You Can Help!

All around Bear Branch Nature Center, we are sharing information about how you can help take care of all living things in the world.

Some steps are easy, but others require more information. Here are some more resources to help you learn more about how

You Can Help!

🦋🐟🐢🌳🐦💡🚿🌊🌎

Butterflies 🦋 ~ Grow native plants for pollinators. Plant flowers for every season. Avoid lawn chemicals. Put water and rocks in your yard. Don't kill caterpillars.

Turtles 🐢~ Use less plastic -choose reusable! Pick up trash Celebrate without balloons Leave turtles where they are Choose safe seafood

Birds 🐦~ Drink bird-friendly coffee. Keep cats indoors. Make windows safer. Grow native plants . Watch and track birds.

Bees ~ Replace lawn with flowers. Plant flowers in groups. Grow native plants. Avoid lawn chemicals. Plant trees.

Fish 🐟 ~ Follow catch and release rules. Use rain barrels. Install rain gardens. Avoid gas-powered tools. Avoid lawn chemicals.

The Bay 🌊 ~ Follow catch and release rules. Use rain barrels. Install rain gardens. Avoid gas-powered tools. Avoid lawn chemicals.

Plants and trees 🌳 ~ Use less paper. Stay on the trails. Grow native plants. Take out invasives. Pick up litter.

Light pollution 💡~ Turn lights off. Direct lights down. Use sensors and timers. Choose CFL or LED bulbs. Take part in Earth Hour.

Conserve water 🚿 ~ Don't leave water running. Use low-flow faucets. Wash full loads. Use rain barrels. Reduce water use.

Grow native plants and take out invasives 🦋🐦🌳

Native plants and animals are from our area and are adapted to our climate. That means they usually aren’t hard to grow and don’t need fertilizer or pesticides. Native plants provide nectar, pollen, and seeds that serve as food for native butterflies, insects, birds and other animals. 

Recommended Native Plants for Maryland 

Maryland Native Plant Society

Pollinator Gardens

Invasive plants and animals are from other places. They often take the place of native species, use their food sources, and change the habitat to make it harder for other native plants and animals to live there.

Taking on Maryland’s Invasive Species

Avoid lawn chemicals 🦋🐦🌎

Chemicals used for lawns and gardens, including pesticides and some fertilizers, can have harmful effects on humans, pets, wildlife, pollinators, and the environment, including the Chesapeake Bay.

Organic lawn care

Lawn alternatives

Managing weeds without chemicals

Use less plastic 🐟🐢🐦🌎

Very little of the plastic we use every day is recycled. Some plastic trash ends up in the ocean, where it hurts and kills animals like sea birds, turtles, and whales who get tangled in or eat plastics. Most of it ends up in landfills, and may contaminate soil and water.

Reduce - Find sustainable “swaps” that use less plastic - like bar soap instead of soap in a plastic bottle!

Reuse - shopping bags, water bottles, rags instead of paper towels

Recycle - Recycle right! Check with your local recycling company to make sure you are only including items that they can recycle.

Carroll County recycling 

Reducing Plastic Use - for kids

Reduce Reuse Recycle - EPA

Reduce Reuse Recycle - for kids

Choose safe seafood 🐢🐟🌊

Love seafood? Your choices have an impact on the ocean and the creatures that live there!

Visit seafoodwatch.org to search their recommendations when you're in a grocery store or restaurant. Or download their consumer guide. 

Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch

Celebrate without balloons. 🐢

Balloons and their strings often become trash that lands in the ocean. Sea turtles can get them confused with one of their favorite foods, jellyfish (the same thing happens with plastic bags). This can make them sick or even kill them.

Consider alternatives to balloons like streamers, flags, bubbles, or paper pinwheels. 

Balloon Alternatives

More eco-friendly alternatives 

Seven simple actions to help birds - find tips for all these actions and more!

• Drink bird-friendly coffee 🐦

• 75% of coffee farms grow their plants in the sun, destroying forests that birds and other wildlife need for food and shelter and using pesticides and fertilizers. Shade-grown coffee preserves a forest canopy that helps migratory birds survive the winter.

• Keep cats indoors 🐦

• Outdoor cats are estimated to kill more than 2.6 billion birds annually in the U.S. and Canada. This is the #1 human-caused reason for the loss of birds, aside from habitat loss.

• Make windows safer day and night 🐦

• Up to 1 billion birds are estimated to die each year after hitting windows in the United States and Canada. In the daytime, birds see reflections in glass and do not see the glass, so they fly into it. At night, migrating birds drawn by city lights run into buildings.

• Watch and track birds 🐦

• Monitoring birds is essential to help protect them.

Follow catch and release rules 🐟🌎

Catch and release fishing is when you immediately release a fish you caught back to the water where it was caught. It's a great conservation strategy, but you need to have the right gear and technique to make sure the fish isn’t too stressed or injured. The actions you take before, during, and after you land a fish can help the fish survive, keep fish populations healthy, and keep fishing accessible.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Catch and Release Fishing Best Practices

Turn off the lights. 🐦🐢🌎

When we use artificial (electric) light too much, it is known as light pollution. Light pollution wastes energy and has serious environmental consequences for people, animals, and our climate. For example, baby sea turtles hatch at night, and many see artificial lights along the beach, crawl in the wrong direction, and even die. Birds often migrate at night and light pollution may cause them to migrate at the wrong time, go the wrong direction, and crash into buildings.

You can start by minimizing the light from your own home at night. You can do this by following these simple steps.

• Only use lighting when and where it’s needed

• Install motion detector lights and timers

• Shield all outdoor lights to direct the light to where it is needed

• Keep your blinds drawn to keep light inside

• Become a citizen scientist and help to measure light pollution

Learn more from the International Dark Sky Association

Take part in Earth Hour 🌎

Switch off your lights and spend 60 minutes doing something positive for our planet! Earth Hour

Use rain barrels 🚿🌊

Rain barrels capture water from your roof and so you can use it to water gardens or indoor plants. It's a great way to conserve water and it's free water for use in your landscape.

EPA Rain Barrel Basics