Nebraska Wildflower Field Guide

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About 20 years ago, Jon Farrar, one of Nebraska’s preeminent naturalists and photographers published a fantastic field guide to the wildflowers of Nebraska and the Great Plains.  Unfortunately, the book sold out within a year and a half and has been nearly impossible to find since then.  Finally, after all this time, it has been reprinted, and the new edition is even better than the first.

I was asked to write a review of the new edition for Prairie Fire Newspaper, and was more than happy to oblige (and not just because I got a free signed copy of the book!).  The review was published in the April 2012 issue of Prairie Fire, and you can read it here.

To see more of Prairie Fire Newspaper, please go to their website at www.prairiefirenewspaper.com.  You can also read more about Jon’s book at the University of Iowa Press website.

If you had Farrar's wildflower field guide, you'd know that this is showy milkweed - not common milkweed - because the flowers are more prominent and have longer "hoods". Not only does the book explain what hoods are, it has excellent photos of both species that make the differences very easy to see.

Photo of the Week – March 30, 2012

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Recently, I wrote about the dangers of prescribed fire, in what turned out to be kind of a downer of a post.  Sorry about that.  My main point, really, was that burning without clear objectives is just taking a risk for no good reason.  I also think it’s important for all of us to be reminded of just how dangerous fire can be.

As a kind of counterbalance to that post, however, I present the following photo from one of our fires this spring.  To me, the photo elicits a wide range of emotions.  It illustrates both the beauty and dangerous power of fire, all wrapped up in one frozen (so to speak) moment in time.

A 2012 prescribed fire in The Nature Conservancy's Platte River Prairies.

Yes, fire can be destructive, but it’s also an important component of many ecosystems and their conservation – not to mention the critical role fire has played in the evolution of human civilization.  More to the point of this post, fire is incredibly appealing.  Just think about how many images of flames and fire appear all around us in our daily lives… 

While prescribed fires are stressful for me, I can still find time to appreciate – and sometimes even photograph – the beauty of fire as well. 

…and later, after the fire is safely out, I can appreciate the photos even more!