Prairie Works

Prairie Works owner, Cory Ritterbusch, has published a new book:  H.S. Pepoon: Pioneer Conservationist of Northwest Illinois, is now available at many retail outlets in the Tri-State area and can be ordered here. Fans of Prairie Works should find this book very interesting. Below is it’s first review.

H.S. Pepoon: Prophet and Polymath

“To a Friend Whose Work Has Come to Nothing” – William Butler Yeats

Yeats could not have had Herman Silas Pepoon (1860-1941) in mind when he wrote his famous poem, but he may as well have. Pepoon, arguably one of the most gifted botanists of his era, has been all but ignored by historians and scientists alike. A prophet without an audience, he remained in isolation, a curio piece of Midwestern gentility.

But Pepoon’s luck is about to change and his work to be acknowledged. Cory Ritterbusch, of Shullsburg, Wisconsin, has rescued Pepoon from anonymity in his new book H.S. Pepoon: Pioneer Conservationist of Northwest Illinois. In doing so he establishes Pepoon as a touchstone of the natural history of Illinois and iconic of the Driftless Area.

Born in Jo Daviess County, Illinois in 1860, Pepoon set out as early as the mid 1870’s to record and document the cornucopia of Illinois plants, prairies and forests in Jo Daviess County. His works anticipate and make way for the likes of Aldo Leopold, Rachel Carson, Wendell Berry and others. His prose is richly evocative of the beauty he captures, a beauty he warns is endangered by the militant indifference of the putative stewards of the land. (See Destruction of a Farm Flora 1904 and Ecological Survey of the Driftless Area 1906)

In these early essays Pepoon limns the passion and conviction of Ralph Waldo Emerson in conveying the sense of mourning at the passing of the Illinois prairie, a victim of “soulless corporations,” of industry, of aggressive agriculture and public apathy. He writes of the prairie in elegy and in a way that is unimprovable by anybody’s art:

“The days are gone, the men are largely passed on, the flowers have disappeared, and into our hearts a feeling of sadness comes to realize that never again can these things be.”

The loss is all the greater because of the iconic status the Driftless Area would take on as a near geological singularity in North America. For Pepoon there was a clear message here, a counterpoint to a ceaseless and slave-like dependence on the utilitarian and quotidian. According to Pepoon, the “man who drinks in the hand of nature is not a wrecker of the commonwealth or a despoiler of his best interests.” He cares rather about the “higher qualities of the mind and soul,” and understands that the leisure induced by nature is the source of all civilization. In this regard Pepoon prepares a message that the twentieth century German philosopher, Josef Pieper will fully develop.

In his most fecund period, 1895-1935, Pepoon devotes a great deal of time to the study of the Birds Eye Primrose plant along the bluffs of the Apple River in Jo Daviess County. He provoked a minor controversy among botanists at the time who were unwilling to accept that the Primrose flourished in Jo Daviess County. Pepoon carried the argument in showing that the Primrose survived and thrived in northern Illinois latitudes precisely because the area had been spared by the glaciers millennia ago.

It was to the Apple River Canyon that Pepoon turned to argue the cause for the establishment there of a state park. He referenced the imposing, Primrose-laden bluffs reaching nearly one hundred feet and the many peculiarities and features of the Apple River environs typical of the Driftless Area. A park would serve as nature’s refuge and offer the working man and woman a release from the press and sometime banality of every day life. He was persuasive before the Illinois Academy of Sciences and ultimately before the court of public opinion, with the result that the state of Illinois set aside three hundred acres surrounding the Apple River. Today’s park bears no evidence whatsoever of Pepoon’s role in its creation.

Pepoon was an eccentric, an Emersonian, and possessed an intellect that matched his passion for nature and love of his fellow man.  To his calling as botanist he soon added that of a physician and teacher. For thirty-eight years he combined teaching at Chicago’s Lake View High School with a practice of medicine and his writing on Midwest botany. He was both pioneer and polymath and one whose kind we are not likely to encounter again soon. Perhaps the publication of this book by Ritterbusch will stir some to see Pepoon gets his due, if perhaps by the placing of a plaque in his honor at the Apple River Canyon State Park. History and justice would be well served by the gesture.

H.S. Pepoon: Pioneer Conservationist of Northwest Illinois, designed and published as a period piece, is remarkable in its own right as a special publication that reflects and comprehends the substance of the writings of Pepoon. There is an informative, luminous Foreword by William Handel of the Illinois Natural History Survey that presents Pepoon in full character and joie de vivre, to which publisher Ritterbusch lends his own music to the dance.

Robert J. Klaus

- Robert Klaus is past President of the Illinois State Historical Society and the Illinois Humanities Council.

More info here: www.prairieworksinc.com/pepoon-book/

To have your book mailed to you, email Cory and request your copy:  info@prairieworksinc.com or it’s available on Amazon.

Prairie Works is excited to announce that two new services will be added to an already diverse service list. In response to recent trends we will now be offering forest management plans and professional bird surveys.

Forest Management Plans

Prairie Works will provide forest management plans under a new division called Forest Works. All management plans will be handled by a dedicated plan writer experienced in the woodlands of Northwest Illinois.

We started Forest Works because we saw a need for a holistic perspective in the traditional practices of forestry industry. Forest Works seeks to meet the needs of our forested areas and help guide landowners through economic decisions that affect the health of their forests. Forest ecology is a very important part of landscape in the upper Midwest, and like many habitats, our forests have been through great change over the past century. As we change these forests, we bring upon ourselves great responsibilities of stewardship.

There are many consulting foresters who do excellent work to ensure timbers are managed and harvested sustainably. There are also many ecological restoration companies that eradicate invasive species and restore oak savannas and remnant prairies. But no one is combining training from both schools. This approach is the Forest Works difference. We seek to sustainably manage forests for ecological health, diversity and economic interests.

In Illinois, the Forestry Development Act program does not require a sampling of trees less than two inches in diameter. It is like the program assumes trees naturally spring forth from the ground large enough to manage. Our timber management plans sample all woody vegetation less than two inches in diameter to get a true perspective on what is replacing the existing timber stand and recommend what should be done to sustain the long-run health and diversity of the forest.

We see the entire forest’s biodiversity, looking beyond just the health and diversity of the timber. We see all the plants growing in a forest, from the first spring wildflowers to the fall woodland goldenrods. Not all foresters recognize what they are seeing under their feet, but we think these species are important indicators of forest health and diversity.

With a background in ecology as well as forestry, we see not only the good but also the bad. Invasive and non-native plants can threaten a forest’s diversity, and we know what can be done to increase that diversity. From garlic mustard and multiflora rose to autumn olive, Japanese barberry, buckthorn and honeysuckle, we see it and know what needs to be done to eradicate it.

Forest Works can handle all your stewardship issues. Beyond writing your management plan, we can also work with you to implement your plan. Whether providing the advice to carry out a management plan or conducting the work for you, Forest Works will be your stewardship partner. With Prairie Works, we can also help steward oak savanna, remnant prairie or native landscaping. By partnering together, we can offer a holistic approach to all your stewardship endeavors.

Bird Surveys

Prairie Works has teamed up with Dan Wenny, former ornithologist with the Illinois Natural History Survey, to provide birding services. Dan offers a wealth of birding knowledge and experience with professional surveys and education. Dan’s expertise is now available to the public in the form of bird inventories, habitat studies, outreach and education for the private landowner.

A Prairie Works bird inventory can offer valuable information about your land and can assist in deciding what management activities are neccesary for greater bird diversity.

A bird survey can be customized to suit any needs. Typically, a comprehensive list is provided of all breeding bird species that occur on your land stemming from three separate visits. Typically, these visits occur in May, June, and July. More detailed studies are also possible.

Dan Wenny’s Experience

Dan Wenny, an ornithologist, previously worked for ten years with the Illinois Natural History Survey, based at the former Savanna Army Depot. During that time he developed research projects and biological monitoring programs involving birds and their habitats.

Ph.D. in Zoology from University of Florida
M.A. in Biology from University of Missouri-Columbia
B.A. in Biology from Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana.

15 years of experience with bird surveys, ecological research, and outreach

Federal bird-banding Master permit with extensive experience capturing, measuring, and marking birds for research projects.

Over 20 scientific articles plus numerous technical reports and popular articles.

Contact Prairie Works for more information about these and all of our services: info@prairieworksinc.com

The Galena Territory has been honored by the National Wildlife Federation as a certified Community Wildlife Habitat. The Territory becomes the 46th designated community in the country and the first in Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois.

National Wildlife Federation Homeowner Sign

The Territory earned this certification through the help of over 100 property owners who certified their personal property as habitat areas, as well as their efforts to enhance several tracts of commonly owned ‘Greenspace’ areas. The Greenspace Committee worked for a year and a half to make this goal a reality. Roxanne Paul from the National Wildlife Federation said, ” The National Wildlife Federation commends the dedicated residents of The Galena Territory and Community Wildlife Habitat Team for their wildlife conservation efforts and for coming together for a common purpose – to create a community where people and wildlife can flourish.”

To celebrate this designation the Greenspace Committee is hosting a reception on Feburary 25th at 7:00 at The Galena Territory Owners’ Club. The speaker will be Roxanne Paul from the National Wildlife Federation.

Thank you to Emily Lubcke, Dick Peterson and the Greenspace Committee for your hard work.

-

About the NWF certified habitat program: http://www.nwf.org/gardenforwildlife/certify.cfm

For information about certifying your Territory property contact Emily Lubcke, Greenspace Coordinator, 815-777-2000.

The following article was recently published in the Freeport Journal Standard.

By Cory Ritterbusch – Today, it seems that each decision that you face as a consumer is met with an option to be “green” or even greener. From our cars to our laundry detergent, no product is without providing levels towards decreasing our carbon footprint. Some choose to ignore these options, some choose one and some go all out. This time of year a common debate, mostly for seasonal fun, is to determine what the “greenest” Christmas tree is. Traditionally this has been straightforward; Real trees versus artificial trees. This challenge always ends with a lopsided victory by the real tree. However, as we look at ‘real’ Christmas trees it’s easy to see many handicaps revolving the industry’s consumptive process. Regular inputs include herbicides, fuel, dyes and even plastic packaging. Several years ago I challenged the notion of buying a manicured, sometimes dyed green, non-native tree species, sometimes genetically modified that are trucked in from hundreds of miles away. My concern was due to an historical look at our area’s residents on a radio program.

A few years ago I was listening to Gordie Kilgore’s popular series From the Riverbank broadcasted on KDTH out of Dubuque, IA. In this particular segment Gordie described Christmas as it was at the turn of the last century. He mentioned the residents of the Tri-States used the Red Cedar tree as decorated Christmas trees. This interested me and it necessitated more research. I found that The National Christmas Tree Association, to my surprise, lists Red Cedar as the 6th most popular Christmas tree used in America. However, they are not used in homes here in the Midwest. The tradition continues today in the South but other varieties of trees started being favored here in the Upper Midwest two generations ago. This is unfortunate.

Red Cedars along the road side

The Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana) is one of the most widespread trees in North America. It is found in every single state east of the Rockies. Being the only common native “pine” tree, Red Cedars were decorated for Christmas in area homes beginning with pioneer settlers and continuing well into the 1900s. It made a nice Christmas tree but went out of style probably due to new styles being introduced.

The Red Cedar is an invasive plant in many situations here in the Upper Midwest, invading fields, pastures, rocky slopes, fence lines and road sides. Considered by farmers as nuisance trees and by ecologists, such as myself, an invasive weed that can overtake a natural area.. With such a locally plentiful supply and the need to remove Cedars from natural areas, it sounds like a win-win situation to me. Here we have an opportunity to create a demand for unwanted trees. Utilizing invasive plants in this manner is a great way to achieve widespread sustainability. Today, 21 million Christmas trees are sold each year and are trucked into sales lots from far away.

Our Future Christmas Tree

Dragging the Cedar to the Road

Since I made the realization that the Red Cedar can be a suitable Christmas tree, my family has invited the Red Cedar into our home each year to spend the holidays with us. A little scraggly? Sure. But with a little trimming it can be turned into an attractive tree. After the lights and ornaments are on and the tree is fully decorated, the Red Cedar looks like a regular tree, smells like a regular tree and can stand amongst the family’s gifts, just like the Blue Spruces and Douglas Firs. The cost to us is the cost of fuel to get it, which is always low since the tree is so widespread. Usually, this comes with a thank you from the landowner who was happy to see it go.

Our Cedar Tree at Home

In fact it is rather fun to go out and hunt for the suitable tree like our great grandparents would have 100 years ago. There are no shopping lanes full of identical trees with this approach. Each cedar tree you see is unique and finding the right one remains as a source of pride for the rest of the holiday season, after you drag it back to the road. Next year a bird will drop a berry to seed a new one and start the process over again, not a tractor. It is also fun to keep your eyes open over the course of the year for the winner that will end up in your house.

So, if you are going to be green by choosing a tree, make it a real one. If you are going to be really green, make it a Red Cedar.  As far as Christmas trees go, Red is the greenest of them all.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

http://www.christmastree.org/trees/ered_cdr.cfm National Christmas Tree Association description of Red Cedar

http://dnr.wi.gov/invasives/fact/redcedar.htm Wisconsin DNR Invasive Plant Listing

For those of you who are actively practicing or are planning on taking on the endeavour of planting a prairie or restoring a remnant prairie. There is a new book out to help you. Covering just about every facet of prairie re-construction and maintenance, The Tallgrass Prairie Center Guide to Prairie Restoration in the Upper Midwest is a great tool and in my opinion, the best single publication written on the subject. As prairie restoration can often be a group effort, so is this book. The books four authors consist of the full time staff at the Tallgrass Prairie Center in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Combining almost 100 years of prairie restoration experience, Daryl Smith, Dave Williams, Greg Houseal and Kirk Henderson provide detailed tips that could only be previously found during note sharing with other restoration ecologists or tucked away in the back of the mind of a well seasoned prairie restorer.

I particularly liked the clear difference that they make between a prairie reconstruction and a prairie remnant restoration. Two disciplines that have often overlapped in the past even though they require two distinctly different approaches. In part 4 they write about special cases. This is also well needed. It is quite common for a prairie contractor to be put in situations that are not large tracts of rural open space. Here they describe: Prairie in Public Spaces, Roadsides and Other Erodible Sites and Small Prairie Plantings.  A very nice epilogue by Daryl Watson, finishes the book; The Future of  Tallgrass Restoration. It would appear that prairie restoration has become a science of it’s own and is as respectable as any in the scientific field.

If this book has a comparable it would be The Tallgrass Restoration Handbook (Island Press 1997). A good book also, it covers management techniques for savanna and woodlands as well but reads as a fragmented collection of essays rather than a flowing concise how-to. In many ways it’s represents prairie restoration and where we stood at the timing of these two publications. So much has changed in the past 15 years, the stark difference would also be found in leading books in other industries such as the The Internet or Solar Energy.

Overall, this book is very good and it is nice to see factual data (or similar findings) with some of my personal observation and tricks that I have kept to myself. I was quite surprised to see my name referenced in the introduction. This book is not for the novice, but if someone has made the commitment to reconstruct and/or repair a prairie, volunteer for a prairie restoration group, or would like to be amazed by the thought processes that prairie ecologists have attained lately. This book is a must own. Also, this book is paired with the Guide to Seed and Seedling Identification, which is equally as thorough and could be considered as a separate chapter on its own.

Buy it here from University of Iowa Press

Buy it here from Amazon.com

The Tallgrass Prairie Center’s Website

When researching the flora of Northwest Illinois there is one man’s name that repeatedly shows up: H.S. Pepoon. More well known in Chicagoland, Pepoon was a native of Northwest Illinois, was the first professional botanist to study the area’s flora and is responsible for the creation of Apple River Canyon State Park.

His father, George Pepoon, was a Lieutenant in the Civil War, a member of  the famed 96^th Infantry from Galena, IL. He was the Superintendent of Schools for Jo Daviess County as well as the Warren Township Assessor. Pepoon School on Twin Bridges Road is named after him. Herman Silas Pepoon was born to George and Mary Pepoon in Warren, Illinois on January 21, 1860.

Herman grew up south of Warren, IL and attended Warren High School (1877).  He left for Champaign to attend the The University of Illinois, graduating with a degree in Natural History (1881). After graduating from Hahnemann Medical College in 1883 he became a doctor and practiced medicine from 1883 until 1892 in Nebraska and Lewistown, IL. In 1892 he left Lewistown and the medical profession to become a botany instructor at Lake View High School in Chicago. He held that position for 38 years until he retired in 1930, when he reached the limit age of 70 years old.

Pepoon was highly influential among his peers and the community. He inspired thousands of students at Lake View High School in Ravenswood, taking them on field trips and hosting Saturday classes on a wide variety of subjects.  Joel Greenberg wrote in his book Of Prairie, Woods, & Water: Two Centuries of Chicago Nature Writings, “[Pepoon] always struck me as an unusual person if for no other reason rather than he abandoned medicine to teach science at a Chicago public school. No doubt this gave him greater freedom to botanize, but he apparently truly valued his role as a teacher to be a “molder of character.”

One student he “molded” was Alfred Caldwell, who became one of the country’s great landscape architects, blending natural materials and native plants into his work, which includes Eagle Point Park in Dubuque, IA. Another was Frank Caleb Gates, who became the Director of the Missouri Botanical Garden and had other accomplishments in botany.

Over the course of his tenure at Lake View he had over ten thousand students. Each of these, according to V.O. Graham (a peer at Lake View), was touched by his distinguished pedagogue: “His buoyant spirit changed work from drudgery to joyous effort.” Upon his retirement from teaching the Lake View Alumni Association said of him, “He has made botany a beautiful and popular subject.”  The gardens Pepoon kept at his Chicago home attracted thousands of visitors annually.

Doctor Pepoon died December 26, 1941. Today his work is often cited during deep research. However, there are no memorials to him, no parks in his name, no awards given in his honor.

Today, Pepoon is best known for his work out of the classroom. His books, Representative plants; a manual for the use of students of botany in secondary schools and colleges (1900) and Representative Plants (1912) are still being used as student references today. An Annotated Flora of the Chicago Region (1927) is widely referenced by ecologists in Chicagoland and served as the predecessor to the popular Plants of the Chicago Region (Swink & Wilhelm), first published in 1969. Beginning in his days as a medical doctor and continuing throughout his life, he published numerous papers in varying capacities.

Several of these papers dealt with the flora and ecology of Northwest Illinois, including Cliff Flora of Jo Daviess County (1909), The Forest Associations of Northwest Illinois (1910), Peculiar Plant Distributions (1916), The Primrose Rocks of Illinois (1917), The Flora of the Driftless Area (1918), A Proposed State Park (1919), The Forest Lands of Jo Daviess County (1920) and The Flora of the Rights of Way of the Illinois Central Railway: Waddams to East Dubuque (1927).

Pepoon's Sketch of NW Illinois (1918)

Pepoon’s observations are very important to us because of the time period and his amazing attention to detail. During the height of his documented trips back home to Northwest Illinois (1900-1920) the un-farmed portions of the county were in relatively good condition and his observations showed intact ecosystems before they degraded and before non-native and invasive species became so dominant. He was able to recount images from his past and those from a previous generation to offer a timeline of land use change. For instance he writes, “The writer is informed by old settlers that in those days there was very little underbrush except in moist places, and that one could ride in any direction through the timber without difficulty.”

Pepoon used a camera for the first time to capture images of the landscape. His pictures of Apple River Canyon and the bluffs above Savanna, IL are important to have today as they offer a glimpse of what the landscape looked like a century ago.

In 1918 at Jacksonville, IL Pepoon made a pitch to the Illinois Academy of Sciences to have a state park formed in the Apple River Canyon down the road from his boyhood home, the first step in turning his vision into a reality. In 1932 the state purchased that land. Pepoon was intimately familiar with the area from his boyhood days and he discovered the Bird’s-Eyed Primrose (Primula mistassinica) there on April 5, 1905. This was a groundbreaking discovery that met much skepticism from the scientific community, although many botanists traveled to see this plant in person, a pilgrimage that continues today.

In his 1919 paper, A Proposed New State Park, Pepoon closes by describing the possibilities for Northwest Illinois: “It is earnestly urged that all who can visit this region, and learn firsthand what it has to offer of beauty and wildness, recreation and rehabilitation for all the care-worn, business fagged, mentally benumbed citizens of our great commonwealth, who here may come to renew themselves with might in the inner and outer man.”

Some fifty-plus years before the area began to serve as a get away for recreation, tourism and relaxation Pepoon was already envisioning that process. A true visionary and leader, indeed.

The 2010 Northwest Illinois Green Fair will be held on September 25th. This year it will be held at the Galena Convention Center in Galena, IL. This year marks the 3rd annual for this increasingly popular event.

Again, this years fair will offer opportunities for people of all age groups and interest levels to participate. Including: Presentations on renewable energy, green building and sustainable living, over 40 exhibitors representing a wide range of environmentally friendly products as well as children’s activities and an appliance, electronics and paint recycling collection.

Prairie Works is proud to be a Green Circle Sponsor of this event.

Cory Ritterbusch will be giving a presentation titled: Why Native Plants?

Information:

Where: Galena Convention Center (west side of Galena on Route 20)

When: Saturday September, 25 between 9:00 – 4:00

Admission: $5.00 (16 and under free)

See the website for more information: http://nwil-greenfair.com/

Recently Prairie Works became a Premier Business Partner with the Jo Daviess Conservation Foundation. Here is the press release.

The Jo Daviess Conservation Foundation (JDCF) welcomes Prairie Works, Inc. as the latest local business to join its Premier Partner Program. Owned by Cory Ritterbusch, Prairie Works is the source for ecological and landscape services in Northwest Illinois. Expert staff can assist on projects large and small ranging fromprairie, woodland and savanna restoration, invasive species control, controlled burning and bio-engineered erosion control. When asked why he chose to partner with JDCF, Ritterbusch responded, “JDCF is the only organization that most closely resembles my company’s mission, ethics, and long-term approach. Our partnership was an obvious match.” For more information about Prairie Works, visit www.prairieworksinc.com.

JDCF’s Premier Partner Program is a growing group of elite businesses that have elected to financially invest in the foundation’s mission and support its work to protect the many natural and cultural wonders found exclusively in Jo DaviessCounty. In return, JDCF offers a variety of benefits, including exposure to its entire membership of individuals who have shown by their own investment in the organization that they, too, value the work JDCF is doing as the leading environmental force in the Northwest Illinois area.

The Jo Daviess Conservation Foundation is a local non-profit dedicated to protecting the natural wonders of the Jo Daviess County area. For more information find them online at www.jdcf.org

April 19 Burn

The Spring 2010 burn season has come to an end. It was a nice diversion from the last two burn seasons that provided excessive rainfall making for tough scheduling and sub-par burn behavior.

It was a rather unusual spring. It was very dry, windy and warm. In fact, it was one of the warmest April’s in history making the landscape green up very quickly. Unfortunately, we had some sites green up too quickly thus postponing them to a later date. We also had very low fuel moisture levels and some days recorded very low humidity readings. This had some advantages and disadvantages. It was nice to stress some of the weeds that popped up early this year IE: Brome (Bromus spp.), Red Clover (Trifolium pratense), Reed Canary Grass (Phalarus arundinacea) just to name a few. I believe we were also able to stress some of our woody plants a bit more this spring due to the early green up as well. In total we completed 33 burns. A new season high for Prairie Works. Enjoy the pictures!

March 27 Burn

March 26 Burn

April 9 Burn

Smoke Signal

April 8 Burn

Found a Deer

April 22 Burn

Casper Bluff Pre-Burn Briefing

More info on controlled burning: http://www.prairieworksinc.com/services/controlled-burns/

Henry David Thoreau

The list of historical figures that have passed through Galena, Illinois is rather impressive. Former Presidents Ulysses S. Grant, Abraham Lincoln & Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain, Susan B. Anthony, Herman Melville, and Tom Thumb, just to name a few. One person that is not often mentioned, but is held in very high esteem worldwide, is Henry David Thoreau. He visited Galena in May of 1861.

Henry David Thoreau was an author, poet, naturalist, tax resister, surveyor, philosopher, and transcendentalist. He is best known for his book Walden, which has become an American classic, and his essay Civil Disobedience later influenced the efforts of Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr. His westward trip during Spring of 1861 is important to the natural history of the Galena area and offers us an important snapshot of time from one of the world’s great thinkers.

In the spring of 1861 Thoreau was in bad health and his physician advised that he he leave Concord, Massachusetts for a different climate in hopes of recovering. A trip to Minnesota was decided as Thoreau had never been to the West and could document the quickly changing frontier. It was decided that 17-year-old Horace Mann, Jr. would accompany Thoreau and the pair left Massachusetts on May 11, 1861. They would travel through Niagra Falls, Detroit, and arrive in Chicago on May 21, where they stayed for two days. Thoreau noted in his journal that Chicago was “14 feet above the lake.”

They decided to meet a riverboat on the Mississippi River at Dunleith (now East Dubuque, IL) rather than Fulton, IL. They left Chicago on the Chicago & Northwestern train line on May 23, traveling through northern Illinois. Thoreau noted in his journal:

“Greatest rolling prairie without trees just beyond Winnebago. Last 40 miles in NW of Ill. quite hilly. Mississippi backwater in Galena River 8 miles back. Water high now flooded thin woods and more open water behind…Much pink flowered apple like tree (thorn like) thro Illinois which may be the Pyrus coronaria.”

The plant mentioned here, Pyrus coronaria, is known today as Malus coronaria, Sweet Crabapple. There are no recordings of this tree existing in Jo Daviess County today, but it might have then. Today, this species is scattered throughout the Eastern Midwest and New England. It is more likely the apple-like tree Thoreau saw was Malus ioensis, Prairie Crabapple. This species also has pink flowers that bloom in May and June, but is more widely distributed in Northern Illinois and does not exist in New England. It is also interesting to notice his description of rather treeless terrain and “thin woods” in the floodplains. This is widely assumed by restoration ecologists, however not generally accepted by the public majority. Thoreau continues:

“Distances on prairie deceptive – a stack of wheat straw looks like a hill on the horizon 1/4 or 1/2 mile off – it stands out so bold and high. Small houses – with out barns surrounded and overshadowed by great stacks of wheat straw. Some wood always visible – but not generally large. The inhabitants remind you of mice nesting in a wheat stack – midst their wealth. Women working in fields quite commonly. Fences of narrow boards. Towns are as it were stations on a RR.”

This is a very interesting take on the former landscape and opens up the reader’s imagination. Again, the observation of few trees is mentioned. His description of the wheat stacks come into perspective when he writes: mice nesting in a wheat stack – midst their wealth. Wheat was an expensive commodity at this time. These towns that he passed, as it were stations on a railroad, leads me to think of Scales Mound, Apple River, Council Hill Station and the others along the Chicago & Northwestern line. Were these small houses – without barns a description of miner’s cottages?

Only one boat up daily from Dunleith by this line – in no case allowed to stop on the way. Staphylea trifolia out at Dunleith.

This is Thoreau’s final journal inclusion before he sees the Mississippi River for the first time in his life and rides it North to Prairie DuChein, WI. The mention of Staphylea trifolia is American Bladdernut and is seemingly accurately identified. This shrub remains common in this area today.

Thoreau boarded a steamboat at East Dubuque (Dunleith), which brought him to St. Paul, MN on May 26. The Desoto House  Hotel in Galena has no record of him staying there at this time, so his lodging remains a question.

Thoreau and his traveling partner stayed a month in St. Paul, studying the natural areas of the west. The journey home brought  them to Milwaukee, Mackinac Island, Toronto, finally arriving home in Concord, MA. on July 10, 1961. Henry David Thoreau was never able to fully recover and died less than a year later on May 6, 1862. A book about this western journey was unfinished but the journal writings remain.

Please join me in campaigning for the awareness that Henry David Thoreau passed through Galena.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_David_Thoreau  Biography

http://www.walden.org/ The Walden Woods Project

http://thoreau.eserver.org/ A collection of his writings

Mistletoe (Viscum album)

Mistletoe forming a "Witches Broom"

Mistletoe was often considered a pest that kills trees and devalues natural habitats, but was recently recognized as an ecological keystone species, an organism that has a disproportionately pervasive influence over its community. A broad array of animals depend on mistletoe for food, consuming the leaves and young shoots, transferring pollen between plants, and dispersing the sticky seeds. The dense evergreen witches’ brooms  are formed by the dwarf mistletoes (Arceuthobium spp).

There are two types of mistletoe used at Christmas. The mistletoe that is commonly used as a Christmas decoration, Phoradendron flavescens, is native to North America and grows as a parasite on trees from New Jersey to Florida. The other type of mistletoe,Viscum album, is of European origin.

The Greeks and earlier peoples thought that it had mystical powers and down through the centuries it became associated with many folklore customs. The traditions which began with the European mistletoe were transferred to the similar American plant during immigration and settlement. The U.S. has a thriving mistletoe growers association. Much of the commercial mistletoe that we see bagged for sale at Christmas is Phoradendron flavescens. Most of it is grown in apple orchards, where the plant receives the filtered sunlight it needs. Growers call the plant “a vine,” not a parasite. There’s American capitalism and advertising at work…

There is a species native to the Midwest, only growing a few centimeters long. It is the dwarf mistletoe, Arceuthobium pusillum, and grows in the northern swamps of Wisconsin on black spruce, white spruce, and tamarack. The dense evergreen witches’ brooms formed by the dwarf mistletoes  of North America also make excellent locations for roosting and nesting of the Northern Spotted Owls and the Marbled Murrelets.

From the earliest times mistletoe has been one of the most magical, mysterious, and sacred plants of European folklore. It was considered a bestower of life and fertility, a protectant against poison, and an aphrodisiac.

Some of the folklore surrounding Mistletoe include:

• Medicines made from mistletoe have been used for centuries to combat disorders such as epilepsy, treating circulatory and respiratory system problems. It has also been used as a fertility drug, and antispasmodic agent.
• Use of mistletoe extract in the treatment of cancer originated with Rudolph Steiner.  Today, Mistletoe extract is sold as Iscador, Helixor, and several other trade names.
• Public interest in the United States was spurred in 2001 following actress Suzanne Somers’ decision to use Iscador in lieu of chemotherapy following her treatment for breast cancer.
• Mistletoe stays evergreen even when the its tree host is dead. Because of that, one of the stigmas associated with mistletoe is its “fertility” properties.
• It was hung over doorways as protection against evil.
• It was believed that the mistletoe could extinguish fire. This was associated with an earlier belief that the mistletoe itself could come to the tree during a flash of lightning.
• In parts of England and Wales farmers would give mistletoe to the first cow that calved in the New Year. This was thought to bring good luck to the entire herd.
• Kissing under the mistletoe is first found associated with the Greek festival of Saturnalia and later with primitive marriage rites. Mistletoe was believed to have the power of bestowing fertility, and the dung from which the mistletoe was thought to arise was also said to have “life-giving” power.
• In Scandinavia, mistletoe was considered a plant of peace, under which enemies could declare a truce or warring spouses kiss and make-up.
• In some parts of England the Christmas mistletoe is burned on the twelfth night lest all the boys and girls who have kissed under it never marry.
• The Norse god Baldr was killed with mistletoe.
• According to a custom of Christmas cheer, any two people who meet under a hanging of mistletoe are obliged to kiss. The custom is of Scandinavian origin.

*If you find yourself smooching under Mistletoe this holiday please dont bore your partner with this information.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Everyone!

Bobcat Scratching Post

Bobcats, find it neccesary to scratch the bottom portion of trees just like house cats scratch furniture or a scratching post.

Bobcats do this to mark their territory but also to keep thier claws sharp. This is sometimes often accompanied by fecal remnants. I have noticed that they always choose a soft tree with smooth bark. Maples, Basswood, Red Cedar, young Elm and Cottonwood have all been preffered. They will also scratch the soil for the same purpose.

Many people would pass by these scratchings assuming that it was the more common Buck Rub, caused by male Deer. Closer examaination of a Bobcat scratch would reveal deep verticle scratches as a result of thier large claws.

So when walking through the woods look for these signs of Bobcat. As elusive as they are this is one way to  see them without seeing them.

http://www.prairieworksinc.com/2007/11/13/bobcats/ November 2007 post about the status of Bobcats in Northwest Illinois

The Fall issue of Woodlands and Prairies Magazine has featured a Prairie Works project.  The story highlighted the ‘Moone’ project at Apple Canyon Lake. It was a good one to feature.

This project represents a great relationship between the client and contractor/consultant,  the local land trust and a property owners association. The local land trust, The Jo Daviess Conservation Foundation, initially got the ball rolling in 2006.  The Moones hired Prairie Works to plan the project, perform the initial ground work then utilized Prairie Works consultations to assist on the ongoing maintenance requirements. The project served as a catalyst for the Apple Canyon Lake Property Owners Association to implement the Greenway Stewardship Program, which allows homeowners to voluntarily increase the ecological health of their neighboring open space areas at Apple Canyon Lake. With many facets involved, this project showed that several entities can work together to achieve one common goal.

However, the Moones work ethic is the true story here. Quite inspiring.

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Prairie Seeds

Today was our first day of Indian Summer and after our latest bout with below normal temperatures, it was greeted with much fan-fare. Indian Summer has been a term used rather loosely.  True Indian Summer is a period of abnormally warm weather following a killing freeze in Autumn. A killing freeze occurs when the overnight temperature reaches 28 degrees or colder. Indian Summer typically occurs in the mid to late Autumn and can occur more than once. The killing freeze  has already occurred across Northwest Illinois. Some say it must happen before the first snowfall (this could not be true this year).

Indian Summer was first recorded in Letters From an American Farmer, a 1778 work by the French-American soldier turned farmer J. H. St. John de Crèvecoeur (a.k.a. Michel-Guillaume-Jean de Crèvecoeur):

“Then a severe frost succeeds which prepares it to receive the voluminous coat of snow which is soon to follow; though it is often preceded by a short interval of smoke and mildness, called the Indian Summer.”

As a climatic event it is known throughout the world and is technically called a weather singularity (a climatic event that recurs around the same time of year). The frequency, intensity and length of the weather pattern is dependent on geography. It is most frequently associated with the eastern and Midwest states, which have a suitable climate to generate the weather pattern, i.e. a wide variation of temperature and wind strength from summer to winter. Many of those states are also famous for their areas of hardwood forest, which show up well during Indian summers when the leaves have already begun to turn and the sun is shining.

Why Indian? Well, no one knows, but as is commonplace when no one knows, people guess. Here are a few of the more commonly repeated guesses:

• When European settlers first came across the phenomenon in America it became known as the Indian’s Summer.
• The haziness of the Indian Summer weather was caused by prairie fires deliberately set by Native American tribes.
• It was the period when Native American people harvested their crops.
• The phenomenon was more common in what were then North American Indian territories.
• It originated from raids on European settlements by Indian war parties, which usually ended in autumn.
• Parallel with other ‘Indian’ terms it implies a belief in Indian falsity (Indian giver?) and untrusted and that an Indian summer was an imitation of the real thing.

As with many words and phrases we do not know and will never know it’s true origins, but it is always open to speculation.  I will assume that it was a combination of several of these.

On the prairie front Indian Summer means seed pickin’ time. The sunny, warm and dry conditions make it optimal conditions to harvest the seeds for next years crop and is one of the most enjoyable tasks of the year. Who was thinking that we had abandoned the true purpose of Indian Summer?

Great Article from the National Weather Service: http://www.crh.noaa.gov//dtx/stories/i-summer.php

This time of year I get lots of questions about a particular vine growing upwards onto trees with a vibrant red color. This vine is Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) and it shows itself with great pride during the early fall.

Virginia Creeper is very common. It is found in every state east of the Rocky Mountains and in most county’s in the upper Midwest. It can be expected to be found in every woodland, tree line and thicket in Northwest Illinois. It likes the rocky soils and ravines that the area provides. It has the ability to climb 50 feet vertically. Like many vines it has tendrils, giving this vine the ability to cement itself to walls, trees, fences and the like and needs no support. The presence of adhesive tips and the end of the tendrils, instead of penetrating rootlets, also means it doesn’t damage buildings the way some vines do. It is one of the earliest vines to color in the fall. A vigorous grower, it can cover a trellis, building side or a tree in just a few years.

Virginia Creeper Climbing Tree

Unlike some woody vines found in our woodlands. Virginia Creeper tends to not damage trees. It plays nice with others and serves as a winter food source for birds and many insects use its foliage. Another common name for Parthenocissus quinquefolia is Woodbine. Do you think this any any relation to the town in Jo Daviess County named Woodbine?

http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/savanna/plants/va_creeper.htm

The Northwest Illinois Green Fair will be held on September 26 in Elizabeth, IL. Again, this years fair will offer opportunities for people of all age groups and interest levels to participate. Including: Presentations on renewable energy, green building and sustainable living, over 40 exhibitors representing a wide range of environmentally friendly products as well as a local wine tasting festival, children’s activities, local food cooking demo’s and electronics and paint recycling. New to this years fair is a green career/job workshop and an environmental art & craft show.

Cory Ritterbusch will be giving a presentation titled “Making Old Houses Green,” based on his experience of restoring an 1890′s farmhouse.

Information:

Where: High Community College West on Route 20 in Elizabeth, IL

When: Saturday September, 26 between 9:00 – 4:00

Admission: $5.00 (16 and under free)

See the website for more information: http://nwil-greenfair.com/

Invasive & Weedy Species Management 101 Workshops Scheduled

Galena, IL: Prairie Works Inc., the source for ecological and landscape services in northwest Illinois, is pleased to announce that it will be hosting a series of workshops on invasive and weedy species management in cooperation with the Jo Daviess Conservation Foundation (JDCF).  The series is designed to provide education about the types and eradication of invasive and weedy species that inhabit our area, especially to individuals interested in volunteering to maintain JDCF’s public use sites. Anyone wishing to donate 10 hours of volunteer work to JDCF over the next year can attend the series at no charge.  Others are welcome at a cost of $40.00/person.

The first session will be held at 2 pm August 22^nd at the Galena Adventure Center located next to Fever River Outfitters just before the floodgates in downtown Galena.  It will be a class room setting featuring a presentation by Cory Ritterbusch of Prairie Works on invasive species management.  The following sessions will be held outdoors over the course of several months led by expert staff from both Prairie Works and JDCF.  Participants will get hands on training in dealing with a variety of species such as thistles, reed canary grass, sweet clover, garlic mustard, and poison parsnip.  A winter session will focus on tree species and forest management.  Please reserve your spot by August 14^th to the JDFC office at (815) 858-9100 or info@jdcf.org.