FEB 19 - Sunday’s storm brought a mixture of rain, sleet, freezing rain and snow. Dubuque, IA set a daily rainfall record for the day (1.15 inches) and 6.1 inches of snow fell. The snow total is now at 60.6 inches for the year. 29% of the total snow amount usually falls after this date.
Prairie Works is the source for ecological and landscape services in Northwest Illinois. Prairie Works can assist on projects large and small ranging from prairie and woodland restoration, invasive species control, controlled burning, bio-engineered erosion control and landscaping through the use of native plants. Prairie Works offers an environmentally friendly and dynamic solution to traditional land use practices and strives to connect people to the natural history of the area.
Cory's Blog: A cyber bulletin containing information, statements, news, reports, inside dope, observations and ramblings. Please browse the archives at your leisure.
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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!
Last Saturday, February 2nd, former Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz died at 98. Earl Butz was well known by environmentalists and not positively. He became a household name in the mid-1970s for reasons that were also not positive.
An Indiana native and person that Purdue University claims with great pride, Earl Butz was appointed secretary of agriclture in 1971 and carried that role until he was forced to resigned in 1976. During his five-year tenure as Ag Secretary he was responsible for many long-term effects on America.
Destruction of Natural Areas - Butz incensed naturalists by urging farmers to “plant from fencerow to fencerow.” With this implimented, some of our last remnant prairies were plowed, high quality wetlands were drained and thick treelines that served as habitat were bulldozed. This was the last crucial wave in natural area destruction and is still in many people’s memories. Locally, there became a sharp decline in wildlife numbers, mainly among birds.
Agri-business - Butz proclaimed that farming “is now big business” and that family farms must “adapt or die.” These policy shifts coincided with the rise of major agribusiness corporations, and the decline in financial stability of the small family farm. Agri-business was a term coined in the 1980s when the change had taken full effect.
Obesity - With larger quantities of corn being produced, Butz suggested that corn syrup should replace sugar cane. High-fructose corn syrup became the standard and very unhealthy sweetener. In Greg Critser’s 2003 book Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World, Critser points to Butz as the reason for obesity in America. Critser says,”In short, Butz had delivered everything the modern American consumer had wanted. Cheap, abundant and tasty calories had arrived. It was time to eat.”
Outside of the environmental and nutrition circles Butz will be remembered for his controversy. In 1974 he disturbed catholics by making fun of the Pope and in October of 1976 he was forced to resign after making racist comments while on a plane flight. Some say that it prevented Gerald Ford from being elected one month later.
Quite a testement to the power of agriculture in America and probably the only Secretary of Agriclture to ever become a household name…
FEB 7 - Yesterday’s snowstorm dropped around 14″ of snow in JoDaviess County. Nearby Winslow, IL received 18″. We are now experiencing the snowiest winter since the late 1970s.
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
FEB 1 - The winter of 2007-2008 has dropped 36 inches of snow on Dubuque, IA already. No one storm has produced more than 5.2 inches. Along with extreme cold spells, near record high temps and a record rainfall amount in December, the winter of 2007-2008 has been memorable, among other things.
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:
The temperature dropped to -18 degrees on Sunday morning (1/20) in Galena.
“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
Galena received around 20 inches of snow and ice in December. One of the snowiest and coldest Decembers in recent memory.
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
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
