Fall & Winter 2012: Volume 33, Numbers 3 & 4 - Missouri Prairie ...

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update MPF p r a i r i e protection, education, and outreach From left, MPF President Stan Parrish stands with Carol Davit, executive director of MPF, and Tim Ripperger, assistant director of the Missouri Department of Conservation, at the Grow Native! ceremony “transplanting” the ten-year old native landscaping marketing and education program from the Department of Conservation to MPF. The ceremony was held after the lecture by Bringing Nature Home author Dr. Douglas Tallamy, organized by Lincoln University’s Native Plant Program in Jefferson City. MPF was one of the sponsors of the event. Read more on page 8. Robert Weaver Taking a Stand for Prairie and Native Plants The Missouri Prairie Foundation (MPF) protects some of the most biologically diverse and beautiful prairies in the state. We do this through ongoing management, and we also take on major prairie restoration and reconstruction projects—such as our current work at our Welsch Tract. We also encourage others to plant prairie species and assist them with outreach activities like our recent Prairie Planting from Seed Workshop. As the new home of the Grow Native! native landscaping marketing and education program, MPF is expanding its conservation reach to home gardeners, landscape professionals, and many others who want to make yards, corporate campuses, farms, land owned by local governments, and school grounds more biologically diverse. MPF is a leader in taking a stand for prairie. We advocate for robust conservation programs in the Farm Bill and for secure funding for the federal State and Tribal Wildlife Grant program. MPF works with partners including the Missouri Bird Conservation Initiative, Missouri Department of Conservation, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on initiatives ranging from native plants as a biofuel source to landscape-scale conservation planning—we all work together to broadcast the very important conservation message. By ensuring that the “prairie and native plant voice” has a seat at the table, MPF contributes to statewide, regional, and national conservation-friendly policies. Through other outreach and educational activities—such as our third annual Prairie BioBlitz held last June—MPF provides adults and children with in-depth nature exploration and one-onone learning with specialists of many prairie species. I think everyone with MPF is moved and inspired by the passion and hard work of MPF members and other supporters who volunteer during cold winter prairie workdays and by those who donate their time, money, energy, and talents to organize events like last June’s Prairie Paint Out (see page 6). MPF has accomplished much this year. In addition to our prairie protection work and outreach activities, the organization is continually improving its structure and governance. The Land Trust Alliance Organizational Assessment we undertook this year is prioritizing tasks for board members and staff to continue to move forward. As always, MPF remains lean—we have no office, no debt, only two staff members who work out of their homes or in the field, the board adopts only balanced budgets, and we conduct an independent annual audit. Your contributions to MPF are carefully managed to maximize your investment in conservation. Thank you for your continued support! MPF and its work to protect prairies could not exist without you. —Carol Davit, executive director bob ball MPF at Butterfly Festival in Springfield The Fourth Annual Friends of the Garden Butterfly Festival was held at Springfield’s Nathanael Greene/Close Memorial Park on July 21. MPF was there, along with 2,000 total visitors! Several people visiting the MPF booth expressed interest in learning how to establish native plantings on their property. One attendee came specifically to see the progress on the Kickapoo Edge Prairie Garden within the park, the restoration of which is overseen by several MPF members. Thanks go to MPF members and volunteers Ric and Jean Mayer who organized everyone and set up the booth, Stan and Susan Parrish who took it down, and Jeff Cantrell, Will Hardiman, and Jim Maggard who helped in between. Many thanks also to Stan and Susan Parrish who spent May 19 at an event for children in the park called Young Sprouts In The Garden. Stan and Susan demonstrated the power of prairie roots! Many thanks to Jeff Cantrell, Pat Mann, and Jean Mayer for creative support and Merv Wallace who donated the real roots from compass plant and little bluestem. 4 Missouri Prairie Journal Vol. 33 Nos. 3 & 4
MPF’s Third Annual Prairie BioBlitz Sara Scheill Fisheries Biologist Tom Priesendorf and the aquatic group examine fish from a stream on the prairie; below left, biologist Emily Imhoff shows off a grassland crayfish; below right, insect enthusiasts examine a beetle found by Dr. James Trager. Carol Davit Mervin Wallace Carol Davit MPF’s Third Annual Prairie BioBlitz was held June 9 and 10 at beautiful Schwartz Prairie. More than 100 participants explored the prairie, documented plants and animals, enjoyed a huge, fantastic potluck dinner with jambalaya cooked on-site, were treated to evening astronomical interpretation by members of the Kansas City Astronomical Society, and camped on the prairie. The plant and animal species tally included 11 ants; 23 butterflies and moths; five native bees; 40 other insects, ranging from beetles to crickets to true bugs and more; 16 amphibians and reptiles; 34 birds; six fish, including several headwater stream species; 33 mosses, liverworts, and hornworts, and 21 additional native vascular plant species, bringing the known total to date to 361 native vascular plants. Many thanks to all the BioBlitz leaders for their time and expertise! Clockwise from top, dickcissel nest found by the bird group; Jessie gets a visit from a hairstreak butterfly; Nels Holmberg, far right, and members of the bryophyte group examine mosses; children and adults enjoying the prairie; lepidopterans search for butterflies; night owls observe and document noctural insects at a black light; and Dana Ripper and Ethan Duke of the Mo. River Bird Observatory set up a mist nest with helpers. Sara Scheill Carol Davit Brian Edmond Brian Edmond Save the Dates! MPF’s Fourth Annual Prairie BioBlitz will be held June 1 and 2, 2013 at Denison and Lattner Prairies in Barton and Vernon Counties. Brian Edmond Vol. 33 Nos. 3 & 4 Missouri Prairie Journal 5 Brian Edmond
Page 1 and 2: Fall/winter 2012 Volume 33 Numbers
Page 3: Contents Fall/Winter 2012 Volume 33
Page 7 and 8: Carol Davit Carol Davit carol davit
Page 9 and 10: Brian Edmond ATCHISON HOLT NODAWAY
Page 11 and 12: 2012 Campaign for Prairies Please k
Page 13 and 14: allow mosquitoes to swarm. We used
Page 15 and 16: Fate of 67 nests of radio-collared
Page 17 and 18: Max ALleger For the rest of our ann
Page 19 and 20: “The purpose of the park is to ma
Page 21 and 22: DNR FILE PRAIRIE STATE PARK JUSTIN
Page 23 and 24: SCOTT WOODBURY Carol Davit SCOTT WO
Page 25 and 26: Susan Hilty Moving Forward from the
Page 27 and 28: Cattle producers can benefit both c
Page 29 and 30: Prairie Postings Cécile Lagandré
Page 31 and 32: tion Lifetime Members Don Lowry Kay

Fall & Winter 2012: Volume 33, Numbers 3 & 4 - Missouri Prairie ...

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