The Prairie Ecologist

Essays, photos, and discussion about prairie ecology, restoration, and management

Platte River Prairies Field Day – THIS WEDNESDAY

Posted on June 20, 2016 by Chris Helzer

This Wednesday (June 22) is our next Platte River Prairies Field Day. Admission is free, and there will be several hikes/presentations to choose from during each of the four session periods during the day. Come learn about prairie plants and insects, prairie restoration and management, edible wild plants and native plant gardening. You can also learn about monarch butterfly conservation and find out how you can help collect important data to help monitor their recovery.

You can see the full agenda for the day HERE. Directions to the site are HERE.

Wildflowers and grasshoppers. TNC Platte River Prairies.

This event is open to anyone, including families. Master Naturalists and others interested in learning about (and helping with) ecology and conservation are particularly welcome.

I hope to see you Wednesday.

Photo of the Week – June 17, 2016

Posted on June 17, 2016 by Chris Helzer

I’m just back from a great week in the Nebraska Sandhills. I saw an amazing array of wildlife, invertebrates, plants and landscapes. Of the many wildflowers in bloom this week, none punctuated the hills more beautifully than yucca (aka soapweed). As always, nearly every yucca stem with actively blooming flowers hosted an abundance of yucca moths, the only pollinator of yucca plants. If you aren’t familiar with the incredible relationship between yucca moths and yucca plants, you can read about it in a previous post.

Yucca moths in the early morning. Nebraska Sandhills – Cherry County.

I’ll post some more Sandhills photos next week…