Anniversary Campaign by Carol Davit
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SUMMER 2014 VOLUME 35 NUMBER 2 MissouriThe Missouri Prairie Foundation Prairie JournalProtecting Native Grasslands 1966–2016 anniversaryth campaign Don’t Miss our June 26 Benefit & August 23 Dinner! Prairie Bioenergy Grassland Dragonflies Edgar Denison Tribute Gardening with Aquatic Plants E-news alerts provide MPF members with news about more events. Send your e-mail address to [email protected] to be added to the e-news list. MPF does not share e-mail addresses with other groups. Events are also posted at www.moprairie.org. Message from the President t seems like just a couple of years ago I was preparing a talk for the 40th anniversary of the Missouri Prairie Foundation. Now, we are gear- ing up to celebrate the 50th in 2016 by launching our 50th Anniversary IFundraising Campaign this summer. Time flies when you are having fun, and it is a pleasure to play a role in preserving remaining prairies, knowing these now rare natural communities have been around for several thousand years. I feel strongly that, if we study them, these remnant prairies hold the keys The mission of the Missouri Prairie Foundation (MPF) st is to protect and restore prairie and other for many solutions to 21 century challenges such as food and energy security, native grassland communities through economic development, and biodiversity adaptation to climate change. acquisition, management, education, and research. We have an example of one such creative Officers solution in this issue, “Grassland Restoration President Jon Wingo, Wentzville, MO to Renewable Energy.” The article describes Immediate Past President Stanley M. Parrish, Walnut Grove, MO MPF members MPF Technical Advisor Rudi Roeslein’s multi- Vice President Doris Sherrick, Peculiar, MO disciplinary approach to an environmental Vice President of Science and Management Bruce Schuette, Troy, MO have made this Secretary Van Wiskur, Pleasant Hill, MO problem that harnesses ecosystem services Treasurer Laura Church, Kansas City, MO nearly 50-year-old of prairie plants to provide bioenergy, clean Directors water, wildlife habitat, and carbon sequestra- Susan E. Appel, Leawood, KS organization and tion. Roeslein’s plan is a shining example of Dale Blevins, Independence, MO its conservation what is possible. Glenn Chambers, Columbia, MO As we move forward into the second half Brian Edmond, Walnut Grove, MO accomplishments Margo Farnsworth, Smithville, MO century of our conservation work, we wel- Page Hereford, St. Louis, MO possible. I invite come your involvement and ideas to expand Scott Lenharth, Nevada, MO our organization and apply knowledge gained Wayne Morton, M.D., Osceola, MO all members to from ancient, remnant plant communities for Steve Mowry, Trimble, MO Donnie Nichols, Warsaw, MO landscape-scale solutions to environmental join me in taking Jan Sassmann, Bland, MO challenges. Bonnie Teel, Rich Hill, MO part in our 50th I look forward to seeing you at our Prairies Presidential Appointees Anniversary & Pollinators event on June 26 in Kansas City Doug Bauer, St. Louis, MO and our MPF Annual Dinner to benefit MPF Galen Hasler, M.D., Madison, WI Campaign, to invest on August 23 in Springfield, featuring Dr. Rick Thom, Jefferson City, MO in future prairie Peter Raven as our guest speaker. Please see the Emeritus back cover for details about these exciting eve- Bill Crawford, Columbia, MO nings and other upcoming events. I hope you Bill Davit, Washington, MO protection. Lowell Pugh, Golden City, MO enjoy this issue. Owen Sexton, St. Louis, MO Jon R. Wingo, President Technical Advisors Max Alleger, Clinton, MO Jeff Cantrell, Neosho, MO Missouri Prairie Foundation Grow Native! Steve Clubine, Windsor, MO Committee Chair Carrie Coyne, holding LUSH Charity Pot Lotion, with, from left, Dennis Figg, Jefferson City, MO Elaine Chollet, Sara Stoker, and Kelsey Mike Leahy, Jefferson City, MO Eversmeyer of LUSH Cosmetics. Many Dr. Quinn Long, St. Louis, MO thanks to LUSH for its 2014 support Rudi Roeslein, St. Louis, MO of the Missouri Prairie Journal and for James Trager, Pacific, MO hosting MPF in its St. Louis Galleria Staff store on May 3. Carol Davit, Executive Director and Missouri Prairie Journal Editor, Jefferson City, MO Richard Datema, Prairie Operations Manager, Springfield, MO CAROL DAVIT CAROL 2 Missouri Prairie Journal Vol. 35 No. 2 Contents Editor: Carol Davit, 1311 Moreland Ave. Jefferson City, MO 65101 phone: 573-356-7828 [email protected] Summer2014 VOLUME 35, NUMBER 2 Designer: Tracy Ritter Technical Review: Mike Leahy, Bruce Schuette Proofing: Doris and Bob Sherrick, Bill Davit The Missouri Prairie Journal is mailed to Missouri Prairie Foundation members as a benefit of membership. Please contact the editor if you have questions about or ideas for content. Regular membership dues to MPF are $35 a year. To become a member, to renew, or to give a 12 4 free gift membership when you renew, send a check to 2 Message from the President MEMBERSHIP ADDRESS: Missouri Prairie Foundation 4 MPF Prairie Conservation, Education, c/o Martinsburg Bank and Outreach Update P.O. Box 856 By Carol Davit Mexico, MO 65265-0856 th or become a member on-line at 8 MPF 50 Anniversary Campaign www.moprairie.org By Carol Davit 12 From Grassland Restoration to General e-mail address [email protected] Renewable Energy By Sheldon Ripson Toll-free number 1-888-843-6739 16 Prairie Odonates: Dragonflies and Damselflies www.moprairie.org of our Grasslands Questions about your membership 16 or donation? Contact Jane Interview with Richard Day/Text from Linden Trial Schaefer, who administers 20 A Tribute to Edgar W. Denison MPF’s membership database at [email protected]. By Carol Davit and Scott Woodbury 24 Grow Native! On the cover: Missouri’s Native Aquatics A male eastern By Ann Wakeman pondhawk (Erythemis simplicicollis) dragonfly at MPF’s Golden Prairie 28 Steve Clubine’s Native Warm-Season Grass News in Barton County. Photo by ©Richard Day/ 29 Jeff Cantrell’s Education on the Prairie Daybreak Imagery. See the article on Prairie 30 Prairie Postings Odonates on page 16. 20 Back cover Calendar of Events Vol. 35 No. 2 Missouri Prairie Journal 3 #81779 #8426 MPF Prairie Conservation,UPDATE Education, and Outreach he year-round management of the Missouri Prairie Foundation’s (MPF’s) prairies requires relentless vigilance and hard physical labor. This work is carried out daily by MPF’s Prairie TOperations Manager Richard Datema, and also regularly by board members and volunteers Scott Lenharth, Stan Parrish, and Brian Edmond. Many other members volunteer as well, and all efforts are greatly appreciated. The results of their diligence are evident in the high number of native prairie species sustained on MPF land, and documented in such reports as the Golden Prairie Floristic Integrity Report prepared by Justin Thomas of the Institute for Botanical Training, funded by MPF in 2013. MPF continues aggressive restoration of its Stilwell Prairie, a 376-acre tract in Vernon County. Thanks to funding from a Missouri Bird Conservation Initiative Grant, a Missouri Conservation Heritage Foundation grant, funding from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and contributions Native Bee Expert Mike Arduser and from MPF members, more than 90 acres of this tract were cleared of trees through the work of MPF Executive Director Carol Davit at a tree-grinding contractor. Datema also is controlling fescue and sericea lespedeza, and hand the Maritz Green Vendor Fair on May 7, sharing the importance of prairie, cutting woody invasives as part of MPF’s Stilwell Prairie Restoration Plan. A WHIP contract from the pollinators, and native plants with Natural Resources Conservation Service, secured through the efforts of MPF board memberScott Maritz employees. Lenharth, is making possible the restoration planting of eight hillside acres at Stilwell. MPF is also working to continually improve its management methods. Led by Vice President of Science and Management Bruce Schuette, MPF is working to refine the use of herbicides to control invasives while also protecting prairie shrubs, and adjusting prescribed burning protocols to benefit the broadest number of prairie species. MPF has exciting news regarding prairie pollinators: we are able to contract with Native Bee Expert Mike Arduser, recently retired from the Missouri Department of Conservation, to conduct several pollinator surveys on MPF land in 2014, as well as carry out some outreach and education endeavors. From January to May, MPF staff, several board members, and other volunteers engaged in numerous outreach activities to present the prairie conservation message and promote the use of native plants. Numerous Missouri Master Naturalists, led by Judy Payne, organized and staffed an MPF and Grow Native! booth at the Kansas City Metro Lawn & Garden Show. Four MPF board members gave presentations or staffed booths at events: President Jon Wingo, to the Eastern Beekeepers Association; Vice President Doris Sherrick, to employees of MRI Global in Kansas City; Board Member Dale Blevins at the Independence, MO Green Living Expo; and Emeritus Board Member Bill Davit at the East Central College Earth Day event. MPF Executive Director Carol Davit gave a presentation to the Washington University Women’s Club, and had booths at the Western Nursery and Landscape Association; at Kirkwood Earth Day, with Grow Native! Committee Member Bill Ruppert, volunteers and MPF members Bill CASEY GALVIN CASEY GALVIN and Joyce Davit, and Jane Schaefer, who administers MPF’s membership database; at Whole MPF Board Member Scott Lenharth Foods Market® on Brentwood in St. Louis; at the Monsanto Employees Earth Day with MPF member recently found additional species at and volunteer Lee Phillion; at LUSH Fresh Cosmetics in the Galleria mall with Jane Schaefer, MPF Stilwell Prairie: the fall-blooming downy gentian (Gentiana puberulenta), member and volunteer Caroline Sant, and Grow Native! Committee Chair Carrie Coyne; and at above, Indian turnip (Pediomelum the Maritz Corporation Green Vendor Fair, with Mike Arduser.