SUMMER ISSUE Vol. 4, No. 3

A PRAIRIE BEGINNING

Pale purple coneflower (left) Virginia Spiderwort (above)

“On the edge of the prairie, where the sun had gone down, the sky was turquoise blue, like a lake, with gold light throbbing in it. Higher up, in the utter clarity of the western slope, the evening star hung like a lamp suspended by silver chains -- like the lamp

engraved up the title-page of old Latin texts, which is always appearing in new heavens and waking new desires in men.”

– Willa Cather, My Antonia

Photos by Mary Jo

Adams

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A PRAIRIE BEGINNING … By Mary Jo Adams

WHY DO I LOVE the prairie? Because my Grandmother showed me that it has mystery and magic. It is bold and beautiful. It is subtle and sublime. You can get lost in a prairie…and then find all kinds of treasures….

I HAVE LEARNED a lot since those early days of wandering down the railroad tracks that ran beside her home in Kempton, Illinois (yes, directly across from Don Gardner’s place). The track had all kinds of prairie plants on either side…it was a truly wild garden.

WE FIRST began by collecting the flowers that she helped me arrange in vases and showed in the county fair (yes, I even won prizes), but then she had me learn the names and something about them and the history behind them.

I WAS drawn to their beautiful shapes and colors, and I especially remember being entranced by the hillside covered by Pale Purple Coneflowers. I had never seen anything like them!

AND THERE WERE other wonders too…lots and lots of butterflies, and birds, and even a den of foxes with babies. Oh, I dearly loved visiting Grandma in the summer and being left to wander in the prairie!

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NOW, quite a few years later, I have come again to loving prairies.

I STILL LOVE the colors, and all of the other things that go with a prairie (yes, even the snakes), but I know much more now. I know that the real prairies, the ones that were here in Illinois when my Grandmother’s parents settled in Ford County, are mostly gone. There are just little bits left…if you know where to find them. I know that prairies are much more complex and dynamic than most people realize, and that they are the holders of a rich heritage that residents of Illinois should be proud of.

SADLY, THOUGH, this is unusually not the case. Why more people can’t appreciate the beauty of a prairie escapes me, but perhaps as we try to restore, re-create and re-establish prairie, this will change.

PEOPLE are starting to incorporate more Illinois native plants

in their landscaping, and with urban projects such as the prairie plantings in Tipton Park, or even larger areas such as Nachusa or Midewin Prairie, the appeal will start to grow.

I HOPE THAT it’s not too late.

WE COULD become the Prairie State again. If enough of us start going to visit prairies, plant even one prairie plant in our garden, and show our appreciation of our natural heritage by protecting what few real prairies we have left, then Illinois will become a better place. u

• Tallgrass prairie once covered 142 million acres. Only 1/10th of 1% remains.• The major grasses of the tallgrass prairie are the big bluestem, the little bluestem, Indiangrass and switchgrass.• Prairies formed about 8,000 years ago, yet are one of the most recently developed ecosystems in North America.• Over 100 plant species can occur in a prairie of less than 5 acres.

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“The poetry of the Earth is never dead.” – John Keats

IT’S HARD to believe it’s September. With a very wet spring, then the heat of summer followed by a few weeks of dryness, I realized how lucky we were to have those weekly rains. No watering. Now I have to water pots and new plants.

AS AUGUST ends, herb plants are finishing and prairie plants are starting their last beautiful display. The Big Blue Stem, your state grass, is just starting to bolt skyward and display the turkey foot for which it’s known. Drooping yellow coneflowers, cup and compass plants, rosin weed, prairie dock, and a variety of sunflowers are making their yellow splash on the horizon. With purple New England Asters blooming, we are just beginning to see the white-to-sky-blue blooms of the other asters. Mountain mint is white with flowers with its wonderful aroma as you walk by. Blue and Hoary Vervain are so pretty with purplish-blue flowers and they are loaded with butterflies. Indian Grass is yellow with pollen as I write this article. I love the bronze color as you drive Interstate 55. Enjoy your local prairie areas.

IGPMNs have many opportunities to volunteer and work with other Master Naturalists through the many partner programs such as the Prairie Walk, Birding Walks, the Butterfly and Dragonfly Walk at Tipton Trails with JWP Audubon. Wild Ones’ monthly programs always offer a second Monday evening to educate. Sugar Grove Nature Center has many opportunities for involvement and offers classes on anything from Blacksmithing to Astronomy, and from River Watch to volunteering to help with classes. Their Hummingbird Festival and Pollination Celebration, August 29, is always fun, and their Autumn Celebration will be here before we know it.

TO THE north Fugate Woods has opportunities ranging from tree planting to repairing riparian areas. Parklands Foundation

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always has work for invasives removal. Heartland, the ISU Horticulture Center, and the Food Forest need weeders, seed collectors, and planters.

EARN your volunteer hours where your passions lie, and work with programs you enjoy!

FUTURE Master Naturalists started classes on August 13 with Understanding the Natural World. Remember when we did it? THE IGPMN training classes were the most educational and enjoyable continuing education in which I have ever participated. I met and made many new friends. It was the perfect transition from teaching Environmental Science to retiring.

THEIR class syllabus is on line, and Reid can let you know if there is room for you to attend a class. Some new venues this year take our new class to Funk’s Grove Rock and Gem Museum for Geology, Eureka College for Air & Climate, Fugate Woods for Rivers and Streams, and Lincoln College Creekside Environmental Center for Natural Divisions. We’ve tried to move it around to reach our three-county area.

IF YOU signed up for visiting IGPMNs, classes start at 9 am, social 8:30, and end at 4. If you need to reschedule for any reason, please let Reid know.

ALL MEMBERS are welcome to bring a sack lunch and visit at lunch between 12-1. Make an effort to welcome our new

From the  

President’sPerspective

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members. Hopefully, they will enjoy their class as much as we did.

DON’T FORGET the following upcoming dates: September 17 is our Executive Board Meeting, September 24 is an Advisory Council Meeting which consists of the Executive Board and all committee chairmen. October 15 is our Quarterly Meeting at Noon. I look forward to seeing you all on there.

I ALSO look forward to Book Club dates. I loved hearing the Sand County Almanac reviews, reading My First Summer in the Sierra after just returning from the Sierras, and now reading A Year in the Maine Woods. (I would like to go to Maine next summer.) Thank you to Marci Rossi, Dee Frautschi, and Gretchen Monti for getting us started. I enjoy reading! An escape.

LIFE FOR ME, I think, is calming down. My son Chase got married in Florida in May, had to clean out my husband’s mom’s house that we sold, finished my Floriculture Superintendent responsibilities at the Logan County Fair in August, and the training class is underway, so, my year will be over soon.

I RECOGNIZED the following members at our quarterly meeting for making the IGPMNs organization coast smoothly along because of their efforts: Jim Bortell, Sara Hostetter, Kathy Clesson, Judith Valente-Reynard, Marge Ehlers, Ann Baughan, Vickie Robertson, Patti Koranda, Mary Jo Adams, Ellen Dietz, Marca Rossi, and Dee Woodburn.

I HAVE four more for the upcoming quarterly meeting, and can’t wait to announce the recipients! We enjoy Green Thoughts, Bird Walks, Prairie Walks, the Newsletter, WGLT radio pieces, National Trails Day … and much more. Keep up all the good work.

REMEMBER to report your volunteer hours when you help a partner, and record as "continuing education" the hours where you learn from an expert. You need 30/10 hours by the end of December, but if you are a Class of 2013 member, your goal is 60 hours by the end of

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2015. Each quarterly meeting usually involves one volunteer and one continuing education hour if you stay for the program. So, there are four of each just from meeting attendance. You have a good start. Volunteering is a joy!

IN CLOSING, Members, take time to enjoy each other; enjoy your senses of vision, hearing, taste, touch, and smell. Enjoy nature from Sunrise to Sunset and then through the starry night. Enjoy life! Make it a life where you have no regrets. Hug your friends, hug your family, appreciate all that they do and even if they disappoint. Tell them you appreciate them.

AS IGPMNs, we want to leave the world better than we found it. Kindness is the best we have to offer – kindness to nature and kindness to each other. You’ve heard this before, but “How we will be remembered is not by dollar signs, but how we made others feel, and that is the legacy we will leave behind.”

I BEGAN this letter with a quote from Keats. I would like to conclude with a Bulgarian saying: “Earth is man’s only true friend.” As Master Naturalists, we should work together to take care of it.

LOOK FORWARD to autumn and the ability to enjoy a veritable feast of Master Naturalist opportunities!

Naturally yours, Karen Lowery

Left: Barn quilt at Sugar Grove Nature Center.

Right: Red spotted purple butterfly.

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Area Prairie Remnants a Delight Master Naturalists Visit the 1/10TH OF 1%

A PHOTO ESSAY

Jan Turner, Dr. Roger Anderson, and Sherrie Snyder work to identify a prairie plant at Sunbury Prairie. Sometimes, there are subtle differences in similar plants, so it's good to have experts along, and a good field guide.

Turks Cap Lily, also known as Michigan Lily, found at Sunbury Prairie. Isn't this a beauty that we should be

planting in our own yards?

First Stop: Livingston County’s SUNBURY RAILROAD PRAIRIE

Location and Access: From I-55 Exit 217 at Dwight, take Hwy. 17 west 9 miles,

then turn and go south 0.5 mile.

Dedicated March 1983. 12 acres. Ownership: IDNR and Prairie Lands Foundation.

http://www.dnr.illinois.gov/INPC/Pages/Area3LivingstonSunburyRailroadPrairie.aspx

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Second Stop: Ford County’s KEMPTON PRAIRIE

Left: Master Naturalists check out the small railroad prairie just outside of Kempton.

Left, Butterfly Milkweed was growing in profusion in the prairie. I couldn't get a Monarch to pose on one, though!

Below: Another beauty in the prairie...Smooth Phlox. This should be in our gardens too!

Photos by Mary Jo Adams

Still known as the "Prairie State," Illinois was covered with some 22 million acres of Tallgrass Prairie as recently as the 1820s.

Today, more than 99% of that ecosystem has been lost to farming/plowing and development, with only about 2500 acres of quality "true" prairie remaining!  

“On the edge of the prairie, where the sun had gone down, the sky was turquoise blue, like a lake, with gold light throbbing in it. Higher up, in the utter clarity of the western slope, the evening star hung like a lamp suspended by silver chains -- like the lamp engraved up the title-page of old Latin texts, which is always appearing in new heavens and waking new desires in men.”

–Willa Cather, MY ANTONIA

“…it was not until after crossing the river Des Plaines that I became fully sensible of the beauty and sublimity of the prairies…”

–Patrick ShirreffA Scotsman who visited Illinois in 1833

http://www.ddtvl.com/ilprairie.htm

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Third and Final Stop: Champaign County’s REMNANT RAILROAD PRAIRIE near Savoy

This is what our roadsides could look like if they weren't mowed. This was between the railroad tracks and a busy road. Butterflies and birds were in profusion there.

Monarch butterfly enjoying the Wild Bergamot.

Sherrie Snyder documents the plants in the prairie using her smart phone's iNaturalist app.

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By Marge Ehlers & Ann Baughan

THE 2015 National Trails Day at Sugar Grove was a huge success with 300 plus in attendance! This year more children were observed in attendance. We were happy to welcomefamilies, grandparents, a Girl Scout troop, some internationalvisitors, and even a few dogs.

SET UP took maybe an hour. Volunteers put signs on trails, moved picnic tables outside, swept the pavilion, and cleaned long tables before moving them to the exhibition area inside for

vendor and station use. Scripts have been mostly laminated and have been artfullyfine-tuned.

MOVING THE frog sounds and seep stations together was a huge success, as was Life Down Under in the vicinity of Imagination Grove. Many volunteers mentioned the next stop available as people were ending their station. Passports worked great. Extending the end time to 3 p.m. seemed to work well as there were still people arriving after attending their morning events and running their regular Saturday morning errands.

OUR FOOD vendor had an emergency root canal, but hikers took the missing foodstuffs in stride. Fortunately, the event had been publicized encouraging the public to bring a picnic lunch. Many attendees were observed at the picnic area happily eating packed lunches.

AN EXTRA volunteer was used to remain stationed at the South Trail entrance to help pace the tours. North trails didn’t seem to suffer from lack of a pacing station, as volunteers observed smooth traffic on the trails.

NATIONAL TRAILS DAY 2015 A RESOUNDING

SUCCESS!

The trails were alive with the sound of happy hikers in these June 6

candid photos.

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ALL SIGNS for National Trails Day now have their own storage area in one place at Sugar Grove!

WE COULD NOT have asked for a more perfect day. The next day, however, was a total disaster. Rain flooded Imagination Grove, the trails, and surrounding areas!

THE SUCCESSFUL National Trails Day at Sugar Grove wouldn’t have happened without the 30 plus IGPMN volunteers that we owe a huge thank you to – including the welcome addition this year of Boy Scouts who helped with parking, the Life Down Under trail station, and general cleanup/tear down.

HATS OFF to Ann & Marge for co-chairing this event!

MARK YOUR calendars for June 4, 2016, the first Saturday in June. That will be the Illinois Grand Prairie Master Naturalists’ third consecutive celebration of National Trails Day at Sugar

Grove Nature Center. Plan to volunteer. u

Photos by Dee Frautschi & Karen Lowery

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SUMMER

HUMMERTRAVEL

Story and photos by Deanna Frautschi

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SUMMER OFTEN brings on a case of travel fever for many…me included.

IN JULY, I had the good fortune to be invited by my college roommate to visit her family’s summer cottage at Harvey’s Lake in rural Vermont. Traveling through the hills and valleys from Burlington was a visual delight. So many pastoral farms and villages caught my attention. I wanted to stop and photograph them all, but didn’t have the time.

WHEN I arrived at my destination tucked back on a dirt road around the lake, things were quiet and peaceful. Wildflowers were everywhere along the roadsides and visions of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds danced in my wee little head. I was not disappointed. As soon as I pulled out my traveling hummingbird feeder, filled it and set it out near the back porch facing the lake, I heard the familiar buzz.

TWO MALE Ruby-throats vied for possession of the feeder each day, flashing their red gorgets (throats) at each other as they displayed their less than a penny’s worth weight and performed fierce 15 ft. dives in front of each other. They finally called a truce and would visit at different times most of the day.

IN VERMONT and other Northeastern states where the temps dip into the 50’s at night, hummingbirds often enter a state of torpor (or slowed metabolism) when they roost for the night to conserve energy. However, since it takes them longer to wake out of torpor, this also makes them an easier target for predators who might be roaming trees at night.

Lake Harvey in rural Vermont.

Male ruby-throat at feeder.

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WILDFLOWERS around lakes, streams and roadsides provide hummers with a great source of food as they travel the east coast even if they don’t find human feeders available. Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are the primary hummers east of the Mississippi although more Rufous Hummingbirds are moving eastward.

SEDONA HUMMINGBIRD FESTIVAL THE FIRST week of August signals the start of the Sedona Hummingbird Festival. It’s timed with the start of migration for many species. West of the Mississippi, there are usually 15 other varieties of hummingbirds, so going to Sedona during the festival provides almost a visual overload. Several species are often visiting feeders and flowers. Add to that the panoramic views of beautiful red rock and sandstone formations that rise from the desert in the surrounding area. Breathtaking!

I WAS fortunate enough to observe four varieties at my traveling feeder and at other feeders and flowers. I saw Anna’s, Allen’s, Broad-tailed and Costa species. When I wasn’t busy taking in their antics, I was admiring the beauty of the red and pink hills and valleys surrounding Sedona and the vacation home where we were staying. Javelinas and coyotes were also common visitors to the area.

MOUNTAIN hummingbirds feast on the nectar of other flowers we don’t usually have in Central Illinois like Mexican sage, desert

Male Anna on branch.

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willow, mountain trumpet and firebush.

THESE hummingbirds are particularly suited to the hot, dry weather of Arizona and the colder night temps when they, like their eastern relatives, often enter a state of torpor on cooler nights.

HUMMERS of the southwest may build their nests in the shade of Cottonwood trees or the prickly thorns of cactus. I find it interesting how adaptable hummingbirds can be to their particular environment. Since they often get most of their water from nectar, the availability of drinking water is not as important to them.

SUMMER HUMMER travel allows me to see hummingbirds in other environments and learn about the habitats surrounding them. It’s a fun way to learn more about the differences in our habitats while allowing me to pursue my hummer addiction.

By the way, if you’re interested in seeing and learning more about the 325 plus species of hummingbirds in the Americas, go to my Hummingbirds Anonymous Facebook group page and become a member. There are more than 25,000 members on the page from all over the world who share a love of hummingbirds. You’ll likely learn something new from experts or those from other climates, and you’ll definitely enjoy the beautiful photos shared each day. u

Costa hummers at feeder.  

Left: Hummer in silhouette against red rock. Right: Red rock formations from a distance.

SGNC Asks Master Naturalists to Save the Date:

Sugar Grove Nature Center’s Autumn Celebration is on Saturday, October 24. They will be looking for volunteers the day of the event and also on several days preceding the event. A call for volunteers will be sent out in late September, but until then, record the date on your calendar and plan on helping SGNC out with this year’s Autumn Celebration!  

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AMBERFOSSILS

REPORTER: JUDITH VALENTE REYNARD

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MICROSCOPES and specimen trays sit atop several long rectangular tables in this windowless lab at the offices of the Illinois Natural History Survey in Champaign. A row of metal buckets line the floor. Each bucket brims with what look like stones.

BUT THESE are no ordinary stones. These jagged rocks are both precious and ancient. They contain amber-encased insect fossils, and some of them are perhaps as much as 20 million years old.

“Insects are phenomenally diverse and the same was true 20 million years ago,” says Dr. Sam Heads of the Illinois Natural History Survey. “Much of the public doesn’t know that because the kind of work we do takes place beyond closed doors in a museum or a research laboratory.”

HEADS IS A paleontologist and an entomologist, someone who studies both fossils and insects. Every day, he sorts through thousands of pieces of amber, where trapped inside are all sorts of creatures from mites to flies, wasps, ants and grasshoppers.

“Amber has had an aesthetic appeal for a very long time,” Heads says. “Romans valued amber higher than gold. So it’s captured the imagination of people for millennia. Not only is it beautiful to look at, but it contains this world inside that is unique.”

“Romans valued amber higher than gold. So it’s

captured the imagination of people for millennia.”

Editor’s Note: Many master naturalists who participated in the BioBlitz last year at the Natural History Survey may recall meeting Dr. Sam Heads. Heads is an entomologist and paleontologist. He helped our MNs identify butterflies, moths and other insects from the collection donated to our group by the Frye family of Heyworth. Heads’ main research project involves examining hundreds of pounds of amber fossils from the Dominican Republic, some of it as old as 20 million years. Judy Valente Reynard from our group was so fascinated by Heads’ research, she returned to the Natural History Survey to spend a day with Heads and his research assistant, Jared Thomas. She offers this behind-the-scenes look at their painstaking work and the discoveries they are making. The following report is based on a segment Judy reported for WGLT Radio in Normal that aired August 1, 2015.

WGLT RADIO  

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HEADS AND HIS staff made international news last summer when they discovered the fossil of a new genus of the pygmy grasshopper.

“As soon as I saw it, I knew it was a new, a completely new genus and new species. What was interesting about it was that it appears to be transitional,” he recalls.

HEADS SLIDES the now world-famous specimen under a microscope lens. “So I’m looking right now at the wings which are probably the most significant part of this specimen.”

AS HEADS explained, modern pygmy grasshoppers don’t have wings. “But we didn’t know when they lost their wings or how they lost their wings, was it one fell swoop or over time.” The little fellow resting under Heads’ microscope seems to put an end to that mystery.

“All of the modern relatives have no wings at all, so this provided us with the transitional, intermediate form between the winged ancestor and its wingless modern descendants.”

HEADS NAMED the new species Electrotettix attenboroughi -- Electrotettix means amber grasshopper in Latin. Attenboroughi refers to Heads’ childhood hero, the natural scientist and TV documentarian, Sir David Attenborough.

THE attenboroughi grasshopper may have been his most dramatic discovery yet, but Heads says in this kind of research, “It’s fascinating work. Every day when you find something, there is a very good chance that it’s new.”

IT IS also tedious work that requires hours of looking into a microscope, washing, sanding and polishing the amber.

JARED THOMAS is the research assistant who is often the first to see what lurks inside the amber. “Every day I go through, pull out a handful. I try to grab the pieces that are clearest. Just give them a

rinse of water.”

THOMAS lines the amber pieces on a paper towel. If a piece appears to have fossils, or what paleontologists call ‘inclusions’ in it, Thomas begins sanding the stone with an Emory board type instrument.

“You give it a little polish to get this grime off and then you rinse it under water a couple of times when you’re doing that. After that we look at it under the scope again.”

Dr. Sam W. Heads, left, and Jared Thomas of the Natural History Survey.

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I ASK Jared about an instrument sitting nearby that looks like a dental drill. “That’s where we attach the buffing wheels to polish these pieces,” to the sound of the drill’s whirr. “It’s operated by a foot pedal, so you can vary the speed quite easily.”

SOMETIMES they have to cut the amber, which Heads says is a painstaking process.

“It’s basically the same kind of thing you would do with a diamond or some other precious stone if you were going to produce a piece of jewelry,” Heads explains as he grinds away at a small piece of amber with a jeweler’s saw. “You would cut and grind and polish these flat surfaces. We do it with the amber so we can see more clearly through the piece.”

THOMAS SAYS when they finally do get a good look, “It’s like looking in a hall of mirrors at the fair. You have to twist the amber in

your hands look from the top to the bottom. You can spend 20 minutes on each piece just looking through it.”

THAT MEANS literally peering for hours each day at these tiny stones. “I can stand I can sit,” Thomas says. “It’s important to rotate because otherwise you can get a kink in your neck and it sort of ruins your day.” I can only imagine.

THE AMBER fossils were brought to the Natural History Survey by Milton Sanderson, an entomologist, who discovered them on a trip to the Dominican Republic in 1959. Sanderson’s specialty was beetles, not fossils, so he could only work on the amber during his spare time. After he retired, the specimens sat unexamined, for decades. Then Heads showed up in

2009 --a post- doctorate student from Portsmith, England -- and went on a kind of treasure hunt.

“On the day I found it, I wasn’t really looking for it, which is so often the way,” he says laughing. The fossils were stored in metal pastry filling buckets. They were found under a sink in a cupboard room. “They had been put away, forgotten.”

AMBER IS formed through tree resin. Thomas, the research assistant, says what has lasted for millennia probably only took less than a second to entrap one of these insects.

“They might just get their feet stuck, one or two legs,” Thomas says. “But then another flow of resin could end up coming down over the top of them and they’re done for, in they’re stuck in there for good.”

KIND OF A sad way to die, I note. “Yes, but it’s great for preservation,” Thomas says. He fingers one of the fossils. “This charismatic little insect had the misfortune for it, but the good fortune for us, of dying in a wonderful pose.”

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THE INSECT turns out to be a leaf hopper who died with its wings spread. Estimated age: 20 million years.

DR. HEADS says working in this Lilliputian world of insect fossils offers a glimpse of what scientists call “deep time.”

“Most people tend to think of time on a human scale and for us 100 years is a long time. In a geological sense, it is absolutely nothing and a thousand years is nothing even a hundred thousand years when you’re talking about life on earth.”

HEADS SAYS he’s worked on other projects with fossils from Brazil whose radioactive material show them to be as old as 120 million years. His work

has drawn occasional criticism from creationists, those who dispute the theory of evolution, believe in a literal interpretation of the creation story in the Bible, and maintain the earth is only about 10,000 years old.

“I have spent my entire adult life and a good chunk of my childhood as well learning about the history of life and the sheer amount of time that has passed. It’s just

remarkable to me that evolution is capable of producing such a vast array of life,” he says.

HEADS SAYS he’ll leave the theological questions to well, theologians. But as a scientist, he acknowledges that there is no denying the wonders of the universe.

“Simply studying the diversity of life and history of life on the planet is enough to convince me life is magnificent and there are some amazing natural forces at work to produce the diversity we see today.”

THOUGH THEY look at thousands of pieces in a given week, Heads and Thomas say they never tire of looking at amber. When they buy gifts for their wives, it’s usually–you guessed it–jewelry made of amber.

HEADS SAYS it isn’t unusual for natural history collections like the amber fossils to languish for years in laboratories. Scientists call these collections “dark data.” Heads says they aren’t studied because much of this kind of research remains understaffed and underfunded. A situation likely to become even more common in Illinois because of the state’s budget crisis.

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Below is the link to the audio version of Judy Valente Reynard’s report that aired on WGLT Radio:

“… working in this Lilliputian world of insect fossils offers a glimpse of what scientists call

“deep time.”

http://wglt.org/wireready/news/2015/08/01007_08-12AmberFossilsWEB_040138.shtml

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GOT MOOC? A massive open online course (MOOC /muːk/) is an online course aimed at unlimited participation and open access via the web.  

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By  Douglas Kaufman-Dickson  

STILL LOOKING to get in your 10 hours of continuing education? Want to try the latest in on-line learning? Interested in how forests and humans interact?

IF YOU said yes even once, you should check out the latest offering from the University of Wisconsin Massive Open Online Courses.

BEGINNING ON September 30, UW will present Forests and Humans: From the Midwest to Madagascar. This free, online course will explore the geography, ecology and economic importance of forest biomes.

THE LEAD instructor will be Catherine Woodward PhD, Faculty Associate at the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and the Wisconsin Institute for Science Education and Community Engagement.

AS A PILOT project to learn more about whether and how MOOCs could fit with the Illinois Grand Prairie Master Naturalists commitment to continuous learning, the Extension office has agreed to grant continuing education credit for any IGPMN members who complete the requirements of the course and receive a course completion certificate. Details on how to submit hours for the class will be provided nearer the course completion date.

AS WITH OTHER education credits, hours will be self-reported and can include time spent on video lectures and time spent on written and interactive exercises and quizzes. Reading time would not be included. The accepted range for this class would be from 4 to 8 hours.

QUESTIONS regarding the class may be directed to Reid Young at the Extension office or to Douglas Kaufman-Dickson at oxgarden@gmail.com. u

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To read more about the class and to

register for the class, visit the link below.

https://moocs.wisc.edu/mooc/forests-and-humans/  

You Can Make a DOUBLE Difference!

400 Hours = $4,000

HELP SUGAR Grove Nature Center earn $4,000 for stewardship and natural resources management in the Grove by donating your time and energy!

IF 400 hours are contributed to our natural areas project, the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation will reward us with $4,000 to fund additional stewardship projects.

We still need 200 hours!

CONSIDER helping us out! Every hour adds up and makes a difference. Not only will you feel the reward of volunteering, but you also get the added value of raising funds for stewardship in Funks Grove.

MEET OUR stewardship project leader, Will Wright, and help out with a variety of stewardship tasks from exotic species removal to seed collecting. Days and times are flexible. Contact Angela if interested.

CALL 309-261-6894 or email her at angela@sugargrovenaturecenter.org u

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LOCAL DEMONSTRATION FOREST Off to a Rousing Start

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By Vickie Robertson

BILL DAVISON, U of I Extension Educator--Small Farms and Local Food Systems spoke recently to Master Naturalists at the July quarterly meeting about the cooperative effort between the Town of Normal and U of I Extension to create a food forest right here in McLean County. THE PLOT is taking root at One Normal Plaza, at the site of the old Soldiers and Sailors Home. The town tilled the site, which revealed incredibly rich soil. They also built an arbor and seedless grapes were planted to cover it. A camera has been set up on the arbor to record the changes to the land and plants over the years.

OVER TIME, there will also be

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some closed canopy, bird houses, and other means of encouraging living visitors.

ACCORDING to Bill, the plot is just a little over an acre and includes native prairie plants, food crops, a long stand of chestnut trees, as well as apple, elderberry, paw paw and pear trees.

SOME OF the more experimental crops are Chicago hardy fig and currants – lots of currants. “Mark Shepard, our mentor from the Savannah Institute, has been a big proponent of the currants,” according to Bill.

VARIOUS willows were planted for wind breaks. There are seven kinds of milkweeds planted to

encourage pollinators.

ONE OF the fascinating ideas that Bill shared in the presentation was the fact that chestnuts could be a replacement for corn. Hazelnuts, according to Davison, could replace soybeans in agriculture.

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“DEMONSTRATING that we can diversify our landscape and the crops that can be successful in Midwest is one of the objectives of the project.”

“THIS IS A community-building project with the potential for lots of teachable moments. Another goal is to get kids out in the garden and nature,” according to Bill. Indeed, lots of kids, teenagers and adults have already spent hundreds of hours priming the location, planting, weeding and more. Eighty-five people showed up to volunteer on the very first day, demonstrating the anticipation and enthusiasm for the project.

VOLUNTEEERS are maintaining the garden organically. Lots of landscape fabric and mulch went down. This year’s record rainfall has meant that the volunteer crews haven’t had to water much until just the past few weeks, and that plants got off to a great start with the mild temperatures.

FOR MORE information about the project, or if you wish to volunteer, please contact Bill Davison at wdavison@illinois.edu. uPhoto from Town of Normal Facebook page.

Summer 2015 Vol. 4, No.3

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BURYING BREAD AND DEAD FRED

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By Marcia Rossi

This volunteer experience is written with the members of the new class in mind….

IT WAS a cool, wet and windy July day when Jill was leading a conversation about decomposition with a couple dozen curious children attending Sugar Grove Nature Camp. We volunteers stood around wondering where their questions would take them. Their curiosity ran from questions about bodily fluids to the leftovers from the lunch they were about to eat. They saved bits of their lunch, mostly the vegetables, for an experiment they planned; each child would bury their leftovers, mark the spot and excavate in a couple of weeks. So we hiked to a secluded corner of Imagination Grove, a simple task for a volunteer, and they began digging.

BUT THEN, with a twinkle in her eyes, Jill approached the volunteers with a suggestion. We all save the odd things that we just might need some day. For Jill, it was a dead snake, donated road kill. She called the frozen coiled lump a Fox Snake. I will not attach a photo for you to identify.

WHILE THE children were burying the remains of their lunches in the mud inside the yellow crime scene taped area, a volunteer fetched the plastic bag containing the big surprise, the grand finale of the decomposition lesson, the dead and disgustingly already decomposing thawing coiled snake.

HOW DO you prepare children, many of whom still believe in the tooth fairy, for what they are about so see? That was not in any of our chapters! First, Jill explained what was in the big white plastic garbage bag. Before the children even saw the snake, they decided it must have a name before it could be properly buried. Quickly

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they agreed upon, “Dead Fred” then got out their little sharp shovels and each child helped dig a deep hole for Fred’s final resting place. Some wanted to look closely at “Dead Fred” and speculate as to the cause of death. I suspect the odor kept anyone from getting too close or asking if they could touch it, which we would not have allowed anyhow.

WITH RESPECT and the calm of scientists, we interred Dead Fred and vowed to dig him up the last day of Nature Camp and note the decomposition in our journals. I deeply regret to say that on the last day of camp just minutes before we were to excavate slices of bread and “Dead Fred,” Mother Nature intervened. Thunder, high winds, dark clouds and lightening came out of the west. Some good luck comes in bad weather. The smell might have been more than we volunteered for. u

Summer 2015 Vol. 4, No.3

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VOLUNTEERING ROCKS! Master Naturalists Embrace Their Mission

VOLUNTEER Patti Koranda, a beekeeper with two active healthy bee hives of her own,

teaches children attending Sugar Grove Nature Camp, about native pollinators.

By Patti (PK) Koranda

POLLINATOR POINTERS FROM PK …

• GIVE native pollinators more habitats!

• UNLIKE honey bees, many nativepollinators and other beneficial insects aresolitary and must find nooks and cranniesto lay their eggs.

• DON’T clean up your yard unless youhave to! Pollinators lay eggs in bark, pilesof dead leaves and the hollow stems ofmany plants and the eggs need a safeplace to overwinter!

BUILD YOUR OWN INSECT HOTEL.

CAMPERS used these materials: leaves, twigs, stems, bark, cardboard (the kind with channels), paper towel, toilet tissue tubes, rolled up paper and even invasive hemlock which has a hollow stem. Any plant with a hollow stem can be cut about the length of a golf pencil and bundled to make a safe place for insect eggs.

PACK these materials in a box so that insects can easily fly in and lay eggs. Place your hotel in an area out of direct rainfall. The children chose the firewood shed next to the picnic shelter.

BE PATIENT. The most successful insect hotels are undisturbed. u

PK inspects the insect hotels two weeks later and finds insects and eggs. Photo by Marcia Rossi

Friday Fun Camp at Sugar Grove also proves to be a popular volunteer venue.  

Karen Lowery helped kids make their own herb arrangements for drying. Photo by Vickie Robertson.

Summer 2015 Vol. 4, No.3

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Master Naturalists are not afraid to get wet! Many volunteers were happily knee deep in hands-on science

at the center this summer.

CREEK STOMPIN’ AT SUGAR GROVE

By Vickie Robertson

ONE OF my highlights as a volunteer this year has been to participate in a couple of day camps at Sugar Grove. Creek Stompers was held in early August. Nancy Bair also helped out that day. We had a wonderful group of young boys and girls, ages 7-8 who were incredibly smart and a pleasure to explore with.

“HIGHLIGHTS” (depending on your creepiness tolerance) included viewing water samples on the center’s high-resolution microscope and monitor. Did you know the mosquito nymph is what some people (Jill, at the Center) like to call a butt breather.

WE FOUND a crane fly, which many of us first assumed was a mosquito as well. These samples were gathered at a variety of places around the center such as a rain barrel, plastic pool and standing water in a piece of plastic. It was fascinating for all of us. We showed the kids that even that water in the puddle you walk by hold hundreds of micro invertebrates, algae and all sorts of creepy crawlers. We identified a Crane Fly and a Mosquito Nymph.

Vickie Robertson and friend Creek Stompers/Sugar Grove

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LATER IN the day we all headed out to the creek where the water was good and cool, and a little higher than usual. We found lots of mussel shells. Sadly, lots of glass, cans, and even a tire were also found. But even trash presented a great opportunity to discuss what belonged in the creek, and what did not!

THE KIDS love sharing what they find with the adult volunteers, and we get to show them a little bit more of the wonder of the world around them. u

Above: Nancy Bair and the Creek Stompers in action on 8/15

Right: One of the identified “creepy crawlers” inhabiting the creek.

Summer 2015 Vol. 4, No.3

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IT’S ABOUT THE CHILDREN.

By Melissa Paschold

WHEN I was asked to write about my favorite volunteer experience, I had no trouble coming up with my response. In fact, it was the same

answer I gave when interviewing for the MN Class of 2013. It's about the children. I have a passion for helping them connect with nature instead of a computer screen and video games.

Recently, I had the opportunity to assist with a field trip at Sugar Grove Nature Center. It was so gratifying to see the natural curiosity of the children as they explored the wonders of nature whether listening to bird calls, feeling a beaver pelt or watching a chipmunk play.

Watching the kids' unstructured play in Imagination Grove was a treat. I loved observing the children's imaginary play. My favorites were the kids jumping on stones in the creek pretending to be horses, turning over rocks to see what creatures lurked beneath, and the group playing pioneer family and relying on their environment to supply their needs. This Master Naturalist volunteer experience reinforced my belief that children need and relish being outside and connecting with the natural world. u

Three happy camp participants. Photo by Vickie Robertson.

“We do not need magic to transform our world; we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already.”

–J.K. Rowling

Left: These two vacationing educators from Brussels, Belgium, took a detour from their drive down Route 66. After checking out the SGNC prairie, they wanted to go to the Funk Home. A master naturalist volunteered to lead them there.

Photo by Marcia Rossi

Summer 2015 Vol. 4, No.3

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By MN Jim Bortell

BRITISH ECONOMIST E.F. Shoemaker wrote a marvelous little book entitled Small is Beautiful. His title has wide-ranging applications. In nature, the nighttime heavens are beautiful and (massive understatement) big. In nature, if we have “eyes to see and ears to hear,” small things (e.g.: a leaf or a wren) are also beautiful. And all things, including ourselves, are gloriously connected, and made from the dust of the stars.

SCIENTIST Neil deGrasse Tyson* puts this in a philosophical way: “When I look up at the night sky and I know that yes, we are part of this universe, that we are in this universe, but perhaps more important than most of these facts is that the universe is in us. When I reflect on that fact, I look up—many people feel small, the universe is so big—but I feel big, because my atoms come from those stars. There’s a level of connectivity—that’s really what you want in life. You want to feel connected; you want to feel relevant. You want to feel like you’re a participant in the goings on and activities and events around you.”

NATURE YIELDS its wonders through telescopes (big) and microscopes (small) and everything in between. However, how easy it is to miss the wonder in small things. I sometimes come in from a walk in the woods a little disappointed because I didn’t see something “noteworthy;” when failing to see the “noteworthy” small things was in me, the observer.

LESSONS FROM THREE MASTER OBSERVERS:

• John Muir in his First Summer in the Sierras describes his awe of the vast range of theCalifornia Mountains. He also marveled at a little grasshopper on a boulder where he hadstopped to eat lunch.

• “Consider the lilies of the field, how they neither toil nor spin yet I tell you Solomon in all hisglory was not arrayed like one of these.” (Matthew 6:28-29)

• The leaf has a song in it…Take your busy heart to the art museum…but take it also to the forest. The song you heard singing in the leaf when you were a child is singing still.

– Mary Oliver, Swan, p. 1, (ditto, Mary!)

*Neil deGrasse Tyson is Director of the Hayden Planetarium in NYC

SMALL

IS BEAUTIFUL

“The essential feature of the prairie is its horizon, which you can neither walk to nor touch. The prairie landscape is so completely dominated by its skies that sometimes there seems to be no middle ground between us and the firmament.” – Paul Gruchow, Journal of a Prairie Year

Summer 2015 Vol. 4, No.3

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“…I started with surprise and delight. I was in the midst of a prairie! A world of grass and flowers stretched around me, rising and falling in gentle undulations, as if an enchanter had struck an ocean swell, and it was at rest forever…How shall I convey to you an idea of a prairie…Imagine yourself in the center of an immense circle of velvet herbage, the sky for its boundary on every side; the whole clothed with a radiant efflorescence of every brilliant hue. We rode thus through a perfect wilderness of sweets, sending forth perfume and animated with myriads of glittering birds and butterflies. It was, in fact, a vast garden covered with soil as hard as gravel.”

Eliza Steele, from her account of a visit to Illinois, A Summer Trip to the West, 1840

CLASS OF 2015 IS UP AND RUNNING!

MN Trainees enjoy the Don Gardner prairie.

Here’s a peek at the first day of class for our new Trainees.

Photos by Marilyn Freese

Summer 2015 Vol. 4, No.3

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HERE’S JUST THE RIGHT POEM to read by candlelight outside

on a summer night…

The Sun Has Long Been Set The sun has long been set,

The stars are out by twos and threes,

The little birds are piping yet

Among the bushes and trees;

There’s a cuckoo, and one or two thrushes,

And a far-off wind that rushes,

And a sound of water that gushes,

And the cuckoo’s sovereign cry

Fills all the hollow of the sky.

Who would “go parading”

In London, “and masquerading,"

On such a night of June

With that beautiful soft half-moon,

And all these innocent blisses?

On such a night as this is!

William Wordsworth, 1770 – 1850

NEWLY FORMED BOOK GROUPS RELISH

THE CHANCE TO READ AND REFLECT TOGETHER

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The Rossi Book Group’s first book:

MY FIRST SUMMER IN THE SIERRA – John Muir

Reviewed by Gretchen Monti

“Along the river, over the hills, in the ground, in the sky, spring work is going on with joyful enthusiasm,

new life, new beauty, unfolding, unrolling in glorious exuberant extravagance…”

GLORIOUS exuberant extravagance – that describes perfectly naturalist John Muir’s writing style.

MUIR DIDN’T get around to writing this book until 1911, years after he spent the summer of 1869 in the Sierra Nevada, helping out with the summer migration of sheep to the highlands. Lucky for us, the farmer allowed him to spend hours roaming the surrounding areas, memorably Yosemite, accompanied by Carlo, a “loaner” St. Bernard.

MUIR’S botany and geology training surfaces now and then above all the lyrical paragraphs about nature [why do we call Ceanothus New Jersey Tea when it grows all over the Sierras?].

THERE’S ALSO a spiritual tinge to his narrative: “In our best times everything turns into religion, all the world seems a church and the mountains altars….”

WHEN THE last page is turned, the reader realizes that she has learned quite a bit about sheep-herding and the perils (bears, mostly) that accompany the annual trek, in addition to the awesome countryside that is the Sierra Nevada range.

MUIR’S EXPERIENCE with the “crawling sheep-cloud” led him in the 1880s to raise awareness about the destruction caused by sheep and cattle of mountain meadows and forests.

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THIS CRUSADE led to Congress, in 1890, creating Yosemite National Park. u

SUMMER ISSUE Vol. 4, No. 3

OFFICERS

President: Past President: President Elect: Secretary: Treasurer:

Karen Lowery Douglas Kaufman-Dickson Rita Yordy TBD TBD

COMMITTEE CHAIRS

Membership: Linda Giles & Marilyn Freese National Trails Day: Ann Baughan & Marge EhlersNewsletter: Kathy ClessonProgram: Vickie RobertsonPublicity: Mary Jo AdamsSpecial Events: Sarah Hostetter & Phil Houser

Volunteer Coordination: Deb Tock

THE ILLINOIS GRAND PRAIRIE MASTER NATURALIST PROGRAM is an opportunity

to experience nature, develop knowledge of and respect for the environment, and

practice natural resource stewardship. u

University of Illinois Extension provides equal opportunities in programs and employment.

If you need reasonable accommodations to participate in any of our programs,

please call 309-663-8306. u

University of IllinoisU.S. Department of Agriculture,

Local Extension Councils Cooperating

For more information, contact the McLean County Extension Office, 1615 Commerce Parkway, Bloomington, IL 61704, or visit our website at http://web.extension.illinois.edu/lmw/

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SIGNS OF SUMMER ON THE ILLINOIS GRAND PRAIRIE

Butterfly bush in bloom (left) hosts a visiting Monarch, Painted Lady, and Red Admiral

You have to love this immature male Anna’s Hummingbird (above). Do you see the hearts?