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.

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.

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

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

In a previous post, I had explained the importance historic aerial photographs serve when approaching a land restoration project. Another very important tool is analyzing the original surveyors notes from when our counties, townships and section lines were established during pioneer settlement. This occurred in this area during the 1830′s.  As the surveyors were dividing the land into checkerboard plots, they were required to note observations  of the land along the way. This typically included the type of terrain, trees types, undergrowth, indian activity and any signs of homesteading. They also provided a hand drawn sketch of each township showing waterways, areas of timber, prairie, swamps, etc. Today this is extremely interesting to study and is the oldest snapshot of the land that we have.

A portion of the present 'Galena Territory'

Here in Northwest Illinois and Southwest Wisconsin the survey was performed earlier than other areas, as a result of the lead rush that occurred in the late 1820′s. The Federal Land Survey office moved from Cincinnati to Dubuque, IA in 1839 probably due to this population boom. Today when we analyze these descriptions we see the beginning of settlement.

Ecologist can follow these descriptions and compare to modern maps to determine the past vegetation and make more detailed assumptions of what would have existed. Sometimes a young Oak tree that was described in the notes, is an old Oak tree today. Finding these is a very fun experience. 

Here are some excerpts from the notes:

Surveyors sketch of Shullsburg Township

Surveyors Description of Shullsburg Township

This township description is from Shullsburg Township as observed by famed surveyour Lucius Lyon in March of 1833. It reads: 

“The afore described township, embracing as it does, some of the oldest wrought and richest mines in the country, is generally rolling, first rate land, about half prairie and half thinly timbered with oak, with an undergrowth of hazel. Within its limits are three different settlements or towns, viz — ‘Shullsburg’ in Sections 3 & 10, ‘Gratiots Grove’ in Sections 22 and 23, and ‘White Oak Springs’ in Section 32 each of which settlements now contain about five or six families, but the two former, in the most prosperous days of the mining business, have heretofore at one time, contained not less than 40 families each. Besides these settlements, there are several farms located in different parts of the township. The mines which have heretofore been very productive are situated principally on sections 2, 3, 10, 11 and 14 but are now many abandoned as they are thought to be not worth working.”

Thankfully, Lucius Lyons was one of the most descriptive surveyors of the time. Now lets analyze Lyons description:

First, he confirms what local historians have known. Shullsburg Township was the early epicenter of lead mining in the area since Jesse Shull discovered lead ten years earlier, so scattered and abandoned mines would be expected in 1833. He goes on to write, that the land is “about half prairie and half thinly timbered with Oaks.” Ecologist now call this an Oak Savanna.  He continues to write “with an undergrowth of hazel.” This would be the shrub, Hazelnut (Corylus americana), a shrub which is commonly associated with both savanna and prairie ecosystems. He goes on to explain the three towns of Shullsburg Township and lastly the abandonment of mines, which we now know that moved towards Galena. 

Along with generalized descriptions of the township. The notes also contain detailed descriptions of the land as the surveyors traversed section lines from North to South and East to West. Each section corner included the number of feet and direction to the nearest trees.  Here is an example of the section line near my house:

North Between Sections 10 & 11

20.oo    to diggins

30.50    to a wagon road leading NW

40.00   set a White Oak post & Raised a mound of earth at that section corner

55.oo     left prairie & entered brush and scattered timber

76.50    to a creek (illegible writing) West

80.00    set a Bur Oak post for corner to sections 2 & 3 & 10 & 11

                 { Black Oak South 29 East 39 

                 { Bur Oak North 47 1/2 West 97

Land  rolling  &  first  rate (illegible writing) prairie  and  brushy  with  some  scattering  bur  &  black  oak  timber

Today, I can look at historical and modern maps and determine exactly where these descriptions are located. I can also drive a good portion of this. Our sections lines have not changed since this original surveys. Over the years historians and ecologists  have utilized these field notes for a variety of purposes. In the late 1940′s and early 1950′s geographers plotted 19th-century tree cover in Wisconsin using information from these field notes. The resulting map “Original Vegetation of Wisconsin” has become a classic research tool itself. Local historians, too, may find information found in the surveyors’ field notes especially useful in helping to understand the 19th-century landscape and patterns of early settlement.

When Lucius Lyon finished a page for the exterior survey of Township 9 North, Range 1 East and 1 West he wrote:

"Land hilly, with sand stones ledges 3rd rate, mostly B. Oak. W. Oak. U.G. of Oaks, May 3, 1839 "froze water this night"

What a grueling  job this must have been and what interesting notes to examine today. I hope you find this information as interesting as I do. 

http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/SurveyNotes/  Wisconsins highly detailed site

http://landplats.ilsos.net/ Illinois (Township Plats Only)

Today, is a rare day indeed. Our country and the world can celebrate the 200th anniversary of the births of two very important individuals. What are the odds of two people of such profound influence being born on the same day?  Some of our better cultural creatives have been calling this ‘Lincoln Darwin Day’ for a while. But it is reaching a widespread audience today, and deservedly so. These two individuals are arguably the 19th century’s most important figures and both have influenced natural history, the topic of this blog. 

Just south of Brodhead, Wisconsin near the Illinois border stands a living link to our regions past. One of the areas most famous trees. The Indian Half-Way Tree was used by Indians to mark the half-way point between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River (see map here). Oneida Indians would use this Bur Oak tree as a marker, meeting point, place to camp and a spot to divide the party as some would head in canoe down the Sugar River just west of the tree.

In 1867 the new owner of the land, Charles Warner, saw an Indian chief standing in front of the farm. Pointing to the tree, the chief made them understand that it should never be cut. It never has. The last Indians to utilize this tree was during the spring of 1878 when a father and son stopped for a night.

According to present day experts, the tree is off by about six miles. Today, the tree proudly stands and has been protected by many owners through the years still marking the half-way point along the ancient Indian trail.

Brodhead, WI is within an hour drive from Galena. The tree is located south of Brodhead off of Hwy. 81 on Half-Way Tree Road. The sign and tree are visible from the road.

With the 2008 spring burn season now on the horizon this is a good time to get our arms around the monster that is prescribed fire. Prescribed fire (RxFire) or controlled burning is a process that comes up often on this website but has never had a post devoted entirely to it. It is the restoration ecologist’s number one tool for natural areas restoration. But, it can be easy to forget why natural areas require it.

Fire was a common sight in America for millions of years before european settlement. From the eastern seaboard to the forests of the west, our country was frequently “on fire.” It was just as much as part of nature’s cycle as the dropping of leaves in fall. Some areas burned every 50 to 100 years and some areas burned twice annually, but nowhere burned as frequently as the Midwest (with the exception of Florida). Due to the high flammability of oak leaves and prairie grasses, our Midwest ecosytems burned quickly and often. Naturally, lightning strikes caused ignition, but the Native Americans utilized fire for many purposes for thousands of years and are responsible for retaining the prairie, a man-sustained ecosystem.

Indians burned prairies for many reasons, including hunting, to ease travel, stimulate flowering, communication, keep lookout points open, celebration and warfare. It is safe for me to assume that Indians wouldn’t hesitate to burn for the stunning beauty of a vast nighttime burn too. These fires raced across the landscape and could travel hundreds of miles in a day, traversing through woodlands, wetlands, ridges and ravines. The fire was not choosey on what it was going to burn; only large rivers would stop them. One report from the 1840s claims that a fire which started in Peoria, IL, reached Rockford (Rocky Ford) in just two hours!

After the Blackhawk war and the exiting of the Indians, fire intervals were reduced but were not entirely eliminated. Fires from camps often escaped, lightning generated fires continued and locomotives began starting fires as they pushed through the prairies. Soon, agriculture would dominate and wildfires became isolated. The wildfires that were feared by pioneers and homesteaders were still fresh in peoples’ minds and were feared. Our ecosytems began to change at this time as fire retardant agricultural crops were preferred. Throughout the 20th century railroad rights of way were maintained with fire by railroad companies to reduce brush. This is why so many ‘railroad prairies’ exist today.  

The first people to duplicate wildfire as a tool for restoring natural areas is debated, but it was most likely Aldo Leopold or some of the University of Wisconsin professors working on Curtis Prairie in the 1940s. This was a good start, but soon after Smokey the Bear was born…

Smokey the Bear is the longest running public service campaign in the United States. A highly successful campaign, it reached out to all Americans and taught them that fire was bad. This public relations stint cancelled all headway to utilize RxFire as a land management tool until the 1970s, although Smokey remains a barrier today.

As our remnant ecosystems became fire intolerant and those remaining were succombing to invasive species, the 1970s and ’80s saw increased use and research of RxFire. In the Midwest prairie preservationists were becoming arsonists, and some of the leading scientists were screaming for reform on the current federal wildfire procedures. The blessing in disguise came in 1988, with the wildfires at Yellowstone National Park. Initially, these fires were reported as destructive and Time called it an “American Tragedy.” In the years following the fire the ecological response was very positive and soon the reputation of wildfires changed to the positive.

Since the early 1990s RxFire started becoming widely accepted among conservationists, especially in the Midwest. Since the upswing began, the study of fire effects on specific ecosystems and its harboring species has been a very interesting discipline. We are still learning a lot about fire effects on plants, insects and animals. However, the results have been conclusive. Because this is an ecosystem where fire occured frequently, the concensus has become: We need more of it if we want our native species to persist and thrive.

After millions of years living with fire, our native species became tolerant and sometimes dependant on fire. We are now hearing many interesting theories and research findings. For instance: Some say our mammals and amphibians gained claws in order to dig holes quickly to create shelter from fires. A study published last year showed that certain prairie seeds require smoke contact in order to germinate. Oak trees will germinate at higher rates when woodlands are burned. We are also learning about using fire to control health issues such as Lyme Disease.

With all of that said, I must note that ecologists are also realizing that too much fire can be detrimental and that different burning techniques and varied timing can offer greater results. For that reason a burn prescription should be conducted by an experienced ecologist that can quantify all of the factors and is aware of the goals for a site. Of course, the safety issues surrounding a prescribed fire are ones that should never be taken lightly either.  

As my longest blog to date, it still cannot provide all of the information that surrounds this huge topic. I hope to provide smaller, more detailed posts in the future. In the meantime, when you see controlled burns being conducted this spring, remember that you are seeing the world’s oldest and most effective form of land management.

Today, March 15, marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Liberty Hyde Bailey. Liberty Hyde Bailey was an American botanist, author and poet who wrote hundreds of books and scientific papers over a very long professional career. He coined the word ‘cultivar’, helped establish the 4-H program for kids, created agricultural extension offices, rural electrification, parcel posts, and is considered the father of rural sociology. President Theodore Roosevelt, appointed him to head The Commission on Country Life in 1908  for “the working out of the desire to make rural civilization as effective and satisfying as other civilization. ”

Liberty was born in South Haven, Michigan in 1858. He was educated at Michigan Agricultural College (now Michigan State) where he graduated in 1882. He went on to work for the famous botanist Asa Gray at Harvard University and was the Dean of Agricultural Sciences at Cornell University until he retired.  

Most of his work was produced after his retirement. From 1923 – 1953 he published hundreds of papers and books. He became a specialist in the systematics of plants, mainly Cyad (palms) and Rubus (blackberries). He also published revisions of Vitis (grapes), Brassica (cabbages and kales), Cucurbita (pumpkins and squashes), Hosta (plantain-lilies), and monographs on Dianthus, Delphinium, Campanula, and the gourds. He published over 100 papers on pure taxonomy. His writing skills so impressed George P. Brett, president of Macmillan and Co., that he told Bailey to send along the title whenever he had a book under way because Macmillan would publish anything he wrote. The books sold well; from his first book, The Horticulturist’s Rule Book, published in 1885, to his last, The Garden of Bellflowers, in 1953, almost one million copies sold.

From 1890 to 1940, Bailey edited 117 titles by 99 authors from all over the country, covering subjects in agronomy, rural economics, botany, pomology, animal husbandry, dairy issues, soils and fertilizers, plant pathology, commercial floriculture, and home economics. He edited the popular monthly magazine, American Garden, from 1890 to 1892, and Country Life in America, from 1901 to 1903. He originated many series of books, including Rural Life, Garden Craft, Open Country, Rural Science, Rural Text-Book, and Rural Manual. He published at least 1,300 articles in total.

Quite a body of work. He also encouraged women’s education in America, helping colleges turn co-ed. Because of his accomplishments, a number of buildings at Michigan State and Cornell University have been named for him. The Bailey Scholars Program which emphasizes trans-disciplinary learning for undergrads, designed to develop ”the whole person,” was initiated at Michigan State in 1998.

Liberty died on Christmas day, 1954 at the age of 97. Today, he is not very well known, but his influence is widespread. On the 150th anniversary of his birth, Liberty Hyde Bailey is very worthy of attention and recognition.

http://web.extension.uiuc.edu/state/whatwedo.html Illinois Extension Office

http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/bailey/cornellu/index.html A great interactive museum

http://lhbm.south-haven.com/ The LHB Museum

During the 1800s the American Chestnut (Castanea dentata) was one of the most widespread and useful tree species east of the Mississippi River. Its name counjours up images of roasting fires around Christmas time and is a word used loosely in America today. The folklore around this tree is legendary in Appalachia and the tree had an immence effect on the culture there. Chesnut blight (Cryphonectria parasitica) was discovered in America in 1904 and by 1950 it had wiped out almost the entire population of Chestnut trees.

The Chestnut was a major tree species in the eastern Unites States when settlers arrived in America. It is what ecologists consider a ‘keystone species’ as its presence contributes to natures diversity. It is estimated that 25% of the trees on the eastern seaboard were Chestnuts before blight took over. During its bloom time in spring, the Appalachian Mountains would appear snow covered with its small white flowers. A prolific nut producer, it was the primary winter food for Turkey, Deer, Bear, birds, livestock and even humans. It was extremley important in harboring wildlife.

Its wood was highly valuable commercially as it grew straight, had tight grain, resisted decay, was rich in tannins and grew faster than Oaks. The wood was used extensively for just about everything. On the wood and tannin markets Chestnut had a utilitarian versitility that no other tree could match. Today, Chestnut wood reclaimed from old homes and barns is highly sought after.

The Chestnut Blight was accidentally introduced and disovered at the Bronx Zoo in New York city in 1904 after importing the Asian Chestnut for ornamental purposes in the 1890′s. The asian varieties evolved with the fungus and therefore were minimally effected. By 1940 an estimated 4 billion trees were killed by the blight. The failing of this tree species had a negative impact on the economy of rural appalachia.

In Illinois, the Chestnut has been recorded in the wild in only seven counties, including JoDaviess, the only county in the northern half. Wisconsin reports 6 counties. It is likely that the trees here were in isolated populations and could have been intentionally planted by pioneers from the east.

Today, scientists are working on developing blight resistant strains on the American Chestnut with thier goal to be 98% of the original. These new varieties must contain genetic strains found in the Asian Chestnut (Castanea mollissima) due to its resiliancy to the blight. Some areas of the country are being found to be untouched but experts feel it is only a matter of time before their demise. Its hybridized return will never be appreciated by purists, but it may add an important element to our landscape that we are losing due to declining Oak and Ash populations.

http://www.acf.org/ The American Chestnut Foundation

http://ipm.ppws.vt.edu/griffin/lore.html Chestnut Folklore

http://www.aliciapatterson.org/APF2202/Freinkel/Freinkel.html The Loss of the American Chestnut Tree by Susan Freinkel

 Before the execution of any ecological restoration project the first step is to learn about the history of the land. It’s similar to how someone restoring a historic building will first seek out old photographs. The early surveyors’ notes from the 1800s offer a great overview, but they are most useful for large tracts of land and often lack the detail needed for smaller projects. The first aerial photographs of an area are the next most valuable tool. The Illinois Historical Aerial Photography Project (ILHAP) began around a decade ago and Northwest Illinois is its newest addition.

Photographs of all counties in Illinois were taken between 1937 and 1947, under the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933. These photos were used mainly for tax purposes and for post-depression land analysis. Today, the photos are used by the goverment, historians, ecologists, and many others for several purposes including: determining past land uses, restoration of natural areas, assessing historical changes in stream dynamics, declaring brownfields and many other applications. Aerial photography is widely used today and is a very important tool for land managers.

Due to the chemical makeup of the old film negatives they are now detiorating at an alarming rate and it is necessary to transfer the images into a digital format, or digitize, to save the first aerial photos. This motivated the project to be done sooner rather than later. In total around 250,000 individual negatives are archived in Springfield. At the time of writing, 58 of Illinois’ 102 counties have been digitized. The Chicago metro area was first to be done in 2003 as the declaration of wetlands is an important issue in that area.

Although the images are rather rough by today’s standards, the overall experience of viewing these photos is fascinating. Viewing them is not something to do if you’re in a hurry – it is easy to consume many hours doing so. Looking back in time and realizing the transformation that has occurred since the 1940s can be mind boggling and the comparison to recent aerial images is astounding.

Our landscape has changed a lot since small farms, country schoolhouses and railroads dotted the landscape. The comment heard most often from people is how “open” the landscape was. This solidifies what ecologists have known - the woodlands in the Driftless Area were not as dense as they are today. The Midwest has changed from open Oak-Hickory savannas and woodlands to the dense Maple-Softwood forests that we find today. Fire shadows, a remnant from pre-settlement times, were much more evident in 1940 then they are today. Also, we see natural meandering courses of small streams and not the channelized irrigation canals that have become so familiar. Looking at our cities and villages is also very interesting.

Consider the following by Dr. Dov Gavish of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, from the book Historical Aerial Photography Collection of Israel: “Through the aerial photograph, the landscape revealed to the camera lens is translated into visual language. The aerial photograph captures scenes and events that have vanished with time, and the testimony it embodies is unassailable. The scene that appears in a single aerial photo is a link in the chain of the landscape’s ever-changing and ever evolving history; there is a story that preceded it, and another one that followed it.”

The photographs can be viewed here: http://www.isgs.uiuc.edu/nsdihome/webdocs/ilhap/ and you must download the Mr. Sid software http://www.lizardtech.com/download/  in order to view the .sid files. The Mr. Sid compression software is 4.39kb.

When viewing the images you will notice a series of numbers on the images. Those numbers are the exposure numbers and were in the corner of each frame. When the images were fused together they look out of place and are sometimes in the way of the desired imagery. You also will notice the wing of the plane or what could be part of the camera equipment at some points - all part of the character of these historic images.

Iowa and Wisconsin have there own forms of historic aerials as well:

http://ortho.gis.iastate.edu/PhotosMetadata.htm Iowa

http://www.geography.wisc.edu/maplib/aerial.html  Wisconsin

 “As a society, we are just now beginning to realize the depth of Leopold’s work and thinking.”- Mike Dombeck, Chief Emeritus U.S. Forest Service

Today, January 11, marks the birth of Aldo Leopold (1887). Aldo Leopold was a highly influential environmentalist and is often credited for begining the environmental movement as early as the 1940s. He is a respected scholar, scientist, philiosopher and writer. Leopold influenced the begining of conservation education in schools, developed the first game management plans and his perspective on environemntal thought known as ’Land Ethic’ carved the way for land conservation, restoration ecology, sustainable farming, and proper land management practices in general. During his 61 years he published nearly 500 works including technical reports, speeches, textbooks, newsletters, reviews, and poems. But he is best-known for A Sand County Almanac, essays published 18 months after his death.

Aldo Leopold was born in Burlington, IA and his parents planted a Red Oak to commemorate his birth. His love affair with the outdoors was evident as a child and led him to Yale University School of Forestry, where he graduated with a masters in forestry in 1909.  Following Yale he worked for the U.S. Forest Service for 19 years. He left the Forest Service in 1928 and began doing independent contract work for land owners throughout the Midwest. In 1933 he was appointed Professor of Game Management in the Agricultural Economics Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (a first for the nation) and also published the first textbook in Wildlife Game Management. He was involved in the world’s first prairie restoration, now known as Curtis Prairie, at the UW-Madison Arboretum and bought a farm on the Wisconsin River near Baraboo, WI in 1935. At what he referred to as ”The Shack,” Leopold carried out several ecological experiments and it served as the setting for his many essays to come.

In 1941, Aldo began planning for a series of essays to be published to be enjoyed by all americans. Writtten from his “Shack” on his Baraboo farm, this series of essays was accepted for publishing by Oxford Press on April, 14 1948. One week later, on April 21st, Aldo Leopold died while fighting a wildfire on his Baraboo farm. Oxford Press released Leopold’s “Great Possessions” under the name “A Sand County Almanac” in 1949. 

Land Ethic – With over 2 million copies sold and translated into 9 languages A Sand County Almanac it is the most respected book about the environment ever published. Every proffesional conservationist points to this book as a catalyst for thier career, no matter in what capacity they work. The term ‘Land Ethic’ was coined in the final chapter of this groundbreaking book.  Leopold’s idea is that land is not a commodity to be possessed; rather, humans must have mutual respect for Earth in order to not destroy it. He also puts forth the idea that humans will never be free if they have no wild spaces in which to roam. Leopold also states the basic principle of his land ethic as, “A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.” and “The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land. The land ethic changes the role of Homo sapiens from conqueror of the land-community to plain member and citizen of it. It implies respect for his fellow-members, and also respect for the community as such.”

Like many pioneers and visionaries, their influence is not entirely appreciated or known until many decades later. It was not until the 1970s that his great book became well known with the begining of environmentalism. Today, the Leopold legacy is still gaining strength. In 2004 the state of Wisconsin declared the first weekend in March as Aldo Leopold days. The Baraboo, WI, “Shack” is a tourist site drawing thousands of visitors a year and recent biographies have elevated his status even further. From a scientific point of view, his approach of looking at all parts of the land as one whole system, and not catagorized into seperate parts, has recently been accepted by academia and is the train of thought now being instilled into conservation scholars today.

Historically, the overall appreciation for Leopold has mirrored society’s overall appreciation for nature. So we can only wish for his popularity to continue…

http://www.aldoleopold.org/  The Aldo Leopold Foundation

http://www.amazon.com/ Buy A Sand County Almanac

http://gargravarr.cc.utexas.edu/chrisj/leopold-quotes.html Excerpts from A Sand County Almanac

http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/about/aldo.htm Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture

 As 2007 comes to a close it is time to reflect on the past year’s events and changes. One thing that has experienced many years of change are witness trees. Some witness trees have celebrated over 200 New Year’s Eves.

Witness trees were described by surveyors in the early 1800s as they were laying out the grid pattern that would eventually become our property lines today. Early on, in New England, where the first surveying was done, surveyours would pile rocks where section lines would cross, or drive a rod into the ground. These series of property intersections would identify property boundaries to homesteaders who were given land for serving in the revolutionary war. Again, theory met reality. Many homesteaders found it convenient to just move their property marker to gain access to water sources, trees or any other desireable feature. This caused many problems.

To solve this, it was decided that the closest tree to the property intersection shall be scarified with a saw and its distance and direction was recorded as well as the tree type and tree diameter. This kept homesteaders honest and it became the norm as surveyours moved to the Midwest. The surveyors also recorded important observations as soil types, evidence of fires, width of rivers and so forth. Today, these notes are the most important tool used by restoration ecologists.

The witness trees marked by the early surveyours can still be found today. Not many were able to survive our land use patterns and survivors are reaching the end of thier life cycles. Most of the remaining witness trees are Bur Oaks (Quercus macrocarpa), as they are very long lived and were very common in the pre-settlement era. Many of these witness trees served as meeting points for indians and pioneers and helped route the stagecoach trails that traversed through the prairies.

There are many living witness trees remaining in the midwest, but it may take some experience to identify them. They are always very old, are close to where quarter section lines intersect and were reported in surveyour notes. The greatest surviving example of a witness tree that I have seen is located near Sheffield, ILL in Bureau County. The Bureau County Witness Tree was protected by local farmers in 1944 to ensure its longeveity. It is a magnificant Bur Oak and remains healthy due to the openness around it. It is estimated to be over 250 years old - that’s alot of New Years’ parties! Dick Clark has been broadcasting from New Yorks’ Time Square for only 35 years and the Apple has been dropped annually for just a mere 100 years. 

 http://www.fermatainc.com/il/site_5.html  The Bureau County Witness Tree

http://chicagowildernessmag.org/issues/summer2002/presettlement.html  Info on surveying and witness trees around Chicagoland and pre-settlement vegetation patterns in DuPage County

 How do I incorporate Christmas and prairies? I know, I will write about ‘Merry Christmas Prairie’ in Mineral Point Wisconsin. Merry Christmas Prairie is a 43-acre prairie restoration that was conducted jointly by the Wisconsin Historical Society and the Wisconsin Conservation Corp begining in 1988. It is located around Pendarvis/Merry Christmas Mine, both Wiconsin state historical sites. Merry Christmas Mine began operation on Christmas day in 1905. The surrounding prairie was planted in order to emulate the pre-settlement landscape that the early cornish miners of the area would have encountered in the 1820s. Altough the prairie itself is mediocre in quality, it’s association with the regions mining history makes it notable.

One of the most interesting tidbits about lead mining and local botony is the use and nameing of Amorpha canescens, Leadplant. Leadplant, technically a shrub, indicated the presence of lead beneath the surface. Due to its extremely deep taproot, Leadplant utilizes verticle crevices in the bedrock to reach for nutrients. Early miners looked for Leadplant and assumed mineral rich bedrock would lay underneath. Groves of Aspen trees also served this purpose - most likely Populus tremuloides, Quaking Aspen. Today, Leadplant is still found growing in prairie remnants throughout the Driftless Area and is a plant that I include in most prairie restorations that I perform.

 Before there was a 1849 gold rush in California there was a 1827 lead rush around Galena. Today, there are many remnants of the mining era that survive in the area. It is quite common to come across an old mine when walking through the woods around Galena, Shapville, Council Hill and Shullsburg. Although 150 years of weathering make them difficult to recognize they are usually defined by 3-8 foot deppressions in the soil with a gravelly base with no other explanation of its cause. The last lead mining operation in the region closed in 1977 at Shullsburg.

Pendarvis and Merry Christmas Mine and Museum is a great way to learn about early lead and zinc mining operations in this area. There are many artifacts and descriptions of the lead mining process on the self guided walking tour around Merry Christmas Mine. A few hours at the site makes for a great education for anyone curious about how the mining process worked.  

An odd name for a prairie and a very heartfelt greeting this time of year. Merry Christmas to everyone – Cory -

http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/pendarvis/  Wisconsin State Historical Society

http://mineralpoint.com/living_history/pendarvis_historic_site.html  City of Mineral Point

“An old error is always more popular than a new truth.” -  German Proverb

In 2006 the American lawn reached a higher status among its citizens - it became the country’s largest irrigated crop. Between our golf courses, sports fields, town squares and residential lawns turfgrass now covers an amazing 40 million acres, or 80 percent, of non-farmed land. Once utilized by the rich as outdoor carpet and by atheletes for sport, turfgrass is now the norm for all residential lots, rural or urban, and the maintenance practices that come with it are now the standard protocol.

Lawns have their roots in the gardens of England but it was not until the post-World War II building boom that it reached its full power here in America. At that time, subdivisions sprouted up around major cities, forming suburbs. To match the prestigious look of larger estates, planners designed large lawns to attract clients. Thus, the goal of making private properties park-like began and fences were not erected to allow for open appearences in residential communities.

Although the 1/2-acre area of grass that is carefully manicured by its owner seams rather harmless, it is the large-scale ramifications of millions of such owners that prove to be devastating. In 2005 it took 238 gallons of water per person to irrigate 40 million acres of turfgrass, which are being mowed with 800 million gallons of small engine gasoline and kept green by 70 million pounds of chemicals.  All this costs an estimated 30 billion dollars annually (2005). The effects on water and air quality are staggering as are the 68,000 injuries sustained annually while mowing.  

Martin Quigley, an urban landscape specialist with The Ohio State University states this about lawns: “Turf maintenance is unquestionably the single most labor intensive component of the constructed landscape. Lawn upkeep, though expensive, requires few decisions and little risk. It is not attuned to the peculiarities of individual sites.” Nationwide, the same grass types are used regardless of soil type, climate, topography or regional customs. The turf industry has developed stronger more desirable strains in order to please the 80% of adults that maintain turfgrass.

Oddly enough, lawn care advertising confirms that most residential lawn care is a losing battle against climate, pests, traffic and other variables, unless more efforts, including watering and chemicals, are applied to the cause. The 70 million pounds of chemicals applied to turfgrass annually represent a higher concentration of chemical input than any other form of agriculture worldwide. In Ted Stienberg’s book, American Green: The Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Lawn, he calls the rise of the lawn “one of the most profound transformations of the landscape in american history.” 

Today, we mow most land that is mow-able and any area that is not mowed is considered “weeds.” Dead spots in lawns are dyed green to disguise imperfections. We spend an average of 40 hours per year mowing or pay services an average of $1,080 to mow for us. We pay higher water bills during hot summer weather to keep the grass alive and we spend used car prices for lawn mowers. Lawn clippings represent the largest agricultural byproduct in the U.S., which could support 20% of our nation’s fuel demands if converted to ethanol (David Blume). The Scotts® Miracle Gro Company (SMG on the New York Stock Exchange) now sells bird seed to supply birds with food that the lawn lacks…Odd indeed.

There are many alternatives to battle this consumptive and environmentally un-friendly practice, including: planting areas with native grasses and flowers, installing ”no mow” turf species such as Buffalo Grass, reducing the amount of lawn that is mowed, or promoting urban planners to develop cluster housing which consolidates housing allowing for more open space. The long term cost savings of utilizing lawn alternatives are staggering and should be encouragement alone. The real benefit, however, lies in the increase of habitat, stabilization of soil, use of local materials and weekends that you don’t have to worry about the lawn.

http://www.cca.qc.ca/pages/Niveau3.asp?page=depliant&lang=eng Interesting article on the history of the lawn

http://ohioline.osu.edu/sc177/sc177_14.html A reported study about the lawn: An Unrequited Love

http://www.epa.gov/greenacres/wildones/handbk/wo8.html The EPA Statement on lawns

There are parts of our living world that are in such great abundance that it is difficult to imagine without it. Consumables such as air and water could fall in this category; but how about living creatures. How about the American Robin, the most common bird in North America. Do you think it could ever vanish and go extinct? Probably not but this is exactly what happened to the Passenger Pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) 100 years ago. Once the most numerous bird in our hemisphere it became extinct within 100 years of human intervention and it may be the only species in which the exact time of extinction is known. 

The Passenger Pigeon once had flocks so large that it would darken the sky for hours as they passed. It comprised 40% of all birds that existed in the 1800′s. The nesting colonies covered as large as 850 square miles of forest. A bird population that has no comparibles, it is hard to fathom these large quantities today. Many factors contributed to the demise of the Passenger Pigeon which included: Hunting for it’s food, using it as fertilizer, shooting for sport, habitat destruction and disease. Many creative and cruel methods were used to kill the bird as it began to harm valuable crops when agriculture came to the frontier.

The last Passenger Pigeons to exist in the wild were at Babcock Wisconsin 1899 and Pike County Ohio where it was eliminated on March 24, 1900. Martha, who was held in captivity at the Cincinati Zoo died at 1:00 P.M. on September 1st 1914. At that time it joined the ranks of many others living creatures to become only an American memory.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passenger_Pigeon Wikipedia

http://www.si.edu/Encyclopedia_SI/nmnh/passpig.htm The Smithsonian

I often feature natural areas within a reasonable distance from Northwest Illinois. However, there are some places that are so unique and fascinating that they must be included as an option. In 2005 the Natural Areas Association had its annual meeting in Lincoln, Nebraska. We decided to attend four days of seminars and then head off for a week, exploring the great Nebraska Sandhills that we had heard so much about. Since our first trip it has served as a close destination 550 miles west on route 20.

The Nebraska Sandhills are not kown by many, other than botanists and cattlemen. It plays second fiddle to the Kansas Flint Hills as the best representation of pre-settlement vegetation on a large scale. The Nebraska Sandhills is an area of 19,600 square miles (1/4 of the state) of sand dunes that are covered in native grasses and forbs with clean lakes and marshes scattered between. Early on, settlers realized that the land could not be farmed and it immediatly became an area conducive only to light grazing. In 1904 the Kincaid Act was passed and it allowed homesteaders to claim 640 acres (a square mile or one section), much more than the 160 acres previously defined by the Homestead Act of 1862. The act was created specifically for the sandhills region and is responsible for the hugeness of the land holdings there today. It is now one of the most remote areas of the United States. So sparse, in fact, that Cherry County is similar in size to West Virginia, while holding only 6,098 people, half of which reside in Valentine, NE. This results in a population density of one person per 1.02 square miles. Only areas of the backcountry in Alaska and North Dakota can compare. Land is discussed in sections and the term “acre” brings up odd looks.

Because of these extremes you have an ecosystem that is largely intact. The cattle density is very low due to the fragility of the sand dunes. The ranchers know very well the damage that can be done once a sand “blow out” occurs. Some of the prairie species that occur in the shortgrass and sandy prairies in the Midwest are also found here and feed the prized cattle. The extensive root systems and sandy soils assist in filtering water of the Ogallala aquifer, the worlds largest, which lies beneath the endless sand dunes. Exotic plants make up only 7 percent of the entire flora here - an amazingly low number when compared to the fertility of the Midwest. The area also supports large numbers of birds and mammals, it is the namesake to the Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis) and Forbes magazine called Grand Island, NE the number one destination in the world for bird watchers. 

If you travel to the Sandhills region be prepared to not see many people, fill up with gas when you have the opportunity, not sleep at Holiday Inns (we slept at someone’s house once) and be overwelmed by its vastness and ranching traditions. You will also realize that windmill repair and maintenence is an actual industry here. There are several campgrounds and B&Bs throughout and recreational opportunities available, especially near Valentine.

I will never forget the pleasure I had when a hungry sales shark was trying to sell me a timeshare in Orlando, Florida. She asked me where I enjoyed vacationing the most and where I took my last vacation. I didn’t realize that honesty was also the best way to end her sales pitch. The Nebraska Sandhills are located within an easy 9 hour drive from Galena, IL off of route 20.

 http://www.nationalgeographic.com/wildworld/profiles/terrestrial/na/na0809.html National Geographic Article

http://www.thenebraskasandhills.com/index.html