Nature1st Blogs

This website was set up to house a group of websites for many local organizations (Annapolis Valley Nova Scotia, Canada). Most of them are groups related to Natural History including astronomy.  Humankind is only one species of many living on the Earth and our being here requires a healthy planet.  Nature is very import and we must consider ‘Nature First‘ in our decisions that will effect the planet and the species that live here  (notice the non-use of the non-verb, ‘impact’ - that is another blog!).  Any other approach would lead inevitably to a degradation of the Earth as habitat for life.  (This, of course, has already taken place and needs reversal.)

The above reasoning should not be necessary to put Nature First because, morally we must respect all the living things on Earth as having equal rights to be here  and live undisturbed.

Purpose

This is the beginning of a ‘blog’ but it will not continue here. The purpose of this particular sets of pages is to provide space for a miscellaneous collection of discussions and factual presentations on ‘Nature1st’.  The websites here are listed on the page at http://www.nature1st.net .  Appropriate discussions, will be on volunteerism, natural history, astronomy, etc.

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I have decide to allow no comments to these blogs because I have had nothing but spam in the comment section and it takes time to erase.

In Nova Scotia, quite often, very wide wing plows are used to clear snow from the roads of the province. The use of these plows leads to several detrimental effects.

• Ineffective clearing of snow from the roads (the wing of the plow rides on the berm or side of the road and lifts the main plow off the road and skips over the snow on the road)
• Damage to the berm of the roads by eroding and scraping supporting stone cover from the area. (This denudes the side of the road and creates a drop off on the side with no support to the pavement there leading to breaking of that pavement when driven on.
• Damage to mailboxes along the side of the road. (Wing plows throw snow against mailboxes with enough force to knock them off their posts and plows if driven less precisely with destroy the post and box – see images below for example)

Images of Snow Plow Damage

Click on the thumbnail images to see full larger image – and the description of the image.

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The Monarch Butterfly is an endangered species in Nova Scotia and in trouble elsewhere. We are fortunate to have had Monarchs laying eggs on Common Milkweed growing on our property. For the last four years we have been actively protecting and encouraging this insect when we can.

Unfortunately, Common Milkweed is classified as a noxious weed in the province and farmers abhor its growth. The patches that we had have spread and would produce a lot of seed if we were to let it develop. The milkweed flowers and attracts a lot of bees and other insects feeding on nectar. The whole property has a sweet smell when the milkweed is flowering. After this we have to have the milkweed cut to prevent seed pods from developing. Only one cut is necessary because it will not grow and flower before the frost.

The timing of the visit of the Monarchs is their arrival in mid-June but with very little egg laying until about a month later. This laying is just about when we have to cut their host plant.

Inconsiderated Trail Damage by an ATV

Above is a picture of only one of many cases where All Terrain Vehicles have traveled on hiking trails and created ugly, long-lasting, damage to trail.