely hear from the upland forests as you hike ACLT. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Scarlet_tanager

Songbirds generally fly in mixed flocks at night. Yes, these tiny birds take off at dusk, fly through the night, then settle in at a ‘rest stop’ as dawn approaches. Why fly at night? One of the primary reasons is that it is cooler. Songbirds are totally insulated with feathers and can only dump heat through their bare legs. If they flew under the hot sun, the birds would overheat and perish. In addition, winds are generally calmer at night and there is less risk of being picked off by predators.

Veery – a member of the thrush family. Winters in central South America. Breeds and nests in northernmost U. S. and southern Canada. Uses ACLT as a stopover, then continues north. Unfortunately, Veerys don’t get into the singing mood until they reach their nesting grounds. To hear their ethereal song however, click on the link.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Veery

How do the migrating songbirds navigate in the dark? Many birds are able to navigate via the moon, the stars, and sun. New research, published in Scientific American, suggests that birds also navigate using their own personal map of the earth’s magnetic field. It takes an understanding of quantum physics to understand the details of how this works, but current thinking indicates that some migratory birds are able to ‘see’ a ‘map’ of the earth’s magnetic field with their eyes! No one knows what this map looks like to a bird, but perhaps it explains how songbirds can mysteriously navigate to exactly the same place year after year.

Most songbirds (even hummingbirds!) fly at a speed of 20-25 miles per hour during migration. They can travel 200-300 miles nightly. Like us humans, they are creatures of habit. If they find a good rest stop like ACLT, they may use that same stopover year after year as they make their way to more northerly nesting grounds. A good stopover has plenty of food for refueling, water to drink, and a nice sheltered spot to rest before departing in the evening.

Barn Swallow – Winters in Central and South America. Nests throughout much of Canada and the U. S. including Maryland. You can listen to their chatty little song by listening to link below. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Barn_Swallow/overview

Many songbirds migrate in waves. The first wave to head north are the colorful males. They are keen to be the first to return to their nesting ground to claim a good spot. They advertise their presence with their brilliant colors and plenty of singing. They spend lots of time chasing other males away. The next wave is mostly females. Females are generally duller in color than males. They are soon paired up with males and the two start work on a nest. The final wave to arrive is the immature birds. Young birds are often a bit duller in color than the adults. The dull colors help signal that they will not be involved in scrum for territory or mates, thus protecting them from hormone-crazed adults.

Common Yellowthroat – Winters in Central America and the Caribbean – Nests in most of the U.S. and a breeding bird at ACLT. You may well hear this bird sing ‘Witchity, witchity, witchity” as you walk near Parker’s Creek. Click to hear its song. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Common_Yellowthroat

White-eyed Vireo – Winters in the Yucatan and Caribbean – Breeds in eastern U.S. Breeding bird at ACLT. This bird’s herky-jerky song, sometimes emanating from shrubby areas along Parker’s Creek, is unique and one that everyone can recognize. Click to listen. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/white-eyed_vireo

Whether you are a beginner or an expert, the next few weeks are the ideal time to dust off your binoculars and take to the trails in search of birds. You may see unusual birds that merely pass through the mid-Atlantic on their way north. You may also note breeding birds arriving on territory, finding mates, and nesting. Once you have surveyed every inch of a Cardinal, or better yet, a warbler with a good pair of binoculars, you will never look at them quite the same again!

How You Can Help

Migration in today’s world is a significant challenge for birds. Birds face additional challenges by simply living in the complicated world created by us humans. Since 1970, we have lost 1/3 of our birds – an astonishing 3 billion breeding birds. Each of us, however, by changing our everyday habits, can help save these feathered treasures. The bird folks at Cornell Lab of Ornithology have compiled a list of 7 Simple Actions which each of us can take to make the world a safer place for our birds. The list is summarized on the printable page below.

To learn more about 7 Simple Actions To Help Birds and how you can make a difference, click on the informative Cornell link below. https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/seven-simple-actions-to-help-birds/

Did you miss Part 1 of this series? Click here to read it now.
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The Birds Are Coming-Part 1

April 8, 2022 By Community Relations Manager

Part 2 Now Available Click to Read

By Judy Ferris, Master Naturalist and Guest Blogger

Though it may be cold and windy outside as you read this, rest assured that a springtime surge of songbirds has already started moving northward. Most of our North American songbirds (warblers, sparrows, orioles, tanagers, and thrushes) head south for the winter.

Pine Warbler – This small but hardy species is one of our first songbirds to arrive in spring to breed and nest. They have already arrived this spring at their territories in southern Maryland. You may hear their warbling trills as they stake out their territories in areas of mature pines. Click on the link below to listen to the Pine Warbler’s melodic warble.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/pine_warbler

Why would tiny songbirds, most of whom weigh less than an ounce, undertake such a perilous migration each year? It’s all about insects. The timing of bird migration is tied to the springtime emergence of insect abundance which we experience here in North America.

Some species spend the winter only as far south as the southern U.S. Many species, however, are long-distance migrants; traveling to and from the Caribbean, Central America, and even South America. The average distance traveled by birds migrating from South America is about 1500 miles. Their journey may involve hop-scotching across the Caribbean to Florida or include a perilous 500-mile non-stop crossing of the Gulf of Mexico.

Hooded Warbler – Winters in the Caribbean and southern Central America. Crosses the Gulf of Mexico to reach the U. S.. Breeds in the eastern U.S. At ACLT, these warblers are often tucked out of sight in foliage. If you listen, however, you may hear their ringing song.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Hooded_Warbler – Hooded Warbler singing. Not all Warblers warble!

Consider the following:

Pound for pound, insects contain 4 times as much protein as beef.
Insect organs are rich in fat – a far better energy source than carbohydrates.
Insects are the ideal fuel for migrating songbirds.
Insects are the baby food of choice for 96% of our songbirds.

Avian migration evolved about 15,000 years ago at the end of the last Ice Age. Many of our migratory warblers, sparrows, tanagers, and orioles evolved from tropical ancestors and have close cousins who live year round in the Caribbean, Central America, and even South America. The tropics have a high density of birds, so competition for nesting sites and food is intense. From an evolutionary standpoint, it was only a matter of time before independent-minded tropical birds broke with tradition and flew to the Florida or the Gulf Coast and beyond. What did they find? A cornucopia of insects and less competition for food and territory! While most tropical birds raise 2 or 3 chicks at a time, migratory birds who head north find enough insects to rear 5 or 6 chicks! The only drawback is that it gets cold in the north in the winter. So an autumn return trip to the tropics is a necessity. Migration is a risky undertaking and some birds are lost each year. In the end, however, both the tropical stay-at-home birds and the migratory birds successfully rear about the same number of offspring.

Our migratory songbirds evolved along with the plants, insects, and other wildlife that populated a North America unmarred by human activity. When these birds flew north from the tropics and reached our shores, they were greeted by pristine beaches and an endless green carpet of forests, grasslands, and wetlands which stretched from Florida to the boreal forests of northern Canada. For a hungry bird, this was a non-stop insect buffet. Stopovers for feeding, drinking, and resting were literally everywhere.

Yellow-billed Cuckoo. Winters in South America. Breeds throughout the eastern U.S. These birds are relatively common at ACLT, but are slow-moving and tough to spot. Your best bet is to listen for them as you walk the trails. Cuckoos make a variety of strange calls which you may have heard, but not known what it was. Click on the link to hear their variety of unusual sounds. Photo by Dominic Sherony CC 2.0.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Yellow-billed_Cuckoo/sounds

Summer Tanager – Winters in Central and South America. Breeds in the southern U.S. As you hike in mature forests, you may hear this bird singing in the tallest treetops. Click on the link to listen.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Summer_Tanager/overview

Birds today face a very different journey than that of their ancestors. Those previously pristine beaches are now lined with forests of tall condos. Vast tracts of woodlands have been eliminated. Replaced with shopping malls, subdivisions, and farmland. The wild places that remain are becoming so fragmented that they can no longer support wildlife – including insects.

Thus places like ACLT are increasingly precious. For birds who are just pausing in their journey, ACLT is a welcome rest stop. Like us humans, birds appreciate a good layover spot and will return year after year. Many migratory birds stay to breed and raise young at ACLT. This special place hosts a variety of breeding birds including indicator species such as Louisiana Waterthrush, Worm-eating Warbler, Scarlet Tanager, Kentucky Warbler, Wood Thrush, American Redstart, Prothonotary Warbler, and many others.

Other Resources

Calvert County is blessed with numerous areas to hike and explore. As you are out and about welcoming the arrival of spring, take time to pause, look, and listen. You may hear or see a bird that you never noticed before. If you take your binoculars with you, you may even have the privilege of observing these beautiful feathered creatures up close and personal. Be sure to check out the Calvert County Birding Trail link below to find additional areas to visit. Have fun and happy birding!

Calvert County Birding Trail – https://choosecalvert.com/birding

From ACLT's Website:

In 2006, ACLT member Leslie Starr completed ‘Summer Birds of the Parker’s Creek Watershed’, as the capstone project toward a Certificate in Environmental Studies from the Johns Hopkins University School of Business and Professional Studies. The primary goal of the project was to obtain information on the occurrence and relative abundance of bird species found during summer in the watershed. Field work was conducted in summers 1999 and 2004, with particular emphasis on the various habitats of the watershed. Further study of lists of bird species of concern as documented by various bird conservation organizations, including National Audubon, the US Fish & Wildlife Service, and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, revealed that thirty-three such species have been present in the watershed during summer, of which twenty-nine are known to be or are possibly breeding. Read more and search ACLT’s bird database here.

Continue reading ... The Birds Are Coming Part 2

The Secret Lives of Insects #8

July 20, 2021 By Community Relations Manager

Dragonflies: Jewels of the Insect World

By Judy Ferris, Master Naturalist & Guest Blogger

While brightly colored insects are noticed and admired, Dragonflies are the true jewels of the insect world. Their wings shimmer in a glittering array of patterns. Their huge eyes glow like gems and their bodies are colorfully painted. Add to this their extraordinary flight capabilities and clearly, this is no ordinary creature!

To scrutinize a Dragonfly is to peer into the past. Starting with the head, we note that unlike nearly all insects today, dragonflies have minimal antennae. Their vision, however, is acute. Massive compound eyes encompass nearly their entire head. Each eye has about 30,000 facets; receptors which bring visual information to the dragonfly’s brain. (Olberg 2009) Additional adaptations ensure that their color vision is probably better than ours! (Ryo Futahashi et. al 2014) How generous of Mother Nature to endow a 320 million-year old species with vision that modern insects, and even humans, would envy. Ever had trouble sneaking up on a dragonfly? Now you know why! 60,000 eye facets are monitoring your every move!

But nature’s gifts don’t stop at the dragonfly’s head. Its legs are one of the secrets of its success. A dragonfly’s thorax is specially modified to accommodate all of its legs up front. Pushing the legs forward in this way essentially makes the dragonfly into a flying basket for scooping up food. Spiny legs ensure that no insect escapes capture. The dragonfly then, snags prey on the wing, uses its mouth to rip off the wings so that the captive can’t escape, and feasts on its victim without ever having to land. What does a dragonfly eat? Glad you asked! Dragonflies are exclusively carnivores. Mosquitoes and midges are dietary staples, but anything that can be captured in the air, including Deer Flies, Butterflies, and other dragonflies, is fair game.

Watch this 1-minute video of a dragonfly eating a mosquito. Note the positioning of the dragonfly‘s legs; basket-like and perfect for capturing prey.

Folks who study insects consider dragonflies to be ‘primitive winged’ because unlike modern insects, dragonflies are unable to fold their wings when not in use. Their wings are forever held out at a 90-degree angle to the body. Ah, but this is not just any old set of wings! The front and rear wings of a dragonfly are able to act independently from one another. This unique wing configuration is the reason that dragonflies are Masters Of The Air. They can hover like helicopters, turn on a dime, and dart swiftly from a standing start. Today’s modern insects flap their wings at a speed of about 1000 flaps per minute. Dragonflies? Hardly raise a sweat; flapping only 30 flaps per minute. These amazing flight capabilities are yet another source of envy for today’s insects! Perhaps primitive’ is not so bad after all!

Click below to watch a beautiful slow-motion video by BBC of a dragonfly in flight. 1 ½ minutes in length.

Dragonflies are superb hunters. But mighty though they may be, after hundreds of millions of years, they still remain tied to the water. Dragonfly nymphs (larvae) develop in water for months and sometimes years before becoming adults. You might expect dragonfly babies to be elegant and artistic. But NO! Dragonfly nymphs are the stuff of horror movies! Imagine a small (1/4 to 1 ½ inches long), crayfish-like creature with a large head containing a lethal lower lip (labium). The nymph’s lower lip is hinged, rather like bending your arm and tucking it in to your chest. The lip can shoot out, snag prey, and drag it back into the mouth so fast that if you blink, you’ll miss it!

To check this out for yourself, watch this excellent 3-minute video from PBS ‘Curiosity Stream’ on dragonfly adults and nymphs.

Dragonfly nymphs eat the larvae of mosquitoes and mayflies, as well as tadpoles, and even small minnows. The nymphs themselves, of course, are a favorite food of frogs, fish, and snakes. It is estimated that the mortality rate of dragonfly nymphs may be as high as 99%! (Arnett 2000). Thus, no matter how lethal your lip is, if you are a nymph, it pays to have a good escape strategy. Mother Nature had to work hard on this one but as always, came up with a novel solution.

1. A dragonfly nymph has gills in its rectum. Thus, the nymph continually takes water in and out through its anus to breathe. [No. I am not making this up!]
2. If threatened, the nymph uses the powerful muscles of its rectum to blast water out of the anus.
3. Whoosh! Powered by the blast, the nymph is jet-propelled at high speed away from danger, leaving only a camouflaging plume of disturbed debris in its wake!

Dragonflies were perfect when they were created 320 million years ago and remain so to this day. In both the larval and adult stage they are master predators; helping keep mosquitoes, flies, and other pests in check. They also serve as an important food source for other creatures. Dragonflies are good indicators of a healthy environment and clean water. How wondrous that these jewel-like super-predators, capable of astonishing aerobatic and aquatic feats, still share our world and bedazzle us today.

It ‘s easy to be smitten by these astonishing insects! If you would like to learn how to attract dragonflies to your yard, check out the link below.

Tree hugger; “How to Create a Dragonfly Garden”

https://www.treehugger.com/how-create-dragonfly-garden-4863982

Read Other Posts In This Series

The Secret Lives of Insects #6

June 17, 2021 By Community Relations Manager

Ground Beetles: Midnight Marauders

By Judy Ferris, ACLT Guest Blogger

Who would imagine that a beetle with a face like this would be a gardener’s best friend? Your first instinct upon seeing this critter may be to stomp it before it hurts someone. But wait a minute!

Ladybugs, move over! It’s time we discovered the nocturnal guardians of our gardens. Night after night, unnoticed and unloved, humble Ground Beetles toil to rid our gardens of pests. They are, in fact, some of the most beneficial insects in our gardens. Since Ground Beetles are nocturnal, however, we seldom notice them. By day they hide in grasses, or beneath rocks, logs, or mulch in order to stay cool and moist. As the sun sets in the evening, however, adult and larval Ground Beetles begin to hunt. They churn below the ground, skitter atop the soil, climb plants, and even ascend trees as they forage. What’s on the menu? It’s an all-you-can-eat buffet at the Insect Smorgasbord! Ground Beetles are prodigious consumers of a wide variety of insect pests that we would happily remove from our gardens; mites, snails, slugs, caterpillars, earwigs, cutworms, vine borers, aphids, and many other insects.

Ground Beetles are members of the Carabid family. With over 2000 Carabid species in North America alone, Ground Beetles are a common insect. They range in size from 1/8 to 1 1/2 inches long. If we examine this beetle closely, we can see that it is configured to be the perfect nocturnal predator. Ground Beetles rarely fly. Instead, they use their long, agile legs to hunt and pursue prey in the darkness. Most Ground Beetles are dark and shiny. They have large eyes as befits a night hunter. Those take-no-prisoners jaws are perfect for processing all kinds of prey; from slimy slugs, to gummy-bear cutworms, to crispy-critter ants. Some Ground Beetle jaws are even designed to puncture the shells of snails.

To watch those intimidating jaws in action, check out the video below Ground Beetle vs Corn Ear Worm. Warning! The video is best not viewed immediately before or after a meal!

An adult Ground beetle can eat its own body weight in prey insects nightly. Beetle larvae are equally voracious. A single beetle larva can eat more than 50 caterpillars during the course of its development.

As a family, Ground Beetles are the master chemists of the insect world. Thanks to chemistry, many Ground Beetle species can emit a lingering noxious smell from their rear ends to discourage predators. One branch of the Carabid family, Bombardier Beetles, has elevated this talent to an art form.

Behold the Bombardier Beetle! When threatened, this elegant little beetle can aim and shoot a hot, chemical cocktail from its butt to a distance of several times its body length. The chemical blast is accompanied by smoke as well as an audible pop as the chemicals detonate. How does the beetle do this? According to researchers at Penn State University, ground beetles have a unique gland system which allows them to store toxic chemicals such as formic acid, concentrated hydrogen peroxide, and phenolics in the tip of their abdomen. When needed, the chemicals are squeezed out of the glands and moved into firing position near the anus. There, the chemicals react with special enzymes to ‘fire’ (oxidize) the chemicals; releasing heat and gaseous oxygen that shoots the boiling hot (212 degrees!) material out of the Bombardier’s butt (Marshall 2006).

For a fascinating 4-minute video from the BBC on chemical warfare in the insect world, click on the link below. You’ll see Bombardier Beetles in action at the end of the video. Impressive!

In case you are wondering… Yes, a blast from the Bombardier Beetle can burn your fingers and stain your hands. Thus, if you are lucky enough to find a Bombardier Beetle, it’s best not to handle it. Personally, however, I’m delighted to know that a squadron of Ground Beetle caretakers patrols my gardens nightly, apprehending and puncturing pests! When I do happen upon them by day, Ground Beetles are not threatening, but are instead, welcome residents. May they live long and have many babies!

To attract beneficial ground beetles to your garden, create a simple beetle refuge as described below by Landscape Designer Darcy Larum.

“Build a small raised garden bed at least 2 feet wide and 4 feet long. Plant native perennials and grasses in this bed and give it a good layer of mulch. Add some large rocks or logs for décor and ground beetle hideouts. Let debris build up enough to encourage ground beetle eggs, but not too much to snuff out plants. Do not mow, till, or spray pesticides in this area.”

Additional information on Beetle Banks: https://savvygardening.com/build-a-beetle-bank-or-bump/