If you have ever had to take a chainsaw to a 60 ft. pine tree on your property, then you know the pain of losing a featured landscape tree.  Here in Kansas, we are losing many stately trees to “pine wilt,” which has affected my older neighborhood severely. 

Pine wilt is caused by a plant parasitic nematode, referred to as the pine wood nematode, which is carried on the pine sawyer, an ugly insect in itself which tends to have a taste for our “exotic” pine trees.  As the pine sawyer feeds, the nematodes hop off, infect the tree and live and reproduce in the resin canals of the branch and trunk of the tree.  An infected tree will die within a few months. Of course, landowners are asked to remove and burn the wood immediately to contain the disease.

Our summer field based botany class visited the John Pair Horticultural Research site last week, just south of Wichita, and reviewed some of the research being conducted on pine wilt.  As an aging facility, the research site has trees affected by pine wilt as well as healthy evergreens for comparison.  Their current research is to determine wilt resistant trees for landscape use.

In a small greenhouse located at the site, insect collection chambers have been set up to determine infestation rates.  Filled with dead trees of varied species, emergent pine sawyers are counted and documented.  The degree of infection can then be determined and attributed.

Recent sawyer collections have recently been applied to young pine trees thought to be resistant.  The trees will then be observed and documented for resulting infection. 

I suppose the importance of trees of an “exotic” nature in this area might be questioned, but I have always been a softy for any tree that is clearly beneficial.  Of course, the advice of the extension service is to plant native trees that are resistant to wilt, but one hates to lose a tree for any reason.  Especially as older elms and weaker trees are removed, the landscapes take years to recover. 

The research at John Pair research center is encouraging in that it hits at the heart of city folks who treasure the trees that have taken generations to grow.

When you live in the city, it is not difficult to let awareness of wildlife slip as we enjoy smaller spaces, more confinement and tons of concrete that surrounds us.  Urban wildlife is alive and well though, and there is an abundance of bees and other pollinators living among us, buzzing our flowers,  vegetable gardens, and fruit trees if we’re lucky enough to have them.   

I had so many bees last year that I asked my friend Barb, the beekeeper, if I should be considering a hive.  She laughed good-naturedly, and then told me the bees would starve to death on the resources I alone had to give.  Besides, she added, those bees belong to someone local.  I would be wiser to help that beekeeper by helping his bees.  But how, I asked, can city folks do that?

I found a helpfularticle on www.gooserockfarm.com, a supplier of bee colonies, which applies to us city slickers.  Want to help the honeybee and don’t know how?    Is there really anything the average person can do to make a difference?  It turns out there is and that we do.

It turns out that spring wildflowers are a critical source of pollen for honeybees.  Not just the dandelion, for in itself, it does not provide adequate nutrients. But it is a moderate resource for them.  Add to that other wildflowers such as clover and plantains in early spring and numerous other wildflowers throughout summer and fall, and we have provided for a part of the bees’ needs.

There are some helpful options for the average homeowner.

 First, I can opt to not treat the wildflowers in the lawn with chemicals.  Note that I didn’t call them “weeds.”

Second, I can delay mowing the dandelions until other sources of pollen are available and the bees have moved on.  Actually, that option was easy to achieve this year as the cool weather eased us into the summer with little mowing.

Third, I can help either as an individual or as an HOA member by choosing and planting plants and trees that provide good pollen sources for bees.

Fourth, in that same way, I can choose not to plant plants and trees that are not beneficial to bees.  (One example given was the Bradford pear, grown commonly in my area.)

Finally, if I garden, I can do so organically.  That eliminates the whole issue of chemicals;  I can eat local honey (thank you Barb and Rich for providing some to buy); and  I can support legislation and environmental measures to protect and assist bees.

 As president of our small neighborhood association, I have received repeated pleas from my neighbors to spray the dandelions.  While this year I was able to avoid the issue because of the temperatures and rainfall, but next year I’ll make an effort to solicit their assistance.

So the next time you see those pretty yellow flowers covering the back yard, just remember – the bee you save IS your own.  It is pollinating the food you eat.

This morning I opened the garage door and stepped out on a thin layer of snow to fetch the paper.  It was cold at 14 degrees and a gray day as we are socked in by clouds.  I stood quietly for a minute as small snowflakes fell on my head.  I could hear the Canada geese warming up their honkers as they assembled for the morning food run.  A grackle screeched from a nearby tree.  “Ah,” I thought, “a little moment of nature before coffee.”

Urban wildlife was a subject of discussion with my holiday guests this last week, so I thought it interesting that I had two birds identified in the first minute of the day.  Just a few days ago, family members decided they needed exercise, so I shared some of my walking paths with them.  My son, an avid hunter and fisherman, commented on the abundance of bird and animal life.  He also indicated that he didn’t normally see wildlife in his home city neighborhood.

Unfortunately, too often urban wildlife is not seen as it is camouflaged by people hurling through their lives.  Web MD “Health News” reports adults are spending 25% less time in nature this year than in 1987 and the time is declining by 1% yearly.  Research reported by the New York Times indicates Americans take fewer steps daily than any other country in the study – walking only half as much as the next country in the study.  Average distance walked?  Less than a mile. 

While the backyards of our homes do not supply walking distances needed to maintain our needed exercise, they can certainly be a good place to start to observe wildlife.  Watching and feeding birds is a good way to get started and can provide hours of nature education.  Birdwatching can also be the stimulus needed for a bit of gardening or landscaping as one provides a better habitat for food and protection.  With habitat comes wildlife.

In my own neighborhood, I have found that if I spend more time specifically looking for wildlife, I find others are doing the same and are willing to share.  A neighbor half a street down has become a friend “over the fence.” She has the tree that the Mississippi Kites nest in and was able to help me identify the birds that glide the skies.  Another neighbor I came to know on one of my walking trails shared the location of an owls’ nest in a nearby hundred year elm.  Raccoons, rabbits and possums are the subjects of conversations all along my street. 

Just a day ago the family went to a science museum with my grandson.  As we loaded into the car, someone said, “Oh, look, there’s a rabbit in the bushes,” and we all stopped to watch.  “No, there are two rabbits,” my grandson observed, “and a bird.” We waited and watched for five minutes and that led to a discussion of “urban” wildlife.

Even if you live in the largest city, there is wildlife.  It just takes a bit of slowing down and looking for it.  We need to look no further than our own backyard.         

I have been writing for the past two years about the difficulties of dry-land farming in Kansas during an long-term and continuing drought.  This has been the worst drought for the state since 1965. It has, of course, affected our gardens.  Insect invasion – especially grasshoppers - has been a challenge as the hoppers move to the only source of moisture available – gardens.

Our gardens were only an early indication of the stress on the environment.  Pastureland yield was only half of the normal hay harvest and farmers were feeding hay as early as August and September.  Although the wheat crop was adequate with spring rains, milo and soy bean crops were poor.  As farmers planted wheat this fall, lack of rainfall prevented sprouting and that which did sprout has died back from lack of moisture. 

In this second year of drought, we now find that wildlife in the area has suffered.  Game reports indicate drought has resulted in high die-off of the deer population and poor fawning.  Populations of quail and pheasant are low. 

USA Today reported in August that many cities are by necessity preparing for climate change as increased heat and decreased moisture has killed off large ornamental trees and grasses.   Major cities have begun preparation through better planting planning to include native trees and grasses.  Programs have been established to increase composting and water conservation. 

I cannot think of a better time to encourage agricultural and environmental awareness at all levels.  Our children are going to face a different world than we have known.  Climate change is a reality and the effects are real.  We need every single person to help us preserve this precious earth.

As I packed a Christmas box headed for my son’s house this week, I threw in an old bumper sticker I found in the garage.  It said “No farms, no food.”  Never has the message been more important.  We must all do more to learn the best way to protect and nurture our environment – for food and for life itself. 

I know that readers of this blog are already on board, and are educating friends and family.  As I see my own environment struggle, it motivates me to make just a little more effort to spread the message.  Not only is it sad to see environmental abundance decline, it is frightening to think that that slogan is true – “No farms, no food.”

I am not normally a resistive person, but requests to hunt on my private property are beginning to raise my ire.  Here I am, just a small farm owner with a few acres of grassland and a couple of fields.  I go out on a regular basis and work my heart out managing the land so that volunteer trees don’t overtake the pasture or that I allow the thistle to overtake the meadow.  I leave some good grasses where quail and turkey can live normal and protected lives and hopefully, raise their young.

This summer I must have had at least a dozen requests to fish in my pond.  These requests apparently came from individuals who had not noticed that we were having a drought and there was no water in the runoff ponds.

This fall, I am getting requests from individuals who just became aware that the cost of beef and pork are expected to rise and so they are thinking deer meat might be an affordable alternative.  Never mind that my entire property is posted “No Trespassing, No Hunting, No Fishing.”  I guess these requests spring from the hope that it never hurts to ask.

It is the requests to hunt game birds that make me snarl the most.  I love to watch the turkey trail across the edge of the pasture, ducking in and out of the protective trees, peeping, tweeting and gobbling their way to breakfast.  The quail are so bold as to come to drink from the garden pond and eat the scratch from the bird feeder.  Pheasant are more often heard than seen, but I’ve nurtured a pair for years in the far windrow.  When I see any of my residents I feel it is a successful and blessed day.

To be kind in my response, I recognize that requests often come only out of ignorance to the extensive management it takes to have game of any kind on my farm.  People don’t realize that mowing is planned for post nesting or that a stand of trees was left for intentional shelter.  I’m sure most would think a pile of brush in the field unsightly, but I’ve noticed the birds don’t agree much with that.

I stand firm each time I am asked in my reply.  “No, you cannot hunt on my land.  I don’t allow hunting or fishing of any kind.  You see, I’m saving a little wildlife for my grandchildren to see.”

There hasn’t been a lot of news in Kansas other than talk of heat waves, drought, and the presumed consequences of both. It's enough to discourage even the heartiest. 

At my farm, the effect of the grasshopper invasion could be added as well.  A few root vegetables are hanging on and a few distasteful plants in the garden – like horseradish.  Last week the resurrection lilies made an attempt to come up, but the grasshoppers ate the buds at about two inches.

Despite the dismal outlook, I have been trying to keep watering with the hope my old faithfuls will pull through.  A couple of shrubs at the front of the farmhouse had suffered terribly and I decided to put a hose to them one evening.  I was rewarded with six orioles coming to bathe.  Jubilation would describe their attitude.  They were soon joined by two bluebirds, which politely waited their turn by wading in the birdbath for a few minutes.

A fifty year old viburnum at the edge of the yard looked dead, but I hosed it down as well.  Soon I saw one of the wild rabbits had dug a furrow in the moist soil and was enjoying a snooze. As I approached, he gave me the look that said “You wouldn’t dare make me move,” so I moved on, leaving him to enjoy his nap.

My farmer neighbor came by in late afternoon. He had been out carrying water to the livestock tanks.  “Hey, you need a little water?” he asked, gesturing to the big tank on the back of his truck. 

“Oh, dear Lord, you’re there for me today!” I thought as I hugged my neighbor for his generosity.  With a high capacity tank, I was able to give my new trees sixty gallons of water each – and they were still in need.  He may have saved them for me. 

Sometimes we forget that the wildlife suffers with the heat as much as the plants, so I am developing a healthy case of Kansas stubborn about this heat wave.  I just keep dumping as much water on as I can, and I know most of the plants and trees will make a comeback and my wildlife will come out after their month-long hunker down.

I guess you just can’t get an old farmer – or her farm - down.  We are Kansas stubborn.

Rob Peterson, 53, of Colorado Springs, Colo., has donated his 640-acre property near Cimarron, Kans., to Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever as part of the organization’s Grassroots Conservation Campaign, furthering PF’s habitat mission and generously providing a place for future hunters and outdoorspeople to enjoy forever.  Peterson, a long-time PF member and Pikes Peak Colorado Pheasants Forever chapter co-chair, noted that his father’s passion for the outdoors and the time they spent hunting and fishing are the main reasons to make Pheasants Forever the recipient of his major gift.

Peterson, a retired U.S. Air Force Colonel, grew up in Minnesota where he learned to appreciate the outdoors with his father, Robert Peterson, Sr., through countless hours hunting and fishing. “We spent a lot of time in the outdoors with each other,” Col. Peterson said. “The success of the hunt was not always a big deal to us.  It was the experience of spending time together that we valued most.”  Those outdoor experiences are what shaped his dream for honoring his father’s memory. In 2010, during one of the last conversations Rob had with his father, he told his dad of his plan to dedicate a piece of land in his memory so his outdoor legacy could live on forever.  Shortly after this conversation, Rob’s father lost his battle with cancer.

The property is currently being converted to productive wildlife habitat. “Habitat is my vision, because I realize if we don’t have the habitat, the upland hunting is going to dry up,” Col. Peterson said. “If we don’t have the habitat, we can’t ensure there will be an opportunity for young people to hunt 20, 30, 40 years from now.”

“We are extraordinarily honored that Col. Peterson chose Pheasants Forever to fulfill his dream and honor his father’s memory,” said Howard K. Vincent, President and CEO of Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever, “His generosity is a defining characteristic of a visionary, using his abilities to further what he is passionate about. This gift will Make a Lasting Impact for years to come, and I applaud Col. Peterson for joining Pheasants Forever’s Habitat Legacy Society though this generous legacy contribution.”

Col. Peterson credited Pheasants Forever’s Farm Bill biologist program for providing expert guidance with the grassland restoration through the federal Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP), and PF Development Officer Jordan Martincich for helping execute the gift through the organization’s Grassroots Conservation Campaign.

“Rob’s father had a passion for the outdoors and the legacy partnership formed with Pheasants Forever means the Peterson family values and traditions will continue forever.  We hope others join the Peterson family in their vision of permanently protecting wildlife habitat forever more,” Martincich said.

Col. Peterson will continue to manage and enjoy the property throughout his lifetime. Upon his passing, Pheasants Forever will oversee the property for wildlife habitat and public use.  In addition to the land gift, Col. Peterson has donated a significant portion of his estate to Pheasants Forever with the goal of furthering the outdoor traditions that both he and his father enjoyed. 

This press release is presented without editing for your information. GRIT does not recommend, approve or endorse the products and/or services offered. You should use your own judgment and evaluate products and services carefully before deciding to purchase. 

Although most think of Kansas in reference to golden wheat fields, there is another aspect of Kansas that anchors our history as a state – the prairie.  That is the ecosystem that was conquered by the plow; it is the native land that was lost as the grasses became farmland and eventually cities. It is that part of Kansas that we are now trying to restore and preserve.  The prairie has stolen our hearts.

It is not easy making a living on ranch land, especially if it is done right and with conservation practices to protect the grasses.  New sciences now tell us that some of our old practices are destructive and we are trying to both profit and conserve.  Dioum, a poet and conservationist, once wrote,

“In the end, we will conserve only what we love.

We will love only what we understand.

We will understand only what we are taught.”  

And so I joined my fellow naturalists this week to learn about the prairie – the biota, the ecosystem, the preservation of the precious root systems while grazed, and the need for pollination.  I already love what I have – even if it is only thirty-eight acres of mid and short grass prairie – and now, I want to understand it.  It is precious to me, as a shelter for animal and bird life, and as a remnant of the Great Plains Prairie that I am a part of.   

The tallgrass prairie is well known and is now a national preserve.  There is now a Prairie Discover Center near Junction City ( http://www.flinthillsdiscovery.org/index.php) and there is a  Konza Prairie Center (http://keep.konza.ksu.edu/visit/).  This weekend I will be a volunteer at the prairie preservation effort of “Symphony in the Flint Hills,” www.symphonyintheflinthills.org), a unique and unforgettable esperience for all who participate. 

Our Kansas prairies are a personal interest - I hope we each have one that holds this precious earth as sacred land. My efforts go to prairies, but also all of nature.  We hold that responsibility in our hands as earth dwellers.  I am enjoying doing my tiny little part to leave a good earth to our children so that they too will conserve because they love - because the understand - because they were taught. Our examples and our teaching are what we have to give.

It was coincidence last week that in two different sources, I ran across mention of a brief period of American history that made a big impact on many lives. I was reading the book, Lizards on the Mantel, Burros at the Door. It’s a fascinating autobiographical account taken from the author’s letters and journals from 1944 to 1946. The book chronicles Etta Koch's life after she, her husband and three daughters leave their comfortable home in suburban Cincinnati, fit whatever they can into a 23 foot trailer and follow her husband's dream of making natural history films in what was to become Big Bend National Park in Texas. Throughout the book, Koch makes reference to the Civilian Conservation Corps – the remnants of an abandoned CCC camp had been turned into Park Service Headquarters, and the “CCC boys” built some of the roads in the area.

I may have heard about the Civilian Conservation Corps, or even read a paragraph or two about it in a high school history book; I remember neither. It was an article in our local newspaper that appeared shortly after reading Koch’s book that spurred my interest in learning about this Depression-era program. The newspaper article announced a CCC film documentary would be shown at the college campus in town, to be followed by a discussion led by the filmmaker.

It’s not surprising I don’t remember the CCC. Though it was one of the most popular programs of its time, “The CCC was one of the most overlooked chapters in American history,” says filmmaker, author and songwriter, Bill Jamerson. “Most of their efforts were forgotten – only remembered by the trees that grew silently in their absence.” His PBS documentary “Camp Forgotten” strives to make remembered the stories and efforts of the more than 3.5 million young men who were given the nickname “Roosevelt’s Tree Army.”

As part of newly elected President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal package, the Civilian Conservation Corps was an environmental program designed to both put unemployed young men back to work during the Great Depression, and to aid in the restoration of the country’s natural resources.

Across the nation from 1933 to 1942, “The CCC Boys” planted over 5 billion trees, built National Parks, fought forest fires, prevented soil erosion, and helped to construct the country’s infrastructure. Here in Michigan, in addition to building roads, bridges and buildings, over 484 million trees were planted. It’s interesting to think that many of those white, jack and red pines may have come from the nursery where I work; the timing is right – the nursery started in 1932 as a conifer seedling nursery, supplying large quantities of evergreens to aid in the reforestation of the thousands of square miles of pine forest ravished by the lumber industry.

Michigan once led the nation in lumber production, but decades of over-harvesting without regard to conservation resulted in a destruction of the state’s natural resources as forests were clear-cut. In addition, once fertile land was over-farmed. During the Depression, unfertile farms were abandoned, reverting back to state ownership, or acquired by the Federal Government. These lands, reforested by the CCC, became our state and national forests. “Michigan would have blown away if not for the CCC,” says one former CCC Boy.

Another former CCC member was in attendance at the viewing of “Camp Forgotten,” and got up to speak during the discussion. Fred was born in downtown Detroit in a speakeasy. His grandfather made beer and sold it for a dollar per bottle during Prohibition. After Prohibition ended, the family moved to farmland up north, which proved a worthless, unfertile piece of property. When the farm failed, the family actually resided in the chicken coop. “I thought I was rich with the $5.00 per month I earned in the CCC,” he said.

The men, ages 17 to 23, lived in camps, earning a dollar per day. A required $25.00 of their monthly income was sent home. The CCC Boys not only worked for themselves, they were often the breadwinners of the family. “That was the genius of the program. It not only gave work to these young men, but it put food on the family table, and more importantly changed their lives,” says Jamerson. It gave these often poor, malnourished, under-educated and inexperienced young men work, food, and a place to live. It renewed faith and boosted morale during a time when few of them had any other chance for gainful employment. It also helped bolster local economies; unemployed teachers, trader-workers and lumbermen from nearby towns taught the enrollees skills, and enabled many of them to receive their high school diplomas.

In 1937, the United States was on its way to economic recovery and soon after, the CCC began to be looked upon as an unnecessary government extravagance. When the draft began in 1940, and with the looming possibility of the U.S. entering the war, federal programs shifted toward national defense. The Civilian Conservation Corps disbanded in 1942, with most of its ranks going directly to fight in World War II.

Nearly seventy years later, the accomplished writer and filmmaker travels the country to schools, libraries, and other venues, retelling the often dramatic stories of the CCC through Bill Jamerson's multimedia presentation of storytelling, songs, and his films. He provides a thoughtful perspective on its relevance today:  “Lessons learned from the CCC are invaluable for teaching skills to our youth. Put them in nature, and something wonderful happens to them.” Though the program cannot be duplicated on such a massive scale, the CCC serves as a model for present day national, state and local programs that serve our youth through community service and educational opportunities. Groups such as the Student Conservation Association, whose motto is “Changing lives through service to nature,” continue in the CCC’s tradition to give young men and women the ability to change their communities and improve their own lives.