Quick Announcement: We are hosting two Plant Identification/Habitat Management workshops in August. The first is at The Nature Conservancy’s Platte River Prairies on August 12 and the second is at the Niobrara Valley Preserve on August 19. During the workshops, you’ll learn how to identify lots of prairie plants and get whatever additional information I can think of for each of them. We’ll also look at various prairie restoration and management approaches we’re testing and talk about what we’re learning.

These are free workshops (bring your own lunch and drinking water) and will run from 9am to 2:30pm. Anyone is welcome. Please email Kate Samuelson (kate.samuelson@tnc.org) to RSVP so we can contact you in case we change plans because of weather.

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It’s been a fun month for photography. I haven’t had as much time as I’d have liked, but I’ve managed to get out several times. The prairies are teeming with invertebrates and it’s been easy to find lots of fun photo subjects. Getting them to stick around for a photo, of course, is less easy, but I’ve still managed it a few times.

It’s also a great time for wildlflower photography right now, with more and bolder blossoms showing up all the time. The following photos were taken at my family prairie and Gjerloff Prairie.

Finally, here are a few photos from the Platte River Prairies Field Day last week. I didn’t have a lot of time to do photography, but I did get a few shots of our first session. Mike Schrad, Nebraska Master Naturalist, has been collecting data on small mammals for over a decade, helping us to understand how our prairie management affects those creatures. He’s also very generous with his time, and always willing to explain what he’s doing and teach others about mice and other little mammal species.