Eileen M. Stark's Blog

Trees breathe, like we do, but in a different way. Their leaves take in carbon dioxide, water and the sun’s energy, and turn it into sugars that feed the tree. Known as photosynthesis, the process emits vital, life-giving oxygen. Trees’ ability to removal carbon from the atmosphere — and store it in their wood — […]

For several years, the Native Plant Society of Oregon (NPSO) has worked with the Governor’s office to draft a Proclamation which declares April as Native Plant Month in Oregon. But proclamations must be renewed each and every year, so NPSO wishes to move ahead to the next step: Pass a law that will make Oregon’s Native Plant Appreciation […]

“There’s something large in the birdbath,” announced my husband as he peered out the dining room window late one recent afternoon. Looking through a kitchen window, I caught a glimpse of what appeared to be a stocky, furry creature with no neck, but could only recognize that it was definitely not a hawk. “It’s an […]

They’re being called a “modern day DDT”. Like DDT (outlawed in 1972), anticoagulant rodenticides are weapons of destruction. They kill brutally, slowly and indiscriminately, accumulate in fatty tissue, and persist a long time in the environment. Used by homeowners, farmers and exterminators, they are a serious threat to any living being that accidentally ingests them—wildlife, […]

Oregon’s Governor Tina Kotek’s Housing Production Advisory Council (HPAC) is teeming with developers who recommend that she ditch environmental protections on urban landscapes, including the removal of protections for trees, isolated wetlands, and environmental zones. Using the housing crisis as a ploy, their latest draft proposal would allow developers to ignore city tree codes for […]

The American Bird Conservancy (ABC) recently released an updated, piercing report that confirms the continual decline of wild birds — as well as beneficial insects and many other animals — due to the uncontrolled use of highly toxic neonicotinoid pesticides. It’s a lengthy read, so I thought I’d offer a fairly brief synopsis to those […]

Graceful, open, and vibrantly green, red huckleberry (Vaccinium parvifolium) is a quintessential Pacific Northwest native shrub. It’s not often used in garden situations, but it ought to be, considering its beauty and wildlife appeal. And unlike other native huckleberries that ripen in late summer or fall, red huckleberry typically offers dazzlingly red (and tasty) fruit […]

By now you’ve likely heard that identification of the dreaded emerald ash borer (EAB) has been confirmed in Washington County, Oregon. The Oregon Department of Agriculture believes that the infestation has been in that county for at least three to five years. The outlook is grim. Of northeastern Asian origin, the EAB is a small […]

As sad and full of dread as I am about the impending loss of a giant 90-year-old American elm street tree next door, the life that the dying tree supports makes its demise seem much less calamitous. In early March we noticed the familiar tap-tap-tap of a woodpecker on a nearly vertical limb about 40 […]

It’s a drizzly Sunday in June, one that requires a couple of sweaters to keep me warm. But I can’t complain when I see so many native plants thriving, obviously in their element during this cool, damp spring—ferns, wild ginger, fairy bells, goat’s beard, vanilla leaf, and many others. Western maidenhair fern (Adiantum aleuticum), in […]