Students from St. Mary's Presented Soil Painting at the Environmental

Home , Phoradendron leucarpum

Vol. 6, No. 4. The Internet Site for Environmental Information in Oklahoma February 2018 - March 2018 Students from St. Mary’s Presented Soil Painting

at the

Environmental Education Expo

From left to right: Sawyer, Boston, Amaar, Drue, Evi, Stella, and Umar

Wearing T-shirts created for the occasion:

Back row: Umar and Amaar Aslam

Front row: Drue and Rhodes Molenda

In this issue ... Quiz!! Quiz!! Quiz!! Students from St. Mary’s Present Soil Painting In honor of the Year of the Bird, can you At the Environmental Education Expo Cover identify this bird? Editorial Page 2 Not an Endorsement, but ... 2 Hint: It is known that this bird can fre- Quiz!! Quiz!! Quiz!! 2 quently be spotted in Oklahoma in March Mammal Madness 2018 3 late February - early March. The National Gardening Association with Nitrogen Game 4 - 5 Leopold Education Workshop 6 Water’s Worth It! 7 Sutton Scholarship Award 7 Oklahoma Envirothon 8 “The Science of Hiking” 8 Upcoming Events at Hackberry Flat Center 9 2018 Monarch Conservation Webinar Series 10 The Oklahoma Garden Planning Guide 11 Oklahoma Garden Fest 2018 11 © Mark Olivier | Macaulay Library 2018 Tulsa Metropolitan Area Recycling Directory 12 Okies for Monarchs 12 Answer on Page 11. 20th Annual Wildlife Youth Camp 12 Live Bald Eagle Nest Camera 12 Lek Treks and More 13 10th Annual Red Slough Birding Convention 13 An environmental education newsletter for Oklahoma Conservation Leadership Academy 14 the citizens of Oklahoma sponsored by the Department of Biology at Oklahoma City “Tree Communities with Lichens and Mosses 14 University. Items appearing in this newslet- Mistletoe: Oklahoma’s State Flower? 15-16 ter do not necessarily reflect the opinions or endorsement of the sponsoring organization. Green Words for All Ages 16 The EnvironMentor on Facebook 17 Editor: Beth Landon [email protected] QuikLIST 17 Calendar Form 18 Please send any submissions to The EnvironMentor Newsletter or The Calendar to: Not an Endorsement , but ... [email protected]

Published bimonthly each year. The next deadline is January 20, 2018.

If you wish to receive an email announcing when a new issue Just enter your email to join nature lovers from around the world in has been uploaded, please send making 2018 the Year of the Bird. Each month we will send you one an email to [email protected]. simple action you can take to make a difference for birds and for the planet. Download your EnvironMentor Newsletter in pdf form from: The Year of the Bird Partners are: http://www.okcu.edu/environmentor Cornell Lab or Ornithology Click on the URL below National Audubon Society Visit The EnvironMentor Calendar at to sign up with your National Geographic http://www.okcu.edu/environmentor/ Scroll down from The Newsletters. Regularly email address. BirdLife International updated as information becomes available. https://secure.everyaction.com/dS085IbtnkSVsloby5h1ig2 2

Here is your gateway to March Mammal Madness 2018:

https://mammalssuck.blogspot.com/2018/02/march-mammal- madness-2018.html#!/2018/02/march-mammal-madness-2018.html

Here is a selection of coming attractions:

The American Society of Mammalogists will once again be tweeting photos from their Mammal Im- ages Library. Folks contributing from ASM include Brian Tanis, Sean P. Maher, Jessica Light, and more! All the images there are free to download, and higher-res files of all the images can be re- quested. The big bonus for the Mammal Images Library is that all the images have correct IDs and are up-to-date taxonomically. What an amazing resource!

In 2018 we welcome the contributions of the eMammal team. They will be live-tweeting camera trap photos captured from citizen scientists and professionals all around the world. eMammal houses the largest database of mammal detections in the world and includes open access favorite photos and data. Staff contributing includes Stephanie Schuttler and Roland Kays from the NC Museum of Nat- ural Sciences, and Jen Zhao and Megan Blance of the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute.

The Aldo Leopold Foundation @AldoLeopoldFdn will again provide the 'Inspirational Intermission" images & quotes about conservation & land stewardship in both historical and contemporary con- text. The Foundation’s mission is to foster care for people, land, and communities through the lega- cy of Aldo Leopold, best known as the author of the conservation classic A Sand County Alma- nac and founder of the field of Wildlife Ecology. They also have a very active FB page. Director of Education Jennifer Kobylecky & Public Program Coordinator Anna Hawley will be spearheading efforts from the Foundation.

ASU Library is getting involved too! Anali Perry, René Tanner, Mimmo Bonanni, Ashley Gohr, and Joel Smalley have created a guide and curated online resources that lists recommended resources, targeting a general K-12 audience to help with researching their brackets. A link to the guide will be posted here when the bracket goes live March 1st!

The Environmentor Newsletter has joined this Association (it is free to join). We have been receiving the weekly newsletter for a couple of weeks; there are at least five articles, at least ten photographs, and “Notable Discussions from our Forums.” They end each newsletter with “The Numbers from Last Week” which this last week read: “864 members joined. 4,673 posts written in our forums. 1,070 photos posted to the plant database. 974 plants added to personal inventory lists.”

To top all these riches of information are some uplift- ing sayings most of which tell us what we can learn from plants such as:

From:

“Although 78% of the air we breathe is nitrogen (N) and although there is much nitrogen tied up in the organic fraction of the soil, plants are unable to use this nitrogen for their growth. A process known as nitrogen fixation – biological and synthetic industrial fixation – must occur for nitrogen in the air to be converted to forms plants can use. Use the following game after a discussion on nitrogen fixation, ammonium, volatilization, nitrate and denitrification.”

“Game Directions Number of players per group: 2 to 6 Rules 1. Players will decide who will play first, second, third…sixth. 2. Players will place their markers in the space labeled Atmospheric Fixation, Bio- logical Fixation or Industrial Fixation. Up to two markers may be placed on each of the labeled spaces for entry into the given pathways. 3. Players will take turns spinning the spinner and moving their markers according to the directions designated by where the pointer of the spinner stops. Players must move their markers in the direction indicated by the arrows on the game board. 4. If a player lands on a labeled Kickstart space, he or she will advance his or her marker 10 spaces. Kickstart spaces help equalize distances of pathways comprised of a greater number of spaces. Winning the Game The first player who returns his marker to Atmospheric Nitrogen will explain his or her point of entry (meaning of atmospheric fixation, industrial fixation, or biological fixation) and will describe the pathway fol- lowed. Once the player has successfully completed the explanation, that player is declared the winner.”

For the complete information on this game and to get the spinner click Game Board on the here: http://blog.nutrientsforlife.org/the-nitrogen-cycle-game-2/ next page.

GAME

"The 2018 'Water's Worth It' poster contest is now open to all children from kindergarten through 5th grade. You have until March 12 to submit the artwork. Win- ners will be announced during the 2nd Friday Art Walk in April AND the overall winner's artwork will be printed on the 2018 Earth Day t-shirts!"

For additional information please contact Debbie Smith, [email protected] or (405) 292-9731. Or go to the website: http://www.normanok.gov/content/2018-waters-worth-it-poster-contest-now-open

View the student conservation art entries for the 2018 Sutton Award in Jenks and see the amazing creativity that Oklahoma high school art students are capable of! Students create original art ac- companied by an essay about a current conservation issue. About 130 entries may be viewed M-F from 1-3 pm at The Hive gallery in Jenks (115 S First St). Winning entries will be on display at the NatureWorks Art Show and Sale February 24-25 at the Renaissance Hotel in Tulsa. Don't miss it! Here are just a few entries from last year.

http://www.suttoncenter.org/art

Sutton Scholarship Award

Sutton Award for excellence in com- municating current conservation issues

Honoring the contributions of individuals anywhere who effectively use the visual arts to convey current conservation mes- sages Providing scholarship funds to Oklahoma high school students who use visual media to convey current conservation mes- sages.

“The Science of Hiking” … from Medium “George Orwell, Thomas De Quincey, Friedrich Nietzsche, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Søren Kierke- gaard, Thomas Mann, Vladimir Nabokov, Henry David Thoreau and countless other writers have remarked on the effects of time spent in nature on our intellectual and creative faculties. The physi- cist Werner Heisenberg was a keen hiker, as were Paul Dirac, Otto Frisch and Lise Meitner, all of whom reported having come to key scientific discoveries while out walking in the hills ... Over the last few decades, the restorative effects of nature — understood intuitively by writers and artists for centuries— have become a key focus of scientific research. With more than 50% of the world’s population now living in cities, interest in the ramifications of our increasing alienation from the natural world has led to an increased understanding of the importance of nature exposure in terms of its impact on our psychological well-being.” To read the full article click on the URL below: https://medium.com/@jameshorrox/the-science-of-hiking-53e8260ab46d 8

Our Friends at the Oklahoma Coopterative Extension Service are urging everyone to http://factsheets.okstate.edu/documents/hla- begin planning their home garden now. 6004-oklahoma-garden-planning-guide/

Along with the Oklahoma Garden Planning Guide there is information about the following: Choosing the site Planning the garden Gardening Tips Avoiding mistakes

from: http://jobbind.com/garden-exterior- design-ideas/raised-garden-bed-designs-living For more Fact Sheets on a -off-the-land-raised-bed-garden-ideas-using- variety of topics click on: free-materials-creative-ideas-for-gardens/ Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service OSU Extension Fact Sheets

Saturday, May 5, 2018 9:00 A.M. - 4:00 P.M.

OKC Garden Fest is back a the the Myriad Gardens again and will fea- ture herbs, perennials, annuals, native plants, culinary herbs, vege- tables plants, roses, produce, pot- tery, jewelry, wineries, succulents, ornamental grasses, milkweed, pollinator plants, wildlife habitat and food trucks. Activities for children will also be offered and there is no charge for attending. Wanting to start a butterfly garden or Monarch Waystation? We’ll have an intentionally- managed garden that offers food and habitat for the Monarch butterfly population. Sev- eral vendors will offer milkweed for Monarchs along with other pollinator friendly plants. New this year will be educational talks and demonstrations about gardens and pollinators. Location Answer to Quiz! Quiz! Quiz!: Myriad Botanical Gardens American Woodcock 301 West Reno Avenue Oklahoma City, OK https://www.facebook.com/events/396516614133338/

An initiative of the Oklahoma Monarch & Pollinator Collaborative, a statewide group of 40+ organizations and citizens The M.e.t.’s Recycling Directory is the ency- working together to ensure thriving Monarch clopedia of recycling for the Tulsa Metro- migrations for generations to come. politan Area. In our directory, you will find This seems to be a recent effort, but they up-to-date information on the best places to have an exhaustive list of events and a map of pollinator gardens in and around Oklahoma locally dispose of various items. Click here City and Tulsa. You can help them build their to access the full PDF version of the direc- list of gardens all over the State of Oklahoma. tory. For a printed booklet, call our office at 918-584-0584. You can check out the website at :

http://www.okiesformonarchs.org/

Now Taking Check out the Applications for the Live Bald Eagle Nest 20th Annual Wildlife Youth Camp Camera

“A week full of fun outdoor activities, conservation education and team building is in store for up to 35 lucky teens selected to attend the 20th annual Wildlife Youth Camp. Applications are now being accepted for this summer's once-in-a -lifetime event.”

“Applicants must be Oklahoma residents who will be 14 to 16 years old as of June 24, 2018.” “The application is online at The feed is from the Sequoyah National https://www.wildlifedepartment.com/education/ Wildlife Refuge near Vian, Oklahoma. youthcamp.htm. There is also a way to view this on your The page also includes additional information about the camp and photos from previous mobile devises. Check this out! years. Applications must be submitted by 4:30 p.m. April 13, 2018.” http://www.suttoncenter.org/live-bald- eagle-nest-camera/

Registration is now open for the 2018 Lesser Prairie-Chicken Festival! April 11-18, 2018 Featuring keynote speaker Al Blatt

Al Blatt of Hartland, Minnesota is a writer, speaker, storytell- er and humorist. Al writes humor and nature columns for many newspapers and does regular radio shows about nature. He writes a number of popular cartoon strips that are syndicated nationally and is author of the book, "A Life Gone to the Birds." He is a columnist for Bird Watcher’s Digest and writes for a number of magazines and books. He is a trustee of the American Bald Eagle Foundation in Haines, Alaska. Al has hosted TV shows, speaks around the country, and has re- ceived numerous awards. Al speaks to anyone who will listen. His mother thinks he is special.

Join us in Woodward, Oklahoma, in northwest Oklahoma April 11- 18 for the 2018 Lesser Prairie-Chicken Festival. Besides seeing the Lesser Prairie-Chickens (and so far 99% of participants have had close looks!) and birding around northwest Oklahoma, we are again offering these special features for 2017:

An opportunity to view Greater Prairie-Chickens from blinds in Osage County, Oklahoma! Packages designed specifically for photographers!

To access the registration pdf click on this URL: http://lektreks.org/lek-treks-2018.pdf

If you have any question, feel free to contact John Kennington at 918-809-6325 or [email protected]

In the Year of the Bird:

“Annual Convention Marks a Decade of Bird Watching”

“Three of Oklahoma’s bird watching hotspots will be toured as part of the 10th Annual Red Slough Birding Convention, hosted by the Idabel Chamber of Commerce May 5-8, 2018. The $125 registration fee covers the six tour options (including transportation to the conservation areas), three evening presentations, a banquet and the 2018 birding convention T- shirt. More information about the event, including the registration form and past bird lists can be found at red- sloughconvention.com 13

Now known as the Oklahoma Applications for the 2018-19 OCLA program are now being accepted. Conservation Leadership Academy CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE APPLICATION PACKET. (OCLA), the program was designed to bring engaged, creative Deadline for submission is March 2, 2018 and active members of the community together to learn about science-based conservation and how they can become conservation stewards in their community and beyond. For the first year of it's launch, the program was originally focused on Oklahoma City. This year, we are expanding our efforts to include representatives from around the state.

OCLA is a yearlong program consisting of workshops, field trips, meetings, and socials.

"Tree Communities with Lichens and Mosses" Saturday, April 14, 2018 Presenter, Dr. Sheila Strawn, Lichenologist

Tree Communities will first show participants how to differentiate between mosses and lichens, where each grows, and how each reproduces. In the class we will describe their most important characteristics and how to begin identifying them. Websites will be given for further study. During the field study, you'll learn how lichens and mosses interact with other organisms on trees, recycling resources among them. You will begin to see how these organisms change the environment and how humans change their environment. You will learn to use a hand lens to view intricate structures of organisms that live on trees and recognize characteristics of lichens and mosses that determine their roles in tree communities.

Contact Tenkiller State Park Naturalist, Leann Bunn ([email protected]) to register Sheila A. Strawn, Ph.D. Author, Lichen Study Guide for Oklahoma and Surrounding States [email protected] 14

At this time of year, when we long for spring but the trees are still bare, it's easy to see that some trees have strange clumps of greenery in their branches: mistle- and toe. In old times those clumps were a promise that green spring would come again. There's a story that mistletoe became Oklahoma's “state flower” in February of 1893, when the Territo- Buzzard rial Legislature met for the second time. John A. Wimberley, the youngest member of the House of Representatives, had heard that Mistletoe: other states had floral emblems. Although Oklahoma was not yet a Oklahoma’s State Flower? state, he thought we should have a state flower too. European mistletoe (Viscum album) clusters on the branches of host trees. His fellow legislators suggested Photograph by FrankFriday, Naylor June 16, 2017 everything from daisies and forget- me-nots to roses. But Rep. Wem- From the National Geographic article, “How Mistletoe Became Everyone’s berly remembered that during the Favorite Parasite.” To read the entire article, click on: previous hard winter, when many https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/12/151218-mistletoe-christmas- settlers had died, mourning families holiday-kissing-parasite-birds-cancer/ had had no flowers for the graves. All they could find was mistletoe, From The Earthteller, for at least a bit of green. So in memory of the lost settlers, Fran Stallings mistletoe was voted our offical Facts “flower.” The Oklahoma Rose be-

came our state flower in 2004, but mistletoe is still our “state floral em- Mistletoe's green leaves may be a promise of spring blem.” for us, but it can threaten the trees it grows on. Oklahoma has several native species of mistletoe. Different sources identify Phoradendron serotinum, P. leucarpum, or P. flavescensis as our emblem.

Sycamore Mistletoe which is identified as Phoradendron serotinum, ssp. macrophyllum

The genus name Phoradendron means “tree thief” and with good reason! Ancient European peoples thought that the green mistletoe was preserving the energy of the tree through the winter, saving it for spring. But in fact mistletoe steals from a tree. Its green leaves can make most of its own food by photosynthesis, but it takes its water and minerals from its host, burrowing into the branches with root-like haustoria. It is a “hemi- A tree on Venice Boulevard at 33rd Street. Oklahoma City parasite.” (Continued on Page 16 ) 15

(Continued from Page 15) Many kinds of birds can eat mistletoe's white berries. Wiping the sticky seeds off their bills onto the bark of the same tree or the next one they visit, they spread the plant. Of course their droppings spread the seeds too. In fact the name “mistletoe” comes from old words meaning “bird droppings.” The “tree thief” can weaken its host's branches. And in an Oklahoma ice storm, its extra leaf surface can catch so much ice that branches break under the weight. You may see some trees so infested with mistletoe that they look like evergreens in winter!

SOURCES Oklahoma lore: http://newsok.com/article/3683115 quotes The Oklahoman (April 19, 1925) For nordic mythology, see http://www.theholidayspot.com/christmas/history/mistletoe.htm Facts: https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/all/phoradendron-leucarpum-p-serotinum/

https://urbanforestrysouth.org/resources/library/citations/american-mistletoe-phoradendron- serotinum-var-serotinum-infection-in-trees/

Green Words for All Ages

Do you like to read about current news? This book has it. Do you like to read about literature? This book has it. Do you like to read about history? This book has it. Tides have won battles, lost battles, and postponed battles throughout history. Do you like to read biographies? This book has it. And yes, it has science and stories as promised, but they are the kind of anomalous stories that can keep you en- thralled. It is common knowledge that the moon af- fects tides, but there is so much more to this. (Did you know that, as the moon moves away from the earth, tides are decreasing?). Observing tides has been one of the first citizen science projects. Even though Hugh Aldersey-Williams lives in the Norfolk area of Britain, his interests and, ultimately, his sub- jects for this book, The Tide, range to every conti- nent on earth and even into the cosmos. Aldersey- Williams does not relate all of this from the comfort of his chair; he relates his experiences with such an attention to detail you will believe your feet are wet. This review can end with a single word: Enjoy! Review by Sarah Markham

On February 23, 2013 The EnvironMentor dipped a toe into social media. We made this decision because, at this time, there are two to three months between issues of the Newsletter. During this past gap an important event had an application deadline of April 1st so an announcement went out from Facebook. We won’t bother you with anything trivial, so … “Like” The Environmentor on Facebook!!

10301 South Sunnylane Road QUIKList Oklahoma 405-814-0006

Leopold Education Project http:// http://www.aldoleopold.org/Programs/ www.museumofosteology.org/ lep.shtml Monday - Friday 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Type in Oklahoma Saturday 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Sunday 1 p.m. - 5 p.m. Oklahoma Blue Thumb http://bluethumbok.com/ Project Learning Tree (PLT) Oklahoma Blue Thumb Association http://www.plt.org/ [email protected] http://www.forestry.ok.gov/project-learning-tree

Oklahoma Envirothon Project WET http://www.oklaenvirothon.org/ (Water Education for Teachers) http://www.bluethumbok.com/project-wet.html Oklahoma Green Schools

http://www.okgreenschools.org/ Project WILD

http://www.projectwild.org/ Oklahoma Master Naturalists http://okmasternaturalist.org/ As with all hyperlinks in The EnvironMentor

Oklahoma Native Plant Society Newsletter, these are clickable. http://oknativeplants.org/ Do you know an environmental group in Okla- Oklahoma Recycling Association (OKRA) homa that should be listed. Send that infor- http://www.recycleok.org/okra/ mation to: [email protected]

Most people who remember The EnvironMentor Newsletter know that the pages at the end of the issue were reserved for The Calendar. Being online has some great advantages. When you downloaded your copy of the newsletter you may have noticed the box on the right side of the webpage. This is a conven- ient listing of the next events from The Calendar. This will always be up-to-date because it happens au- tomatically. For more information on the event just click on it and a window will open up with all the details. If you wish, you can access the rest of the calendar from the there.

To have your event posted to The Calendar, copy and paste the following list into an email, fill in as much information as you wish, and send it to: [email protected]

Title of your event: Start Date and Time End Date and Time Location Location Address Contact Name Contact Phone Contact Email Details in Narrative Form Location Link Event Link Map Link

Please note: We are not able to publish for-profit information.

To go directly to The Calendar click on:

http://www.okcu.edu/environmentor