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A Prairie Rendezvous FALL VOL 9, NO. 4, 2007 A LITTLE PRAIRIE TO GET BIGGER: LODA CEMETERY PRAIRIE EXPANSION by Jamie Ellis T hree acres is not very big. It’s bigger than my house lot, but fairly small when compared to the big sky country of east-central Illinois. Where prairie grasses and wildflowers once swept to the horizon, we now see fields of corn and soybeans. This is our prairie landscape and the unique plants that once cloaked this land are all but gone. Loda Cemetery Prairie Nature Preserve adjacent to Pine Ridge Cemetery just to the northwest of the little town of Loda in Iroquois County is a piece of that almost gone prairie. It’s a little bigger than three acres. Seems like plenty of room for 130 species of native plants. Unfortunately, it’s not. Disturbance from farming practices and weeds lurk at the edge. Prairie cica- das need more room to fly. Prairie dropseed grass and big blue- stem need more room to run. Let’s make it a little bigger. Many of you know by now that Grand Prairie Friends is going to buy about nine acres of land adjacent to Loda Cemetery Prairie. We plan to plant more prai- rie on this additional land. The press has been good with a great article by Kirby Pringle in the News Ga- zette and a nice Environmental Almanac segment on WILL AM by Rob Kanter. You’ve been sent letters ask- ing for your support. You’re reading this article now. Have you contributed to our goal of raising $40,000 by November 15 so we don’t have to go to the bank? If not you can easily send a check to P.O. Box 36, Urbana, IL 61801. And again, thanks! PRAIRIE VISITORS BRAVE JULY HEAT On Saturday July 7, Paul Marcum and Jamie Ellis lead an enthusiastic group of about thirty people to Loda Cemetery Prairie Nature Pre- serve. It was a typical hot July day, but the best time, so we thought, to catch a rare flower in bloom. The federally threat- ened eastern prairie fringed orchid (Platanthera leucophaea) makes its home at this small prairie preserve, and early July is a good time to catch the unique spike of beautiful, oddly shaped white flowers of this plant. As luck would have it, the orchid refused to show this year. Orchids are finicky creatures. Why they grow (Continued on page 6)

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Page 1: A Prairie Rendezvous - Grand Prairie · PDF fileA Prairie Rendezvous FALL VOL 9, ... Ray Meredith A Prairie Rendezvous is a publication of Grand Prairie Friends for the restora-

A Prairie Rendezvous

FALL VOL 9, NO. 4, 2007

A LITTLE PRAIRIE TO GET BIGGER: LODA CEMETERY PRAIRIE EXPANSION by Jamie Ellis

T hree acres is not very big. It’s bigger than my house lot, but fairly small when compared to the

big sky country of east-central Illinois. Where prairie grasses and wildflowers once swept to the horizon, we now see fields of corn and soybeans. This is our prairie landscape and the unique plants that once cloaked this land are all but gone. Loda Cemetery Prairie Nature Preserve adjacent to Pine Ridge Cemetery just to the northwest of the little town of Loda in Iroquois County is a piece of that almost gone prairie. It’s a little bigger than three acres. Seems like plenty of room for 130 species of native plants. Unfortunately, it’s not. Disturbance

from farming practices and weeds lurk at the edge. Prairie cica-das need more room to fly. Prairie dropseed grass and big blue-stem need more room to run. Let’s make it a little bigger. Many of you know by now that Grand Prairie Friends is going to buy about nine acres of land adjacent to Loda Cemetery Prairie. We plan to plant more prai-rie on this additional land. The press has been good with a great article by Kirby Pringle in the News Ga-zette and a nice Environmental Almanac segment on WILL AM by Rob Kanter. You’ve been sent letters ask-

ing for your support. You’re reading this article now. Have you contributed to our goal of raising $40,000 by November 15 so we don’t have to go to the bank? If not you can easily send a check to P.O. Box 36, Urbana, IL 61801. And again, thanks! PRAIRIE VISITORS BRAVE JULY HEAT On Saturday July 7, Paul Marcum and Jamie Ellis lead an enthusiastic group of about thirty people

to Loda Cemetery Prairie Nature Pre-serve. It was a typical hot July day, but the best time, so we thought, to catch a rare flower in bloom. The federally threat-ened eastern prairie

fringed orchid (Platanthera leucophaea) makes its home at this small prairie preserve, and early July is a good time to catch the unique spike of beautiful, oddly shaped white flowers of this plant. As luck would have it, the orchid refused to show this year. Orchids are finicky creatures. Why they grow

(Continued on page 6)

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I report that it’s been a long, hot summer, and I’m ready for fall.

Summer has been productive for me with many days in the field for work, trips to prairie and forest natural areas and even a family vacation to Washington state snuck in near the end. As far as Grand Prairie Friends is concerned I am very happy and pleased at the positive response to our campaign to raise money to expand Loda Cemetery Prairie Nature Preserve. We started this venture because we believe that the best way to protect and conserve this high-quality prairie remnant is to expand the prairie. We weren’t sure if the adjacent landowner would sell us any property, and when he said yes, we only hoped we could raise the $40,000 needed. Well, we haven’t raised enough money yet, but many of you have spoken with your checkbooks! To all of you I send sincere THANKS. We have until November 15, 2007 when we close to raise the funds. You should have received a letter by now asking for a donation. Don’t delay in your opportunity to contribute to prairie conservation. Christy Wallace and Mike Polito have made their mark on GPF and the natural areas we steward. As the volunteer internship coordinator, I directed many of their actions as they pulled weeds, sprayed herbicide, cut brush or picked seeds. Read a report in their owns words in this issue. As fall starts we think of seed collecting, fall burns and running. Well, I don’t run, but I think about the Rattlesnake Master Run for the Prairie. This a great opportunity for you to come out and compete or walk for fun all the while raising awareness and money for Grand Prairie Friends’ conservation projects. Mark your calendar for November 4. I volunteer with Grand Prairie Friends because I believe that individuals can make a difference—no matter how small—in

(Continued on page 5)

2 A Prairie Rendezvous

A Prairie Rendezvous

P.O. Box 36 • Urbana, IL 61803-0036 Editor: Brenda Molano-Flores Assistant Editors: Jamie Ellis, Mary Ann Feist, and Lynne Scott Production Designer: Ray Meredith A Prairie Rendezvous is a publication of Grand Prairie Friends for the restora-tion community of East Central Illinois. In February 2004, the membership of GPF voted to broaden the group’s Constitution and By-laws bringing the missions of GPF and Prairie Grove Volunteers together and the two groups merged. A Prairie Rendezvous is published quarterly. Article submissions should be sent electronically to the editor at [email protected] or by mail to the GPFP.O. Box (above). Member submissions are gladly welcomed. Grand Prairie Friends is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization dedicated to natural community preservation, restoration, and education in East Central Illinois. Our stewards help coordinate volunteer workdays at native prairie, savanna, wetland, and woodland remnants. Inquiries and tax-deductible donations should be sent to the GPF P.O. Box (above).

www.prairienet.org/gpf GPF Board of Directors (term ends) Jamie Ellis, President (2009) Derek Liebert, Vice-President (2009) Jim Payne, Treasurer (2009) Lynne Scott, Secretary (2007) Nate Beccue (2008), Paul Marcum (2008), and Dan Olson (2008) Two board positions are vacant and unfilled. Board meetings are the third Monday of the month at 5:30 p.m. and are open to the public. Directions to the meeting location can be obtained by contacting the President. GPF Committees For information on volunteering and getting involved with any committees, please contact the following: Membership & Volunteerism: Brenda Molano-Flores Stewardship: Betsy Kuchinke, Paul Marcum, and Dan Olson Education: Lynne Scott Publicity: Derek Liebert Land Acquisition: Dan Olson and Jim Payne Fund Raising: Derek Liebert and Lynne Scott Submission Deadlines Winter Issue 07-08 (Dec., Jan., Feb.): Nov. 1 Spring Issue 08 (Mar., Apr., May): Feb. 1 Summer Issue 08 (June, July, Aug.): May 1

Printed on Recycled Paper

From The President by Jamie Ellis, President, GPF

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3 A Prairie Rendezvous

CRADLE OF AGRICULTURE by Jim Fay

T he bright-eyed little third-grade girl summarized for

me: “So agriculture is a gift of the Nile.” She had been giving me a surprisingly sophisticated summary of what has become a staple of everything from Indiana Jones movies and TV documentaries to scholarly publications: the pyramids and the gaudy, gold ladened tombs were a product of the annual alluvial flooding of the Nile. This flooding deposited a new layer of soil on the Egyptian landscape and was the basis of the invention of agriculture. Of course scholars sometimes pointed out that there were a couple of troublesome little technicalities with this account. Agriculture was not developed in Egypt; that innovation was imported from the Near East. And the plants involved in the process were not flood plain plants, but grasses. Nevertheless, the “annual alluvial flooding” model was the w i d e l y a c c e p t e d o n e f o r understanding the development of agriculture. Scholars labored to make this model fit the development of agriculture on the tall grass prairie peninsula, one of the four or five (or seven, depending on the source) Cradles of Agriculture on the globe. But it just didn’t fit, and there were several archaeobotanical studies that documented as explicitly as possible that plants used aboriginally were not floodplain plants. The development of agriculture on the tall grass prairie appeared to have begun with the Ozark ovifera or egg gourd, Cucurbita pepo var. ovifera. The archaeological record appeared to document that these

gourds were grown in Central Illinois along the Illinois River 7,000 years ago. This was out of their natural range in the Ozarks, where they are today a bothersome weed in soybean and cotton fields. But this was a real mystery. Why in the world would anyone want to cultivate this weed we see today? The gourds are too small and fragile to be used the way gourds are used, as cups or bowls. And the flesh is thin, leathery and too bitter to be edible. Those 7,000 year old bits of gourds found at archaeological sites simply could not have been the same as the gourds growing in the Ozarks today. Or so the thinking went. And then in the 1990’s Bruce Smith of the Smithsonian applied newly developed ana lyt ica l techniques to the archaeological remains, and the 7,000 year old Illinois River gourd fragments were indeed found to be the same gourd growing wild in the Ozarks and elsewhere today. Moreover, there were 5400 year old remains in north-central Pennsylvania and 5700 year old remains in central Maine. These locations are well outside the Ozark area that is the natural range of the plant, but well within the range where very similar gourds are grown today for ornamental use. Why was this cultigen so valuable that the cultivation of it spread over a thousand miles over the course of a thousand years? To understand this question we must stop thinking about the development of agriculture in terms of our interests today — glitzy King Tut museum exhibits and large ornamental gourds — and try to

think like a forager 7,000 years ago. And what would be the value of a humble egg-sized gourd? Its edible seeds were a naturally preserved food source. A forager could in the dead of winter go to a place where the gourd had grown in the past and have a good chance of finding some gourds that contained a small

(Continued on page 9)

IMAGES FROM TOP TO BOTTOM: (1) Egg-sized (or a little larger) Ozark egg gourd Cucurbita pepo var. ovifera; (2) Iva annua seed head; (3) conical P. erectum achene with a closed husk; (4) P. aviculare achene with open ended husk that often leaves the seed inside visible

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FALL/WINTER 2007-2008

Volunteer Stewardship Activities Winter/Early Spring burns 2007/2008: Burns may be scheduled in late Octo-ber through early December and in March through mid-April for several sites.Burns are needed at these sites to discourage the competing non-native species and encourage growth of native plants. Wear natural-fiber, non-flammable clothing (long pants, long sleeves, boots, and gloves); no synthetic fabrics. Burn safety equipment will be provided. Bring drinking water and snacks. Contact Paul Marcum ([email protected], 333-8459) or Jamie Ellis ([email protected], 244-5695) for more information. Seed collection/Seed cleaning 2007: GPF will be collecting and cleaning seeds this fall for the 2007 plant sale. Paul Marcum ([email protected], 333-8459) or Brenda Molano-Flores ([email protected], 265-8167) if you would like to volunteer. Seed planting and transplanting 2008: GPF will be growing prairie plants in the greenhouse once again next year, and we need volunteers to assist in cleaning seeds, planting seeds in flats and then transplanting seedlings into pots. These vol-unteer work nights will take place in February, March, and April, so stay tuned. Contact Brenda Molano-Flores ([email protected], 265-8167) or Jamie Ellis ([email protected], 244-5695) if you would like to volunteer. Exact dates for seed cleaning/planting/transplanting and burning will be an-nounced on the ecostewards listserv. You can sign up for the listserv on this web-site: https://mail.prairienet.org/mailman/listinfo/ecostewards Urbana Park District Workdays: Enjoy a natural area close to home. Help remove invasive species, improve trails, collect seed, and plant native species. Tools and refreshments will be provided. Please call ahead, 384-4062, to register or contact Lori Kae at 344-9583 for more information. Second Saturday of every month:

9-11 a.m.: Busey Woods--Meet at the Anita Purves Nature Center 1-3 p.m.: Weaver Grove--Pull off south of intersection of Main St. and Smith Rd., park on grass

(Continued on page 5)

• APNC (Anita Purves Nature Center) is located at 1505 N. Broadway Ave. in Urbana.

• N A T U R A L R E S O U R C E S STUDIES ANNEX: 1910 Griffith Drive, Champaign. Griffith Drive runs south from St. Mary's Road just east of the Illinois Central railroad viaduct (next to St. Mary's Cemetery).

• Workday reminders and updates will be posted on the ecostewards listserv.

• Please leave your pets at home. Pets are not allowed on Nature Preserves. Activities such as pre-scribed burnings may endanger pets, even if they are on leashes or otherwise supervised.

• Please wear clean clothes and boots as a general precaution. After a workday wire brush or scrape lug soles clean. Also, do not wear the same clothes that were used to visit a site with mature exotic seed into another site before laundering them. This is to avoid becoming unwitting carriers of the very invasive species that we are trying to control!

Grand Prairie Friends

Activity Calendar

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Fourth Saturday of every month: 9-11 a.m.: Meadowbrook Prairie - Enter through

Race St. parking lot, meet at Garden Pavilion 1-3 p.m.: Perkins Road wet prairie - Meet at

Urbana Dog Park parking lot, on Perkins Rd. 1 mi. east of Cunningham Ave.

Saturday, October 6: Jasmine Hollow. We’ll be thin-ning grazing-tolerant species, spraying garlic mustard rosettes if conditions are right, and posting LWR signs on the west boundary. Meet on site at 9:30 a.m. We’ll work until noon, then have refreshments and take a hike afterwards if interested. The address is 1172 N 200 E Road, Piatt County. Call Jim Payne at 344-7840 or email [email protected] if you need directions. Saturday, October 20: Jasmine Hollow. See above. Saturday, November 10: Jasmine Hollow. See above. Sunday, October 7: Buffalo Trace Prairie. Join us for an afternoon (1 p.m. - 4 p.m.) of collecting prairie plant seed at Buffalo Trace Prairie. Directions to Buffalo Trace

Prairie: From I-74, take Route 47 North away from Ma-homet. At first asphalt road to the left, turn left (2100N) and turn left again at the next intersection (300E). Drive south to the parking lot on the left across from the cell-phone tower. Walk out on the bike path to the prairie between the 0.2 and 0.3 Mile mark on the bike path. Contact Phil Hult and Gail Snowdon for more informa-tion (217-586-4511). Sunday, October 14: Buffalo Trace Prairie. Join us for an afternoon (1 p.m. - 4 p.m.) of collecting prairie plant seed at Buffalo Trace Prairie. Directions to Buffalo Trace Prairie: From I-74, take Route 47 North away from Ma-homet. At first asphalt road to the left, turn left (2100N) and turn left again at the next intersection (300E). Drive south to the parking lot on the left across from the cell-phone tower. Walk out on the bike path to the prairie between the 0.2 and 0.3 Mile mark on the bike path.Contact Phil Hult and Gail Snowdon for more in-formation (217-586-4511).

Workday reminders and updates will be posted on the ecostewards listserv.

(Continued from page 4)

Rattlesnake Master Run, Sunday November 4th Grand Prairie Friends will once again be organizing the 10th “Rattlesnake Master Run,” with proceeds to benefit our efforts. The race runs through Meadowbrook Park in Urbana and includes a 5K and 10K run, a 5K walk, refreshments, and prizes! Lots of volunteers (and participants) will be needed to help it run smoothly! For those of you who have not participated in a community run before, they are lots of fun. For those interested in helping organize the race please contact either Lynne Scott at 352-4102 ([email protected]) or Derek Liebert at 217-417-1120 ([email protected]). For those interested in participating, race forms will be available at sponsor Body n Sole in Savoy or by download at www.prairienet.org/gpf. The race is scheduled to begin at the Race Street parking lot of Meadowbrook Park at 9 a.m. Sunday November 4th, so mark your calendars and watch for future announcements!

MARK YOUR CALENDARS

affecting our environment for the better. I also really like to be outside doing work to improve natural areas. I get a sense of satisfaction pulling wild parsnip, cutting brush or planting seedlings in the ground. I’m

even more pleased when I can look back six months or a year later at the improvement over time. With work commitments and a family, sometimes I don’t know why I spend so much time with a group like Grand Prairie Friends. When I see

more prairie at Loda, a profusion of wildflowers at a site we steward, native plants in a member’s garden or a sincere thank you from a past summer intern, I begin to see why. Will you join me in volunteering your time with this organization?

(Continued from page 2)

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6 A Prairie Rendezvous

and flower profusely one year and don’t show themselves the next is a mystery to many bota-nists and orchid enthusiasts. Hopefully we can rest assured that it will show back up again next year. What visitors did see was an amazingly intact prairie with prairie dropseed, compass plant, prairie dock, rattlesnake master, prairie dock and dozens of other species. Many on the trip were visiting this preserve

for the first time. Many were excited to hear our plans to expand the prairie. They were able to see the prairie’s beauty and get a sense of its small size. Maybe they’ll come back next year to catch the or-chid. Maybe they’ll come back to help plant new seeds. Seeds of hope.

I have had a count down to the first day of school and the last day of my internship with

Grand Prairie Friends for the past few weeks, so it is hard to believe that I am now within days of this occurring. In the midst of all the work, at times, it felt as if we would never finish, but looking back at all of the weed pulling a brush clearing, we really did make a difference at many prairie and forest natural areas. I will always have great respect for anyone going out to remove invasive species. Seeing a sea of a parsnip or sweet clover or honeysuckle is daunting, but at the end of the day being able to see progress is rewarding. Hopefully through the years we’ll have less to contend with because of the work that has been accomplished. When all is said and done, this summer really went too fast, and I truly wish we could have had extra time to get even more accomplished. I guess what we didn’t get done will be there for the next year and after such a great experience I feel I will be around for years to come. Mike and I spent much of the summer pull-ing, applying herbicide and cutting invasive spe-cies. When we were not being a fighting force against the invasion of weed species we were learning prairie plants, working in the green-house transplanting native prairie plant seedlings, visiting prairies and collecting the seeds of pre-cious prairie plants. I have learned so much about the prairies of Illinois and I am so grateful to eve-ryone who gave up some of their time to broaden my knowledge and for the opportunity to be an intern for GPF. One of my best memories from this experience will always be the day I was given the opportunity to take Mike out and help him with the infamous GPF truck. Mike, thank you for all the laughter even if it was at your expense, you handled it wonderfully. Even though I may be done with the internship I will carry some reminders close to me for the next few months and years in the form of wild parsnip burn scars, a recent exposure to poison ivy and on a lighter note a garden of some prairie plants at my home. Thank you for the experiences and all the memo-ries, from your 2007 summer intern Christy Wallace.

PARSNIP BURNS TO REMEMBER by Christy Wallace, 2007 Intern

LEFT: Aerial view of Loda Cemetery Prairie and future land purchase. Access to the prairie is on the east side.

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7 A Prairie Rendezvous

THE REMAKING OF BUFFALO TRACE by Daniel J. Olson

I n the small town of Mahomet Illinois lives a restored prairie that is the epitome of the great achievements

that come from exceptional stewardship. If you haven’t had a chance to visit the charismatic Buffalo Trace Prairie many times throughout the year, you are missing an incredible natural transformation take place. Flushes of color can be seen throughout the season as prairie forbs bloom, mature, and senesce into seed. These yearly transformations are only a small part of the larger picture. In any given year, certain species may flourish while others only show a hint of themselves. It is truly amazing to watch patches of single species ebb and flow over the years as they try to find the spot best suited for their growth. Buffalo Trace Prairie is a dream that is quickly becoming a reality. It all began as a proposal in 1999 when prairie enthusiasts Phil Hult and Gail Snowdon asked that a small bit of acreage at Lake of the Woods Forest Preserve be set aside for prairie restoration and education. The then Director of Natural Resources for the Champaign County Forest Preserve District, Roger Kirkwood was happy to oblige the request. The original planting was 5.66 acres and had approximately 40 species. Today, efforts have grown to planting 15 to 20 acres at a time with over 100 species being planted. In total, 54 acres of prairie have been restored with many more acres in the preparation stage. A restoration of this endeavor would not have been possible without the tremendous efforts of volunteers that include Phil, Gail, GPF interns, scouting groups, Red Bison, Master Naturalists, many U of I groups and a whole host of other volunteers. The volunteer hours that have been completed by these individuals number in the thousands. One group, the Volunteer Illini Projects Environmental section, had worked on the area for a few years and decided it would be a great place to photograph volunteers in action. This photograph was used in the U of I’s Office of Volunteer Programs campus wide poster campaign. The posters are still in use today. Buffalo Trace also has a fantastic bluebird route that is built and maintained by volunteer Charlene Anchor. She avidly posts unique bird sightings and bird box updates to the Champaign County Audubon Society Birdnotes listserve. Without a doubt, Buffalo Trace is a unique area full of opportunities. You can be in the middle of the restoration in just a matter of minutes from the parking lot. A hard trail that curves through the prairie offers accessibility to strollers, wheelchairs and bikes. At the right time of the year, the CCFPD Environmental

Education Department offers educational hikes for interested patrons. Wildlife abounds here. The diversity of birds, mammals, and insects are what draw many to this place. Northern Harriers, long-tailed weasels, and monarch butterflies have recently been spotted here. As the prairie grew, the importance to give it an identity was paramount. At an annual stewardship meeting, the name Buffalo Trace was offered as a name for the restoration. The term “Trace” was chosen because of the multiple meanings. As a noun, trace means, “a trail or path, especially through wild or open territory”; “A barely discernible sign or evidence of the former existence”, or “an extremely small amount”. As a verb it means, “To go back in history, ancestry, or origin”. Knowing these definitions, it was only fitting to name the area Buffalo Trace. In July of 2002 the Champaign County Forest Preserve District Board of Commissioners officially named the original 5.66 acres of restoration as Buffalo Trace. Then in December of 2006, the Board recognized the expansion of the original planting and decided to officially name the entire 279 acres formally known as the Dowell property, to Buffalo Trace. As we continue to look at Buffalo Trace’s future, we are taking a page from the past. Early 1800’s plat maps show that there is plenty of restoration to complete here including areas of savanna and forested ravines. The goal is to restore all 279 acres to its original habitat. This would greatly diversify the landscape by creating a prairie, savanna, and forested areas that are a mile long and a quarter mile wide. The biggest obstacle in the way of this re-making is exotic and invasive species. Crown vetch invades from the south where it was planted by the Illinois Department of Transportation for erosion control. It gets more aggressive after prescribed fire. The once believed to be sterile Callery Pears have found their place in ravines and out in the open. Last year, an aggressive campaign to control them throughout the preserve was launched by CCFPD. Clovers of sweet and red dominate in some years crowding out newly planted areas. In addition, Phil and other volunteers have attacked parsnip pulling it by hand and leaving three foot tall piles to be burned later. We have learned many things from Buffalo Trace over the years. One lesson has been that increasing the plant biodiversity not only increases the insect and wildlife diversity, but also exponentially increases human intrigue about the prairie. We have learned that

(Continued on page 8)

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multiple seasons of site preparation keeps volunteers and interns happy because the invasive species decrease with more site preparation. We have also learned that it is vital to do multiple seedings over many years…just in case. The lessons we have learned while re-making

Buffalo Trace could go on for many more pages. However, the prevailing lesson is that a few individuals can make an incredibly positive difference on our local natural resources. The volunteer efforts at Buffalo Trace have enriched our community and provided activities that otherwise would not be there.

(Continued from page 7)

GPF INTERN REPORT by Mike Polito

H ello everyone, my name is Mike Polito. I was one of

Grand Prairie Friends’ summer interns this year. I did not introduce myself in the beginning of summer, so I will do it now. I was raised for most of my life in St. Charles, Illinois. It is one of the mid sized towns surrounding Chicago. While growing up there I slowly became more and more interested in the environment. My family was one of the first to move into our neighborhood, which meant that there were many undeveloped plots of land where tall grasses and forbs grew. My friends and I had some great times playing in those fields, which due to our age meant they grew over our heads. But by the time I was about 10 years old, most all of the undeveloped plots had been built upon. I experienced how sad urban sprawl can be firsthand. As I was growing up and losing my natural playground, my mom enrolled me in summer nature camps hosted by the local park district. The camps were a lot of fun, and exposed us to various aspects of nature. We learned things such as the different kinds of habitats, and how animals had adapted to survive and interact in the wild. I came away from the camps with a new appreciation for nature that influenced my life. I always liked science classes in school, and biology was definitely my favorite subject because it included environmental teachings. One of my

all time favorite classes was called “Regional Environmental Science” and really got us students looking at key aspects of ecology and environmentalism. I also began to volunteer with the St. Charles Park District while in high school. I went out and helped their naturalist department remove invasive species and collect seeds from the natural areas that the park district owned. After graduating high school, I continued to work with the STC Park District as a summer employee, doing much of the same work I did as a volunteer. I am now a senior at the U of I, majoring in Integrative Biology and Chemistry, as well as getting a minor in Environmental Science. I continued to help out with native lands restoration during the school years and became involved with Red Bison, a student organization dedicated to restoration work. I was elected as their president last semester, and realized that I needed to know more about natural areas in order to be an effective leader. I looked around for summer opportunities that might teach me things I didn’t know about restoration. That’s when I came across GPF’s summer internship. I must say, this internship has been very rewarding and very informative. One of the things I learned as a park district employee and volunteer was how to identify and remove invasive species. This internship has taught me a few new

bad species, and shown me new ways to get rid of them. My previous work/volunteer experience heavily focused of invasives removal, and I couldn’t name native species. This internship has greatly improved my plant identification skills. I no longer see “good plants” and “bad plants,” but now have names for what I see. I have gained some important experiences this summer. I learned first hand how unpleasant wild parsnip can be, and have also experienced chiggers for the first time. Anyone who has read “Calvin and Hobbes” would say that I have “built character.” I also spent a hilarious afternoon with Christie, as I struggled to learn how to drive the manual transmission GPF truck. I think my record engine-killing streak was 5 times in a row while trying to back out of someone’s driveway. I believe the most gratifying aspect of this internship for me was meeting all of the local stewards and volunteers who help maintain the various natural sites here. Each one of them gave me their own personal views and opinions on restoration, as well as their techniques. It is really inspiring to see so many people caring about our natural areas, and the advice and insight they have passed onto me will help me in the future. I just want to say to all GPF members, thank you for giving me such a wonderful and rewarding summer experience.

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9 A Prairie Rendezvous

handful (very small handful) of edible seeds. These seeds would be preserved for two or three years, even through a prairie fire. One can only imagine what an enormous resource this was to those ancient foragers. Moreover, the more familiar one becomes with the gourd, the more “people friendly” it proves to be. A rodent that makes a home in some remnant of human occupation — an abandoned hearth or wood pile for example — and that eats egg gourd seeds will probably distribute seeds in these places as it drags the seedy/pulpy mass around. And once the plant starts growing, it needs no particular place to grow. It will grow up and around about anything. Perhaps a personal experience will illustrate this people friendly, almost self domesticating, nature of the plant. I think of it as a “cocker spaniel” plant. I had not grown the gourd for a couple of years, but had plenty of gourds lying around in the small patch of prairie from previous years. Then last year a gourd began growing from under an overturned canoe where a rodent had obviously made a nest. There was really no place for the plant to go (I do mow some places occasionally.) so it covered a pile of gravel and climbed an evergreen tree. I had egg gourds hanging from the top of the tree by fall, a routine occurrence in the Ozarks. A n o th e r p l a n t t h a t w a s domesticated early in North America is sunflower. It was originally most common to western North America but was domesticated for its oily seed on the prairie peninsula about 4,200

years ago. Another oi ly seed plant, sumpweed (Iva annua), was first domesticated throughout much of the tall grass prairie peninsula about 4,000 ago although it is common only to the southwestern quadrant of that area. Its distinctive spiked seed head looks nothing at all like the “daisy” flower typical of asters. Goosefoot or Chenopodium was domesticated in the tall grass prairie about 3,400 years ago. Although it is not an important crop in North America now, it is in South America, and the grain is widely available locally in health food stores as quinoa. The little barley (Hordeum pusillum) that grows in the compacted soil of driveways and roadsides was probably cultivated about 2,800 years ago, as was maygrass (Phalaris caroliniana) about 2,500 years ago. Maygrass does not grow in the wild north of about Cape Girardeau, Missouri but was once cultivated widely throughout the tall grass prairie peninsula. Erect knotweed, Polygonum e r e c t u m w a s a n i m p o r t a n t domesticated plant almost 1,000 years ago. Its less archaeological significant relative, P. aviculare, is still seen growing in the cracks of sidewalks. The assumption is often made that any knotweed that is not ground-hugging, or side­walk hugging, is erect knotweed, but that is not correct. The two foot tall, conical seeded P. erectum is extremely rare, if not extinct, in the tall grass prairie peninsula today. But what about those two crops that we so closely associate with the Native Americans of history, corn

and beans? Corn or maize (Zea mays), was cultivated in South America 7,000 or more years ago, and maize was introduced to the prairie peninsula and Ohio River valley about 2,000 years ago. Beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) also arrived from S o u t h A m e r i c a a n d w e r e domesticated about 1,000 years ago. It is often assumed that the people of the North American Cradle of Agriculture were quick to apply their centuries or millennia of expertise in plant cultivation to maize, but that was not the case. The road to maize or corn agriculture was certainly a rocky one, and characterized by dead ends. Maize was not a successful crop until about 1200 years ago. There is a postscript to this story of the development of agriculture in North America. Once the insights offered by the prairie were applied to other areas of the globe the “alluvial flood plain” theories about the development of agriculture proved to be invalid. Indeed, the development of agriculture in the Near East was shown to occur, not on the flood plains, but several miles away on grasslands. The popular flood plains theories are still offered in popular media and, for that matter, in some scholarly con tex t s – one prominent archaeobotanist continues to assure me that sunflower and Chenopodium do not grow on the prairie; they grow only on alluvial flood plains. But the current comprehensive informed consensus is that the development of agriculture did not take place on alluvial flood plains. It happened on grasslands — grasslands like the tall grass prairie peninsula.

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