Midwest Nature Quote of the Week

The simplest description of a wood thrush song is a flutelike eee-o-lay, but that does not describe its complexity. One summer evening at twilight, I sat on my porch, watching mist rise from trees and grass. The rain had just passed. When the song began, I closed my eyes and listened to the rising then falling notes, music rolling around the clearing, bouncing off the edge of the forest as the thrush harmonized with himself.

Nancy Overcott, Fifty Uncommon Birds of the Upper Midwest

Interview with Carl Kurtz

Carl Kurtz is the author of A Practical Guide to Prairie Reconstruction: Second Edition, published last month. University of Iowa Press editor Holly Carver asked him a few questions about the new edition and his busy day-to-day life.

HC: It’s been more than ten years since the first edition of your book was published. What has changed in the world of prairie reconstruction since then? 

CK: It appears that the science behind reconstructed prairies has advanced with regard to the importance of species diversity. Diversity is a stability issue. The higher the species diversity, the more stable the area will be in the long term, and it will have many fewer weed or invasive species problems. 

HC: You’ve written a new chapter about establishing prairie in old pastureland. Do you advise potential restorationists to focus on working with pastureland, or would other sites be preferable? 

CK: Old pastures present new challenges and often have a reservoir of native species that can be preserved or enhanced. Old pastures are also often hilly and less suitable for intensive farming and should be maintained as pastures or for wildlife habitat.  Restoring them to high-quality prairie can also enhance their water-holding ability. 

HC: You’ve also written a new chapter about using herbicides, which must have taken quite a bit of research. Is it possible to establish and maintain a prairie reconstruction without using herbicides? 

CK: You may be able to establish a prairie without the use of herbicides; however, they are often only used during a specific phase in the establishment process or for a very specific problem on a small scale. If you are trying to establish a large area, it may not be possible to deal with the equally large problems without the herbicides. Most of the time you will not rely on them for long-term use.  

HC: You’ve got twenty-five-plus years of experience with prairie reconstruction under your belt. What do you wish you had known when you started this adventure? 

CK: I feel that not knowing what you are in for may be an advantage. If you knew how hard the work was going to be or what the risks are, you might not try it. 

HC: You have interns working in your plantings each year. How would someone find out about interning with you? 

CK: We welcome visitors year round and are always happy to have them become involved in our operation. College students often need work experience in the field of land management, which fits into our need as well. 

HC: You are also a professional photographer. How do you find time and energy to merge your restoration work, your seed-production operation, and your photography? 

CK: Diversity is the key to an interesting life. One must work at prioritizing jobs and interests and not wasting time. Most individuals have a great deal more talent than they effectively use.

A Practical Guide to Prairie Reconstruction: Second Edition by Carl Kurtz

Midwest Nature Quote of the Week

Within the prairies were many landscapes…. There were hanging bogs with strange calcareous flora, “walled” lakes with cobble beaches and orderly shorelines of glacial boulders, waves of flowers advancing with each stage of the growing season, and myriad patterns and textures of grasses that varied moment by moment with sun and wind and the cloud shadows that drove across the land. There were a thousand worlds within this one world of grass. Some men sensed that at once; others never did.

John Madson, Where the Sky Began: Land of the Tallgrass Prairie

Biographical Dictionary of Iowa: Cora Call Whitley

Cora Call Whitley
(May 7, 1862-December 30, 1937)
--clubwoman and conservationist--was born in Rowelsburg, West Virginia, to the Reverend L. N. Call and Mary (Guyon) Call. Her family moved to Pennsylvania when she was three years old, and to Iowa in 1867, when her father was sent there as a missionary by the Baptist church. As an adult, she recalled the perilous walk across the frozen--but thawing--Mississippi River with her mother and young siblings that took them to Iowa and their waiting father.


The Biographical Dictionary of Iowa, edited by David Hudson, Marvin Bergman, and Loren Horton

Chris Helzer presentation

This evening Chris Helzer, author of The Ecology and Management of Prairies in the Central United States, will be giving a lecture titled "The Complexity and Resilience of Nebraska Prairies" as part of the 2013 Joseph and Dorothy Young Memorial Lectures in Horticulture. An expert naturalist and program director for the Nature Conservancy, Helzer will begin his presentation at 7:00 PM at the Hardin Hall Auditorium, located on the East Campus of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Doors will open at 6:00 PM, with tickets priced at $10 for Nebraska Statewide Arboretum members, $14 for the general public, and free for UNL students. Advance tickets are available online. For more information on Chris Helzer's presentation, please click here.

Praise for The Ecology and Management of Prairies in the Central United States
"Chris Helzer's book is the first I've seen that plainly defines the contents of prairies and then tells you how to care for them. Smart, well researched, practical, and to the point, this book is one-stop shopping for anyone who cares about grasslands, now or in the future."—Joel Sartore, contributing photographer, National Geographic Magazine, and author, Rare: America's Endangered Species

The Ecology and Management of Prairies in the Central United States, by Chris Helzer

Raptors of the Week: Gyrfalcon

Gyrfalcon
Falco rusticolus

The largest of the North American falcons lives mainly in the Arctic; it is of accidental occurrence in Iowa, with fewer than ten documented reports. The first acceptable records, from 1992 and 1993, were of gray-phase immature birds.

The Raptors of Iowa, paintings by James F. Landenberger

Midwest Nature Quote of the Week

Champions of grass-roots biodiversity must face the realization that in much of the United States, local plants and animals do not stir deep emotions; paddlefish, while having a certain appeal all their own, are not pandas. Nevertheless, I suggest that if you can care about pandas, you can care about paddlefish or amphibians or dragonflies or even clams.

Michael J. Lannoo, Okoboji Wetlands: A Lesson in Natural History