July 25th Jasper County (south-central Iowa)

Rock Creek State Park manages a site (the former Reichelt Unit of the Stephens State Forest) that has an approximately 20 acre good quality, hilly mesic prairie on its western end.  Mark J. Leoschke, botanist for the Wildlife Bureau of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources in Des Moines, will lead us on an exploration of the summer prairie flora.

Directions:

From the intersection of U.S. Interstate 80 (east of Newton) and State Highway 224 go north on State Highway 224 (Kellogg exit).  Drive about 1.5 miles to U.S. Highway 6 (about 0.5 mile north of this intersection is the town of Kellogg and a convenience store if you need food, ice or gasoline).  Turn right (east) onto U.S. Highway 6 and travel about two miles (cross a river and railroad tracks) to a gravel lane on the south (right) side of the road.  Drive up the lane and turn east (left) into a gravel parking lot.  We will rendezvous in the parking lot and walk southwest to the prairie (west of the lane that leads to the parking lot).  The prairie is also west of a former farmstead that is now full of trees (you can see this from U.S. Highway 6).   

Thanks to Dennis Schlicht for e-mailing me this story.

http://iowafarmertoday.com/articles/2009/07/23/top_stories/prairie3.txt

http://www.amazon.com/Prairies-Savannas-Michigan-Rediscovering-Heritage/dp/0870138456/ref=pd_sim_b_5

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0226871711/ref=cm_sw_su_dp

Hello,

If anyone has read or is reading this book, I would be interested in hearing your thoughts about it:

Nature’s Second Chance:  Restoring the Ecology of Stone Prairie Farm by Steven I. Apfelbaum.  Beacon Press, Boston, Massachusetts.  c. 2009

Mark

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/science/stories/2009/08/30/sci_mccormac30.ART_ART_08-30-09_G3_QGESO6P.html

Hello,

I recently read Locust by Jeffrey Lockwood, an entomologist at the University of Wyoming.  It tells the tale of the Rocky Mountain locust, both its life history and impact on history of the American West.  It was interesting to learn about locust outbreaks in Iowa, Missouri, Minnestoa, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.

Mark

http://www.amazon.com/Birdwatcher-Life-Roger-Tory-Peterson/dp/1599212943/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256515054&sr=1-1

I have put a page on my website with photos from our trip to Florida. We traveled through South Carolina and Georgia on the way down. Hope you enjoy.

http://insectsofiowa.com/october%202009%20trip.htm

Jim Durbin

1460 Douglas Court

Marion, Ia 52302

319-721-1593

durbinjames@...

www.insectsofiowa.com

www.birdsofiowa.com

Hello,

Native Americans did not seem to have much of an impact on the locust.  However, the author documents that European settlement caused its decline and extinction.  It turns out mountain meadows in the Rocky Mountains were critical in maintaining the core population of the species.  Settlers cultivated these meadows first, rather than surrounding more dry grassland, because of the easy access to water.  It was only decades after the last major outbreak that the author figured out why the species disappeared.  One part of the book that I especially liked was how old locust collections at various entomology departments at universities in the USA and Canada were an important part of the study that led to determining why this insect, which once numbered in the billions, became extinct in a relatively short period of time.  In this age of the DNA can answer everything mentality, specimens available for measurement, chemical sampling (it turns out that the locust could be distinguished from other species by the mixture of chemicals composing the wax of its cuticle), etc. still have value to entomologists.

Mark

Hello,

Note the connection with hill prairies and timber rattlesnakes.

Mark

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Although Timber Rattler Populations Have Dropped By More Than 50 Percent In Thirty Years --- The Venomous Reptiles May Offer More Public Benefit Than People Realize

IOWA CONSERVATION OFFICER WORKS TO HALT RATTLESNAKE DECLINE

By Lowell Washburn

Iowa Department of Natural Resources

McGREGOR---It’s the end of October and air and ground temperatures are cooling rapidly.  For the cold blooded reptiles that inhabit the rugged bluff country northeastern Iowa, it’s time to head for underground denning areas.

Prowling the winding back roads of Clayton County, DNR Conservation Officer Burt Walters is currently observing the slow speed migration.  Today the skies are mostly clear, a somewhat rare event this autumn, and snakes are on the move.  So far this morning, Walters has spotted more than 50 snakes --- mostly red-bellied, little brown, and a handful of garters, all enroute to the safety of limestone fissures that will offer winter protection.

But the species Walters hopes most to encounter is the timber rattlesnake, a formidable creature most folks choose to avoid.  Walters is a natural born native of the McGregor hill country, and has been actively studying these intriguing pit vipers for more than 20 years.  Alarmed by the rattlesnake’s dramatic decline, he conducts an ongoing crusade aimed at educating the public on the biological importance of what he considers to be a desirable member of the Iowa outdoors.

“It’s alarming,” says Walters.  “At the denning sites that I know of, rattlesnake populations have been reduced by at least 50 percent since the 1980s and are still declining.”

The scenario is the result of a complex chain of events, and no single factor is solely responsible for the decline, says Walters.  Habitat destruction is listed among the culprits.  As more and more homes are built atop scenic bluffs and ridgelines, there are less and less places for timber rattlers and other wildlife to live.  Also included among habitats in decline are the so called “goat prairies” that once flourished along the near vertical slopes of bluffland ridges and are now vanishing as cedars and other invasive shrubs take over.  Historically, landowners would set fire to the goat prairies hoping the flames would destroy snakes, says Walters.  Quite to the contrary, the fires enhanced prairie growth which attracted native mice, voles, and insects which provided an ample food source for rattlers, skinks, and other Iowa herpitiles.

There is also a problem with snake poachers.  In spite of being legally protected, rattlesnakes are still being harvested by poachers who supply the exotic pet trade --- mostly for people who still think it’s cool to have something dangerous in their home.

“Collecting can have a very serious and rapid impact on populations,” says Walters.  “Timber rattlers have a low reproductive potential and it takes a male anywhere from 5 to 7 years to mature.  It takes a female from 7 to 11 years to mature and after that she’ll only bear young every third year.  When people take snakes from communal den sites it doesn’t take long to have an effect.”

Those effects became painfully apparent this spring as Walters inspected an Allamakee County den site.  Trails leading to the site had been marked with strips of blue plastic flagging, certain evidence that rattlesnake poachers had already paid a visit to the den.  Look as he might, Walters could only find two surviving rattlesnakes at a site that should have held dozens.

Although scenes like that are disheartening, Walters hasn’t given up the crusade to educate Iowans on the virtues of this venomous reptile.  Since the late 1980s, he’s traveled up and down the Mississippi River showing live reptiles and giving “snake talks” to countless school groups [more than 65 on the best years], service and conservation organizations, and just about anyone else who cares to listen to his message.  One of the biggest events, he says, was the EMS Venomous Bite Day.  Held for two years at Calmar, the program played to a completely packed house each time and remains one of his most requested presentations.

“One of the things I stress is that timber rattlesnakes just want to be left alone,” says Walters.  “They are not highly aggressive, and most people will never see one.  They are, in fact, a very valuable and desirable member of the wildlife community.  Their venom is currently being used in experiments with heart disease, arthritis, and other human ailments.  At this point, their benefits to humans may even surpass what people currently realize.”

There are encouraging signs that the education is beginning to pay dividends.  One of those was the overwhelming public support for legislation that has now protected timber rattlesnakes in their northeastern Iowa strongholds.  By contrast, similar legislation aimed at protecting remnant populations of timber rattlers in central Iowa failed miserably due to profound lack of public support. 

Earlier this fall, Walters was notified by police radio that a four-foot long timber rattler was causing something of a stir among of users of the Guttenberg City Park.  When he arrived sometime later, the hefty reptile was being held at bay by a group of onlookers.  Walters promptly captured the snake and safely returned it to a nearby den site.

“Incidents like that give me hope,” says Walters.  “Until recently, people would have immediately killed that snake on the spot.  Today, I think more and more people are beginning to realize that that isn’t the thing to do anymore and that timber rattlers are a natural part of the wildlife community.”

http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/MI134991/

http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/news/chiefeditor/2009/07/new-salamander-found-in-georgia.html

http://www.kansaspress.ku.edu/newbysubject.html

For some reason the web page would not allow me to copy the address for just this book.

The Nature Study Movement

The Forgotten Popularizer of America’s Conservation Ethic

Kevin C. Armitage

November 2009
296 pages, 18 illustrations, 6 x 9
Cloth ISBN 978-0-7006-1673-2, $34.95

Beginning in the late nineteenth century, thousands of Americans turned to an unexpected pastime that had been theirs to take up all along: the study of nature. Armed with cameras and collecting jars, everyday citizens wandered the country’s forests, prairies, and mountains to gain an appreciation of local flora and fauna and to escape the increasingly industrialized world as well.

Kevin Armitage presents the first comprehensive history of the nature study movement, demonstrating its significance to American environmental thought and politics. He shows how nature study, as both a pedagogic and popular idea, has had a lasting effect on American culture and society, and his reevaluation of the movement has much to tell us about the American relationship with the nonhuman world.

Armitage explains that the ways in which nature study advocates tried to reconcile science with spirit were surprising, incomplete, and sometimes contradictory. As Progressive Era Americans embraced scientific modernity, they became increasingly uneasy about the dispassionate character of social and economic life, turning to nature for unmediated experiences that might enhance the joy of living. By examining the complex ways American culture struggled with science and its application to the natural world, Armitage shows how the development of nature study reflected the social dynamics of an emerging industrial society—and exerted a decisive influence on some of the great conservationists of the twentieth century, including Aldo Leopold and Rachel Carson, both of whom were encouraged to study nature at an early age.

Armitage reveals how nature study advocates, notably progressive educators, devoted themselves to inculcating an appreciation of nature among children through direct contact with the natural world. Indeed, by 1907 “Nature Study” had been incorporated into a great many school curricula. He also tells how educators like John Dewey and Booker T. Washington contributed to conservationist thought and includes biographical sketches of some of the major, if often overlooked, nature study conservationists: Anna Botsford Comstock, Ernest Thompson Seton, Mabel Osgood Wright, Gene Stratton Porter, and Liberty Hyde Bailey.

The nature study movement left a rich legacy that has been too long overlooked. Armitage shows that the personal study of nature remains central to modern environmentalism—and that in nature study one finds much that is universal to modern America.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33974286/ns/technology_and_science-science/