Rangelands

California Invasive Species Action Week began Saturday, June 5 and runs through Sunday, June 13, 2021. Increasing public awareness of invasive species and their impacts helps protect our natural resources, waterways, native species, agriculture, and health.

Have you seen Brood X cicadas up close and personal? If not, you're probably in the wrong state. Or not there at the right time.

Help Us Pilot-Test a New Decision-Support Tool! By now, most of us are well aware that we're in the second year of another significant drought. A growing proportion of Northern California is classified as D4 by the U.S. Drought Monitor. And we're coming off one of the driest rainy seasons in memory.

What's better than a mint on your pillow? A mint moth in your garden! We ran across this colorful mint moth, Pyrausta californicalis (as identified by UC Davis distinguished professor Art Shapiro) on May 20 in a Vacaville bed of tall lavender.

California's Forest Practice Rules were created in 1973 with the goal of protecting public resources and emphasizing the importance of planning for sustainable resources management.

If you've ever seen a spider-hunting wasp capture, sting, and paralyze a spider, you know what these wasps can do. Renowned wasp expert Marius Wasbauer (1928-2021) studied them for about six decades. When he died this spring in Brookings, Ore.

The UC Davis Bohart Museum of Entomology recently received a massive donation of more than 50,000 aculeate wasp specimens, primarily spider wasps, from the estate of renowned wasp expert Marius Wasbauer (1928-2021) of Brookings, Ore.

Nothing says National Pollinator Week more than a honey bee coated in pollen. Make mine yellow. Yellow pollen. There's plenty of time to prepare. National Pollinator Week is June 21-27.

It's a delight to see the flameskimmer dragonfly (Libellula saturata). This male made its appearance in our Vacaville pollinator garden on May 17, and hung around long enough for me to capture several images. Like a lens to a flame...

(Editor's Note: Watch the seminar on YouTube) Soils matter. They matter in the role of bee conservation efforts, as more than 80 percent of bees nest below ground.