Do you have questions about prairies and don’t know what to do about it?

“What are panic grasses so worried about?” or “What did Katy do, anyway?”

Or maybe you have questions on more applied topics such as, “What factors should I consider if I want to manage my prairie for a robust pollinator community?” or “What are my options for prairie management if I’m not allowed to use fire?”

Well, here’s your chance. I’m bringing back the popular (to me) segment of this blog called, “Ask the Prairie Ecologist.”

Some of you will remember this from a few years ago when I ran out of ideas for topics and decided I’d just let others do my job for me. It worked great!

Here’s how it goes: You ask me questions. I’ll answer them. If I can.

Just type your question into the comments section of this post. Depending upon the volume of questions, I’ll do my best to answer most of them right there – or, at least, try to send you in a helpful direction. Others are welcome to chime in with their own perspectives too – as long as you promise to be polite and kind.

I’ll also grab a few of the questions that I think would be of broad interest and address them in a future post or two.

You can ask questions about prairie species and communities, photography, land stewardship, prairie restoration, or anything else that’s somehow related to prairies. I certainly don’t promise to have answers to all the questions, but one of the advantages of being around a long time is that I know lots of other people and sources of knowledge. I’ll try to give you at least some kind of nudge toward the information you’re looking for.

That’s pretty much it. Any questions?

(Important: If you read these posts in your email and have trouble accessing the comments, just click on the title of the post in the email to open it online. Then just scroll all the way to the bottom of the post and type in your question or comment.)

Well, as promised, I’ve been busy with some new job duties and haven’t posted as much as I’d like. I have managed some time for photography, though. I mean, I’m not THAT busy!

Without needless fanfare, here are some prairie photos from the last several weeks – and a few woodland shots from southeastern Oklahoma, just to keep you on your toes.

Our new Hubbard Fellows, Kees Hood and Claire Morrical have been here for two weeks. As per usual, they’re full of energy and questions, and it’s been a real pleasure to introduce them to our work, staff, and sites. This week, we took a quick trip to the Niobrara Valley Preserve and introduced them to some of our bison and checked out a prairie dog town with no visible prairie dogs. (They weren’t invisible, they were just underground.)

While we were checking on bison, we also briefly explored an area of the sandhills and woodland that was burned in December. It looked like it did a great job killing small cedars in the prairie. That fits into a larger strategy by us and others to expand the burn windows we’re using to deal with cedar tree encroachment. There aren’t enough good burn days in the spring to do what’s needed, so we need to be ready to take advantage of good days whenever they come.

We also took a little time to scramble down to one of many springs where water from beneath the Sandhills flows out of the hills and down toward the Niobrara River.

Back in late January, I was up at the Niobrara Valley Preserve to meet with staff and had a chance to do some photography in the fog and snow. I’d hoped to find some snowy bison to photograph, but the snow had drifted deep enough that I wasn’t confident that I’d be able to do that without getting stuck. Instead, I photographed wild rose hips.

Last weekend, Kim had a 50 mile race at Robber’s Cave State Park in Oklahoma, so I tagged along to hand her snacks and top off her water as she came through aid stations. In between, I wandered the woods a little. It was dark and cloudy most of the day, but brightened up enough in the late afternoon that I did a little photography. Here are three photos of sycamore leaves in a stream that caught my eye.

If you live in a place where winters are cold, it can be hard to motivate yourself to get out the door. All I can tell you is that even on days when the light isn’t great for photography, I’ve not yet been sorry when I’ve kicked myself out the door to wander around for a while. I hope you’re all finding some joy in exploration too!