Tag Archives: platte river prairie

Save the Dates – Platte River Prairies Events in 2014

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If you’ve been waiting for a special invitation to come explore the Platte River Prairies, here it is…

“Come explore the Platte River Prairies!”

The Nature Conservancy's Platte River Prairies, Nebraska.

The Nature Conservancy’s Platte River Prairies, Nebraska.

During 2014, we will be hosting a number of events, including two Field Days, several volunteer workdays, and the annual meeting of the informal “Patch-Burn Grazing Working Group”.  More information on each of these is below:

Field Days – June 13 and August 29, 2014

Our Field Days are open house events that feature guided tours of our prairies and wetlands, along with discussions and presentations on various topics related to prairie management and restoration.  The events are free and open to anyone.  This year, we will have a particular focus on plant identification and invasive species, but will also feature a number of other prairie management and ecology topics – some yet to be decided.  More details will emerge as we get closer to summer, but for now, put the dates on your calendar!

Volunteer Work Days – June 7, July 5, August 2, and September 6, 2014

There are four Saturday workdays scheduled for 2014.  Anyone is welcome to join in the fun – just email or call Mardell Jasnowski (mjasnowski@tnc.org or 402-694-4191) to get more information and/or let her know you’re coming.  You can also ask to be put on our volunteer mailing list to keep abreast of other volunteer opportunities.  If you can’t make those days but are interested in helping out, Mardell can work with you on that as well.  You can find more information HERE.

Come harvest prairie seeds with us, or help with other prairie restoration or management work.

Come harvest prairie seeds or help with other prairie restoration or management activities.

Patch-Burn Grazing Working Group – August 13-14, 2014

The last time we hosted the Patch-Burn Grazing Working Group in the Platte River Prairies was 2008, so it’ll be fun to have everyone back again.  Despite the formal-sounding name, this is really just a casual networking opportunity for people working to combine prescribed fire and grazing as habitat management tools.  Meetings typically include a mixture of ecologists, land managers, ranchers, and academics from around the country, and are full of field trips and discussions that focus on increasing habitat quality and biological diversity on public and private grasslands.

The two day event is open to anyone interested in learning more about patch-burn grazing and other methods of creating more habitat heterogeneity in prairies.  More information on registration and other details will be forthcoming.

Hiking Trails – Always Open!

You don’t have to wait for an organized event to come out to the Platte River Prairies…  Our two hiking trails are open anytime you need them.  You can explore restored and remnant prairies, watch birds, photograph wildflowers, or just enjoy the fresh air.  For more information, click HERE.

Timelapse Snapshots

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One of the great features of timelapse photography is the ability to compress time and see patterns or changes in the landscape we’d otherwise miss (such as daily groundwater fluctuations due to evapotranspiration).  However, another benefit of timelapse photography is simply the regular documentation of what’s happening in front of the camera.  For example, as I’ve been going through the thousands of images from the timelapse cameras on our Derr Wetland restoration project, I’ve been pleased to see a variety of wildlife species captured in those photographs.  Since we spent a lot of time and money converting this sandpit lake to shallow wetland habitat, it’s nice to see it being used.  The cameras have also captured more than just wildlife…

I thought I’d share some of the more interesting individual photographs I’ve found from the timelapse images.  These have been variously cropped to narrow in on the portion of the scene that’s most pertinent.  There are actually two cameras (set up so they can be combined into panoramic images – more on that in a later post) so don’t be confused if the scene appears to be different between photographs.

12:06pm. February 25, 2013. Canada geese and mallards are among the many migratory water birds that visited the wetland. The heaviest use seems to be during the northward migration in late winter/early spring.

February 25, 2013.  12:06 pm.
Canada geese and mallards are among the many migratory water birds that visited the wetland. The heaviest use comes during the northward migration in late winter/early spring.

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9am. March 3, 2013. Three white-tailed deer pass through the wetland with a group of mallards in the background.

March 3, 2013.  9am.
Three white-tailed deer pass through the wetland with a group of mallards in the background.

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June 9, 2013. 11:36 am. Two bald eagles, one mature and one immature, sit on the edge of the water. This may be part of the family raised in a nest about a mile to the north of this wetland.

June 9, 2013. 11:36 am.
Two bald eagles, one mature and one immature, stand on the edge of the water. This may be part of the family that nested about a mile to the north of this wetland.

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June 5, 2013. 9:50pm. Great blue herons are very frequent visitors to the wetland. This one was taking advantage of the last light of the day.

June 5, 2013. 9:50pm.
Great blue herons are very frequent visitors to the wetland. This one was taking advantage of the last light of the day.

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June 4, 2013. 8:46 pm. There are a number of nice sunset photos, especially in June, when the sun was actually setting in front of the camera (which is facing north/northwest).

June 4, 2013. 8:46 pm.
There have been a number of nice sunset photos, especially in June, when the sun is actually setting in front of this camera (which faces north/northwest).

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June 15, 2013. 6:33 am. Break out! These calves found their way out of our pasture to the south and went for an early morning exploration. They were eventually rounded up and returned.

June 15, 2013. 6:33 am.
Break out! These calves found their way out of our pasture to the south and went for an early morning exploration. They were eventually rounded up and returned.

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June 13, 2013. 9:54 am. Our land steward, Nelson Winkel, is releasing beetles to help us control the invasive purple loosestrife plants that have gained a foothold on the site.

June 13, 2013. 9:54 am.
The camera documented our land steward, Nelson Winkel, releasing Galerucella beetles to help us control the invasive purple loosestrife plants that have gained a foothold on the site.

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(Top) March 26, 2013. 4:45 pm. (Bottom) March 26, 2013. 5:15 pm. These two photos, taken a half hour apart, show two of us preparing to burn off the small island in the restored wetland and then the completed burn. (It doesn't take very long when the island is surrounded by water and sand).

(Top) March 26, 2013. 4:45 pm.
(Bottom) March 26, 2013. 5:15 pm.
These two photos, taken a half hour apart, show Nelson and I preparing to burn off the small island in the restored wetland (top), and then the completed burn (bottom).  It doesn’t take very long when the island is surrounded by water and sand.

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September 23, 2013. 8:27 am. Anne Stine, one of our Hubbard Fellows was working in the wetland this day. She was either pulling loosestrife plants or harvesting seeds, I'm not sure which.

September 23, 2013. 8:27 am. Anne Stine, one of our Hubbard Fellows was working in the wetland this day. She was pulling purple loosestrife plants as we tried to remove new plants before they bloomed and set seed.

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October 4, 2013. 11:16 am. Even I got caught by the camera. Here I am, taking a mid-day break to take photographs.

October 4, 2013. 11:16 am.
Hey look!  A prairie ecologist taking a mid-day photography break.

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May 26, 2013. 8:36 pm. This is my favorite image, so far, from the timelapse cameras.

May 26, 2013. 8:36 pm.
So far, I think this is my favorite from the timelapse cameras.

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Thanks to Michael Forsberg and Jeff Dale for helping set up and maintain the twin timelapse cameras on this site, and to Steven Speicher for helping with data storage and advice.  Photos shown here were taken with Canon EOS Rebel T2i cameras with 18mm lenses.  They are inside weatherproof housings, charged by solar panels, and operated by electronic controllers designed by Jeff.  Since these cameras were installed, Mike, Jeff and others formed Moonshell Media to design and install cameras like these for others.  They are also key players in the Platte Basin Timelapse project.