Autumn Arrives
Grease Grass, a spooky time, and more...
Autumn is here, and it has been positively lovely and mostly warm and breezy. The past few mornings have been chilly, and frost is on the way.
The leaves are in the process of turning, and it’s nice to be able to see through the underbrush.
Blooms have mostly faded at Cedar Bluffs, but there are still a few treasures out there, even if they are a little battered.
Hello friend!
One morning I was walking and heard a truck coming up behind me. It was Steve Nugteren, Mahaska County Park Ranger. Below is a brief interview I did with him, followed by a lightly edited transcript. I encourage you to listen to the audio—you will be there just after dawn with me and Steve…
Me: Why are you here today?
Steve: I am going around to three different prairie restorations and taking photos at predetermined photo point locations. So we can monitor the prairie at each restoration location and yeah, monitor different species that come up, what it looks like this year in the first growing season, then also the following years as the prairie progresses and develops.
Me: And you burned this, what was this last spring?
Steve: Yes, we did burn it early spring because this area here had been planted previously but due to multiple factors it did not take so there’s very few native species in here.
Me: And so doing it again maybe?
Steve: So yeah, we reseeded it and I’ve kept it mowed this this year, the first growing season. And so hopefully next spring we will either burn it or keep it mowed and just monitor it to see if it needs it, what management it might need.
Me: And burning is a critical component to maintaining the prairie.
Steve: Correct, yes. As a natural occurrence, burning adds carbon to the soil. It also removes the grass thatch from the ground, so it allows sunlight to get down to the ground so that native plants can grow easier. And just reduces weed competition. I mean, the native plants are adapted to that, to that fire, so it’s a critical management tool that we use which is extremely effective and actually doesn’t take very long.
Me: And tell me about this plant you were you were teaching me something about.
Steve: Yeah, so in this prairie planting on the northeast side of Cedar Bluffs, there’s a native grass called, the common name is grease grass and I noticed a quite a flush of it this year and I hadn’t noticed that before and I haven’t seen it a lot in other prairies. It’s not one of the commonly known, the big five of tall grass prairie grasses. So I’m not super familiar with it, but it is kind of all over the place.
It’s a little bit shorter grass, doesn’t get super tall, maybe in that 3 to 4 ft range. But it’s quite prevalent this year, so it’s just kind of interesting to see given a certain year with certain conditions, environmental conditions, management techniques, what comes up during that growing season.
Me: And the stem is a little greasy.
Steve: Yeah, if you compare it to some other kind of grass is you do feel like a little bit of a film on it and even my hand you can’t see it but has little marks on it from that substance and I’m I’m not exactly sure the the biology behind all that but it’s really interesting.
Me: Well, great. I won’t keep you. You’ve got work to do. Thanks a lot.
Steve: Thanks, Bob.
Anyone know what kind of beetles that are on this milkweed?
One night I couldn’t sleep, and when out at maybe 3:00 AM. I was wearing my headlamp, and in the distance I saw a glow, and thought maybe someone was out in the darkness with me with their headlamp on. As I drew closer, it appeard to be a lit candle! I walked slowly toward the candle, not knowing what I was getting myself into, but I knew I had to blow the candle out, as the timber was dry, and we didn’t need a timber fire.
As I approached, I noticed another candle lit closer to the overlook. What’s going on? I thought. What am I getting myself into? Is there some kind of a spooky ritual happening at the overlook that I might interrupt? A jam I could get into?
When I got to the first candle, I saw it was battery powered. The next was too. Should I go to the overlook, I wondered…
Spooky…
I decided to go in and check it out. After all, I’m the volunteer park steward—and so I just decided to make a little noise, wander in, and be friendly, so I did.
No one was there.
I left the candles where they were, and picked them up the next morning. They’re in the bed of my pickup if they’re yours!
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This column will always be free, but if you can’t afford a subscription and would like to “buy me” a cup of coffee or lunch, my Venmo account is @Robert-Leonard-238.This photo is from a while back, but I hadn’t used it, and the insect on it delights me.
Milkweed bugs.
Thanks for taking us along on your saunter!