L a k e K a th e r i n e N a t u r e C e n t e r & B o ta n i c G a r d e n s V o lu m e 1 , Is s u e 2 A p r i l 20 10 T HE B UZZ N ’ B LOOM QUARTERLY BURN NOTICE INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Burn Notice 1,2 Volunteers You Should know 1,2 Mayapples and you Nature Happenings 2 2, 3 Discover Lake Katherine 4 Tales from the Field 5 Volunteer Work Day Turning Leaves Upcoming Events Nature in Short • Local wetlands come alive with frogs chorusing • Spring ephemerals start blooming • Migrant birds start arriving 5 6 6 At this time of year, smoke starts emerging from forests and prairies in Illinois. In what is becoming a more common happenstance, fire is being returned to the environment where it has been repressed for years. Acres of prairie and woodland are being prescribed with fire, and why? What is the purpose of all this burning when in other parts of the country fires are actively discouraged or cause mass destruction? Well, those fires in themselves are a legacy of fire suppression, but more on that later. So, why burn? In Illinois, fire is regarded as a natural component of the ecosystem, except around natural fire breaks, such as rivers. Fires regularly burned large parts of Illinois; we even believe that Native Americans set fires to encourage grass lands, which in turn encouraged large herds of bison. 10,000 years of this fire regime has created native ecosystems that are, if not fire dependent, then fire resistant. Prairie grasses tend to be fire resistant, as most of VOLUNTEERS YOU Frank works as an Associate Professor of Biology at Trinity Christian College and has taught there for 5 years, often bringing his students to Lake Katherine to study birds, reptiles and to see how much teasel is in the prairie. He has an M.S. & Ph.D. in Zoology received from the SHOULD The Buzz N Bloom In Full Burn their biomass is held within their roots, with the blades creating tinder for fire. Even some trees, such as Bur Oaks, are fire tolerant. The frequency of fire dictates how an area will look. Less fire results in woodland; more fire leads to oak savannah; and regular fire creates prairie. KNOW University of Florida. His doctoral research was about the possible trade-offs in toad tadpoles between fast growth, fat storage, and early metamorphosis in ponds that dry up. He was born in Colorado and grew up in Nebraska and now resides in Midlothian with his wife and son. The benefits of prescribed burning are becoming better understood. Land Managers are using it as an effective tool to help return areas to a native ecotype. (cont page 3) FRANK HENSLEY (NRMC) Q. What was your first experience of nature? A.I saw my first frog in the creek behind my babysitter’s house when I was about 4 years old. I still recall it but I doubt my memory is that accurate. Q. What first motivated you to get involved in the natural world? A. How could I not? So much to see and explore! Q. What keeps you returning to nature? A. I’m drawn to beauty, novelty, and drama in nature. Beauty – some things are fascinating no matter how often I experience them. I never get tired of hearing sandhill cranes trilling overhead, and I feel compelled to catch every snake I see, even if I’ve caught many of the species in the last hour. Page 2 V o lu m e 1 , I s s u e 2 V O L U N T E E R S Y O U S H O U L D K N OW FRANK HE NSELY (C ONTINUED FROM Novelty – every year I see new flowers, new insects, and new birds that I’ve never seen before in my life. Drama – I love to watch the action in nature. Bluejays mobbing a Red-tailed hawk, a spider wrapping a bee that blundered into the web. Q. What was the last unexpected pleasure you experienced while out in nature? A.I spotted a small flock of Gadwalls on a pond last fall. I don’t get to spend much time birding during fall migration, so I go sometimes several years without seeing species that are relatively common. It’s a always a treat to see them again after a long absence. Q. What past experience do you recall as if it happened yesterday? A. My memory isn’t what I wish it was, but if I could bring back a memory in vivid detail it would be seeing the Costa Rican Golden Toad in 1989. They are almost certainly extinct now, and I was the last person to make a documented, verified sighting. Frank Hensley plus (Nerodia sipedon) Bitter-sweet. Maybe I don’t want to remember it too well... Q. Do you have a favorite "getaway" location? If so, where? MAYAPPLES AND Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum) The Mayapple is one of the classic plants of Illinois woodlands and forests, (sometimes called Mandrake, although this is an incorrect term for this plant). The plant has many interesting aspects to it. Called Mayapple because of how its May blooming waxy, As a herpetologist, I don’t get warm fuzzy feelings. Ask a mammalogist about those” Frank Hensley 1) A. Lake Katherine, of course! Actually, I live a short walk from Sundrop Prairie in Midlothian, and I love to slip over there with my camera. Q. Where is the one location that took your breath away upon first seeing it? A. The Sonoran Desert has to be the place. I lived in Arizona for seven years, and just fell in love with the desert. YOU white or yellow flower resembles apple blossoms. Its fruit is mature in August and, in fact, is edible but only when fully mature; when picked it should fall off the plant. However, this plant is risky to eat; the rhizomes and all parts of the plant are poisonous except the fruit and only when the fruit is ripe. It has been used medicinally as an NATURE HAPPENINGS “Snake!” . . . You might hear that pretty soon, as rising temperatures will bring our local reptiles and amphibians out of their winter slumber. Our local amphibians and reptiles have a variety of strategies for avoiding the consequences of winter’s cold. Some head for the bottom of lakes and ponds, out of reach of freezing temperatures. Others do the same thing on land, digging below the frost line or finding some natural passage such as a PAG E emetic, and a cathartic, and Native Americans have even used it to commit suicide. Plant colonies spread through rhizomes and colonies can be up to 40 years old. The Mayapple is one of the classic harbingers of spring with its umbrella like leaves. It can be found at Lake Katherine and many other local woodland areas. BY FRANK HENSLEY crack in limestone or a root hole to find their way deep enough to avoid the ice and snow. Some species, such as Wood Frogs, Spring Peepers and Upland Chorus Frogs, can’t go deep enough to avoid freezing temperatures, so they rely on antifreeze in their cells that protects them from the damage caused by internal ice crystals. But now it is time for reptiles and amphibians to wake up. Most individuals hibernate alone, but some species hibernate in groups, and their spring awakening is an optimal time for mating. But whether they hibernate individually or in groups, many species migrate between summer and winter habitats. For a snake or frog, just a few hundred meters can be a longdistance migration, but since they don’t fly overhead in noisy flocks, we’re not very likely to notice these events unless we pay close attention. T h e B u z z N ’ B l oo m Page 3 BURN NOTICE Fire has the benefit of helping remove invasive species; these species tend not to be fire tolerant as their roots are not as deep. Regular burns in an area favor native plants and discourage invasive species. It also reduces the need to use herbicide on invasive plants, as fires can help remove some of the undesirable plants. Fires are inherently dangerous. Proper training, experience, and local regulations need to be followed. As long as proper protocol and procedure are followed then prescribed burning is a very effective and safe tool for land management. (CONTINUED Some have asked, “When you burn, does that just release a lot of carbon into the atmosphere?” The answer is no, and this is why: • Fires promote increased biomass as native plants tend to have more biomass then invasive species. • Burning native plants does release carbon, but carbon is sequestered back when the plants grow again. • These new plants also get a shot of nutrients from ash and increased sunlight 1) To summarize, controlled fires are good, because they: out West. The western states of the U.S. have had a tradition of preventing all fires. But, the ecosystems there are semi fire dependent, as fires help seedlings sprout. The extreme fire suppression in the last 30 years has led to a build-up of dead material in the woods, which has led to much larger and out of control fires. Controlled burning in some of these areas would have helped reduce the likelihood of the massive fires. That, coupled with drought conditions and increased land use, has created large fires and those fires have come into closer contact with people’s lives. This brings us to the point I mentioned earlier about fires NATURE HAPPENINGS In southern Illinois there is a road through the Shawnee National Forest that is nicknamed “Snake Road” because it is adjacent to limestone bluffs that provide ideal habitat for over-wintering, and adjacent to bottomland habitats that provide rich foraging for snakes in summer. Every spring and fall hundreds of snakes, of more than a dozen FROM PAGE (CONTINUED species, cross this road on their seasonal migration. Also frequently spotted on this road are groups of enthusiastic snake lovers. Yes, that’s right. There are people who travel hundreds of miles just to witness this natural phenomenon. On a good day a group may see two dozen or more snakes crossing the road. People take pictures, Eastern Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis) photographed at a Chicago area nature preserve. Snake enthusiasts watching a Black Rat Snake (Pantherophis obsoletus) on Snake Road FROM PAGE • help increase biomass • reduce invasive species • help reduce carbon in the atmosphere • reduce herbicide usage However, as mentioned before, they have to be controlled carefully and with plenty of safety procedures in place. Lake Katherine will be having a burn sometime this spring. But, that will depend on weather conditions and the amount of last-minute volunteers. Anyone interested in volunteering for the prairie burn should contact Gareth Blakesley. 2) and teach others about the beauty and diversity of snakes found here. The snakes are strictly protected by law and collecting or harassing them is not only prohibited by law enforcement officers, but by the community of snake lovers who gather to see the action. But you don’t have to drive to southern IL to witness snake migration, if you’re patient and have sharp eyes. In the forest preserves in Chicagoland on mild spring days it is quite possible to encounter several Eastern Garter Snakes (Thamnophis sirtalis) in the course of a single afternoon as they make their way from winter hibernacula to the wetland areas where they will spend the summer. Look sharp and enjoy! I felt that the grass was the country, as the water is the sea. ~Jim Burden in My Antonia by Willa Cather ~ Page 4 The yellow school bus slows to a halt in the parking lot. Dozens of eager faces press against the windows. The bus doors open and out they bounce. The teachers try to form an orderly line, but the students are too excited. The field trip at Lake Katherine is about to begin………… The teacher‘s mantra “Stay on the path and don’t touch anything!” has no bearing today. That rule doesn’t apply at Lake Katherine. I am a volunteer field trip leader at Lake Katherine. I guide the kids, teachers, and chaperones through the trails, gardens, and nature center. I encourage all of them to feel, smell, listen, observe, and sometimes, taste, whatever nature has to offer. The nature walk begins by following the path to the top of the Waterfall Garden. Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better. ~ Albert Einstein ~ Along the way, we stop to watch the ducks paddle around in the shallow water, pulling algae from rocks, tails in the air. Several kids take the temperature of the water with my thermometers, other kids pull a bit of algae off the rocks so we all can smell and touch it. No one wants to taste it. Everyone feels the water. At the top of the waterfall, we hear the rush of the water over rocks. Everyone wants to stand on the rocks. No one is allowed to. We smell the pine trees, our fingers get sticky from examining the pine cones. Look up! Geese are honking over our heads, flying in formation, descending onto the lake with a splash. Next stop, the Herb Garden. V o lu m e 1 , I s s u e 2 DISCOVER LAKE KATHERINE BY SUE PALKA We touch the leaves of the lamb’s ears, and talk about their softness. Those leaves were used for bandages in the Civil War. We brush the leaves of the mints, smells like toothpaste; the lemon balm, smells like Lemon Pledge; the oregano, smells like pizza; the lavender, smells like shampoo. Basil, sage, pineapple mint, chocolate mint, calendula, chives, everybody is rubbing leaves and smelling their fingers! Right next to the Herb Garden, is the Butterfly Garden. All these plants were chosen to attract butterflies, and sustain their life cycle. Milkweed is the monarch butterfly’s choice for laying eggs. Dill and parsley are the swallowtail butterfly’s favorite for laying eggs. We look on the underside of the leaves for eggs, and on the stems for the caterpillars. These plants will later feed the tiny caterpillars that hatch from the eggs. Later, the flowers in this garden will provide nectar for the adult butterflies after their metamorphosis. Spiders, grasshoppers, bees, and other insects are plentiful here, and they all inspire questions from the kids. Once, an uninvited katydid sat on my shoulder for the entire nature walk. We walk through the forest on our way to the Beaver Sue Palka and her cohorts Lodge. Along the way, depending on the season, we look for nests, mushrooms, flowers, leaves, and seeds, and talk about what we find. We bite the crabapples, they are very tart, and we never . eat a mushroom We push over a fallen branch or a large rock to see what lives beneath it. There are lots of ants, termites, roly-poly bugs, millipedes, and beetles. These are the clean-up crew of the forest, I explain. We always return the branch or rock to it’s original spot, after all, that is something’s home. At the Beaver Lodge, we observe all the sticks and branches that the beavers have collected. I explain where the entrance to the lodge is, and what the beavers eat. I tell them that all the trees at Lake Katherine are wrapped with hardware wire to protect them from the hard-working beavers. We search for tree stumps that the beavers have gnawed and find several, sharpened . to a point like a pencil Only once have I seen a beaver out in daylight. During an especially noisy, active field trip, a large beaver swam back and forth in front of the lodge, slapping his tail on the water to scare us away. Now it’s time to return to the Nature Center to continue their exploration of Lake Katherine with a visit to the animals and reptiles downstairs, and an ageappropriate activity led by . other volunteers I enjoy being a volunteer field trip leader at Lake Katherine. I enjoy talking with school kids about insects, plants, and birds. The field trips never get stale because every day is a new . experience in nature The fresh air and exercise are a bonus. Man’s heart, away from nature, becomes hard; (the Lakota) knew that lack of respect for growing, living things soon led to lack of respect for humans too. ~Luther Standing Bear (c.1868-1939)~ T h e B u z z N ’ B l oo m TALES BY Page 5 FROM THE FIELD IRENE PANOZZO Weekend Getaway Kayaking in Homer Alaska one summer with my sisters and good friend, I witnessed a most amazing site. A bald eagle caught sight of a fish and gracefully hovered for a few seconds over the water not more than 15 yards in front of us. We froze as we saw the eagle grab his meal and take off. What to me was a special memory of a great vacation can now be experienced close to home. In the mid seventies the American Bald Eagle population in Illinois was virtually zero. The eagle’s recovery from hunting, habitat loss, and the devastating effects of DDT make it a real success story. The eagle celebrated its most recent triumph in 2007 when it was removed from the endangered species list. Bald eagles migrate south to the Illinois River Valley from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Canada to where the water remains open all winter for fishing. You can see these North American natives only 80 miles from Chicago on the Illinois River at Starved Rock State Park. Across the river from Starved Rock you can also participate in an eagle watch at Illinois Waterway Visitor Center. The center has a large outdoor viewing gallery. This is a great place to watch them fish for gizzard shad below the lock and dam, or see them perch in trees on Plum Island. Eagles return to their breeding grounds by mid-March and will return again by late October to early November. Starved Rock Waterfall Bald Eagle Photo courtesy of Barb Killelea ~ John Burroughs ~ For more information about eagle watching close to home check out theses websites: http://www.starvedrockstatepark.org/ http://www.illinoisraptorcenter.org/eagle.html Volunteer Work Day February 27th 2010 On February 27th volunteers came out and helped Lake Katherine. In the first of its kind at LK, we had a drop in volunteer day. Volunteers came and helped remove buckthorn, honeysuckle , and other woody invasive species. It was a snowy 28 degree day yet 12 volunteers turned up to lend their brawn. Kenneth Neu received a ticket for our Spring Fishing day for volunteering his time to Lake Katherine. Here are couple of pictures from the day. I go to nature to be soothed and healed ,and to have my senses put in time once more. Check our back page for upcoming volunteer opportunities Page 6 V o lu m e 1 , Is s u e 2 friendships work. L ak e K at h e r ine N at ur e C e n t e r & B o t an i c G a r d e n s 7402 West Lake Katherine Drive Palos Heights, IL 60463 Why Do People Volunteer? There are many reasons why people volunteer – some are: Phone: 708.361.1873 Fax: 708.361.2978 www.lakekatherine.org The natural resources management committee mission is to promote, improve and fundraise in regards to all matters pertaining to Lake Katherine's Natural Resources. There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, There is a rapture on the lonely shore, There is society, where none intrudes, By the deep sea, and music in its roar: I love not man the less, but Nature more. ~ George Gordon, Lord Byron from 'Childe Harold's Pilgrimage' ~ Many volunteers think that they are very fortunate to live the way they do and want to give something back. Many people choose to volunteer because of the personal benefits that volunteering has on their character; making them a better person. Many people choose to volunteer simply for the pride that comes from completing something. People often find lifelong through volunteer Some people volunteer to meet a s ch ool o r pr o fess i ona l requirement in order to graduate or maintain a certification. ability, lower rates of d e pr e s s i o n , a n d l e s s incidence of heart disease. So... DARE TO CARE! People volunteer because of the enjoyment and fun they experience. In addition to these reasons, volunteering is good for you! It’s true. The Health Benefits of Volunteering: A Review of Recent Research (Corporation for National and Community Service, Office of Research and Policy Development, 2007) has found a significant connection between volunteering and good health. The report shows that volunteers have greater longevity, higher functional UPCOMING EVENTS Spring Fishing Day Other Venues Earth Day Orland Grassland April 10th $75 a person, a great opportunity to fish the lake finishing off with a meal and drinks 7 a.m.-12 p.m. April 24th 9am to 12pm Prairie habitat restoration activities www.orlandgrassland.org Earth/Arbor Day May 1st Native plant sale University of Illinois Extension 11am to 3pm River Rescue Day May 8th Help clean up trash around the lake and remove garlic mustard a major invasive species 9am to 1pm Urban Bird Celebration May 15th Variety of activities focused on learning more about birds 10 am to 2pm (donations accepted) Volunteer Work Day Community Day April 17th The NRMC will be working at Trinity Christian College and Nabel woods 8am to 10am Trinity College 10:30am to 1pm at Nabel woods Lake Katherine is owned and supported by the City of Palos Heights and managed by the Lake Katherine Nature Center and Botanic Gardens, a non-profit, tax-exempt 501 © (3) charitable organization.