Many of the parklands we manage are getting a new look thanks to several grants (a few still in the works) and support by the parkland property owners. The goal is to have an 32”x 44” educational display on the backside of all the 25 information stations in the parklands we manage that rotate by the season- no two stations will have the same display within one particular parkland. Below are a couple examples we've created so far:

We are looking for your local nature photos to incorporate into these displays. They will be used as headers or as examples within the text. The photos used as headers should be a landscape photograph that captures the season and the parkland, while the photos within the text will illustrate the topic. The higher the resolution of the photos, the better since these are large displays. Please upload your photos to our Flickr group page. We draw upon this pool for a variety things such as monthly program schedules, event schedules and flyers just to name a few. For this project, we would like the photos to be one of the following parklands. Please "tag" your photos accordingly.

• Hickory Meadows
• Brown Bridge Quiet Area
• Natural Education Reserve
• Miller Creek
• Kids Creek
• Silver Lake Park
• Commons Natural Area
• East Creek Reserve

If you are looking for some inspiration, here are some of the topics we are considering for future displays:

Spring

• Wildflowers
• Signs of the changing season
• Birds- nest building
• Birds- adaptations: beaks and feet
• We all need forests: wildlife, recreation, products
• Maple syrup
• Spring mushrooms
• Spring mating season- how animals attract a mate

Summer

• Poisonous plants/stinging plants
• Mini-plants: Mosses, clubmosses, lichens
• River life (dragonflies, etc)
• Animal homes under cover (holes in trees, squirrel nests, etc)
• Animal builders: beaver, paper wasps, garden spiders, birds (nests)
• Insects
• Frogs and Toads- Differences, species, indicators of pollution
• Gall- making insects: oak galls, goldenrod galls, willow balls
• Mosquitoes/li>
• The forest floor: home of the hidden workers: fungi, earthworms, springtails, millipedes, mites, shrews
• Tree rings, dendrology (count rings on dead trees)

Fall

• Fungi
• Animal defenses: horns, antlers, quills, odor
• Methods of seed dispersal or common seed travelers- wind burs, hooks, water, animals, man expulsion

Winter

• Tree ID (deciduous) by bark, twigs silhouettes
• Evergreens- conifer key and pictures
• Animal tracks
• Evidence of life in winter landscape (egg masses, deer rubs, etc.)
• Winter weeds- I.D.
• Characteristics of snow

General

• Threatened and endangered species of our area
• Insect life cycles: gypsy moth, monarch butterfly, eastern tent caterpillar, forest tent caterpillar- and what they eat
• Animals and camouflage
• Invasive species of hickory meadows- what to look for and why remove them
• Relationships between organisms (mutualism, exploitations, etc)
• Watershed
• Juvenelles vs. adults –appearance, when they leave the ‘nest’, etc
• Metamorpasis
• Cones
• Fish

Tags: "parkland displays", displays, flickr, parkland, photography, photos