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.

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.

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

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.

Page1

Page2

Page3

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.

For the past two weeks we have been following reports of a Black Bear roaming around Northeastern Iowa. It was first reported near Castalia, IA and has since been seen west of Dubuque, IA,  near Maquoketa IA, and Bellevue, IA. This Bear had apparently crossed this Mississippi River into Illinois yesterday morning, entering North of Savanna, IL and was seen near IL Route 84.

Black Bear near Stockton, IL

This morning a Jo Daviess County sherrif deputy saw the bear crossing an agricultural field North of Route 20 near Canyon Park Rd west of Stockton. The deputy was able to take the picture we see here. Shortly afterwards it was photograped in a tree, a few miles North. You can see those pictures here.

It is believed that this bear had left its original habitat in Minnesota and came down the Mississippi river corridor. It has been increasingly common for Black Bears to expand thier home range and to habitat their former range of 200 years ago.

In June of 2001 the Dubuque, IA area also had black bear sightings and Iowa has had 17 sigtings since 1968. The last black bear sighted in Jo Daviess County was in early Janurary of 1940 when a bear was seen near Menominee, west of Galena, IL. There have been several sightings deemed reliable in the past decade however.

It has generally been recent policy that if the animal does not become a nuisance, is not a danger, or is not in any imminent peril, that it be allowed to exist unmolested and without hindrance.

Finally, the results from last week’s election are in and the news is very good for environmentalists. Nation wide, voters approved a record 8.4 billion dollars for conservation funding. There were 124 measures up for vote involving conservation and 88 of these passed. This totalled $8,400,116,140 dollars. Most impressive was the Minnesota sales tax increase that will generate 5.5 billion dollars for conservation over the next 25 years in that state. Florida also voted very favorably to allow land under conservation easement to now be tax free. The 2008 tally beat previous records from 2006 when 6.7 billion was passed and 1998 when 5.8 billion was approved.

Locally, JoDaviess County passed two referendums making it less attractive for CAFO’s (Contained Animal Feeding Operations) to move into the county.

In these tough economic times it is refreshing to see that conservation continues to trend towards priority. Congratulations everybody!

Above poster by ISO50

Galena resident, Richard Pearce, has just launched a new website that catalogues high-resolution photoscans of wild plants from the region. Not to be confused with photographs, these images are scanned in the field or in the studio using a normal office ‘scanner’, a laptop, a light source and a power pack. Richard can capture images of wild plants with amazing clarity and resolution with this setup. High end cameras are grabbing 8-20 mega pixels and lack the up close detail. With a scanner he is achieving 50-100 mega pixels with incredible details up close. This allows you to see plant details not able to be seen with the naked eye. This artform was the subject of an exhibit at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville in 2006 featuring Richard’s mural sized images.

Richard accidentally stumbled upon the process in 2001. He said of the discovery, ” What I saw that night with the office scanner clearly went beyond macro-photography and into the realm of microscopy.” Since then he has successfully scanned over 200 species and a few insects within the Tri-State region, including some threatened and endangered plants. Currently the website contains 69 species with more images added every week.

Along with the incredible photoscans of individual plants on the new website. Each species has a description based on personal research, a plant distribution map, a satellite image of the general location where the plant was scanned and its exact GPS coordinates. The site will be constantly evolving as time goes on and Richard does not expect to become bored with this hobby as the plant diversity in the area and advances in scanner technology could keep him busy for a lifetime.

The new website is called the Upper Mississippi Wildflower Series. Richard welcomes critical feedback from web viewers.

http://www.arrasimages.com/UMW.html View the website here

Over the last six months there has been enormous opposition locally over the construction of a corporate dairy farm that is to be constructed near Warren, IL. The negative effects that this CAFO (concentrated animal feeding operation) would bring to the environment in this county is staggering as is the lowered quality of life to it’s neighbors and the loss of a picturesque landscape that the area is known for.

This past winter a local group opposing this CAFO was formed and they need support quickly. H.O.M.E.S, Helping Others Maintain Environmental Standards, is accepting donations to pay for legal fees to fight this issue. In this David vs Goliath battle any funds will be beneficial. Thank you.

http://www.stopthemegadairy.org/how_to_help_donate_money.html Donate Money Here

http://www.stopthemegadairy.org/ HOMES website

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-big-farm-13-jun13,0,7136487.story Chicago Tribune article

http://www.thegalenaterritory.com/news_detail.cfm?id=186 The Territory Times article

It has been officially announced that the University of Illinois Extension, with a coalition of other local organizations (including Prairie Works), will be hosting the first annual Green Fair. Green Fair 2008: Ideas and Products for Your Home and Business will be held this June in Elizabeth, IL. Below is the official press release:

Set aside Friday, June 27, and Saturday, June 28 for the first area Green Fair! The theme for this years event is Ideas and Products for Your Home and Business. The fair will be a chance to meet retailers of green products, renewable energy resources, recycled and sustainably produced items for your business, office and home. There will be children’s activities, informative presentations and local food vendors.
The fair will be held at Highland Community College West (previously River Ridge High School). Look for more details in future newspaper articles, newsletters and flyer’s.
The Green Fair planning committee member organizations are: Baranski Hammer Moretta & Sheehy Architecture, Blackhawk Hills RC&D, Carroll County Economic Development Corp., Conservation Guardians of Northwest Illinois, Galena Territory Association, JoDaviess Conservation Foundation, Jo-Carroll Energy, Jo-Carroll Solid Waste Agency, JoDaviess County Office of Economic Development, Prairie Works Inc., The Prairie Enthusiasts and The University of Illinois Extension. 

If you have questions about the Green Fair, please contact Maggie Friedenbach, Recycling and Conservation Projects Coordinator, at University of Illinois Extension, 815.244.9444. You can also contact me at cory@prairieworksinc.com 

Hope to see you there!

 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

Recently, the New York Times featured Galena, IL in its travel section. It was a rather lengthy article and was written from an interesting perspective, a national one. Several people that I know were quoted and I learned about the local real estate climate, among other things.

What does this have to do with nature? Absolutely nothing. But it is great to have the country’s largest and most respected news source feature our town. Read the article here.

http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/12/07/travel/escapes/07havens.html 

Recently, a client of mine, the Harmets, entered their land into a conservation easement to much fanfare. Thier property contains several different ecosystems including a hill prairie remnant, a prairie that survived 100 plus years of grazing until the Harmets purchased the property and began management. 

A conservation easement is a legal agreement between a landowner and a land trust that limits the uses of the land in order to protect its conservation values into perpetuity, while still retaining full ownership rights and the ability to pass land on to heirs or other owners. Property taxes are usually greatly reduced or totally eleminated as well as federal income taxes for the first fifteen years, in order to encourage this type of land protection. After the conservation easement is signed it is recorded into the County of Deeds and applies to all future owners of the property. Conservation easements are customized for each parcel of land and can accomodate many unique situations. The property owners work with a land trust, who provides the legal service and all legwork. The land trust can be compensated by the land owner through a voluntary donation.

In 2006 the popularity of conservation easements accelerated due to a pension reform bill passed by Congress. The maximum deduction a donor is allowed was raised from 30% to 50% of their adjusted gross income in any year. Farmers and ranchers can deduct 100% under the new bill. Also, the carry forward period to take the deductions was extended from 5 years to 15 years. These are not to be changed for 26 years.

Although the financial benefits serve as great incentives, protecting ecosystems, scenic views, historic farms and ensuring that your family will be able to continue ownership is the real driving force. Currently there are over 1,600 not for profit land trusts in America including two in JoDaviess County.

http://www.galenagazette.com/main.asp?SectionID=142&SubsectionID=344&ArticleID=11102&TM=50068.05 The Galena Gazette’s article on Dick and Joan Harmet

http://journalstandard.com/articles/2007/11/26/news/news01.txt The Freeport Journal Standard’s article on the Harmets

http://www.lta.org/ The Land Trust Alliance

http://www.naturalland.org/ The Natural Land Institute

http://www.jdcf.org/conservation_options.htm The JoDaviess Conservation Foundation

The Wisconsin State Journal published an article on August 9, about the trend of converting high maintenance turf grass areas into prairies on large corporate campuses. Some of the Madison, WI area’s largest corporations doing just that include American Family Insurance, Alliant Energy and SACO Foods. The article cited the usual benefits, such as bio-diversity and habitat, but also noted that the appeal most often comes down to saving money and the overall bottom line.

Steve Cohan of Full Compass, headquartered in Middleton, WI said the company recouped its initial investment in the first three years due to reduction of turf maintenence. The company spent 30 percent more on the initial prairie installation when compared to turf grass costs but they liked the long-term benefit. Cohan said, “There is something really interesting about having this environment right outside your window. You can look literally four feet out your window and see a hawk in a tree. That’s something you don’t get with a traditional office building with traditional shrubs and a parking lot.”

The Chicago area has been naturalizing its corporate campuses for over a decade now. Some of the most notable projects include: Tellabs, Underwriters Laboratories, Nicor Gas, Prairie Stone Business Park, BP Amoco, WW Grainger and Abbott Labs. Openlands, a conservation organization founded in 1963, established The Corporatelands Program in 2003 to assist businesses with converting from traditional high maintenance landscapes to low maintenence landscapes that utilize prairies and native plants. They host workshops for facility managers to attend and explain the how-tos.

As with many new ideas and products, it is the goverment and corporations that lead the way into making concepts mainstream. Hopefully, we will see this trend continue to trickle down to the private sector.

http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/index.php?ntid=204983 Wisconsin State Journal Article 

http://www.openlands.org/corporatelands.asp Corporatelands Program

Yesterday, August 14th Illinois Governor, Rod Blagojevich, signed two important bills into legislation. Both bills promote conservation in Illinois. 

House Bill 1300 creates the Local and Organic Food and Farm Task Force. The Task Force will be managed by the Department of Agriculture and will be responsible for developing plans to expand the accessibility of Illinois-grown and organic foods. Specifically, the task force will identify farmland preservation opportunities and train and develop programs for conventional farmers. In addition, it will provide financial and technical support for those entering the industry and help expand development of fresh food markets in under-served communities. The state hopes this will allow for fresh produce to be made available to the inner-city and revitalize weakened rural economies. House Bill 1300 was sponsored by Sate Representative Julie Hamos (D-Evanston) and State Senator Jacqueline Collins (D-Chicago). HB 1300 goes into effect immediately.

House Bill 1780 extends the sunset date for the popular Conservation 2000 (C2000) program from 2009 to 2021. It was also renamed Partners for Conservation. Since 1996 the ‘C2000′ program has helped restore 90,000 acres of natural areas, reduced soil erosion by implementing conservation tillage programs and educated one million citizens on the importance of the environment. It has been one of the most succussful programs in the state of Illinois during the past quarter century. It was sponsored by State Representative Dan Reitz (D-Sparta) and State Senator Linda Holmes (D-Plainfield). HB 1780 will go into effect January 1, 2008.

There is no Illinois citizen participating in conservation who has not been involved with a C2000 Grant in some way and the promotion of a strong organic food market in Illinois is long overdue. These two bills make waiting for a state budget to pass just a bit more bearable.

A new report ranks Illinois in the bottom third of states on spending for open space. According to the Illinois State Land Conservation Funding report released in March, Illinois has gone from spending an average of 50 million a year in land acquisition to less than 10 million annually over the last few years.

Illinois ranks last by a large margin among Midwestern states in acres protected per capita, with only 1 percent of its land owned by the state. Illinois spent $2.67 per resident on open space annually during its peak years of investment, while Minnesota spent $5.76 and Wisconsin spent $9.80. Funding in Illinois has dropped by 80% since the early 2000s. Illinois’ drop in funding is the result of the end of a four-year program to protect open space and diversions from funds from two long-term programs, the Open Space Lands Acquisition and Development (OSLAD) and the Natural Areas Acquisition Fund (NAAF). Both OSLAD and NAFF are supported by real estate transfer taxes. While that revenue increased with the real estate boom earlier this decade the state has taken away millions of dollars slated for natural areas for budgetary reasons. In fiscal year 2006, more than $35 million was diverted.

Illinios is considered to be one of the most ecologically diverse states in the country, containing hundreds of different ecosystems. The state has already lost mroe than 99.9% of its original prairies and 90% of its original wetlands. A coalition has been formed to fight this financial deficit. Visit it here: http://www.partnersforparksandwildlife.org/

The National Audubon Society released a survey in June that our country’s most common bird species are declining at an alarming rate. The data compiled is based on the famous Christmas Bird Count which has taken place every winter for 107 years by us, the citizens. Twenty of our most common birds have declined on an average of 68% - some as high as 80% – since 1967.

Of the twenty common species the Northern Bobwhite has seen the greatest decline at 82% and finishing at number 20 is the Ruffed Grouse at a 54% decline. In between, beloved birds in decline include: Evening Grosbeak, Boreal Chickadee, Meadowlark, Field Sparrow, Grackle, Whip-poor-will, and the Northern Pintail duck.

Why is this happening? Audubon points towards urban sprawl, an increase of invasive species, intensive agriculture practices and habitat fragmentation. Veryln Klinkenborg of the New York Times wrote a great article on the matter a few weeks ago. She wrote, “The Audubon Society portrait of common bird species in decline is really a report on who humans are. Let me offer a proposition about Homo sapiens. We are the only species on earth capable of an ethical awareness of other species and, thus, the only species capable of happily ignoring that awareness. I don’t suppose that most Americans would actively kill a whippoorwill if they had the chance. Yet in the past 40 years its number has dropped by 1.6 million. We look around us, expecting the rest of the world’s occupants to adapt to the changes that we have caused, when, in fact, we have the right to expect adaptation only from ourselves.”

The report certainly has offered a lot for analysis and maybe not just about birds. Read the full report here: http://www.audubon.org/