Monroe County Soil & Water Conservation District

10/14/2026

It's officially Spooky Season, so all of October's highlights will feature wildlife commonly associated with all things spooky, scary, and creepy crawly. And all of them can be found in Monroe County!

We're kicking things off with a double highlight of our local corvids: crows and ravens! In mythology, these birds are known as messengers of death and there were tales of them burying their own dead. Thanks to figures Edgar Allen Poe and his famous poem "The Raven," symbology like this has lived on. While crows and ravens do not actually bury their dead, they are highly intelligent creatures that have been observed using their beaks as a digging tool and crows especially are known to have a sort of death ritual when one of their flock dies, mobbing around the individual for a prolonged amount of time. It is thought these crows are investigating the death of the individual and communicating their findings to one another to avoid a similar fate.

Crows and ravens affinity for carrion has also led to their being symbols of the afterlife. Their presence on battlefield graveyards or town square during the Black Death led to a sudden increased awareness of their eating habits by scared onlookers. Like turkey vultures, crows and ravens are important to their environments as the clean-up crew before carcasses become bacterial and viral breeding grounds. They are both highly intelligent, having been observed making and using tools, are able to mimic human voices, and can remember individual human faces.

How can you tell a crow from a raven. First and foremost is size. Crows are slightly bigger than a blue jay, while ravens are the size of hawks. This is easy when a crow and a raven are together, but what about when species are separated? While crows are very social birds and often will be seen flying in groups, ravens are more solitary and are usually flying solo or with their mate. Ravens also have a deeper croak call than crows. Ravens also have more distinct bristles over their beaks. A good rule of thumb is if you see a crow and think to yourself, "that's a big crow," it's probably a raven.

After spooky season as we head into winter, crows will congregate in hundreds to thousands, even millions to sleep in communal roosts. Often times, they will do this in our very own City of Rochester.

10/14/2026

Know your municipality’s fall leaf cleanup guidelines. Whether your leaves are collected curbside or dropped off at a local composting facility, keeping them out of the trash helps turn this seasonal yard waste into a valuable resource. Your gardens will thank you when that finished compost makes its way back to the soil in spring!

🍂Check our website to find your community's guidelines for leaf collection and drop off.

10/09/2026

10/09/2026

The District office will be closed Monday Oct. 12th for Columbus Day/Indigenous People's Day.

We will resume normal business hours on Tuesday Oct. 10th.

10/05/2026

October doesn't just ring in Spooky Season but also National Firewood Month. National Firewood Month is an annual campaign spreading awareness on using locally sourced or heat treated firewood, so let's focus this week's on local or treated firewood practices!

Firewood is one of the most common ways invasive species, primarily invasive insect pests, hitch a ride to new regions where they quickly take over from one to the next. Not just adults, but larvae can be hidden on or inside the wood. Taking just one untreated log with you on a camping trip across state, or even just county, lines could result in a new infestation of invasive forest pests/diseases like oak wilt, emerald ash borer, Asian longhorned beetle, spotted lanternfly, and more.

To prevent the spread, New York state has several firewood regulations that should be followed:

1. Any untreated, New York-grown firewood must stay within a 50 mile radius of its source or
origin.

2. Untreated firewood cannot be brought into New York from any other state

3. You can transport heat treated firewood ONLY if you have a label stating “New York Approved Heat-Treated Firewood/Pest-Free.”

For more information: https://dec.ny.gov/nature/animals-fish-plants/invasive-species/terrestrial/firewood

10/01/2026

Our fall newsletter has been released. In this issue find highlights including final reforestation plantings, the 37th annual Conservation Field Days, fall stormwater management, AEM and soil health programming, invasive species awareness and management, and District updates! Plus a tribute throughout to one of the greats: Dolly Parton!

To view our full newsletter visit our website: https://www.monroecountyswcd.org/newsletter

09/30/2026

It's always nice when park staff help set up! Newly hatched and covered in sand, common snapping turtles were all over Ellison Park earlier this month while we set up for Conservation Field Days. After eggs were laid in in late spring to early summer, many will be hatching throughout September and October. Females will typically lay up to 50 eggs in one spot where they will incubate for 3-4 months.

Did you know the common snapping turtle is our state reptile? They are one of the largest turtles in North America and can live up to 30-40 years old. Even the largest of adult snapping turtles can go unnoticed as they are often buried so deep in mud only their nostrils and eyes are showing as they wait to ambush prey. Not to mention the majority of their lives are spent in water. Snapping turtles typically only come onto land when traveling to different waterbodies or during breeding season to dig their nests and lay their eggs.

Snapping turtles are widespread throughout all of New York State and are often found in ponds, marshes, lakes, and slow-moving streams/rivers. They are considered omnivores as they eat both other animals and vegetation. The biggest threat to snapping turtles is vehicle strikes as females search for suitable nesting areas in the spring. Often labeled as aggressive, snapping turtles are usually more defensive in nature, probably a sign you're too close to one if it becomes defensive. Their name comes from the defensive snap they perform when threatened - snaps that can easily cut off a finger.

Have you seen any baby snapping turtles recently?

09/28/2026

Management Monday: Putting your gardens to bed for the season!

The start of fall means our garden harvesting is coming to a close. Most of our produce has been harvested and it is now time to prepare our gardens for winter. Whether you have your garden in the ground or use raised beds, you should take the fall and winter to keep your garden soil healthy. Weeds should continuously be removed throughout the fall and the winter. Letting weeds grow can lead to diseases spreading and early sprouting in the spring. While leaving some hollow plants/stems for overwintering pollinators is beneficial, be sure to check these plants for any rot and remove them if you notice any.

Have too many leaves in your yard? Leaving some not only in your lawn to help your soil can be beneficial, but also moving some to your garden to use as a layer of mulch will help add nutrients to your garden soil. The leaves will slowly decompose over the fall through the spring releasing nutrients into the soil the whole time. Planting cover crops can also help keep your soil healthy.

09/24/2026

This week, we received our final shipment of native trees to be planted around the county as part of our awarded Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (FLRI) Forest Restoration grant.

198 trees will be planted across the county by the Monroe County Parks Department and Monroe County Department of Environmental Services over the next several days to add on to our existing plantings. Over this last three year period, a total of 11,747 trees were planted, restoring 243 acres of forest habitat lost to invasive pests, namely the emerald ash borer.

Thank you to all of our partners on this grant who planted trees at their sites including Monroe County Parks Department, Monroe County Department of Environmental Sciences, Village of Honeoye Falls, NY, Rush Recreation & Park Association, Oatka Creek Watershed Committee, Tinker Nature Park, Friends of Tinker Nature Park, Town of Wheatland New York, Genesee Country Village & Museum, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, Braddock Bay Raptor Research, and Genesee Valley Audubon Society.

09/23/2026

For our highlight today, we're looking at the remarkable phenomenon that is fall bird migration! Things will be heating up in our region for migration in a couple days according to this map.

Every fall, millions upon millions of birds migrate to their wintering grounds following the end of their breeding season. Hard to believe? Maybe that's because the majority of these birds are migrating at night. It is believed that there are three main reason for nocturnal migration including less predator attacks (like hawks and falcons), the air is typically less turbulent at night, and the air is cooler. Map forecasts like this one are produced by Cornell Lab of Ornithology, University of Illinois, and Purdue University to predict how many birds will be on the move each night. For example, last night 636 million birds were migrating through the US just before midnight (see map), with 293 million predicted to be in flight tonight.

During peak migration times, it is important to limit the amount of light these birds are seeing at night, especially in cities. Every year it is estimated that at least 100 million, and possibly up to 1 billion, birds die each year migrating due to building collisions due to light pollution affecting their visual aids in migrating. You can help migrating birds by turning off all non-essential lights from 11pm until 6am and do not use landscape lights on trees or bushes where birds may be resting before continuing their journey.

Map citation: "Van Doren, B. M., and Horton, K. G. Year/s of migration forecast map image. BirdCast, migration forecast map; date and time (from forecast image lower right corner). University of Illinois, Purdue University, and Cornell Lab of Ornithology. birdcast.org. 9/23/2026"