Jul 092015
 

Tony McGuigan, Spore Lore, Habitat It And They Will Come, garden, soil, Soil Under My Nails, gardening, gardens, native plants, permaculture, wildlife garden, wildlife habitat installation, environmental education, ecological landscaping, Animal Habitat, garden, ecological, landscaping, wildlife garden, biodiversity, outdoor classroom, nonvirtual education, touch the soil!, , Laguna Environmental Center, Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation, environmental conservation,  Stone Farm, mulch, wood chips, adobe soil, Santa Barbara sedge, Carex barbarae, field sedge (Carex praegegracillus), juncus, Juncus patens, California gray rush, fieldstone, Shady Oak Seat, pond algae, oak, oak tree, Quercus lobataGetting ready for this Sunday’s workshop — Tony’s truck bed load of fieldstone.  The fieldstone will be used to create habitat installations during the workshop.  Hands on!

Some of the fieldstone (above photo) has a lot of holes on its surface.  Those stones will be useful in Cricket Corral Splash, Sunday’s habitat installation that will utilize the Laguna Environmental Center’s garden hose drip at the Native Plant Nursery.  Every hose must eventually be shut off (very old saying), so when the Nursery’s hose is closed down, the drip will be caught by layers of pourous and water-holding fieldstone.  A new Water Park for Cricket Corral Compost‘s critters!  Critters will come from far and wide (from the compost and surrounding habitat) for the wet rock, for the moisture, for the pooling drops, for the water!  Great place to meet other critters, too; might even find some to eat.  It’s habitat!  Was a hose shut off and left to drip dry BUT now is also a watering hole for microbes and crawly critters AND a hunting ground for larger animals.

Tony McGuigan, Spore Lore, Habitat It And They Will Come, garden, soil, Soil Under My Nails, gardening, gardens, native plants, permaculture, wildlife garden, wildlife habitat installation, environmental education, ecological landscaping, Animal Habitat, garden, ecological, landscaping, wildlife garden, biodiversity, outdoor classroom, nonvirtual education, touch the soil!, , Laguna Environmental Center, Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation, environmental conservation,  Stone Farm, mulch, wood chips, adobe soil, Santa Barbara sedge, Carex barbarae, field sedge (Carex praegegracillus), juncus, Juncus patens, California gray rush, fieldstone, Shady Oak Seat, pond algae, oak, oak tree, Quercus lobataA larger fieldstone will be used in the new Shady Oak Seat wildlife habitat installation.  The installation will include planting 2 majestic valley oaks (juvenile trees are in 1-gallon pots), creating a subterranean wildlife habitat using a large oak tree stump and other wood hulks, and using a large rock to create a seat under the soon-to-be shady oak, while creating a habitat under the seat.

From the Laguna Foundation’s Events page:

About my workshop at the LEC on Sunday morning:

How to Create Residential Wildlife Habitat
Hands-on Workshop with Tony McGuigan
Sunday, July 12, 10:00am-4:00pm
Location: Heron Hall, Laguna Environmental Center, 900 Sanford Road, Santa Rosa, CA 95401
$55 ($45 for Laguna Foundation members). Suitable for 14 years and up (teens must be accompanied by an adult). Pre-registration required.

Join us for this informative and fun-filled hands-on workshop with habitat landscaper, Tony McGuigan.  Learn how to “think like a plant,” “think like a critter,” and how to creatively foster wildlife habitat and thriving biodiversity in your own yard. Tony will begin the morning with a presentation inside Heron Hall (without Powerpoint!), then move outdoors for a tour of the habitat projects already installed in the landscape. Then we will dig in to create several new wildlife habitats at the Laguna Environmental Center!  This workshop will include light to strenuous landscaping work in the sun, although there will be tasks for every ability. Local materials will be used including native plants, local rock and soil, tree debris, and driftwood. With a strong emphasis on creating natural-looking beauty and aesthetics in the landscape, this workshop will be practical and inspirational.

Tony McGuigan is a Learning Laguna Docent and creates wildlife habitat in residential and educational settings. He is author of the book Habitat It And They Will Come.  His Spore Lore blog discusses Wildlife Habitat Installation and Outdoor Classroom projects. Tony (a Registered Nurse) is currently writing about the health benefits of working with soil and loving Life! See Tony’s monthly project work at the Laguna Environmental Center with Orchard View high school biology students and their latest project, “Turtle Pond Float.”

 

About my talk at the LEC on Saturday afternoon:

Habitat It And They Will Come
Presentation with Tony McGuigan
Saturday, July 11, 3:00-4:30pm
Location: Heron Hall, Laguna Environmental Center, 900 Sanford Road, Santa Rosa, CA 95401
$10 at the door. No RSVP necessary.

Join us for this entertaining and informative talk about the why, who, and fun-how of creating animal habitats in residential gardens. Learn about some of the challenges wildlife face in suburbia and solutions to create wildlife-rich neighborhoods. Discover what wildlife might be present in our gardens and practical means to attract those critters.

Tony is owner of Spore Lore and the author of Habitat It And They Will Come. His education includes Biology at Long Island University and certificates in Permaculture and Sustainable Landscaping.  His passions include being a Learning Laguna Docent, a Wildlife Habitat Instructor for Orchard View School’s high school Biology outdoor hands-on class at the Laguna Environmental Center, a habitat landscaper, and doing creative wildlife gardening at home.

See you this weekend!  Habitat it!

Tony

 

 

 

Jun 032015
 

 July 12 Workshop at the LEC -- Creating Residential Wildlife HabitatA Sonoma fieldstone landscape boulder on deck for July 12th’s workshop, Creating Residential Wildlife Habitat, at the Laguna Environmental Center.  Note the boulder’s ability to hold water — it’s a critter waterhole!

Tony McGuigan to Give Talk in Heron Hall

Saturday, July 11, 2015:

Habitat It And They Will Come

Come hear the why, how, and fun of Tony’s passion for residential wildlife habitat landscaping.  Hear how YOU can do such landscaping in YOUR own home gardening. Before and After pictures of the Laguna Environmental Center’s native plant landscape.  Presentation will be followed by question session.  Snacks.

When: Saturday, July 11, 2015, 3:00 – 4:30PM.

Place: Heron Hall, Laguna Environmental Center, or LEC, on Stone Farm, at 900 Sanford Road, Santa Rosa, California, 95401.  The LEC is operated by the Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation.

$10 at the door. No RSVP necessary.

Laguna Foundation’s Outings and Events

July 12 Workshop at the LEC -- Creating Residential Wildlife HabitatA red-winged blackbird struts his stuff atop Oak Tunnel Tower, a wildlife habitat installed by Tony McGuigan and the students of Orchard View School at the LEC, January 2014.

Tony McGuigan to Give Hands-On Workshop at the LEC

Sunday, July 12, 2015:

Habitat It!

We will build several wildlife habitats, ranging from simple to more complex.  All installation projects will emphasize how such a wildlife habitat installation can be installed in a residential, city, suburban, or country garden.  Short talk (no PowerPoint) with snacks, then hands-on landscaping.  We will have fun!

When: Sunday, July 12, 2015, 10AM.

Place: Meet at Heron Hall, Laguna Environmental Center, or LEC, on Stone Farm, at 900 Sanford Road, Santa Rosa, California, 95401.  The LEC is operated by the Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation.

$55 ($45 for Laguna Foundation members). Suitable for 14 years and up (teens must be accompanied by an adult). Pre-registration required.

Laguna Foundation’s Outings and Events

May 272015
 

Turtle Pond Float is a fix-it landscaping art project turned wildlife habitat installation.  This project is an Outdoor Classroom project: Orchard View School; Sunny Galbraith, teacher, and 7 of her Biology students.  Location: Laguna Environmental Center.  Date of installation project: May 20th, 2015.

The Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation operates the Laguna Environmental Center, or LEC, on Stone Farm, at 900 Sanford Road, Santa Rosa, California, 95401. This wildlife habitat installation is at the LEC’s (Laguna Environmental Center’s) pond.

We will “fix” the problem of a sunken pond turtle haul out; the log that was installed on the pond’s sloping bank and into the pond last year has sunken below water surface level.  Also, we will make the landscaping seem more natural by hiding another log’s unsightly sawcut.

A western pond turtle climbs onto Turtle Pond Pier at the LEC, summer of 2014.  The log has since sunken below the pond’s surface.

Prep for the installation

A volunteer steps forward. This eucalyptus arching limb, stored dry for a few years, will become Turtle Pond Float – a haul out and sunning log for Western Pond Turtles and a perch-over-the-pond for birds and flying insects, like dragonflies and damselflies.  Note how I am using one finger to hold the arch upright — the log’s center of gravity is being displayed.  Understanding the log’s density and center of gravity will help determine where a float (an empty bottle) will be attached to the log’s under side.

Tony McGuigan, Spore Lore, Habitat It And They Will Come, garden, soil, Soil Under My Nails, gardening, gardens, native plants, permaculture, wildlife garden, wildlife habitat installation, environmental education, ecological landscaping, Animal Habitat, garden, ecological, landscaping, wildlife garden, biodiversity, outdoor classroom, nonvirtual education, touch the soil!, Orchard View School, Laguna Environmental Center, Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation, environmental conservation,  Stone Farm, mulch, wood chips, adobe soil, Santa Barbara sedge, Carex barbarae, field sedge (Carex praegegracillus), juncus, Juncus patens, California gray rush, eucalyptus tree, bay tree, pond algaeA eucalyptus arched limb comes out of storage.  The long arch creates a wide floatable frame; the log will not spin in the water like a more linear log might.  Therefore, the log will not roll over in the water and the perch end, foreground, will stay above water.  An installed float under the perch end will keep the perch above the pond’s surface.

Tony McGuigan, Spore Lore, Habitat It And They Will Come, garden, soil, Soil Under My Nails, gardening, gardens, native plants, permaculture, wildlife garden, wildlife habitat installation, environmental education, ecological landscaping, Animal Habitat, garden, ecological, landscaping, wildlife garden, biodiversity, outdoor classroom, nonvirtual education, touch the soil!, Orchard View School, Laguna Environmental Center, Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation, environmental conservation,  Stone Farm, mulch, wood chips, adobe soil, Santa Barbara sedge, Carex barbarae, field sedge (Carex praegegracillus), juncus, Juncus patens, California gray rush, eucalyptus tree, bay tree, pond algaeIn the workshop, making a tether bolt/washer for Turtle Pond Float.  [L to R]: my hand holding a 1/2″ hex head bolt, used cap to a 5-gal water cooler jar, 2″ plastic washer with 1/2″ hole (a 2″ hole saw cut the lid of a 5-gal bucket), the hex head nut.

Tony McGuigan, Spore Lore, Habitat It And They Will Come, garden, soil, Soil Under My Nails, gardening, gardens, native plants, permaculture, wildlife garden, wildlife habitat installation, environmental education, ecological landscaping, Animal Habitat, garden, ecological, landscaping, wildlife garden, biodiversity, outdoor classroom, nonvirtual education, touch the soil!, Orchard View School, Laguna Environmental Center, Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation, environmental conservation,  Stone Farm, mulch, wood chips, adobe soil, Santa Barbara sedge, Carex barbarae, field sedge (Carex praegegracillus), juncus, Juncus patens, California gray rush, eucalyptus tree, bay tree, pond algaeTurtle Pond Float tether snapped together.

Using salvaged electrical wire and a 2-liter bottle to outfit Turtle Pond Float for the Pond.  Note, for the bottle float attachment, four 1/2″ 90-degree metal brackets provide strapping holes for the electrical wire.  2″ deck screws secure the the brackets to the log.  The loop of wire in my boot will help me tighten the bottle’s wire knot.

Turtle Pond Float’s bottle float sealed and secured.  Ready to go!  Note the wire ends tucked under the bottle.  Also, the bottle cap was closed down tightly, wrapped with tape, and the tape was then pull-tied.  Please don’t leak!

Installation Day

View north from the Laguna Foundation’s back porch. The outdoor classroom project today is across the pond.

The Before of the wildlife habitat installation, Turtle Pond Float.  A bay tree log is beached against the pond’s sedge and juncus rush bank.  One of the purposes of this wildlife habitat installation is to relocate/reposition the bay log, AKA, the Bay Log.  The landscape will look more natural when Bay Log’s sawcuts are more hidden.  Note the abundance of algae on the pond surface.  Tule reeds grow out into the pond, left.

Before, west view.  Note the pond surface, May 20, 2015, on installation day.  We are moving toward hotter, dryer weather, summer.  The pond surface will lower then.  Alternatively, the pond level will rise in rainy winter.  To keep the turtle haul-out log at a consistent level above the surface, the floating log will be loosely tethered to the shore, which will allow the log to rise and fall as the pond surface does.

The PLAN — Turtle Pond Float.

Pondside instruction. We will create a small juncus (Juncus patens, California grey rush) patch growing at the base of two partially buried and partially water saturated logs. Both the mud-to-log and water-to-log interfaces will provide habitat for pond creatures. Larger trophic animals (like turtles, water-loving snakes, salamanders and frogs, and birds) will utilize Turtle Pond Float’s logs as a sunning haul-out, a resting or hunting perch, or a wall in the mud to snuggle up to.  Ducks and other shore birds will enjoy the cover of the bankside vegetation.

Digging the hole to bury the short (20 inches) tether log. Some of the sedge (Carex barbarae) dug out will return back to the hole. Rocks are collected in a separate bucket; they will be tossed on the tether log before the hole is filled in with mudbank soil, plants, and the end of Bay Log. Many buckets are used to separate out what comes of digging the mudbank hole. Organization now helps safely store away those pondside plants that we may use later. Better to have some resources, like native plants and good alive mud, left over than not enough to finish the project.

Mucking it up — digging away the bankside for planting and to bury the tether anchor (a sturdy, short branch section).

Four teams running. 1—Sedge mudbank diggers (right). 2—Pond algae collectors (left). 3—Field sedge planters (behind, out of view). 4—Historians — thank you photographers Jenna and Anita!

Holding a Pacific Tree Frog (Pseudacris regilla), also known as the Pacific Chorus Frog, found among the sedges. This non-virtual contact with Nature alivens the outdoor classroom project.

A crew of students (and teacher) weeds up slope from the installation site.  Log of Truth, right, which some of these students installed in February of 2014, has grown in nicely.

Turtle Haul Out is being moved from its launchpad at the LEC’s Observation Platform’s packed gravel (water permeable) path. Note the eucalyptus limb’s modifications: the bottle float and the tether pin (1/2” bolt with 2” white plastic washer). The students will lower Turtle Pond Float to the installation crew waiting at pondside.

Instruction to the students: Get the log in the water without knocking off the bottle. So far, so good. The bottle end of the limb will go in first, with the float UNDER the log, and will be floated out to the middle of the pond.

Tying the driftwood “anchor” to Turtle Pond Float using salvaged electrical wire.

Clipping/cleaning the wire tie tether.

Juncus patens has been planted on top of and next to Bay Log (left, horizontal) and Turtle Pond Float (right bottom). Pond algae was used to mulch the planting. Note that Bay Log’s largest sawcut has been hidden in the reeds. Shhhhh!

Almost done. The wood limbs are in place and the planting is finished.  Note how Turtle Pond Float’s end is above the water’s surface, now.

Finishing touches include returning some dead grass and organic debris to the planting AND slopping Bay Log with pond algae (right).

Log of Truth gets some TLC – weeding, planting field sedge (Carex praegegracillus), and mulching with woodchips. Note Turtle Pond Float just right and downhill of Log of Truth. The view is looking south, cross the pond.

The Laguna Foundation’s Director of Restoration and Conservation Science Programs, Wendy Trowbridge, inspects the completed Turtle Pond Float installation.  Hmmmm.

Orchard View Biology students and teacher Sunny Galbraith, and me (Tony McGuigan) celebrate Turtle Pond Float and a successful school year of wildlife habitat installations! We are looking directly at the pond, west view.

View from the bridge, west, 27 hours after installation. Sunset bathes the pond. Turtle Pond Float will most likely sink an inch or two underwater as it saturates with pond water. However, the air-filled bottle will keep the haul out and sunning perch (left end) afloat. Calling all Western Pond Turtles!

And Thank You, too, Orchard View Biology students and teacher Sunny Galbraith. Nice bird, Cassidy!

Enjoy your wildlife habitat creations.  Habitat it!

                                                Tony