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High Water and Low Bugs | The Prairie Ecologist
The Platte River Prairies got four to five inches of rain last week, filling up the sloughs (old river channels) in many of our floodplain prairies. This will help quite a bit with the lingering drought conditions we've been dealing with. It also provided a chance to photograph some of our sedge meadows with standing…
Photos of the Week – April 23, 2024 | The Prairie Ecologist
Over the weekend, my wife, Kim, and I were at Wilson Lake in Kansas. Longtime readers know that Kim runs ultramarathons and that I usually accompany her when she goes to races or long training runs. This weekend, she was signed up for a "backyard ultra" in which participants run an approximately four mile loop…
Welcome new readers! (And thank you to the rest of you!) | The Prairie Ecologist
Quickly, for those of you who might be proximate and/or interested, we will be hosting another public field day at The Nature Conservancy’s Platte River Prairies this summer. On July 13, 2024, we will have our staff and a number of guest presenters on hand to lead hikes and give presentations on a variety of…
Prairie Dogs, Pasqueflowers and Prescribed Fire | The Prairie Ecologist
I drove up to the Niobrara Valley Preserve last Thursday afternoon. I needed to be there to help with a prescribed fire on Friday, but I scheduled my trip so I'd have a little alone time to wander Thursday evening. My schedule has been pretty full lately and I needed some quiet time to explore.…
Eclipse in the Prairie (kind of) | The Prairie Ecologist
Like many people across North America today, I took a break from my afternoon to view (with safe eclipse-viewing glasses) the solar eclipse. I definitely looked up often enough to gauge the progress of the eclipse, which only reached about 80% coverage here. However, unlike many, maybe even most people watching today's event, I spent…
Photos of the Week – April 4, 2024 | The Prairie Ecologist
Today's post covers a lot of ground, but is also a pretty good representation of the current state of spring in Nebraska. There are still hundreds of thousands of sandhill cranes on the Platte River (and there were more than 90 whooping cranes around last week). Simultaneously, spring wildflowers are starting to pop. I don't…
The Soundtrack of Spring on the Platte River | The Prairie Ecologist
I want to thank everyone who submitted questions in response to a post from last month requesting them. I think I've responded to everyone, though not always with a robust or satisfactory answer. As I frequently tell people, I'm far from an expert on all things prairie (and am absolutely not the insect identification expert…
Photos of the Week – March 16, 2024 | The Prairie Ecologist
I spent some time at the Niobrara Valley Preserve this week. Apart from some other work duties, I was curious to see how far spring had progressed and check on the results of a prescribed fire we conducted last November. The executive summary is this: spring isn't quite here yet and the results of the…
Photos of the Week – March 4, 2024 | The Prairie Ecologist
Just a quick note at the top: We are still working to fill our team at the Niobrara Valley Preserve in north-central Nebraska. The latest position we've posted will be focused on communication and outreach. The NVP Community Outreach Specialist will organize and host events and work with visitors. Much of their role will be…
Is Prairie Stewardship Hampered By Our History Goggles? | The Prairie Ecologist
I often think one of the biggest issues we face in grassland restoration and management is that we’re a little too stuck in the past. This expresses itself in various ways, but I think it’s a nearly universal issue with everyone involved in prairie ecology and stewardship. To one degree or another, we’re all looking…
Ask the Prairie Ecologist – Again | The Prairie Ecologist
Do you have questions about prairies and don't know what to do about it? "What are panic grasses so worried about?" or "What did Katy do, anyway?" Or maybe you have questions on more applied topics such as, "What factors should I consider if I want to manage my prairie for a robust pollinator community?"…
Photos of the Week – February 16, 2024 | The Prairie Ecologist
Well, as promised, I've been busy with some new job duties and haven't posted as much as I'd like. I have managed some time for photography, though. I mean, I'm not THAT busy! Without needless fanfare, here are some prairie photos from the last several weeks - and a few woodland shots from southeastern Oklahoma,…
Photos of the Year – 2023 (6/6) | The Prairie Ecologist
Well, it's February, 2024 - the perfect time to share the last of my posts containing my favorite photos from 2023. Other blogs share those kinds of photos series at the end of a year, or - at the latest - a few days into the next. I, however, eschew convention, and will share 'best of' photos…
Come work with us! Now Hiring – Niobrara Valley Preserve Stewardship Manager | The Prairie Ecologist
The Niobrara Valley Preserve encompasses a wide variety of habitats, including prairie, woodland, streams, and about 25 miles of the Niobrara River. If you've followed this blog for very long, you've seen lots of photos and stories from the Niobrara Valley Preserve. It's a spectacular place, located on the northern edge of the Nebraska Sandhills -…
Photos of the Week – January 22 2024 | The Prairie Ecologist
So far, our local January has been very cold and full of snow, frost, and ice. Schools have been canceled and travel has been difficult, but prairie photography (when I've been able to get out) has been pretty great! This first set of photos was taken on New Year's Day at the Platte River Prairies. I visited…
Photos of the Year – 2023 (5) | The Prairie Ecologist
It's arguably too late for this, but I've still got two posts prepared that highlight some of my favorite photos from 2023. I figured I might as well post them before it gets any later. This is the second-to-last one and features images from the Nebraska panhandle. I think this is narrow-leaved musineon (Musineon tenuifolium). It seemed to…
12,000 Years of Bison Behavior in the Central U.S. – Interview with Dr. Chris Widga | The Prairie Ecologist
This is a post I've wanted to do for a long time. Bison, of course, are one of North America's most iconic and revered species, and for good reasons. As well-known as they are, however, there are a lot of misconceptions about both their current and historic roles in prairies. After several years of helpful interactions with Dr.…
New Year, New Quiz | The Prairie Ecologist
Well, if you're reading this, you've made it to 2024. Great work, everyone. This is the year all our efforts to convince people that prairies are amazing will finally pay off. Right? Right. Also, a new year is as good an excuse as any to test your ecological knowledge with a serious, no-frills nature quiz. Unfortunately, you're reading…
Photos of the Week (Again) – December 29, 2023 | The Prairie Ecologist
I know I just posted some "photos of the week" a few days ago, but I spent a magical few hours on Thursday morning at Prairie Plains Resource Institute's Gjerloff Prairie and couldn't resist sharing some of the images from that trip. Though we'd just gotten a nice snowfall, I hadn't planned to leave the house…
Photos of the Week – December 26, 2023 | The Prairie Ecologist
Happy Holidays, everyone! We got five or six inches of snow over the weekend, bringing in the winter with style. I'm hoping for a little sunshine later this week, but I couldn't wait and decided to take an afternoon walk under overcast skies at Lincoln Creek Prairie. It was a really pleasant hour of exploration. Here are a few…
Photos of the Week – December 24, 2023 | The Prairie Ecologist
Recently, I've had a couple chances to take my camera on frosty morning walks. We're staring at a forecast of heavy snow for this week, which should provide its own set of photo opportunities, but until now, frost has been the best the season has offered. I hope you've had a chance to enjoy some frosty mornings…
Photos of the Year – 2023 (4) | The Prairie Ecologist
Here are more of my favorite photos from 2023. Today's batch is all from The Nature Conservancy's Platte River Prairies. Surprisingly, as I looked back through my 2023 photos, I didn't have all that many from the Platte River Prairies. It's the closest work site to my house and I spend a lot of time there, but I'm…
Photos of the Year – 2023 (3) | The Prairie Ecologist
I hope you're not tired of 'Best of the Year' photos just yet (especially because I've got six episodes in this series and this is only #3). Today's selection is all from The Nature Conservancy's Niobrara Valley Preserve. I'm also cheating a little by including some photos from the last couple days of 2022. Two things. It's my…
Photos of the Year – 2023 (2) | The Prairie Ecologist
As the year continues to wind down, here's another batch of my favorite photos from 2023. Today's images all come from the Helzer Family Prairie, a quarter section of land that includes small scattered patches of remnant prairie embedded within formerly-cropped land planted to grass in the early 1960's. The grass plantings are slowly transitioning to more…
Photos of the Year – 2023 (1) | The Prairie Ecologist
As the year winds down, I've been looking back at some of my favorite photos from 2023. I've had a bunch of fantastic opportunities to travel around the central U.S. this year - sometimes for work and sometimes for fun. It's also been a great year for photography close to home. In today's post, I'm…
Visualizing Plant Community Change | The Prairie Ecologist
Quick announcement: if you're a graduate student doing research related to conservation in the Great Plains of North America, you should check out the J.E. Weaver Competitive Grant Program. We are offering up to five grants of $1,500 each to graduate students. Read more here. About a week ago, I posted a bunch of nerdy…
A Long-Awaited Fire | The Prairie Ecologist
This week, about 22 people from a variety of organizations gathered to conduct a prescribed fire at The Niobrara Valley Preserve. The 900 acre burn unit was on the north side of the Niobrara River. Before a big wildfire in the summer of 2012, the area was covered with mixed-grass and tallgrass prairie, bur oak…
Data Is My Window Into The Soul Of A Prairie – Or Whatever | The Prairie Ecologist
Non-scientists probably see the word 'data' and immediately glaze over. To me, data (especially MY data) is a window into the fascinating complexity and patterns that would otherwise be hidden from me. I've been deep in the data analysis mode over the last several weeks. I'm wrapping up a couple 2-4 year research projects this…
Photos of the Week – November 17, 2023 | The Prairie Ecologist
There's nothing to see in a November prairie. Everyone knows that. Clouds and prairie on a windy day at the Seier National Wildlife Refuge in the Nebraska Sandhills. Canon 15-30mm lens@15mm. ISO 1600, f/9.5, 1/3000 sec. All the plants are brown and dried up. The flowers are all gone and nothing's moving around. The prairie…
Grasses and Wildflowers Can Live Longer Than Trees (But We Can’t Prove It) | The Prairie Ecologist
Big bluestem might live much longer than any tree in its neighborhood. For too long, tree lovers have claimed bragging rights over us prairie folks. "Our plants live longer than your plants!" Well, I bet they don't, but I can't prove it. However, if you'll follow my train of logical deduction, I think you'll come…
Photos of the Week – November 2, 2023 | The Prairie Ecologist
A couple weeks ago, I posted some photos I took along a couple creeks at the Niobrara Valley Preserve. Shockingly, those weren't the only photos I took during that visit to that 56,000 acre property full of expansive vistas, bison, and prairie. I also took a photo of some bison. Big hairy animals in the…
A Dizzying Amount of Complex Creepiness | The Prairie Ecologist
(If you're reading this in an email, you'll want to click on the title to open it online so you can see the photos better and watch the short video clip. It'll be worth your while.) Two weeks ago, I posted a story about caterpillars and parasitoids and promised another one was coming. Here it…
Photos of the Week – October 22, 2023 | The Prairie Ecologist
I spent much of last week at the Niobrara Valley Preserve. One afternoon, I found myself with a couple hours of free time. It was cloudy, but bright enough that I thought I'd explore one of the many creeks that flow from underneath the Sandhills into the Niobrara River. Those creeks emerge from springs and…
Corpses of Congregating, Climbing Caterpillars | The Prairie Ecologist
Alliteration is fun, huh? So is the pursuit of mysteries, especially in nature. Three years ago, I wrote a post about multitudes of fuzzy caterpillars at our family prairie. Many of them were crawling high up into the vegetation and dying, leaving behind desiccated dead bodies, still clinging to plants. It was morbid, but fascinating.…
Photos of the Week – October 6, 2023 | The Prairie Ecologist
As I mentioned in my last post, Kim and I visited Konza Prairie Biological Station this past weekend. While she was fighting through a long training run in the heat, I was fighting the breeze and trying to get some decent photos. It's a good thing both of us are equally tough and resilient people…
Photos of the Week – September 19, 2023 | The Prairie Ecologist
Can you feel the end coming? The season is slowly sliding toward first frost. I hope we've got a little while, but the pressure in my mind is building. "Chris!", it shouts, "You're running out of time! Winter will be here soon and all the butterflies, bees, and dragonflies will be gone..." "Fine," I think,…
Autumn Assessments | The Prairie Ecologist
My favorite part about my role in ecology and land management is going out to see how a prairie community is responding to management or restoration activities. I've fought hard to keep work that in my job description, even though I'm no longer an active land manager for The Nature Conservancy. I'm still involved in…
Migrant Meadowhawks Signal Seasonal Senescence | The Prairie Ecologist
One of the great joys of nature exploration is the recognition and celebration of recurring events. Through repeated visits to a site, or observations of a particular ecosystem, I get better at perceiving patterns tied to the time of year. I learn when to expect plants to bloom, birds to sing, and insects to molt…
Apply Now – 2024 Hubbard Fellowship Program! | The Prairie Ecologist
It's time again to recruit for The Claire M. Hubbard Young Leaders in Conservation Fellowship Program. Please share this announcement with anyone you think might be interested. 2023 Hubbard Fellows Sanketh Menon and Jojo Morelli. The Hubbard Fellowship program is a one-year fellowship with The Nature Conservancy in Nebraska, designed for recent college graduates. Fellows…
Photos of the Week – September 8, 2023 | The Prairie Ecologist
Last week, I talked about how great late summer is for photography and promised more photos from the last week or two of August. Here they are. All these were shot close to home, either at our family prairie (15 minute drive) or in Lincoln Creek Prairie (a mile from my house). Dotted gayfeather (Liatris…