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Volume 32, Issue 9 MAY, 2008
MONDAY, MAY 19
SAVING FARMLAND
FARMING SUSTAINABLY
SECURING OUR FUTURE
Our May speaker Barbara Clark, shepherdess and citizen activist, and her husband operate “Maggie’s Farm”, a small, sustainable
farm in north Lawrence where they raise a handspinner's flock of sheep for their wool products. They also grow heirloom and
open-pollinated varieties of vegetables selling to local restaurants and through the Downtown Lawrence Farmers' Market. They are
committed to growing foods and fibers organically and sustainably and working toward our region’s local food security.
Barbara has become involved in the group “Citizens For Responsible Planning
(CRP) which came together in opposition to the recent Airport Business Park
proposal which requested the Lawrence City Commission to rezone and annex 144
acres north of the airport. The area under consideration for development contains
Class 1 Prime Agricultural Soils, some of the very best soils in Douglas County,
found almost exclusively in the floodplains of the Kansas and Wakarusa Rivers.
Barbara will present an overview of the CRP’s goals and integrate the group’s www.akvarel.dk
work with her personal interest in maintaining the rural farming traditions of Douglas
County. Read more about Maggie’s Farm at www.maggiesfarm-ks.com.
~Jennifer Delisle
Dinner with Barbara Clark: 5:30 p.m. Genovese Restaurant. 941 Massachusetts in downtown Lawrence.
Meeting: 7:30 p.m. Trinity Lutheran Church Fellowship Hall. 1245 New Hampshire, Lawrence
Refreshments! Parking lot east of the church. Meeting is a week EARLY because of Memorial Day.
.
All programs of the Jayhawk Audubon Society are free and open to the public
The Nature Conservancy, Kansas Chapter, for protecting the Western Toad
plants, animals and natural communities of Kansas and playing Sue Arthur.
a vital role in increasing the environmental literacy of Kansans. Alaska Dept. of
Fish and Game
Rising Star: Andrea Johnson,
Ernie Miller Nature Center, Olathe.
Park naturalist and interpreter.
JAYHAWK AUDUBON SOCIETY 3
Asclepius speciosa
Showy Milkweed
An Invitation to
The Monarch Watch Open House
Saturday, 10 May 2008
8am-3pm
Once again, you are cordially invited to join us for our annual Spring Open House and Plant Fundraiser at Foley Hall
on West Campus of the University of Kansas. We've averaged about 500 visitors or so to these Open House events and
we expect a good turnout for our next event as well. Nearly 4,000 butterfly plants (both annuals and perennials)
including seedlings of seven milkweed species, will be available (modest contributions are suggested).
We will provide refreshments, lots of show & tell, videos and games for children, tours of our garden and lab space,
iChat videoconferencing demonstrations, and, of course, monarch butterflies!
Thanks, Chip
--
Save some $ and garden space for the
Monarch Watch, University of Kansas Prairie Park Plant Sale
monarch@ku.edu May 11 & May 18 1 - 4 p.m.
http://www.MonarchWatch.org/
2730 SW Harper 832-7980
1-888-TAGGING (toll-free!) -or-
1-785-864 4441
Create, Conserve and Protect Monarch Habitats
Kansas Roadsides could provide acres of monarch habitat and scenic beauty
if KDOT cut back on mowing and followed the Best Management Practices of Integrated Roadside Vegetative
Management. KDOT manages 10,000 miles of road = 20,000 miles of roadside totaling about 146,000 acres of
potential food, nesting sites and shelter for butterflies and grassland birds. Grassland birds as a group are in serious
trouble because of habitat loss: Northern Bobwhite down 82% in the last 40 years, Eastern Meadowlark 72%,
Grasshopper Sparrow 65%, Horned Lark 56%. Many historic Prairie Chicken leks are empty of birds.
As Verlyn Klinkenborg said in a New York Times editorial 6/19/2007, “In our everyday economic behavior,
we seem determined to discover whether we can live alone on earth.” (National Audubon: www.audubon.org)
Audubon of Kansas has petitioned KDOT to adopt the following: 1) limited mowing for safety next to
the road shoulder; 2) more extensive mowing every 3rd or 4th year to preserve plant vigor; 3) do primary mowing
between November 1st and March 31st allowing plants to flower and set seed and birds to complete their nesting;
4) stop seeding with brome and fescue; 5) stop broadcast use of herbicides. See www.audubonofkansas.org for more
info and to see the aftermath of overmowing and, conversely, migrating monarchs nectaring on unmowed flowers.
Adopting these practices could yield Big Savings on Fuel & Herbicide Costs = Fewer Taxpayer
Dollars spent on something that is not in Kansans’ or the environment’s best interests. Contact KDOT, your
legislator and the governor to request action on these policy changes.
4 JAYHAWK AUDUBON SOCIETY KIDS’ PAGE
Believe it or not:
When a frog swallows a meal, his bulgy eye-
balls close and go down into his head. The
eyeballs create pressure and actually push
a frog’s meal down his throat! * GULP*
mething great?
g say when it sees so
Q. What does a fro
Wetlands are perfect for
A. Toadly aw
ome es
STILL CURIOUS???
On the Web:
http://www.exploratorium.edu/frogs/
http://allaboutfrogs.org
At the Library:
The Frog. by Angela Royston
Warwick Press. 1989
Tadpoles. by Elaine Pascoe & Dwight
Kuhn. Includes hands-on active
ties. Blackbird Press. 1997
The Frog Alphabet Book…& Other
Awesome Amphibians: by Jerry
Pallotte & Ralph Masiello.
Frog facts, riddles and maze
Charlesbridge Pub. 1990 from www.allaboutfrogs.org
JAYHAWK AUDUBON SOCIETY 5
Nature’s airwaves are very busy this time of year, with so many animals articulating the details of spring’s
mating and birthing seasons to each other and others who care to listen. I’m fortunate to live in the rural area, which
allows me to access this aural world just by walking out on my deck and soaking up the sounds as well as the sights
of the outdoors; but anyone can have access to the wild auditory landscape by driving out to land around Clinton Lake,
hanging out along the Kaw or Wakarusa Rivers or wetlands, or even a neighborhood creek to hear the “buzzing” of life
that is going on this time of year, especially around sunrise and sunset. Just as there are now excellent resources for
identifying bird calls, I recommend that folks get a copy of the tape Calls of Kansas Frogs and Toads, by Keith
Coleman and narrated by Joe Collins. Originally made to help those involved in an amphibian monitoring program,
these high quality recordings can be used by anyone interested in putting names to the sounds of life on moist Kansas
evenings. While birds this time of year are calling out their territories, amphibians, being lunch for so many other
species, are trying to lure a mate but avoid luring a predator. This means that when you approach a very noisy pond
or wet area, the cacophony will suddenly stop as they detect your presence, and only after you have quietly been there
awhile will they resume their amorous songs.
May’s prairie greening means that the annual progression of prairie wildflowers is upon us, and no year is
complete without at least one foray into the tallgrasses to soak up the floral pageantry that awaits you. This time of
year, weekly visits are even better, as the flowers that are blooming come in waves: the small spring beauties, verbena
and violets are replaced by prairie phlox, primrose, larkspur, and salsify, then oxeye daisies, yellow then white clovers,
spiderworts, leadplant, Deptford pinks, Echinacea and milkweeds. By the end of May, the not-so-nice Canadian musk
thistles and crown vetch are also blooming their invasive flowers, and if you have pollen allergies, chances are the
wind-blown brome pollen that begins to billow up in clouds will give you grief.
Papaws, wild cherries, and gooseberries are developing in the woods, and cottonwood fluff begins to float
down and coat the waterways, and while pine trees are not native to Kansas, the new shoots of growth or “candling”
that occur in May around here are celebrated in festivals in many evergreen-dominated cultures around the world.
Finally, young animals of every persuasion can be found this time of
year and they can be a great source of entertainment if you spy them. The
Prairie Park Nature Center and other area nature centers are often flooded by
abandoned/rescued young ones, and it is an excellent time to volunteer there
to help out with this influx.
(Editor’s note: If you think a wild baby needs rescue, first see Page 6
and make sure it is truly abandoned or injured. When in doubt contact
OWL or Prairie Park Nature Center!
Also, as of press time, a source could not be found for the Calls of
Kansas Frogs and Toads. Kansas Heritage Photography, which
comes up as a source in a web search, no longer carries them.
Try contacting Joseph Collins at the Center for North American
Herpetology: www.naherpetology.org.) American Toad. Bufo Americanus.
J.H. Richard. Pacific Railroad Survey. 1855-1859
6 JAYHAWK AUDUBON SOCIETY
Rule #2: If you find an uninjured wild baby, put it back! Wild animals do not naturally abandon
their young. The mother may be away finding food or watching and waiting for you to leave.
Rule #3: Call OWL before you do anything. They can tell you what to do and what not to do to help
the baby. 785-542-3625 or 913-631-6566.
For a fact sheet on baby mammals go to the National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association website:
www.nwrawildlife.org. Click on the “Need help?” button, then “I found a baby animal.”
785-542-3625
JAYHAWK AUDUBON SOCIETY 7
Application for New Membership in both: National Audubon Society and Jayhawk Chapter
___$15 Student; ___$20 Introductory for NEW members; ____$15 Senior Citizen.
(Make check payable to National Audubon Society.)
National Audubon Society members receive four issues per year of the Audubon magazine and are also
members of the Jayhawk Chapter. All members also receive 10 issues of this newsletter per year and are
entitled to discounts on books and feeders that are sold to raise funds to support education and conservation
projects. Please send this completed form and check to Membership Chairs at the following address:
Ruth & Chuck Herman; 20761 Loring Road, Linwood, KS 66052; e-mail contact:
hermansnuthouse@earthlink.net . {National Members Renewing: please use the billing form received
from National and send it with payment to National Audubon Society in Boulder, CO}.