Tag Archives: oral-history

Perspectives of the Prairie: Mike Schrad

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Hi everyone.  The following blog post is written by 2024 Hubbard Fellow Claire Morrical.  Claire put together a fantastic series of interviews with people working in conservation here in Nebraska and we thought you’d enjoy reading and listening to their stories. 

This project – Perspectives of the Prairie – uses interviews and maps to share the perspectives and stories of people, from ecologists to volunteers, on the prairie. You can check out the full project HERE.

This post also contains audio clips. You can find the text from this blog post with audio transcripts HERE. If you’re reading this post in your email and the audio clips don’t work, click on the title of the post to open it online.

Find the first entry of Perspectives of the Prairie, Neil Dankert HERE

In 2014, Mike began what is now a 10-year survey of small mammals at Platte River Prairies. I joined Mike while he set traps for the evening to talk about the answers and questions that arose from the survey, what the prairie looks like from the small mammal perspective, and how Mike’s career impacts his work today.

Interview: July 11th, 2024

Mike Schrad showing a pocket mouse to a group off-camera

Part 1: Meet Mike

Location: A kangaroo rat burrow in the Derr Sandhills site at Platte River Prairies

This is Mike Schrad.

Three times a year (spring, summer, and fall), Mike drives down to Platte River Prairies and surveys small mammals for two days. In the evenings, he sets up two grids of 40 traps, then returns at dawn to see what he’s caught.

I met up with Mike on a warm July evening and we drive out to the site the Derr Sandhills to set traps. Like the more expansive Nebraska Sandhills to the north, our little sandhills are made up of rolling grass-covered dunes, with sand-loving species like little bluestem and the aptly named sand lovegrass.

We meander up and down the rows, searching for Sherman traps (picture 2) to refill with seed for tomorrow’s critters. By the morning, a furry little creature will have wandered into the long metal box, looking for food, and a door will snap shut, trapping it until it’s found, measured, and then released back into the prairie.

Mike Schrad is a retired wildlife biologist who has volunteered at Platte River Prairies for the last 10 years. Mike collects small mammal data on this site, helping us to understand the creatures that use it and how our management affects them.

As he works, Mike is quick to point out what he notices.

Notes for Context:

  • Chris Helzer: Director of Science and Stewardship for Nebraska TNC. Chris has spent much of his career at Platte River Prairies
  • Hall County: The Nebraska county where Platte River Prairies is located
  • The Natural Legacy Project: Works to identify and protect at risk, state threatened, and state endangered species in Nebraska (referred to as the Legacy Program by Mike)

In March of 2024, the Ord’s Kangaroo Rat, or the k-rat, was officially recorded on Platte River Prairies for the first time. K-rats are well-named, balancing on strong hind legs and hopping through tall grasses like very little kangaroos (though still bigger than the small mammals Mike aims to catch in his traps). You can tell a kangaroo rat is present by the long s curves its tail leaves in the sand around its burrow entrance.

Camera trap footage of a kangaroo rat at Platte River Prairies

Mikes career as a wildlife biologist continues to inform his perspective and his work on our sandhills, providing the preserve with a better understanding of what is in our prairie. In turn, Mike has learned a lot himself and finds that he is more confident in the next generation of ecologists.

Part 2: Surveying Small Mammals

Location: The site East Dahms at Platte River Prairies where the original small mammal survey was done

What started as a one-time survey has grown into a project that spans ten years and has recorded over 450 small mammals. As we set traps, Mike tells us how it all started.

Notes for Context:

  • Chris Helzer: Director of Science and Stewardship for Nebraska TNC. Chris has spent much of his career at Platte River Prairies
  • The Natural Legacy Project: Works to identify and protect at risk, state threatened, and state endangered species in Nebraska (referred to as the Legacy Program by Mike)

Small Mammals Mentioned:  Plains pocket mouse (Perognathus flavescens)

A plains pocket mouse sitting on Mike Schrad’s wrist

What this study gives us is an understanding of what small mammal species are using our the Derr Sandhills. Of them, Mike is particularly interested in the plains pocket mouse. Perhaps most notable for its fur lined cheek pouches (or pockets, if you will), the pocket mouse feeds mainly on seeds which they can store in their pouches, and later in seed caches separate from their nest burrows.

Plains pocket mice can be divided into two subspecies, an eastern and a western subspecies, which can be told apart by slight differences in their fur color. Of the two, the eastern plains pocket mouse is less common, and is listed as a tier one species in the Nebraska Natural Legacy Project.

One of our past Hubbard fellows, Jasmine Cutter, has a great piece about the plains pocket mouse HERE.

Notes for Context:

  • Dr. Keith Geluso: Professor of Biology at the University of Nebraska Kearney
  • Tier One Species:  Species most at risk for extinction

Small Mammals Mentioned: Prairie Vole (Microtus ochrogaster), White-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus), Deer Mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus), Plains Pocket Mouse (Perognathus flavescens), Hispid Pocket Mouse (Chactodipus hispidus), Northern Grasshopper Mouse (Onychomys leucogaster)

Northern grasshopper mouse (photo: Chris Helzer)

Northern grasshopper mice ARE really neat. They’re territorial animals, and unlike a majority of mouse species, grasshopper mice are carnivorous, eating mainly insects. In addition to being a terrifying predator (if you’re a grasshopper), grasshopper mice are known for their howl. The mice will throw back their head and let out a high-pitched whistle.

Mike and the Platte River Prairies team have an idea of what’s here, but that’s just the beginning of the story. To start, Mike needs enough data to prove that his findings are accurate. In the meantime, what we’ve ended up with is a door that’s been opened to a whole lot of questions that take their own research to answer.

One example of research that’s stemmed from Mike’s work is a  research project  by a past Hubbard fellow, Jasmine Cutter.

Mike shares another example with us.

Notes for Context:

  • Pit tags: a microchip that can be planted under the skin of an animal, allowing us to track where the animal is at using GPS.

Small Mammals Mentioned: Deer Mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus), Plains Pocket Mouse (Perognathus flavescens)

Part 3: Restored Prairie

Location: The restored portion of the Derr Sandhills site at Platte River Prairies

Purple prairie clover and restored sand prairie (photo: Chris Helzer)

The Derr Sandhills is made up of both restored and remnant prairie. Remnant prairie has never been plowed and never existed as something other than grassland (at least in the last several hundred years). It may be beaten up, over-grazed, overwhelmed with invasive species, but it has always been prairie.

Restored prairie on the other hand, has been fundamentally changed into something that isn’t prairie. In this case, a corn field. As a result, the seed bank is lost, soil nutrients and hydrology may change, and the prairie cannot return to exactly what it was before. That doesn’t mean it can’t be restored to a great prairie. As Mike Schrad will tell you, it’s just different.

This site was restored in 2001. Here at the restored site, the grass is taller and thicker. On much of it, you have to dig through a quarter inch of old grass to get to the soil. So, what have we found on this restored site?

Small mammals mentioned: Plains Pocket Mouse (Perognathus flavescens), Deer Mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus)

“Why?” is a question Mike asks often.

Part 4: Remnant Prairie

Location: The remnant portion of the Derr Sandhills site at Platte River Prairies

Leadplant (Amorpha canescens) and Puccoon (Lithospermum caroliniense) in remnant sandhills prairie (photo: Chris Helzer)

If you look at a satellite image of the Derr Sandhills, you can just make out where the old crop field was and the circle that an old pivot irrigator once drew around the edge of it. To the south of the restored sandhills is the remnant sandhills, noticeably hillier, and as Mike says, “just different”.

The Derr Sanhills in 2005 (trademark of Google LLC)
The Derr Sandhills in 2024 (trademark of Google LLC)

Google and Google Docs are trademarks of Google LLC and this book is not endorsed by or affiliated with Google in any way.

Notes for Context:

  • Remnant Prairie: Prairie that has never been plowed
  • Restored Prairie: Prairie that was plowed (for example, for cropland or housing development), but later replanted back into a prairie

Mike and I stood in the remnant prairie, overlooking the restored portion. There is a line just visible between the two sections where the community of plant species changes. From the Indiangrass and big bluestem in the restored prairie to the sand lovegrass and little bluestem in the remnant, the two different plant compositions complement each other both visually and ecologically. Research by previous Hubbard fellow, Anne Stine, showed native bees using both parts of the prairie as they hunted for pollen.

Mike compares the restored, where the vegetation was taller and thicker, to the remnant.

An example of dense grasses in the restored Derr Sandhills

Notes for Context: We use cattle grazing as a management tool on our prairies. Cattle can be a great substitute for bison, adding disturbance to the prairie and helping us manage our invasive species. Mike refers cattle’s role in creating different vegetation structures (like tall and dense or short and sparse) across the prairie. Our goal is to have a variety of vegetation structures (which we call “habitat heterogeneity”) so that the prairie can host many different species with different needs.

This summer, the Derr Sandhills were grazed for the first time in several years.

  • Chris Helzer: Director of Science and Stewardship for Nebraska TNC. Chris has spent much of his career at Platte River Prairies

Mike shares some of his findings from the sandhills and how they just keep raising more questions.

Part 5: From a Mouse’s Point of View

Location: The Derr Sandhills 

This is what Mike notices in the prairie –

One of many mosaics that Mike pointed out – a pocket gopher mound in the grass

These mosaics that Mike points out are areas of patchwork structure. Some tall grasses with dense thatch, some sparser grass with bare ground below it, some bare sandy mounds, pushed up by pocket gophers as they tunnel underground.

Mike is a strong supporter of seeing from the perspective of his small mammals and encourages others to do the same. Looking through the eyes of a small mammal, these mosaics can make a big difference. It affects how easy it is to move, to hide, to stay warm.

An open Sherman trap in the grass at eye level

Just like people, other animals need different types of spaces. Places where they feel safe, places they can find food. And just like different people have their preferences, so do small mammals. By having diverse habitat across our prairies, we can make sure more species have the habitat and structure they like.

Small mammals Mentioned: Western Harvest Mouse (Reithrodontomys magalotis), Prairie Vole (Microtus ochrogaster)

Unlike grasshopper mice, western harvest mice (R. magalotis) are quite tolerant of their neighbors. Like Mike says, they often nest above ground, such as at the base of clumps of grass.

Prairie voles can be distinguished from the other critters Mike captures by their stout snout and short tails.

Even with an eye to the ground, small mammals can surprise Mike.

Small Mammals Mentioned: Plains Pocket Mouse (Perognathus flavescens)

Part 6: Strip Mines and Sandhills

Location: the site Dahms East at Platte River Prairies, where we use open gate grazing

A drone image of open gate grazing at Dahms East, showing different vegetation structures (photo: Chris Helzer)

You might remember this clip from the beginning of Mike’s interview –

That experience continues to shape Mike’s perspective during his volunteer work at Platte River Prairies and of the value of his research.

In his old career, Mike was thinking about how human activity that drastically changed the landscape, would impact animal species, and what could be done to make sure those species persisted in spite of these huge disturbances.

Notes for Context: Mike talks about sage grouse strutting grounds. Also known as leks, these are areas where male grouse gather to perform for females. They inflate and deflate sacks of air, making a bubble-like sound in an unending display in hopes a hen will choose to mate with him. Grouse can be extremely dedicated to a lek site, returning to the same site year after year. Learn more HERE.

Recreating a landscape after mining and watching a prairie after a season of heavy grazing may seem vastly different, but the comparison is clear to Mike. We are still changing the landscape and how we go about doing that affects which critters will thrive here.

Notes for Context:

  • Chris Helzer: Director of Science and Stewardship for Nebraska TNC. Chris has spent much of his career at Platte River Prairies
  • Brome Grass: A genus of grass, many of which are invasive to Nebraska

On a site that hasn’t seen much disturbance in the last several years, Mike is excited to see what the coming grazing will bring, although he hopes to avoid the inconveniences.

Cattle grazing on the prairie

Notes for Context: Mike refers to a new grazing technique. This technique is called “open gate grazing” and is a way for us to create that habitat heterogeneity that will allow many different species to thrive here. You can learn how this grazing system works HERE.

  • Cody Miller: Preserve manager at Platte River Prairies

Perspectives of the Prairie: Neil Dankert

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Hi everyone.  The following blog post is written by 2024 Hubbard Fellow Claire Morrical.  Claire put together a fantastic series of interviews with people working in conservation here in Nebraska and we thought you’d enjoy reading and listening to their stories. 

This post also contains audio clips. You can find the text from this blog post with audio transcripts HERE. If you’re reading this post in your email and the audio clips don’t work, click on the title of the post to open it online.

Every year, Hubbard Fellows are tasked with completing a project to advance TNC’s mission and conservation in Nebraska. That’s it. That’s the rubric. This is a rare opportunity to explore whatever method, medium, or idea you want. Past projects included research projects, plans for a trail kiosk, and even a comic book about the Platte River.

My project originated with a lifelong friend, an oral historian who interviews people to preserve their experiences and perspectives of the histories they’ve lived through. Hearing how valuable those stories were to understanding the past made me want to create my own collection of interviews. I originally planned to follow more traditional oral history practices, creating an archive of two-hour unedited interviews intended to capture 30 years of experience of people I’d never met. When I presented this approach to Chris, he asked me, “Who’s your audience?” Which was a very kind way of saying, “Who the heck is going to listen to that?” – I had some refining to do.

The great thing about working on one project for a full year is that it gets to develop organically. As I molded the project to fit a public audience, I eventually created “Perspectives of the Prairie” – interviews with people of different ages and experiences, enriched with photos and maps to ground the stories in place.

Spending the year with this project was such a joy. I enjoyed experimenting with ways to deliver context and information. Most of all, I loved talking to people, getting to know them better, and trying to see the landscape through their eyes. The more people I met, the more I thought, “Man! I really want to interview them!” It was so fun to chat with so many people, and I hope you’ll enjoy chatting with them too!

You can explore the full Story Map through this LINK.

On top of that, each interview will be published on The Prairie Ecologist as its own blog post (Psst, the first one is just below)!

Neil Dankert has been surveying butterflies since 1984, just 4 years after TNC bought Niobrara Valley Preserve. Neil and I spoke during the 2024 butterfly survey about how much can be missed by timing and chance, Neil’s reflections on the 2012 wildfire at the preserve, and the importance of sharing knowledge to Neil’s journey.

Interview: July 2nd, 2024

Neil Dankert (left) identifies a butterfly in a plastic bag.

Part 1: Meet Neil

Location: Middle Creek at Niobrara Valley Preserve

Butterflies mentioned: Two-spotted Skipper (Euphyes bimacula), Dion skipper (Euphyes vestris)

These are soundbites from the annual butterfly surveys at Niobrara Valley Preserve. Every year, Lepidopterist Neil Dankert is joined by his partner, Jen, and assisted by Johnathon Nikkila and his son in his search for butterflies and moths that fill the records of the Lepidopterists Society and Niobrara Valley Preserve.

Lepidoptera: a group of insects that includes butterflies and moths

Butterflies mentioned: Silvery Checkerspot (Chlosyne nycteis), Gorgone Checkerspot (Chlosyne gorgone)

Those of us who hadn’t participated in surveys in the past first met Neil the night before. It was an informal gathering around a mercury vapor light, set up against a sheet to attract moths. We were pointing out moths and insects as they swarmed the sheet (and our faces) when Neil joined us, answering questions and identifying moths. The target of the night was the abbreviated underwing (Catocala abbreviatella), a species identifiable by the showy orange on its bottom two wings. It was a sight to behold; hundreds of moths and flies and insects that flit through the night.

Hubbard Fellows, and Neil Dankert (red shirt) looking at insects at a bug light (photo: Chris Helzer)

The next morning, we passed around some of Neil’s finds, temporarily housed in orange pill jars, until Neil interjected to set the day’s course, leading with the announcement that this would be his 40 th  year of surveying butterflies at Niobrara Valley Preserve.

We first hiked through woodlands swatting at more mosquitos than butterflies. But we caught sight of the occasional Wood Satyr (Megisto cymela) and Wood Nymph (Cercyonis pegala). Our second site was at a prairie on rolling hills where we chased our main targets for the day: skippers. Skippers are small brown butterflies that Neil’s partner, Jen, describes as looking like paper airplanes. To an untrained eye, skippers often look nondescript and indistinguishable from each other. So, we brought them to Neil, like offerings in Ziploc bags, and waited patiently for him to confirm or deny our guesses and acknowledge that this was an exciting find, or just another name and tally for the list.

Butterflies mentioned: Least skipper (Ancyloxypha numitor)

Two-spotted Skipper (Euphyes bimacula) (photo: Chris Helzer)

Our third site was Middle Creek, which runs to the Niobrara River from the north. Here, Neil and I let the others do the hard work of chasing butterflies, while Neil invited me to “pull up a tailgate” as we discussed his 40 years surveying butterflies and moths at Niobrara Valley Preserve. Neil needed no prompting to launch into his story while I scurried to record –

Notes For Context:

  • Dr. Hal Nagel: A biologist at University of Nebraska Kearney
  • Dr. Paul Opler: studied Lepidoptera for over 50 years. He wrote a number of field guides including the Peterson Field Guides to Butterflies of Eastern and Western North America
  • The Lepidoptera Society: A collective of Lepidoptera lovers, scientist and non-scientist, dedicated to the study, recordkeeping, and preservation of butterflies and moths
  • County Record: the first time a species is recorded in a particular county

You can find a link to the 1988 butterfly survey HERE. The survey covered seven sites across Niobrara Valley Preserve. It recorded 24 Brown County records and 42 Keya Paha County records, as well as 16 species at the edge of their geographic range.

Part 2: What Neil Doesn’t See

Location: One of the sites where Weidermeyer butterflies were recorded at Niobrara Valley Preserve

Neil’s interview was peppered with visits by surveyors, consulting Neil and sharing what they’d found with others

Butterflies mentioned: Little Glassy Wing (Vernia verna), Northern Broken Dash (Polites egeremet), Silvery Checkerspot (Chlosyne nycteis)

Here’s one of the surveyors –

Butterflies mentioned: Orange Sulphur (Colias eurytheme)

Sulphur butterfly on curly cup gumweed (Grindelia squarrosa) (photo: Chris Helzer)

Back on topic now.

Neil’s career began with Niobrara Valley. And with guidance from other scientists and lepidopterists that shepherded Neil into the field, Neil holds a special perspective of the Niobrara Valley that spans decades. He’s watched species come and go. Some he relies on seeing every visit, others surprise him with their presence or their absence. He’s wondered at what he’s missed in the decades before his arrival that make his 40 years seem like a blink of an eye.

Notes for Context:

Read Neil’s blog post about these hybrids HERE.

Coral hairstreak (Satyrium titus) (photo: Chris Helzer)

Neil’s comment raises a question. What species do we miss when we choose only one day out of the year to survey and how do we account for them?

Maybe this presents an opportunity for deeper research. But in the meantime, the data that we do collect is no less meaningful.

Neil reflects on how his experience and the preserve has changed in the years since he began.

40 years of data can tell a long story. Neil watches changes on the landscape and how it impacts his butterflies. He mentions seeing the habitat change as the number of shrubs on prairies increases, an issue that concerns many grassland conservationists. Annual surveys can help us to understand how this impacts butterflies, by impacting things like access to host plants. But NVP is 56,000 acres with butterflies active for a third of the year. And speaking with Neil makes me so curious to know how much information exists beyond our 1-day survey. Who was flying in the far west corner of the preserve 2 weeks before we arrived?

Part 3: Fire on the Ridgetop

Location: The northern ridgetop, where ponderosa pines and eastern redcedars burned in the 2012 wildfire

Our closing ceremony of the survey is a count of all of the species we’ve seen, listed off in pieces scattered between surveyors and sites, and dutifully recorded by Neil. We’ve made our contribution to the list of 2000+ individual lepidopterans recorded in Nebraska.

Later, Neil and I continue our discussion.

Butterflies Mentioned: Two-tailed swallowtail (Pterourus multicaudata), Dusky wing (Erynnis sp.), Yucca Giant-Skipper (Megathymus yuccae)

The Nature Conservancy’s Niobrara Valley Preserve after the July 2012 wildfire (photo: Chris Helzer)

2012 was a drought year in Nebraska, resulting in several significant wildfires across the state. In July 2012, a lightning storm set off one such wildfire in Niobrara Valley Preserve. The fire burned 74,000 acres, including 30,000 acres of the Preserve. There were painful losses in the way of homes and facilities, but there’s an argument to be made for positive ecological impacts that the fire had on the preserve. For example, the fire burned through many eastern red cedars crowding out grasses and wildflowers on the northern ridge-side. That doesn’t mean there weren’t worries after the fire.

Hear Amanda Hefner talk about the fire in “Amanda Hefner 2: In the aftermath of the wildfires“.           

Neil shares the story from his perspective.

Part 4: A Butterfly Network

Location: Another site from the original survey at Niobrara Valley Preserve

Neil highlights it here, but throughout our discussion, his mention of names, advisors, and mentors shines a light on something I have loved experiencing in conservation: the interconnectivity of conservation and the importance of shared knowledge. It’s not so important to remember the names here as it is to understand how many people relied on and learned from to be where he is today. 

Butterflies mentioned: Great Spangled Fritillary (Argynnis cybele), Monarch (Danaus plexippus), Yucca Giant-Skipper (Megathymus yuccae), Silvery Checkerspot (Chlosyne nycteis)

This sense of community extends to Neil’s experience at Niobrara Valley Preserve.

Chris Helzer (center) shows a butterfly to Neil and the rest of the surveyors

Neil was joined by his wife Jen, who shared her perspective of the survey and the community.

With a moment of reflection, Neil shares his closing remarks.