Accent on Natural Landscaping

Donna VanBuecken

Remembering

During our last walk around the hunting property, my brother Dave and I found the Purple Fringed Orchids (Platanthera psycodes) he had discovered the previous year. It was the perfect memory for our last adventure.

This week is the fifteenth anniversary of my oldest brother Dave’s passing. Dave was my turkey hunting partner. We shared the joy of being at our hunting property — hiking and exploring, learning about all the different plants, watching how the hydrology changed what we saw from one year to the next, watching the birds and listening to their different calls, catching sight of the various animals as they stealthily picked their way through the underbrush…

And learning how to hunt turkey together. Oh the stories I could tell about our fun times — about the ones that scared us “half to death,” about the ones that got away, and about the ones that didn’t!

He died much too young, of course, and our family has felt his loss immensely. The brain tumor that took him from us has taken many other heroes also. Senator John McCain for one. I pray the researchers will find a cure for this horrible disease soon.

Note: Coincidentally, 9/11 happened just three years earlier — another day to remember!

   Send article as PDF   

NASA GLOBE Observer App

NASA would like your help in measuring the Earth’s trees using the NASA GLOBE Observer app on your smart phone.

In September 2018, NASA launched an instrument, via the ICESat-2 satellite, called ATLAS which measures many ecological surfaces to determine the health of the world’s resources. This laser-like device measures the satellite’s position, the angle and how long it takes the laser beam to bounce back from the surface it is measuring. They’ve been measuring the elevation of the Earth’s ice, land, water, clouds, and now trees. Here’s where citizen scientists come in.

NASA would like citizen scientists to help validate the tree measurements they are taking from space. By knowing the height of trees, researchers can estimate the health of the Earth’s forests and calculate the amount of carbon dioxide they store.

NASA GLOBE Observer App

The NASA GLOBE Observer app is user-friendly. Besides measuring trees, among other things, it also measures the landscape around you and mosquito habitats. It has a tutorial and helpful hints.

Once you’ve selected your straight tree and staked out a spot about 25 to 75 feet away, you hold the phone in front of your face and angle it to measure the base and then to the tree’s top. Then you take a picture, count your steps to the tree, log your position at its base and the app will calculate the tree’s height. (Verge)

Thanks to the Ecological Landscape Alliance (ELA) for making me aware of this great app.

   Send article as PDF   

A First Sign of Spring – Bloodroot

 

Blood Root (Sanguinaria canadensis)

At last I’m seeing some blooming plants in our yard. Thank goodness for Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis), and bless its determination to grow in competition with the invasive Goutweed (Aegopodium podagraria). At least there is some forage material available to some of our insects.

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) determined to grow in competition with the invasive Goutweed (Aegopodium podagraria).

See also Another Sign of Spring 2018.

See also Invasive Goutweed (Aegopodium podagraria).

   Send article as PDF   

Women’s History Month 2019 – Aroline Schmitt

March is Women’s History Month. Women have been celebrated nationally since 1981 when Congress passed a law creating “Women’s History Week.” That week was celebrated in March annually until 1987 when Congress began passing “Women’s History Month.” And then finally in 1995, Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama issued annual proclamations designating March as “Women’s History Month.”

Aroline Schmitt. Photo by Maxine Schmitt Roberts

Aroline Schmitt (1904-1995)

So I thought it would be fitting to mention this year the Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame will be inducting on May 13, 2019, a woman infamous for her stand on sustainable forestry. Her name was Aroline Schmitt. [Read more…]