Plant of the Week

 

Prairie false indigo

Baptisia leucantha 
T. & G.
scientific name, 2008
: Baptisia alba (L.) Vent.
other common names: 
large white wild 
indigo, Atlantic wild indigo, white false indigo, white wild indigo
Baptisia: from the Greek, meaning “to dye,” referring to the use of some species as 
a poor-quality indigo dye
Leucantha: meaning “white-flowered”
Legume family: Fabaceae (Leguminosae)

Photograph by Thomas Rosburg, Wildflowers of the Tallgrass Prairie: The Upper Midwest, Second Edition

This Week in Iowa Nature

The clear cries of killdeer, herring gulls, and ring-billed gulls accompany the spring thaw near larger waterways.

Jean C. Prior and James Sandrock, The Iowa Nature Calendar 

An Interview with Cornelia F. Mutel: Part 1

The first question everyone will ask you is, Why did these floods happen? The next question is, How can we keep them from happening again?
Well, the entire book answers these questions, both of which are complex. Very simply answered, the floods resulted from a very wet fall, winter, and spring, combined with a unique timing of June precipitation events. The latter resulted in river flows, especially in the Cedar River watershed, to a degree that we have not seen before. Preventing recurrence of such extreme events will require a multitude of changes in the way we manage our land in floodplains and also throughout the watershed. We need to promote water’s absorption on uplands and slow its release into rivers, but we also need to realize that floodplains are functionally part of a river, not sites to build structures that are easily damaged.


You started working on A Watershed Year right after the June 2008 flood. The book contains a multitude of voices, yet the essays read like one continuous narrative. Tell us about editing and organizing them.
I quickly learned that each author had his or her own knowledge base and writing style. I worked hard to edit content and ensure clarity without distorting these unique, author-specific qualities. Nearly all the book chapters were revised between five and ten times. During this demanding and tedious process, every author seemed as determined as I was to create the very best book possible. They all responded graciously to my critiques, revising their chapters repeatedly without complaint. The authors’ dedication and effort made the book project a true pleasure. 


The book’s chapter order and structure continued to evolve until the project was nearly completed. One of the tricks was to remain open to this creative and sometimes chaotic evolution, even as I was shaping the book. The book really came together toward the end of the editing process, when I wrote the section introductions—an effort that I enjoyed tremendously.

In the course of working on this book, you did an enormous amount of research into the causes of floods. What surprised you most?

The disjunct between what we know and what we do. A Watershed Year clearly indicates that we understand our weather and flooding with increasing sophistication, and we know what to do to prevent flood damage: change land use and floodplain policies, increase perennial plant cover on uplands, increase water infiltration, decrease impermeable surfaces in cities, etc. We need to look at long-term changes over the entire floodplain and plan for major as well as minor flood events. Yet policies and actions are too often based on short-term interests and ignore the greater long-term good for the greater number of people. This needs to change.


—Cornelia F. Mutel, editor, A Watershed Year: Anatomy of the Iowa Floods of 2008  

March is flood awareness month in Iowa!

The University of Iowa Press is proud to be publishing A Watershed Year: Anatomy of the Iowa Floods of 2008, edited by ecologist, historian, and archivist for IIHR-Hydroscience and Engineering at the University of Iowa College of Engineering Cornelia F. Mutel. We'll keep you posted on upcoming events with Connie Mutel and contributors of the book, and in the meantime come back on Wednesday for Part 1 of our interview with Connie about the Iowa floods!

This Week in Iowa Nature

The Pleiades dance brightly in the winter sky. Look for the Seven Sisters star cluster above and to the right of Orion.

Jean C. Prior and James Sandrock, The Iowa Nature Calendar

Plant of the Week

Lead plant

Amorpha canescens Pursh

other common names: prairie shoestring, wild tea

Amorpha: from the Greek amorphos, meaning generally “without shape” or “deformed,” in reference to the flower, which has only one petal

Canescens: from Latin, meaning “gray hairy”

Legume family: Fabaceae (Leguminosae)

Photograph by Thomas Rosburg, Wildflowers of the Tallgrass Prairie: The Upper Midwest, Second Edition

An Interview with Larry A. Stone: Part 2

What advice would you give to younger nature photographers? What are the particular challenges of being a botanical photographer?

For beginning nature photographers—young or old—my standard advice is to “look at nature like a child!” Kids have a great curiosity and sense of wonder, which we sometimes lose as adults. If we look through the camera with a sense of amazement, perhaps we can capture that unique image, rather than just taking a “pretty picture.”

The biggest challenge for any photographer may be time. Equipment is getting better and better, and easier to use, but the photographer must spend the time to “make” a picture, rather than just “take” a picture. That means finding the subject, being there at a precise time in its blooming cycle, knowing when the light and weather are best, and getting to know the subject well enough to set the proper mood or tone for the photo.

What are your favorite natural areas in Iowa and the Midwest? What areas do you return to constantly, and what’s your favorite newly visited area?

Like many photographers, I’m drawn to the Mississippi River, the Loess Hills, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, and various parks and wildlife areas. But I often find that I do my most creative work close to home. It’s really satisfying to prowl around our woods or our reconstructed prairies to look for new images and moods.

Larry A. Stone, photographer, Wildflowers of Iowa Woodlands