SavATree - Tree Service & Lawn Care

Monarch Minimization

Disappointing Decline Each year monarch butterflies, Danaus plexippus, travel 3,000 miles migrating to and from overwintering sites in Mexico. It is known to be one of the most spectacular migration events on earth, but it appears to be in decline.  There are many factors affecting monarch populations including; habitat loss, drought conditions, misuse of pesticides, reduced availability…

Algal Anguish

Bloom Blues (and greens and yellowish browns…) An algal bloom is constituted by the rapid increase of algae in an aquatic system.  Although there is no hard and fast threshold level cited that determines if a bloom is present, when concentrations of an algal species reach hundred to thousands of cells per milliliter of water an…

SavATree - Tree Service & Lawn Care

Herbage Heroics

Pernicious Pollutants Everyone is aware that trees provide numerous benefits to the environment and civilization, but removing carbon dioxide and emitting oxygen, providing shade, stabilizing soils and aesthetic beauty are just the beginning. In addition to carbon dioxide, trees are also responsible for clearing the air of other detrimental pollutants, according to a new study…

SavATree - Tree Service & Lawn Care

Heralding Hogweed

Factor in Forewarning Giant hogweed, Heracleum mantegazzianum, is federally listed as a noxious weed, it is invasive and potentially very harmful to humans; contact with this plant is highly discouraged. The sap of this plant, when combined with moisture and sunlight, can cause severe skin and eye irritation, painful blistering and possibly blindness and/or permanent scarring. While attempts…

SavATree - Tree Service & Lawn Care

Mayfly Mess

It is that time of year in the  midwest when mayflies emerge en masse from the depths of the Mississippi River, traveling in swarms that have been known to cause car wrecks, coat roads and leave a slimy mess in their wake. The swarms are so large that they can be seen on weather radar…

SavATree - Tree Service & Lawn Care

Landmark Labelling

Albany, New York’s Pine Bush has been designated a National Natural Landmark (NNL) due to its presence as an outstanding example of a globally rare ecosystem. Joining 596 other such sites around the country, a National Natural Landmark is labelled as such because it is the best remaining example of a specific biological or geological…