{"id":23093,"date":"2018-07-12T11:40:54","date_gmt":"2018-07-12T15:40:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/?p=23093"},"modified":"2018-08-13T12:12:50","modified_gmt":"2018-08-13T16:12:50","slug":"mckee-beshers-sunflower-fields-at-peak-bloom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2018\/07\/12\/mckee-beshers-sunflower-fields-at-peak-bloom\/","title":{"rendered":"McKee-Beshers Sunflower Fields at Peak Bloom"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thirty Acres Planted for Wildlife Nourishment<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>The sunflower fields at McKee-Beshers Wildlife Management Area<\/a>\u00a0in Poolesville are now in \u201cpeak bloom,\u201d following the wet spring, and recent hot and sunny summer weather conditions.<\/p>\n

The Montgomery County area is just one of many sunflower fields the Maryland Department of Natural Resources<\/a>\u00a0plants each and every spring as a food source for pollinators, songbirds and other wildlife, particularly\u00a0mourning doves<\/a>,\u00a0as part of its\u00a0conservation and management programs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Visiting and photographing (department’s photo contest ends Aug. 31<\/a>) the spectacular sight is encouraged and welcomed, but\u00a0visitors are reminded that damaging, disturbing or picking the sunflowers is strictly prohibited.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the sunflower fields are beautiful, majestic and particularly photogenic, it is important that citizens heed the department\u2019s guidance and regulations; please do not cut, remove or trample the flowers,\u201d Maryland Natural Resources Secretary Mark Belton said. \u201cThese fields are planted as part of our conservation and management programs, and should be appreciated as well as protected.”<\/p>\n

Sightseers should also be advised that while the wildlife management area is open to the public, there are no amenities such as garbage cans, restrooms, shelters or tables. Additionally, patrons should protect themselves from the elements, namely mosquitoes, poison ivy, ticks and \u2013 of course \u2013 the sun. Long pants and hiking shoes are strongly recommended.<\/p>\n

More information and updates on the status\u00a0of the sunflower fields is available online<\/a>. The feature article<\/a> in the Maryland Natural Resource summer magazine<\/a> (subscriptions available<\/a>)\u00a0also gives detailed information on why the sunflowers are planted and why it\u2019s essential they be left untouched.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mourning doves are hunted at the fields during the traditional fall season, which runs Sept. 1 through early January.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thirty Acres Planted for Wildlife Nourishment The sunflower fields at McKee-Beshers Wildlife Management Area\u00a0in Poolesville are now in \u201cpeak bloom,\u201d following the wet spring, and recent hot and sunny summer weather conditions. The Montgomery County area is just one of many sunflower fields the Maryland Department of Natural Resources\u00a0plants each and every spring as a  Read the Rest…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":146,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[957,3172,23,13],"tags":[3493,2907,3077,3636,3663,3264,3494],"class_list":["post-23093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appnews","category-hunting","category-land","category-wildlife","tag-mckee-beshers-wildlife-management-area","tag-montgomery-county","tag-mourning-dove","tag-pollinators","tag-poolesville","tag-seneca-creek-state-park","tag-sunflowers"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23093"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23093\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23114,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23093\/revisions\/23114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}