#catchment

[wolfnowl]

As Cities Face Water Shortages, Nature Offers Solutions | World Resources Institute

Yes. It was once considered expedient to get excess water channeled and out to sea as quickly as possible, but current (and ancient) wisdom knows that it is far better to keep water contained and on the land for as long as possible.

Deserts are usually considered places with little to no rain. In "The Reindeer Chronicles" by Judith Schwartz one researcher suggested, "a desert is a place where, when it rains, it floods." 💧

[cassiefairy]

4 Things to consider when planning a house move to a new school catchment area

If you're a parent with school-aged children, now's the time to consider their future choice of schools and, therefore, if you're going to need to move into a new catchment area. Here are some tips for coinciding your move with the academic year:

Collaborative feature When children start at their first primary school, or when they move up to high school, it’s a key time in their education. Not only are they meeting new friends, getting to know their teachers and learning the processes and rules that the school follows but that new start is going to make a huge impact on their education as a whole. That’s the reason why families choose…

[tucson-progressive]

I added a lot of rocks to Buddha's Basin in the morning and during a couple of cloudy stretches during the day. Many thanks to Kate S. for the extra rocks to finally finish the two catchment basins and improve the approaches. This is Buddha's Basin in 2021. Last year there was a HUGE storm on my birthday, right before my party. It was cool to have a moat for the party. (The water doesn't stand long enough for mosquitos. It is designed to seep into the ground between the rocks, instead of flooding my studio. My basins are decorative and functional. #rocks #rainwaterharvesting #tucson #catchment (at Tucson, Arizona) https://www.instagram.com/p/CgQS3OnJcDnFnBe3E-VYZkntLl5BAPIT11eKlU0/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[n0brainjustvibes]

briar girl just cares a lot about wetland ecology... briar girl is doing her best to protect jacob's bell from flash flooding when the snow melts

[chemiosmotic]

FUCK. need to ask once again: what podcatchers do you use? I never got round to abandoning google podcasts which is shutting down. hm. (checks watch) next week

[amalgamasreal]

It’s always cool to see documentaries about the type of house that you yourself live in.

It’s not for everyone but I wouldn’t change anything about it.....except all the shit I’ve got planned to change in the near future, but we’ll ignore that. 🤣

[bonefall]

shrimp are found in england actually! they have brown shrimp on their coast. they also have invasive freshwater shrimp called killer shrimp and demon shrimp. honestly, even though they’re invasive these would probably be the easiest for cats to “farm” since they breed super easily

Oh worm??

Hangon I'll go do some more research

[petri808]

It’s 10 pm

There’s a tropic storm hitting my island rn

Wind & rain

Yet

The enclosed garage is still a humid like 85 degrees f

Instant sweat as soon as you walk in

🫠

Back to your regularly scheduled programming 🫡

[myrtaceaae]

Very frustrating that all the queer groups where I live are youth based, I turned 26 this year and suddenly I have no community queer group at all

[abbaswift]

my bestie (four year old cousin) got accepted into the school right near my house so i can literally go pick her up from school in september WOOOO

[lizardywizard]

sort of like... holding this close in hope it will come to socal bc i desperately need this??

(comes from this larger news piece about help for canadians with adhd)

[magnificentpaperfest]

There are basically two ways to have regular, spontaneous encounters with people. Both are rare in America.

One is living in a real place, a walkable area with lots of shared public spaces, around which one can move relatively safely and effectively without a car. It seems like a simple thing, but such places are rare even in the cities where they exist.

A robust walkshed is an area in which a community of people regularly mingles doing errands, walking their dogs, playing in the parks, going to school and work, etc. Ideally, cities would be composed of clusters of such walksheds, connected by reliable public transit.

Rail riders can access very little of the station area on foot at Landover, but nearly all of the land at Takoma (Ref: https://planitmetro.com/2014/06/10/whats-a-walk-shed-to-transit/)

Extract from https://www.vox.com/2015/10/28/9622920/housing-adult-friendship

[grasshoppergeography]

We got this one from Andrew, our map now hangs in his mum's home in Massachusetts.

[bumblebeeappletree]

Jerry discovers a program that is transforming one of Australia’s most invasive tree species into valuable nesting habitat for native animals. Subscribe 🔔 http://ab.co/GA-subscribe

Jerry's at Salvin Creek Park in inner Brisbane. It’s an important bushland reserve, home to remnant vegetation communities, eucalyptus forest and local wildlife. Being just 7km from the CBD, and fringed on all sides by suburbia, the reserve faces a lot of different pressures. One of these pressures is weeds. We’re here to find out how one weed, in particular, is being creatively reused to create an invaluable habitat resource for our native animals.

Stefan Hattingh is an ecologist at Bulimba Creek Catchment Coordinating Committee, who help care for the site. He says invasive camphor laurel trees are a big problem. “They were planted in Brisbane because they make amazing wood. Now they’re all over Brisbane because the berries are spread by birds. Particularly in creek lines and gullies.”

Native to Asia, camphor laurel (Cinnamomum camphora) is a large, rapidly growing tree to 30 metres in size. It’s become a widespread problem in both NSW and Qld, where it’s a declared noxious weed. You can tell you’re dealing with camphors as the leaves have a signature scent when crushed; the tree exudes an oil to prevent insect attack.

Stefan says part of the reason they’re such a bad weed is they’re allelopathic, meaning they deploy chemicals to stop other plants growing around them. “You will see around them nothing is growing. Even the falling leaves will smother and kill small plants. They’re very invasive. About the only thing that can use them is birds, who spread the seeds.”

Stefan says removing the camphors is a big undertaking. “Normally we cut them down and chip them into mulch.” For a 20 metre tree, this isn’t a small job. “The footprint and cost to remove them, it’s a lot.”

Steve Collom is an arborist, and specialises in what he calls “conservation arboriculture.” “I’ve always had a passion for conservation.” His work has seen him become the go-to for creating “habitat trees”; carving out nesting hollows for animals in the wood of dead or compromised trees that would otherwise be sent to the chipper. “Overall we’ve done over 2500 carved hollows.”

“300 species of fauna rely on hollows in Australia. But we don’t have any species that can create their own hollows. We tend to rapidly remove and prune any trees that would be reaching hollow bearing potential. It creates a high demand for hollows in these species. The most perfect, picturesque tree in terms of form is often the most barren-nothing can use it. The reasons a tree will fail in some way in the environment, is to produce hollows.”

Natural hollows can take hundreds of years to form, but Steve describes his work as “fast-forwarding this process, you go from several hundred years to 30 minutes.”

Steve has now installed over 10 nesting hollows into camphor laurels at White’s Hill, and they’re being closely monitored for any tenants.

The trees are ringbarked at the base to kill them, and then the canopy is reduced heavily for safety; to stop large limbs breaking off. Sections of trunk are carved out, hollowed and screwed back onto the tree, forming a lid over an internal cavity perfect for a first owner looking to dip their toes in the market.

Steve has built three different kinds of hollows at the site, catering to three different demographics; small parrots, gliders, and microbats. “The internal shape of the hollow is key, and the entrance dimension decides what can get in there.”

Steve and Stefan will continue to monitor the new homes with wildlife cameras to see who moves in. “Usually we remove hollows, or the potential for hollows with a quick blip with the chainsaw. This is a way of reworking that” says Steve. Stefan says he’s thrilled with the job Steve’s done. “He’s turned a problem tree into a real resource.”

Featured Invasive Species:

CAMPHOR LAUREL - Cinnamomum camphora

Filmed on Turrbal & Yuggera Country | Carindale, Qld

[bubervitch]

I thought she’d been PM for three months but it’s less. it’s way less. liz truss has been prime minister for only forty-five days. it took liz truss forty-five days to explode the uk government from the inside. walking hand grenade. i doubt she’s even unpacked downing street yet, her kids are probably still getting to know their new school, i doubt the cat is comfortable in the house yet. fantastic show. long live liz, destroyer of england.

[newtonianflux]