Today's update will be about Principle 9: Sustainable ie. beneficial to the ecology and wildlife.
When you monitor ecosystem health you look for certain indicators , sometimes called sentinels, that can tell you about the whole system. They are the first to arrive when healthy and the first to leave when problems arise. In other words a "
canary in a coal mine" approach. Worms are a good example for soil. One of the best sentinels is amphibians. Their highly porous skin makes them highly susceptible to environmental pollutants and toxins like pesticides. Bare ground is another. (yes I know most farmers and gardeners purposely make bare ground, but in most cases it is still an early warning that something very wrong is going on) An indicator of a better functioning environment is newly sprouting diversity of plants and a return or increase of wildlife.
Putting Holistic Management In Place
Animals as Environmental Sentinels of Human Pollution
Amphibians as environmental sentinels
Amphibians in U.S. Declining at “Alarming and Rapid Rate”
So today I will post pics showing both. I wish I had pics from last year showing how poor the area was. I couldn't even hardly grow grass. This year even between the rows the grass has come back with a vengeance. I do have a pic of that, just after mowing. I also have a pic showing a tree frog in my tomatoes! Even though we have no lakes or streams near by, we did have floods this spring long enough for tadpoles to hatch. And my tomatoes are providing habitat! I have a lot of baby toads too. But those little guys are FAST! They always jump out of the picture.
The frog is sitting still thinking he is invisible!
He almost is! See if you can find him in the first pic, or from another angle, or if you cant, I zoomed in on him in the third.