Over the weekend, my wife, Kim, and I were at Wilson Lake in Kansas. Longtime readers know that Kim runs ultramarathons and that I usually accompany her when she goes to races or long training runs. This weekend, she was signed up for a “backyard ultra” in which participants run an approximately four mile loop once an hour for as many hours as they can. They have to be back at the starting line at the top of each hour to avoid being disqualified. Sounds fun, huh?

Kim was mostly using the race as training for another race coming up next month, so she only planned to run 8 loops. The serious racers were each planning to run until they were the last one left. The eventual winner ran through the day, the night, and much of the next day, ending at something like 30 laps and 125 miles. Kim was feeling good after her first eight loops and ended up doing an extra one to end up at 37.5 miles.

My role in all this was to be at the starting point a few minutes before each hour to help refill Kim’s water and hand her food, dry clothes, or whatever else she needed before she headed back onto the trail. It was pretty exhausting work, but my training got me through it. I only missed one time and that was because our car went crazy and locked me inside while it blared the theft warning horn and lights. I hadn’t adequately trained for that, apparently.

During one of her brief stops between laps, Kim handed me a plant with yellow flowers and said, “I think this is a Corydalis, right?”

This is just one of many reasons I love my wife. She enjoys the challenge of long trail runs, but she’s also there because of what she can see along those trails. She’s very good at recognizing and appreciating what she sees. It’s nice that we can share these experiences. It’s especially nice that she’s happy to handle the running part by herself.

Kim was, of course, correct about the Corydalis. I wandered out and found a few plants to photograph during her next lap. Then I looked online to see what species it might be. I’m pretty sure it’s Corydalis lutea, which is a non-native, but apparently fairly innocuous wildflower found in that part of Kansas. It’s very pretty.

I’d been hoping to do a lot of photography during the race, even though I knew I’d be on a relatively short tether because of my hourly responsibilities at the starting line. This is a site Kim runs at fairly frequently, so I’m starting to become familiar with where certain species hang out. During a few periods when the overcast skies brightened a little, I grabbed my camera gear and wandered through the nearby rocky prairie, checking out some likely spots.

The temperatures were too cool for most creatures, including the ants at my favorite ant mound. I didn’t see any of the eastern collared lizards I photographed last summer, either. I did, however, find a couple new-to-me plant species. That’s assuming my cursory plant identification was accurate.

Prairie shrubs were in bloom around Wilson Lake, including wild plum, currant, and skunkbush sumac. I didn’t end up close enough to the first two to get photos of them, but I managed to photograph the skunkbush sumac. As I was finishing that photo, I saw a little butterfly out of the corner of my eye and was able to track down a common checkered skipper that looked freshly emerged.

The little butterfly posed on the trail for a short time and let me get some close-up portraits of it. This species is common in both Kansas and Nebraska, but is apparently found from southern Canada all the way down through South America. This one looked like it was trying to warm up by absorbing sunlight with its widespread wings, but there wasn’t much light or heat to absorb. I got a couple quick shots and then left it alone.

I’ve got just under a month to get in shape for Kim’s next race, which will be a much longer one. I’ll probably do some squats and knee bends to make sure I can get down to the ground for insect and wildflower photos. I need to get my camera batteries charged up and lenses cleaned. Apparently, I should also do some reading about the anti-theft features of our car so I can avoid a repeat of that whole fiasco.

Oh, and Kim will do a lot more training runs. This is a team effort, after all.

Quickly, for those of you who might be proximate and/or interested, we will be hosting another public field day at The Nature Conservancy’s Platte River Prairies this summer.  On July 13, 2024, we will have our staff and a number of guest presenters on hand to lead hikes and give presentations on a variety of topics.  At a minimum, we’ll have some live reptiles you can see up close, a demonstration of small mammal live trapping (for research), and opportunities to explore and learn about prairies, prairie restoration, land stewardship, and much more.  Mark your calendars and watch this space for more details!

Now, to business.

Thanks to Jared Barnes and Rebecca McMackin, this blog was briefly mentioned in a New York Times article last week.  As a result, a couple hundred new people have subscribed within the last several days, and others have stopped by to take a look.  Even apart from that recent flurry, I’m continually surprised and gratified by the number of new readers who find and subscribe to this odd little digital newsletter.

Since we’ve got a bunch of new people here, I thought it might be helpful to provide a brief explanation of what you’ve signed up for.  I say brief, but it’s a little difficult to summarize this blog in a few words.  I’ll try anyway. Perhaps some long-time subscribers can add their descriptions and thoughts about the blog in the comments section (which continues to be a startlingly and gratifyingly positive environment for discussion.)

At the end of this post, I’ve also included links to some earlier posts that provide examples of the kind of content you can find here. 

First, a quick introduction of myself.  I’m the Nebraska Director of Science and Stewardship for The Nature Conservancy.  I started with the Conservancy in 1997 as a land steward along the Central Platte River and in other sites in eastern and south-central Nebraska.  Over time, I’ve continued my involvement in (and passion for) land stewardship, but have become more active with science and communications work as well. 

I also own and manage 160 acres of land, including about 110 acres of prairie, that I’ve inherited/bought from other members of my extended family.  That land is about 12 miles south of my home in Aurora, Nebraska. The Helzer Family Prairie, in addition to land at The Nature Conservancy, makes up the backdrop for a lot of my photos and writing.  I have a long relationship with those grasslands and they continue to teach me amazing lessons.

These days, I supervise The Nature Conservancy’s stewardship staff at the Niobrara Valley Preserve and Platte River Prairies.  I also conduct and collaborate on research projects related to prairie stewardship and ecology and help evaluate the stewardship work done by our staff.  We try to take a very experimental approach to that stewardship work – developing and testing new ideas that push boundaries and help us learn.  Finally, I spend a lot of time sharing the lessons from those experiments, through field tours, presentations, writing, and photography.

I wrote a book on prairie ecology and management back in 2009.  By the time it was published, I already had a lot of new ideas and information, but no way to add them to the book.  I also found it frustrating that I wasn’t able to engage with readers of the book so we could trade thoughts and learn from each other.  As I talked to friends about that frustration, several people suggested I should start a blog.  I’d never read a blog and barely knew what one was.  In spite of that, I started this blog in September of 2010.

As I see it, the blog serves three purposes.  First, it is a way for me to advocate for the beauty and complexity of prairies.  Through writing and photography, I try to show people how fascinating grasslands are and why their conservation is important.  I don’t focus much on the utilitarian value of prairies (carbon sequestration, food production, and such) because I don’t think that’s the best way to inspire people to support conservation – at least not initially.  I’d rather introduce you to the incredible organisms and complex interactions within prairies so you’ll fall in love with them and the habitats they rely upon.

Second, the blog is an important vehicle for sharing the results of the prairie management and restoration projects and experiments we and others are working on.  A substantial percentage of readers are landowners, land managers, or others associated with prairie conservation.  I present research results, ruminations, and wild ideas related to stewardship and restoration of prairies and hope it inspires others to ask questions, try new approaches, and help us all work together to save grassland ecosystems.

Finally, I write blog posts to entertain myself.  Often, other people seem to be entertained by them, too, but that’s honestly just a fortunate by-product.  I like to insert humor into most articles, but I will occasionally write an entire post for no other reason than to make myself laugh.

That’s about the long and short of it.  Thank you to all you new subscribers.  Even more, thank you to those of you who have been here for many years.  This blog continues to exist because I’m able to convince my supervisors that it contributes something to conservation.  I hope it inspires people to love and support the conservation of prairies.  I also hope it is helpfully thought-provoking to all of you working on the land to keep prairies vibrant and resilient. 

Please help spread the word about this blog.  Notwithstanding periodic mentions in The New York Times and other media outlets, most new subscribers find the blog when readers forward a post to their friends.  Keep it up – I really, really appreciate it.

Now, here are some old posts you might enjoy, and that give you a flavor – by topical category – of what this blog contains:

Ecology and Natural History:

A Deep-Rooted Prairie Myth

Toxic Bee-Killing Hitchhiker Beetles (I Know, Right?)

12,000 Years of Bison Behavior in the Central U.S. – Interview with Dr. Chris Widga

Milkweed Pollination: A Series of Fortunate Events

My favorite insect further endears itself to me

Square Meter Photography Project

.

Land Stewardship and Science:

Is Prairie Stewardship Hampered By Our History Goggles?

Visualizing Plant Community Change

Portrait of a Summer Prairie Burn

.

Goofy Humor:

Finally, A Practical Guide for Roadside Wildflower Viewing

Quiz of Total World Distraction

Yet Another Quiz