Join Us for Two Events in July!

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We will be hosting two events at The Nature Conservancy’s Platte River Prairies next month. One is the workshop I mentioned last week, which is taking the place of the cancelled North American Prairie Conference (July 25-26), and is co-hosted by TNC and Prairie Plains Resource Institute. The second is a public field day on Saturday July 9, which I mentioned in an earlier post.

Read below for details on both events and links to even more information. Both events are free, but we’re asking people to contact us if you’re planning to attend. Please help us spread the word on both of these events – thank you!

  1. Conserving Fragmented Prairies Workshop. July 25-26, 2022 – Marquette and Wood River, Nebraska.

This field-based workshop will focus on a range of topics related to restoration and management of prairies in fragmented landscapes and is designed for prairie land stewards and landowners.  We will visit sites that illustrate both successes and challenges as a way to foster conversation and sharing of experiences between participants. Discussion highlights will be captured and shared out with participants and a broader audience following the conclusion of the workshop.

Topics will include prairie restoration/reconstruction, fire and grazing management, woody plant and other invasive species management, and more. See the full agenda and other details HERE.

The vast majority of the workshop will be held outdoors, so plan accordingly.  All food and lodging will be the responsibility of participants.  Restaurants and hotels can be found in the nearby towns of Aurora and Grand Island, which sit between Day 1 and Day 2 field sites.

There is no cost for this workshop, but space is limited, so register early (use this registration form) to ensure you get a spot.  Masks may be required for indoor sessions.  We hope to host the workshop rain or shine but may have to adjust or cancel portions if we get severe weather.

Conserving uncommon prairie species like the southern plains bumblebee is even more difficult in fragmented landscapes. We will discuss lots of strategies aimed at helping this and all the other species that depend upon prairies.

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2. Platte River Prairies Field Day. July 9, 2022 – The Nature Conservancy’s Platte River Prairies

On Saturday July 9, The Nature Conservancy will host a public field day at its Platte River Prairies with events running from 7am to about 2:15pm. This event is open to people of all ages and will be family-friendly. A variety of educational hikes will take place throughout the day, led by scientists and conservation professionals from multiple organizations. You can attend the whole event or just pop in and out for the topics you’re most interested in.

Come learn how to identify prairie birds, grasses, and wildflowers! Catch and learn about insects and their amazing life stories. Tag along with a scientist as he studies the mice and other small mammals that live beneath the grasses. Learn about prairie wetlands and the abundant life that inhabits them. If you’re in the mood to work (a little) you even can help harvest prairie seed for a restoration project.

This will be a fully-outdoors event (with bathrooms available). Please dress for a day outside and bring plenty of food and water to get you through the day, along with sunscreen and insect repellant. The site is located about 2 miles south of the Wood River Exit off of Interstate 80. See this link for more location details.

Click HERE to see a full detailed agenda for the day. If you plan to attend, please email Mardell Jasnowski at mjasnowski@tnc.org. We will contact you with more details or any changes to the schedule.

Back by popular demand, Julie Peterson (left) from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Entomology will return to share her extensive knowledge and enthusiasm about prairie invertebrates.

Photos of the Week – May 27, 2022

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Here are some photos from last weekend. Spring is progressing quickly and early wildflowers are already producing seed.

The first two photos show woolly locoweed (Oxytropis lambertii) at our familiy prairie. There’s just one small patch of this species and I visit it every year to gauge its slow expansion. Some years it doesn’t bloom, or produces just a few flowers. This year is the biggest and most florally-abundant the patch has been. It’s still only about 3 feet in diameter, but progress is progress. I photographed the flowers with three different lenses but will restrict myself to just two of the images.

Woolly locoweed – Helzer family prairie. Nikon 18-300mm lens @300mm. ISO 500, f/9, 1/800 sec.

Watching this kind of incremental improvement in plant diversity and abundance is one of the most gratifying parts of restoring a site over many years. Other species are spreading across the site too (moving out of small unplowed remnants into the larger prairie, most of which was farmed and then reseeded to grass in 1962). Blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium campestre), prairie violet (Viola pedatifida), American vetch (Vicia americana) and ground plum (Astragalus crassicarpus) are four examples I’ve been watching so far this spring. Also, as an aside, I don’t believe I’ve ever typed the word ‘Sisyrinchium’ without having to look up the spelling. It’s very annoying.

Woolly locoweed – Helzer family prairie. Nikon 10.5mm fisheye lens. ISO 320, f/13, 1/200 sec.

Last weekend, I also made a morning visit to Gjerloff Prairie and caught up on the spring progression there. I saw quite a few bees, but didn’t photograph any of them, but did manage to photograph a few of the abundant flies (lots of different species). I played around for a while with a population scarlet gaura (Oenothera suffrutescens) – a species I’ve yet to find on our family prairie. The first photo below shows a backlit fly perched on top of the plant but also illustrates the cool feature of the flowers, which start out white and then turn red as they age.

Scarlet gaura at Gjerloff prairie. Not the newest flowers (top) that are white and the older wilting flowers that have turned red. Nikon 105mm macro lens. ISO 320, f/9, 1/1000 sec.
Here’s another shot of scarlet gaura showing only the pink flower color. Nikon 105mm macro lens. ISO 320, f/10, 1/3200 sec.
Tiny fly on a prairie ragwort flower (Packera plattensis). Nikon 105mm macro lens with Raynox dcr-250 macro attachment. ISO 320, f/16, 1/60 sec.

It was moderately breezy at Gjerloff prairie, which made flower photography a little challenging initially. As the sun rose higher, its brightness made things even more difficult. I spent a lot of time following the edges of the shadows cast by hills and photographed seed heads of ragwort and prairie dandelion (Nothocalais cuspidata). The trick was to get the camera and tripod set up while the flowers/seeds were still in shadow and then take photos as the sunlight just started to kiss them and before it got too bright. Here are four of my favorites from that little game.

Prairie ragwort seeds. Nikon 105mm macro lens with Raynox dcr-250 macro attachment. ISO 320, f/16, 1/80 sec.
Prairie dandelion seed. Nikon 105mm macro lens. ISO 320, f/22, 1/80 sec.
More prairie dandelion seeds. Nikon 105mm macro lens. ISO 320, f/22, 1/125 sec.
Still more prairie dandelion seeds. Nikon 105mm macro lens. ISO 320, f/18, 1/125 sec.

As I type this, I’m itching to get out to our family prairie on this Friday afternoon because I just bought some crop oil so I can do some basal bark treatment on a bunch of little honey locust trees that are starting to annoy me. I still haven’t figured out what birds are eating/moving those seeds around but I wish they’d stop it. Birds have to at least one vehicle for the seeds because a lot of the trees get started in fencelines where (presumably?) the birds are dropping or pooping them out. But what bird species are doing that? Bobwhites? The seeds are awfully big for songbirds.

Regardless, I’m off to fight back against the invasion. Enjoy your weekend!