People sometimes ask me if I have a certain number of posts I'm supposed to write in a year. A quota, if you will. I always tell them that if that were the case, you'd probably know because I'd occasionally post something that was clearly a space-filler. A post that didn't really serve any purpose other than to be a post that counted toward a quota.

Recently, I've spent some time mining my photo library for images to use in a couple different projects. While I was down that hole, I took advantage of the process to build some collections of some of my favorite photos and post them on their own web page. I hope the photos help inspire people to see prairies as something worth caring about.

I mean, you knew this was coming, right? If you're on any social media platforms, you've already seen enough northern lights photos this week to last a lifetime. Well, guess what? I took some too. Then I waited until everyone was already saturated with images from other sources before dumping mine out there into the world. It's a terrible marketing strategy.

I got my first frost photography morning of the season yesterday. I'd been watching the forecast and had blocked out a couple hours on my calendar to make sure I had time to get out enjoy it. I woke up early and drove out to our family prairie well before sunrise. I'm glad I got there early because there was a terrific explosion of color in the sky before the sun came up.

This might be an awkward week to laud the value of having a non-native wildflower in my yard. I'm an invited speaker at the Indiana Native Plant Society's annual conference this coming weekend. It's probably (?) too late for them to cancel my appearance. I'm mostly kidding. Today's post is not intended to diminish the importance of native plants, either in ecological restoration or in suburban landscapes.

I've had too many hours in front of the computer this week and my eyes were complaining this morning. I looked outside and saw that some high clouds were nicely-diffusing the sun and decided that was enough of an incentive to take a prairie break. I scooted over to Lincoln Creek Prairie and spent about a half hour looking for milkweed seeds, milkweed bugs, and other treasures before heading back to the computer.

The fall migration is in full swing through our prairies. Dragonflies, birds, butterflies, and more are moving southward. Going out on dewy mornings is a great way to check up on butterflies and dragonflies because I can find them immobile and covered in dew on their overnight roosts. This week was a big week for variegated meadowhawks (dragonflies), apparently. I found dozens of them at our family prairie one morning (more photos toward the end of this post).

Over the weekend, my wife Kim ran 100 miles. On purpose. The Cowboy 200/100 race has become an annual event for people who think marathons are more fun when you string a bunch of them together end-to-end. There were lots of those people on the Cowboy Trail (an old railroad right-of-way) this weekend. Some of them were running 100 miles like Kim, but even more of them were running 200 miles.

For some reason, there are people who find it difficult to see the aesthetic beauty of places with limited topographic variability. First of all, that sounds like a "them" problem, doesn't it? Who needs mountains, or even steep hills to feel good about their surroundings? Not me. Not you. Then, of course, there are others who struggle to find joy in places without trees.

Do you remember that square meter photography project I did? Twice? Whew, that was a lot of work. Don't get me wrong, it was more than worthwhile, but it was definitely a big commitment. I may try it again someday, but not right now. I continue to enjoy writing and talking about those two year-long projects and I hope to have another product or two come from those initial efforts.

It's time! We are now accepting applications for our 13th class of Hubbard Fellows. Please forward this to anyone you know who might be interested. I supervise our fellows each year, and can't wait to meet the next two. The Hubbard Fellowship was built to help people bridge the gap between what you learn in college and the skills and proficiency needed to start a career.

Early autumn is a season of surprise and wonder.  Colors are changing and animals are scurrying all around, trying to check off all their pre-winter tasks.  For nature enthusiasts like us, it’s also a great time to appreciate the complex and sophisticated ways plants move their seeds around the world. For example, there’s the unexpected prick of joy when you accidentally sandwich a heretofore unseen sandbur between calf and hamstring as you kneel down to re-tie your boot laces. 

August really flew by but it was a fun and interesting month. In addition to a full calendar of work and home events, I made time to explore several of my favorite prairies, including The Nature Conservancy's Platte River Prairies, Niobrara Valley Preserve, and our own family prairie. I caught numerous sunrises and sunsets, foggy mornings, stormy evenings, and some bright overcast days.

Does this look like a high-quality prairie? What about this one? What if I told you the first one was 2 acres in size and the second was part of a 20,000 acre grassland block? Would it affect your opinion if you knew the first site was isolated from any other prairie habitat by miles of cropland and was directly adjacent to a busy highway?

I've been working with prairies a long time, and there are some individual sites I've been studying, managing, or visiting for 30 years or more. Even so, I keep finding new species I didn't know about and stories I can't believe I'd not heard before. I made a quick trip to our family prairie last week to check on grazing progress and to enjoy a quiet evening.

Kim and I just got back from a week in the mountains of Colorado. As part of the trip, we camped several nights in the Lost Creek Wilderness. A year ago, we learned some lessons about how best to vacation together in the outdoors, and I think we applied those lessons well this year. We set up a base camp from which Kim had access to running trails and I could quickly access photographic opportunities when the light was good.

Quick Announcement: We are hosting two Plant Identification/Habitat Management workshops in August. The first is at The Nature Conservancy's Platte River Prairies on August 12 and the second is at the Niobrara Valley Preserve on August 19. During the workshops, you'll learn how to identify lots of prairie plants and get whatever additional information I can think of for each of them.

In Part 1 of this topic, I wrote about the uncomfortable situation many prairie stewards find ourselves in - that our grasslands are getting "shrubbier" and it's increasingly difficult to prevent that. Because the drivers for that change are mostly beyond our control, it seems obvious that we need to start thinking differently about grassland management. There are still plenty of grasslands where we should work to prevent woody encroachment.

Back in 2022, I wrote a post about the increasing competitiveness of woody plants - especially clonal shrubs like dogwood, sumac, and others - in prairies. There are lots of factors that have led to more shrubs moving into grasslands, but increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere probably play the biggest role. Regardless of the reasons, more and more prairies are becoming something different than we've been used to.

Reminder - we are hosting two public field days at the Platte River Prairies and Niobrara Valley Preserve, respectively. The first is July 12 and the second is August 2. Read here for more information on both of them and click here for a detailed agenda of the Platte River Prairies event. These will be great opportunities to explore and learn about prairies with experts in a variety of topics.

This was a really fun week, but it was one jam packed with social interactions. The America's Grasslands Conference happened just down the road and I gave a few presentations and several tours associated (officially and unofficially) with that. I also had a great time meeting new people and catching up with old ones. By the end of Thursday, though, my social engine was pretty much out of gas (I should probably think about upgrading to a more eco-friendly social engine).

As I said back in early May, I'm spending a lot of my photography time in three 80x80-foot plots this summer. Each plot in part of a prairie that was grazed intensively most or all of last year. I'm hoping to highlight why I enjoy exploring places where the growth of normally-dominant plants (especially grasses) is temporarily suppressed from last year's grazing.

It's time again for the annual Platte River Prairies Field Day. This event is free to the public and a great chance to explore prairies and learn about ecology and conservation. The field day runs from 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. but you can come and go as you like. Click on this link to see the full day's agenda and more information.

I took some time off last week. Some of that time was spent just hanging around the house with family, but late in the week, I took a quick overnight photography trip out to the Nebraska Panhandle. I stopped a few times on the way there and back, but my primary destination was the Oglala National Grasslands.

I'm already missing my square meter plot and that whole project, but I'm soldiering on and finding other fun photographic opportunities. It's been fun to watch the growing season jump into full speed, despite really dry conditions. We've gotten some good rain across much of the state this last week or so, but most of the state is still in drought conditions.