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- Blowing Against the Wind?
- Photo of the Week – May 16, 2013
- Join Us For The Platte River Prairies Field Day: July 12, 2013
- Keeping a Low Profile in the Spring
- Photo of the Week – May 9, 2013
- A Prickly Confrontation
- Photo of the Week – May 2, 2013
- Capturing Post-Wildfire Recovery Through Timelapse Photography
- A Dandy Little Predator
- A Prairie Ecologist’s Perspective on Arbor Day
- Photo of the Week – April 25, 2013
- Tuning Into Fire Frequency
- Photo of the Week – April 18, 2013
- The Annual Grassland Restoration Network Workshop – Coming to A Prairie Near You (If You’re Near Columbia, Missouri)
- A Weekend Walk in the Woods
- Photo of the Week – April 11, 2013
- An Ill Wind…
- Is Poison Hemlock Repelled By Plant Diversity? Early Results Say Yes
- Photo of the Week – April 5, 2013
- Why A Warming Climate Is Making This Spring So Cold (… and Last Spring So Warm)
Tag Archives: conservation
The Annual Grassland Restoration Network Workshop – Coming to A Prairie Near You (If You’re Near Columbia, Missouri)
The Grassland Restoration Network is a loose affiliation of those of us trying to use prairie restoration (reconstruction) as a way to rebuild, conserve and sustain grassland ecosystems. Each year, we put on a workshop to share ideas, techniques, research results, and stories with other. Workshops are … Continue reading
Posted in Prairie Management, Prairie Natural History, Prairie Restoration/Reconstruction
Tagged 2013, 2013 GRN, columbia, conference, conservation, grassland restoration, grassland restoration network, meeting, missouri, missouri department of conservation, prairie reconstruction, prairie restoration, workshop
3 Comments
Changing Our Focus
Last Friday night, I had the honor to be part of an event called the Conservation Jam, hosted by The Center for Great Plains Studies and The Nature Conservancy, and attended by about 300 people. I was one of 15 … Continue reading
Posted in Prairie Animals, Prairie Insects, Prairie Management, Prairie Natural History, Prairie Photography, Prairie Plants
Tagged center for great plains studies, conservation, conservation jam, grasslands, great plains, importance of bugs, importance of insects, importance of plants, prairies, the nature conservancy, thee minute presentation
26 Comments
Lessons From a Project to Improve Prairie Quality – Part 1: Patch-Burn Grazing, Plant Diversity, and Butterflies
We recently completed a large multi-year restoration and management project at our Platte River Prairies. Our specific objectives were to improve habitat quality for various at-risk prairie species and evaluate the impacts of our management on at-risk butterflies – particularly … Continue reading
Posted in Prairie Animals, Prairie Insects, Prairie Management, Prairie Natural History, Prairie Photography, Prairie Plants, Prairie Restoration/Reconstruction
Tagged at-risk species, burning, butterflies, conservation, conservation grazing, conservative plants, fire, floristic quality, grassland, grassland management, grazing, grazing impacts on prairie, grazing prairie, habitat quality, land management, lessons learned, nebraska, patch-burn grazing, platte river, platte river prairies, pollinators, prairie, prairie management, prairie restoration, prescribed fire, regal fritillary, research, state wildlife grant, stewardship, the nature conservancy
13 Comments
Bees in a Restored Prairie Landscape – So far, So Good
Mike Arduser has (mostly) finished identifying the bees we found during our insect week in early July this year. Though the data we collected during that week was just a first step, the early results are very positive. It appears … Continue reading
Posted in General, Prairie Insects, Prairie Management, Prairie Natural History, Prairie Photography, Prairie Plants, Prairie Restoration/Reconstruction
Tagged bees, conservation, ecological function, ecological restoration, grassland, habitat restoration, nebraska, photography, platte river prairies, pollinators, prairie restoration, restoration, restored prairie, the nature conservancy
6 Comments
Using Photography to Catalyze Prairie Conservation
I’ve written several times about the challenge of getting people excited enough about prairies that they take conservation action. My latest attempt was back in January. In addition, I posted an essay from Doug Ladd in April that expressed the … Continue reading
Photo of the Week – June 22, 2012
One great thing about insects and spiders is that they can be found almost anywhere. One great thing about kids is that they love to explore. Putting those two together creates a terrific way to get kids interested in nature. It’s been … Continue reading
Posted in General, Prairie Insects, Prairie Photography
Tagged children, conservation, insects, kids, kids in nature, nature, outdoor education
2 Comments
Submarine Sora
The photo below is about 15 years old now, but is connected to one of my favorite stories. A co-worker and I were walking in a recently-restored prairie/wetland along the Platte River when we flushed a sora (a kind of … Continue reading
Posted in General, Prairie Natural History, Prairie Photography, Prairie Restoration/Reconstruction
Tagged bird, conservation, discovery, nebraska, photography, rail, sora, underwater, wetland
4 Comments
What Do Grassland Birds Need for Migratory Habitat?
A new study sheds (a little) light on a slice of grassland bird life we know very little about. We know a lot about grassland birds. Sure, there’s a lot we don’t know too – but we certainly know a lot … Continue reading
Photo of the Week – October 21, 2011
Garden spiders, aka black and yellow argiopes, are one of the most recognizable spiders in many prairies (not to mention backyards). In fact, my kids spent several weeks this August doing daily checks on one big spider in our yard, feeding … Continue reading
Posted in General, Prairie Insects, Prairie Natural History, Prairie Photography
Tagged autumn, backyard, black and yellow argiope, conservation, education, egg sac, fall, garden spider, kids, nebraska, overwinter, people, prairie, spiderling
28 Comments
Prairie Restoration (Reconstruction) as a Landscape-Scale Prairie Conservation Tool
As promised, here is a summary of the presentation I gave last weekend to the Winter Meeting of the Iowa Prairie Network. I advocated using prairie restoration to increase the size and connectivity of fragmented remnant prairies and improve our … Continue reading
