Sycamore Land Trust

THE TWIG

THE ISSUE // SUMMER 2020

INSECTS IN OUR ECOSYSTEM FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR THE ROBERTS PRESERVE How we can help them thrive Conservation in the time of COVID-19 Remembering Warren and page 2 page 14 Barbara Roberts page 18 BY ABBY HENKEL, COMMUNICATIONS INSECTSINSECTS DIRECTOR ININ OUROUR Our ecosystem depends on invertebrates. How can we help? ECOSYSTEMECOSYSTEM RESPECT OUR ELDERS land plants as long ago Everyone who’s ever been a kid as the Late Silurian or Early has heard the admonishment Devonian periods – some 330- “respect your elders,” and with 430 million years ago, when good reason. Our grandparents Indiana was still covered by sea. have been around a lot longer than us; they’re wiser; and Insect evolution and adaptation they’ve seen some things. We are thousands of millennia E.O. Wilson has dubbed this show our elders respect because ahead of humans (the oldest a “biodiversity crisis,” in without them, we wouldn’t be known primate dates back which scientists predict “a living on this glorious planet. about eight million years). large portion of this planet’s Among you’ll find biological diversity may be In fact, there are elders who astounding diversity, unrivaled lost forever” (Scott Richard walk, fly, scoot, and swim roles in the ecosystem, curious Shaw, Planet of the Bugs). among us who don’t always symbiotic relationships, and get the appreciation they enviable ingenuity. With names You’re not alone if you get deserve for perpetuating life on like false potato beetle, the creeped out by insects. But if aforementioned glorious planet. badwing , and masked you make it through this article Maybe it’s the exoskeletons… hunter, Indiana alone is and still never want to see teeming with cool bugs. another katydid in your life, you You don’t have to be an might at least walk away with a entomophile to appreciate this But like so many other creatures, deeper appreciation for – and, A student at Unionville Elementary marvels over an insect during prehistoric class of organisms. insects face unprecedented dare I hope, excitement about? an Environmental Education Indeed, the oldest insects human-caused extinction. – the little creatures that keep lesson with Sycamore. evolved alongside the oldest Biologist and conservationist our farms and forests healthy. 2 3 and author of the book Planet of Each species plays a role in our “Species extinctions equally insect the Bugs, has discovered more ecosystem, from opportunists impact the overall biomass of in·sect | \ ˈin-ˌsekt \ than 150 insect species with like the common eastern bumble entire ecosystems, as insects names like Aleiodes shakirae, bee which consumes nectar from form the base that supports an with a well-defined a parasitic wasp of Ecuador many types of flowers and crops, intricate food webs.” head, thorax, and abdomen; only that causes its host caterpillar to the hackberry nipple gall- three pairs of legs; and typically one to contort as if belly dancing. making psyllid which relies on the Consider hill-building ants. or two pairs of wings (Merriam-Webster) A new species of spider, hackberry tree leaves to lay its A Swedish study found what Islandiana lewisi, was discovered eggs in tiny, harmless yellow galls. can happen to a forest when in 2018 in a Johnson County, wood ants such as those in Indiana forests are excluded SIX LEGS, MILLIONS OF SPECIES IN, cave by Julian Lewis of the AN ECOSYSTEM HELD On a macro level, insects are Indiana Karst Conservancy. TOGETHER BY INSECTS from the forest floor. mind-boggling. The more we Insects are naturally hardy In Indiana, the Class Insecta creatures for the most part, No ant predators leads study them, the more we realize herbs to grow prolifically how much more information (six-legged , or and they’ve survived a lot. is beyond our reach: insects) has enormous diversity. That asteroid that killed the Insects of the Great Lakes Region big dinosaurs 65 million years Insects account for 80% of (Dunn 2007) lists 28 orders, ago? Many insect species just More herbs decay into soil, all known species with familiar categories like kept on flourishing, along with increasing nutrient content Dragonflies and Damselflies; what we now know as birds. There are known species 1 million Beetles and Weevils; Termites; With 400 million years of history, of insects; scientists believe and Butterflies, , and insects have seen their share there are another three million Skippers. Then there are lesser- of troubles, but can usually Bacteria population or more yet to be discovered known orders like Proturans; adapt or evolve and carry on. skyrockets The world’s insect biomass Scorpionflies and Hangingflies; But an unprecedented challenge outweighs that of and Sucking Lice. There are at least 2,678 known beetle species is wreaking havoc on bugs. humans by 17 times in Indiana – about double the According to a global meta- Decomposition of old and New species are being discovered number seen in more northern study published in the journal dead plants skyrockets all the time. Scott Richard Shaw, Midwestern states. Among Biological Conservation in professor of entomology at the butterflies and skippers, 149 2019, loss of habitat is the University of Wyoming, Laramie, species have been recorded. single greatest contributor to insect population decline. Stored carbon is broken Other major factors include down much faster pollution such as agricultural ON THE COVER insecticides, pathogens and A mining bee visits spring beauty, a delicate spring introduced species, and climate ephemeral flower, at the Malad Preserve in Monroe change. As the authors of Forest releases County, a private property in Owen County protected by a conservation easement through Sycamore. this scientific review state: 15% more carbon and nitrogen into atmosphere Photo by Rick Malad @cadmea 4 We think of trees as the carbon insects and other arthropods to Mealtime for a black-throated green heroes of the forest, and feed their young. On Sycamore’s warbler at Eagle Slough Natural Area in Evansville | Steve Gifford indeed their biomass is critical land, endangered birds like to containing the carbon that Henslow’s sparrows and cerulean contributes to climate change. warblers rely on small insects WE’RE LOSING OUR BUGS But without the tiny foragers for sustenance. With a 33% Findings from a 2016 study of the forest floor, everything decrease in North America’s by the Intergovernmental is thrown off balance. bird population over the past Science-Policy Platform on fifty years, the impacts of a Biodiversity and Ecosystem Wood ants do more than just diminishing insect population Services (IPBES) predict break down dead organic and habitat destruction are that a staggering 40% of all matter. Trilliums are beautiful already playing out. As much insect species face extinction little woodland plants whose as I appreciate insects in their due to human causes. “Save seeds have elaiosomes, or little own right, it does make me the pollinators” has become fleshy matter attached to seeds. happy to observe a hungry bird a trendy catchphrase, but it Wood ants collect these seeds, feasting on a six-legged snack. comes from a deeply important home in Indiana and throughout bring them to their nests, and need to protect the insects the northeastern United States. inadvertently plant them. The There are many other animal we depend on for survival. Bill McCoy, a Sycamore board ants get food and the trillium species found on Sycamore’s member and retired Refuge propagates – a win-win. nature preserves that depend $57 billion in ecosystem benefits Manager of the Patoka River on insects for survival. Indiana are provided by insects National Wildlife Refuge, believes Insects are a critical part of the bats, which are both federally the bee could be at the Refuge, food web: 96% of terrestrial and state endangered and 80% of the world’s wild which includes Sycamore’s 1,000- birds in North America rely on roost at Beanblossom Bottoms plants use pollinator insects acre Columbia Mine Preserve. Nature Preserve, hunt insects for seed production as their only source of food. “Our management program 75% of the world’s food crops Eastern box turtles, a species of of converting farmland and depend on pollinators special concern in Indiana, reclaimed strip mines to forest are especially carnivorous 300% increase in the volume of and grasslands with forbs is in their younger years. agricultural production is due to creating ideal habitat where animal/insect pollination since 1970 the bees require access to What happens to these ephemeral flowers in early species when insects The rusty patched bumble bee spring in adjacent forests before are in short supply? was the first wild bee (among trees leaf out,” Bill told me 20,000 other bee species in North in an email. “Columbia Mine Recurved trillium at Dilcher- America) to be placed on the Preserve offers an outstanding Turner Canyon Forest in Greene federally endangered species list. County | Jaime Sweany area for reintroduction if This bee traditionally made its they’re not already there.”

6 7 A tiger beetle, seen at the Culver Indiana” as particularly special Preserve in Greene County, can CONSERVATION IS KEY run up to 5.6 mph, or 125 body- Visit a nature preserve in summer habitat in an email interview. lengths per second. | Chris Fox to hear it teeming with crickets, Because so much land in Efforts to find the rusty grasshoppers, bumble bees, Indiana has been converted to patched bumble bee in and cicadas. You’ll see the farmland, Sycamore prioritizes historically documented flutter of great spangled fritillary both existing natural areas places around Indiana are butterflies, the flash of cypress and farmland within priority already underway; the fireflies, the whoosh across conservation areas that show Beanblossom Creek Bicentennial the water of swift river cruiser great potential for restoration Conservation Area could be dragonflies. And you might not projects. At the Sam Shine housing small populations nowhere to lay eggs and ensure see much of them, but you’ll Foundation Preserve in Monroe of it now, Bill believes. the survival of their species. Loss know that the lined acrobat ants, County, for example, former of stream biodiversity due to four-spotted handsome fungus pasture and hayfields are already “The key to bringing them back,” draining, diversion, and increased beetles, and burrower bugs are being used by rare birds like Bill wrote, “is reintroducing sedimentation is another all busy at work underfoot. bobolinks and dickcissels. There them to suitable habitat in areas major concern for insects. they find not only safe habitat for where neonicotinoid chemicals How can we help these tiny nesting, but also increasing food are not being used on adjacent Before settlement, one fourth of creatures thrive and expand? sources in the form of insects farmland. The chemical is the land in Indiana was wetland If habitat destruction is the in the young fields and forest. systemic, landing on flowers in the form of bogs, swamps, leading cause of insect decline, wherever the dust from planting fens, wet prairies, and seasonal preserving and restoring natural As woodlands age, their benefits blows into adjacent natural areas flooded areas. Today, according lands is a primary solution. On to wildlife, plants, and insects or running off into all nearby to the Indiana Department of average, Sycamore acquires increase. Old-growth forests water sources.” Sycamore’s Environmental Management, less about 250 acres per year. Jeff like Sycamore’s Hoot Woods work to build habitat corridors than four percent of Indiana’s Belth, author of Butterflies in Owen County – part of only and expand our footprint land is natural wetland habitat. of Indiana, described “the 2,000 acres of old-growth woods of protected land around But with more than one third of barrens and glades of southern remaining in Indiana – support Beanblossom Creek means a the U.S.’s endangered species life from the canopy down to greater density of safe habitat fully reliant on wetlands, we the soil. Even dead trees house in an important watershed. must make wetland restoration bats, rodents, birds, and wood a priority if we are to protect ducks before they fall naturally Specialist species like many insects, plants, wildlife, and in a storm or through rotting. wild bees and ground beetles thus our own future. Forests The logs continue supporting are particularly susceptible and grasslands in Indiana industrious activity: “a teeming to habitat destruction. Moths have faced similar declines. require forbs and trees for With the support of Sycamore overwintering locations; as these members, we are restoring A swift river cruiser dragonfly was are destroyed for agriculture or spotted during a Nighttime Mothing these important habitats all Celebration at Eagle Slough Natural construction, the adults have across southern Indiana. Area in 2017. | Debbie Goedde 8 9 are also much less likely to be success with controlling garlic and purple coneflower. edible by native insects. In mustard and restoring native some cases, they actually wildflowers at this preserve Asian bush honeysuckle is contribute to the decline in our 2019 Impact Report an invasive plant known for of insect populations. (sycamorelandtrust.org/impact). competing with other flowering plants to attract pollinators. The West Virginia white Removing invasive plants clears Without natural predators, it butterfly, native to Indiana, the way for natives to recover grows so densely that it shades lays its eggs on the leaves the landscape. Sometimes the out any other plants on the of mustard plants. But it plants come back on their own, forest floor. When Sycamore can’t readily distinguish the seeds having lain dormant acquired the 188-acre Porter between a native mustard such in the soil until they had room West Preserve from the estate as cutleaf toothwort and invasive to germinate. At other times, of David Porter in 2008, most garlic mustard, which produces we undertake carefully planned of the preserve was healthy Blue orchard bees live in woodlands and forest edges. This one was a chemical (alliarinoside) that plantings to ensure a diverse hardwood forest but about photographed by Sycamore member the caterpillars are unable balance of wildlife-friendly plants. 40 acres of an old composting Debbie Goedde in Evansville to process. A 2015 study facility housed woody invasives published in the Journal of The Flying Flowers Educational like bush honeysuckle and array of termites, ants, beetles, Garden at Touch the Earth centipedes, millipedes, and Chemical Ecology found that callery pear trees. With support caterpillars that consumed garlic Natural Area (Bartholomew from the Monroe County Soil other invertebrates. These in turn County) was an old agricultural become food for salamanders, mustard leaves experienced and Water Conservation District a “significant reduction” in field overrun with invasive shrews, mice, and other denizens plants when Sycamore acquired survival, caterpillar size, and Black-eyed Susans and bee of the forest floor. The rotting the property in 1995 thanks wood is further broken down leaf consumption. When female balm fill the Flying Flowers West Virginia whites lay too many to financial support from an Garden at Touch the Earth. by fungi and bacteria. The anonymous donor and Sycamore wood is gradually converted to of their eggs on garlic mustard leaves, the population quickly members. Primarily we planted humus, replenishing the soil and the preserve with native trees completing the natural nutrient declines due to decreasing survival rates to adulthood. to revert it to forest, but cycle.” (Indiana Department also chose to plant a half- of Natural Resources) Jeff Belth documented a acre as prairie. In 2006, 2017 trip to Sycamore’s Amy with funding from the NATIVE PLANTS RENEW HABITATS Another critical part of conserving Weingartner Branigin Peninsula Indiana Native Plant insect habitat is supporting Preserve on Lake Monroe. He Society, we removed native plants and controlling saw one West Virginia white in invasives at the prairie invasive ones. It’s not just that addition to 17 other species of and planted six species invasives spread and crowd out moths and butterflies, including of native grasses and natives because they have no two luna moths. You can learn 22 species of pollinator natural predators; invasive plants more about Sycamore’s recent forbs like milkweeds

10 11 and discounted services from Branigin Peninsula Preserve, A great spangled fritillary perches Eco Logic LLC, we used a an educational garden at Cedar on native butterfly weed at Fish FECON chipper to mow down Crest funded by the Raymond Creek Preserve, a private property many of the largest invasive Foundation (both Monroe Co.), in Owen County owned by Myriam Wood and protected by a Sycamore shrubs and trees in the fall of and a pollinator planting at conservation easement. 2016. Volunteers helped treat Tangeman Woods (Bartholomew the stumps that resprouted in Co.). Invasive species control this Bob care for their own Goedde the spring with an herbicide, year includes continued efforts to Arthropod Sanctuary on and continue to assist with remove garlic mustard, multiflora their property. It’s their way of ongoing control efforts. Today, rose, and Japanese stiltgrass “making our place attractive to as hikers are treated to a trail at many of our preserves. many insect species as possible.” through a recovering natural Thank you to our members area that supports more “If you take insects for granted for making this work possible, insect life in every season. that they will always exist, then converted to native habitat is especially as safety precautions I think you don’t mind the loss critical to the insects and birds Douglas W. Tallamy, author surrounding COVID-19 lead our of habitats, use of pesticides, or at risk of extinction. Up to 40 of Bringing Nature Home and staff and volunteers to work light pollution,” Debbie says. But million acres of North America the professor and chair of the independently in the field. once your eyes are opened – as are covered in lawns. Consider Department of Entomology and a young child observing ants, if even a small percentage of Wildlife Ecology at the University YOU CAN HELP or as an adult with a renewed that were reverted to nature! of Delaware, has conducted Debbie Goedde, a Master appreciation for the role of I highly recommend the book several unpublished studies Naturalist and Sycamore member insects in our ecosystem – you Bringing Nature Home by Douglas comparing native and non- in Evansville, developed a can start to take action. W. Tallamy for inspiration, native plants in Pennsylvania. scientific explanations, and clear produced four times more insect biomass You don’t need a big plot of action items for diversifying than non-natives did, entirely due to the land to make an arthropod your yard or green space. inability of insects to eat the alien plants sanctuary. With even a small yard or a balcony for some container Another important way to NATIVE were associated with three times gardening, you can plant native contribute to pollinator habitat as many herbivorous insects flowers and grasses and start is by renewing your annual PLANTS: observing the tiny ecosystem Sycamore membership and supported 35 times more caterpillar you’ve created. We’ve gathered spreading the word about local biomass, the preferred source of tips, inspiration, and resources at conservation. Every member makes a real difference. protein for most bird nestlings sycamorelandtrust.org/plant-natives. Because of you, there are more Sycamore’s planting projects passion for bugs at a young age One of the most powerful ways pollinators, native flowers, planned for 2020 and 2021 while watching ants – “an endless to make an impact at home is and inspired hikers at the land include a new one-acre prairie source of entertainment,” she to reduce the size of your lawn. you are helping to protect at the Amy Weingartner told me. She and her husband Every bit of land that can be and steward. Thank you!

12 13 A great blue heron sits in its Sycamore Land Trust turns 30 this year! nest at Grandchildren’s Woods, March 2020 | John Lawrence We’re grateful to the incredible support of volunteers, donors, partners, and staff who have all helped make FROM THE Sycamore successful over the years. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Dear Sycamore Friends, There is resilience to be seen in nature, too. A pair of bald I’m writing this on April 2nd, Volunteers scoping out Touch eagles is nesting once again at SYCAMORE the Earth Natural Area in 1995 in the second week of the Beanblossom Bottoms Nature statewide stay-at-home order. Preserve, even though last June’s Our wonderful staff have been tornado destroyed their previous working at home and adjusting nest. The new nest they built The original boardwalk crew at Beanblossom Bottoms in 2005 to new ways of accomplishing over the winter is actually the Sycamore’s mission. With the fourth at Beanblossom Bottoms COVID-19 situation changing since 2005. Prior to the tornado, every day, it’s impossible to two others were blown down say how things will look when in earlier windstorms. And yet this issue of The Twig reaches the eagles have returned, year you. These are uncertain after year, because of the habitat Board member Greg Meyer speaking times, to say the least. at the dedication ceremony for Eagle we’ve protected together. Slough Natural Area in 2012 However, there is certainty to These cycles will continue, as be found in nature. The spring long as there remain areas set We found these photos in our archives. ephemeral wildflowers are If you have more photos from Sycamore’s aside and stewarded for nature Board members explore Beanblossom history, we’d love to see them! coming up now, in their usual to persist and thrive. That’s what Bottoms in the early 1990s

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Contact [email protected] order, just as they do every year. Sycamore has been doing for Cut-leaved toothwort and spring 30 years now, because of you. beauty are currently carpeting And thanks to your ongoing the woods, while bloodroot support, we’ll continuing caring LET YOUR LEGACY SHINE ON FUTURE GENERATIONS. has started to bloom and for these special places, and mayapples are spreading their adding more, for Forever. leaves. The first spring migrants, You can help preserve nature and Consider a planned gift to Sycamore such as eastern phoebes and Be well, and thank you again for restore habitat for future generations. Land Trust in your will or estate plan. yellow-throated warblers, have supporting nature and Sycamore. returned. Great blue herons TO LEARN MORE, VISIT are back on their nests in the sycamorelandtrust.org/legacy rookery along Beanblossom John Lawrence OR CONTACT Ann Connors, Development Director Creek at Grandchildren’s Woods. Executive Director, Sycamore Land Trust [email protected] Laura Hare Nature Preserve at 14 812-336-5382 ext 104 Downey Hill | Andrea Ferguson 15 a fallen log can provide more. A log is a host to many plenty of sustenance. species of decomposers that ON A assist in breaking down organic A rotting log can also provide matter. The dead tree gives new LIFE LOG hibernation shelter for insects. life to the world around it. BY SHANE GIBSON, ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION DIRECTOR A queen bumble bee will burrow in an old log or soft When looking under a fallen earth or work its way under log or rock, be sure to put it a rock. This newly mated back where you found it. It’s Not all wildlife encounters are as What do you see when you roll a queen may be the only one like taking the roof off their obvious as a deer crossing the log, peel back the fragile bark, or from the colony to survive house, so putting it back road, a squirrel on a birdfeeder, pull apart the soft, spongy fiber? as the old queens, workers, provides the shelter they need. or a hawk on a roadside fence You might find grubs. Grubs in and males will die off. A bald- post. Those are large and wood are usually the larvae of faced hornet queen will do A fallen log may be able to tell often in plain sight and utilize beetles. One common species the same thing. Once they you a story about the area in large habitats. A deer’s habitat is the patent leather beetle emerge in spring, they begin which it is found. It may also range includes about 650 acres, or horned passalus. Both the to build their new nests. produce more questions than or roughly one square mile. A larvae and adults can be found answers. In a notebook, write squirrel may use a few acres, in rotten wood. The adults feed Look closely at a fallen log and down your observations and and a red-tailed hawk’s range is primarily on decaying wood you might see several species of questions that you have. Make approximately two square miles. and fungus while the larvae get ants, roly polys, salamanders, a sketch of what you see and their nutrients from predigested moss, fungus, ferns, and the sounds around you. Some wildlife live in much wood from the parents. Using smaller quarters. You might its large mandibles, the adult never see them unless you look patent leather beetle can carve A fifth-grader at the Harmony School looks for life under a rock, dip in the muck of tunnels and passageways under a rock at the Laura Hare Nature Preserve a pond, or look under the bark A beetle under a log at Shane Gibson’s at Downey Hill in Brown County on a trip with to live and reproduce. house in Monroe County Sycamore’s Environmental Education program. of a fallen log. These micro- habitats are teeming with life. The name “centipede” means a hundred feet. These myriapods, In nature education, the cousins of insects, also seek foundation for many of shelter under a rotting log as Sycamore’s lessons with well as under rocks, leaf litter, classrooms and other groups and cracks in a wall. Centipedes is making observations and find these environments inviting, using your senses to notice the as they need high humidity or world around you. Having an moisture to survive. Like all awareness of your surroundings wildlife, centipedes go where and noticing the little things can food is plentiful. And for an bring many joys and surprises. insectivore like a centipede, 16 Your land will BY ROB MCCREA, LAND never be timbered. PRESERVATION DIRECTOR

The best part of my job at Sycamore’s relationships with the I worked with Warren Sycamore is working with landowners had been developing and Barbara Roberts’ property owners who want to for many years. Others came children, Sarah and protect their land. There is much about more recently. All carried Elizabeth. They shared more to protecting the land than with them a sentimental purpose a little of the history the land itself, and this comes for protecting the land, with with me. The land was through in the connections we individual stories and histories purchased because develop with landowners and of these special places. of the quality of the learning about the land through hardwood trees — their eyes and experiences. Sometimes I can be caught not for timbering, There are deep stories and off guard by some detail of a just to admire. relationships embedded there. land acquisition that gives it Warren Roberts was resonance. While working on the a woodworker and Last year, Sycamore worked with recent donation of the Warren appreciated the quality five landowners to protect more and Barbara Roberts Preserve in of the hardwood trees than 345 acres. In some cases, Monroe County, I came across a on the property. Sarah letter from Barbara Restle to the and Elizabeth called their late Barbara Roberts [pictured at family’s property the “40- left with her husband Warren]. acre woods” after Winnie the Barbara Restle was one Pooh’s “100-acre woods.” of the first landowners to protect land with It is an honor to protect the Sycamore, in 1993. She woods that the Roberts family is one of Sycamore’s valued so much, and to be most longstanding entrusted as a steward of not supporters and a dear only the land, but also the friend to our staff. The Roberts family’s connection to it. letter explained how As Barbara Restle told Barbara Sycamore could protect Roberts, the trees that she the Roberts’ property— and Warren admired so much which the Roberts family will never be timbered, just as ultimately decided to do. the Roberts family wanted.

18 An eastern tiger swallowtail finds nectar on common milkweed at Peine Farm. With a college degree in entomology, Dee Ann Peine feels a special connection to the preserve’s insect visitors like this one | John Lawrence “MY FAVORITE chat, and they have planted many following Kevin’s advice. As native plants over the years. the canopy closed up on some What’s more, they’ve invested parts of the land, the grassland PLANT IS great effort in removing invasive birds that had been nesting plants including autumn olive, there weren’t showing up. But in multiflora rose, and Japanese recent years, the Peines’ efforts WHATEVER stiltgrass. The Peines have been to turn the pastures to prairie diligent about removing them to have paid off. Dee Ann recalls make way for native plants and seeing redwing blackbirds and NEW PLANT provide habitat for insects, birds, a great blue heron recently. and even a native Indiana eel called a brook lampray. Dee Ann “I hadn’t seen one in a long I DISCOVER” describes how “you can see their time,” she told me. “They don’t little suckers moving rocks for have habitat like they used to.” their nests. That’s why I like to go Thanks to the passionate efforts of Dee Ann and Rich Peine’s nature oasis to the creek a lot, because there’s Rich and Dee Ann, native wildlife always something different.” have more habitat in Morgan Curiosity has indeed driven County, whether they seek thick BY ABBY HENKEL, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR much of the Peines’ stewardship woods, tall grasses, or swampy on their land. By allowing Wes bottoms. And because the land Peine Farm has been in the family “We didn’t plant any of it,” Rich’s Homoya, son of retired state is protected by a conservation for 50 years, but these days wife Dee Ann told me. “They just botanist Mike Homoya, to do a easement, it will forever be you might instead call it Peine came when we stopped mowing bird count on their property for wild and undeveloped. Nature Oasis. In every season, the the lower pasture.” When they his project with the Audubon “Our hundreds-of-years goal is family’s 196-acre Morgan County decided to revert the last bits Society, they discovered 85 to have this be an old-growth property, forever protected by of the old pasture to nature, species of birds nesting there. forest,” Rich told me. “It’s a a conservation easement with they thought they would have After hiking the property with legacy. If I could be a part of the Sycamore Land Trust, teems to buy lots of plugs for native Kevin Tungesvick of Eco Logic, a story, I’m grateful for that.” with native plants, animals, plants. But the seeds were just Sycamore partner and supporter, and insects. On a phone call in waiting in the soil until they had they learned about the native Rich is glad his father bought mid-March, Rich Peine told me a chance to burst through. grasses and sedges on their land the land when he did, believing he’d been pleased to see spring and started referring to their it would have been timbered But don’t be mistaken – the beauty, trillium, purple cress, and swamp as “the seep” as Kevin did. because the previous owner couple has been putting in hard harbinger of spring beginning worked in logging. Now, the forest work for years. Dee Ann had more to bloom. In summer there will One of their more recent is thick with oaks that will support than 100 milkweed seedlings be Joe Pye weed, three birds priorities has been developing hundreds of species of wildlife growing in her house during our orchid, and mountain mint. the grassland at Peine Farm and grow to be centuries old. 20 21 Of course, insects can be vectors (NOT) SORRY for disease, so we do have to exercise some safety precautions. TO BUG YOU But overall, the vast majority of insects, even those often labeled BY CHRIS FOX, LAND as “pests,” play an important role STEWARDSHIP MANAGER in our ecosystem. For instance, there are over 3,500 named species Being a land steward has its perks! of mosquitoes. Of those, fewer Not the least of which is having the than 200 species bite humans. And great outdoors as your office. all of them fill important However, it also has its ecological niches drawbacks. Dealing through pollination, with the weather can being prey to many be a challenge but different species, there is one thing and even affecting that really bugs me. the composition of the arctic landscape Ok, that was a bad Chris Fox worked with the US Fish and Wildlife Service to do a through their controlled burn at Sycamore’s Columbia Mine Preserve in Pike and pun, but the truth influence on caribou Gibson counties in March. is insects can be a migration (it’s like “the real pain. From Arachnids butterfly effect,” without the to Zorapterans, there are over colorful wings). While it might be 1.4 billion insects per person on tempting to want to rid the world this planet. Despite this huge of these “pests,” we must consider disparity, there are relatively few the ripple effect it could have insects that truly cause us harm. on the ecosystem as a whole. In my career as a conservationist, I believe Aldo Leopold said it best: I have been bitten or stung more “The last word of ignorance is times than I care to remember. I the man who says of an animal or have come to see it as part of the plant: What good is it? If the land job, and if I’m willing to endure the mechanism as a whole is good, discomfort I am usually rewarded then every part is good, whether Guests at our Evansville Sycamore Social with a wonderful view or memorable we understand it or not. If the Students from an aquatic ecology class curiously sampled fresh pine needle experience. One day last year biota, in the course of aeons, has at Indiana University took a tour of tea. More than 100 guests attended this while working on the boardwalk Beanblossom Bottoms Nature Preserve annual event in February, sponsored by built something we like but do at Beanblossom Bottoms Nature one snowy Friday afternoon in February. Wild Birds Unlimited of Evansville. not understand, then who but Preserve, I was being attacked by a fool would discard seemingly mosquitoes and deer flies until useless parts? To keep every cog a dragonfly befriended me and and wheel is the first precaution followed me up and down the trail, of intelligent tinkering.” 118 10,070 picking off the would-be attackers. PROJECTS ACRES SUMMER 2020 22 23 UPCOMING EVENTS & VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

Join us for a hike, workday, or special event! Hikes are free for Sycamore members; SEPTEMBER suggested donation for non-members is $5/person or $10/family unless otherwise

specified. Volunteer days are always free. For more details on an event and to RSVP 9/17 THIRD THURSDAY VOLUNTEER STEWARDSHIP DAY (required for hikes and volunteer days), visit sycamorelandtrust.org/events. For questions Thursday, September 17, 8:30 am – 1:00 pm Beanblossom Bottoms Nature Preserve (Monroe County) about volunteer stewardship days, please contact [email protected]. We’ll work on eradicating woody invasive plants like autumn olive and Asian bush honeysuckle. Carpool leaves from Cedar Crest. Stay tuned to our website and social media for updates and cancellations related to COVID-19. OCTOBER JULY 10/2 COLUMBUS HIKE & BREW Friday, October 2, 10:00 am – 3:00 pm THIRD THURSDAY VOLUNTEER STEWARDSHIP DAY Touch the Earth Natural Area and Bartholomew Historical Society (Bartholomew County) 7/16 Thursday, July 16, 8:30 am – 1:00 pm Join Sycamore for an educational hike, lunch with the group at Upland’s historic Tangeman Woods and Touch the Earth Natural Area (Bartholomew County) Pumphouse restaurant, a guided tour of the of the Bartholomew Co History Help us tend to nature by picking up trash along the road and working on the trails at Museum, and if we have enough gusto, we may finish the day with a stroll these beautiful Columbus-area nature preserves. Carpool leaves from Cedar Crest. through Tangeman Woods. Participants will buy their own lunches.

NATIVE PLANTS HIKE WITH MICHAEL HOMOYA 7/25 10/15 THIRD THURSDAY VOLUNTEER STEWARDSHIP DAY Saturday, July 25, 9:00 am – 11:00 am Thursday, October 15, 8:30 am – 1:00 pm Laura Hare Nature Preserve at Downey Hill (Brown County) Powell Preserve (Monroe County) Join retired Indiana State Botanist Michael Homoya for an inspiring hike through We’ll work on eradicating woody invasive plants like autumn olive and Asian bush these hilly Brown County woods. We’ll learn fascinating facts about native plants honeysuckle. Carpool leaves from Cedar Crest. growing below the canopy and the ecosystem in which they live.

2021 ANNUAL CELEBRATION Canceled for 2020 AUGUST Due to public health concerns and many uncertainties surrounding COVID-19, we have canceled our 2020 Annual Celebration scheduled for this October. We will miss EARLY AMERICAN HISTORY HIKE seeing so many friendly faces and raising important support for our work at our 8/8 Saturday, August 8, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm favorite event of the year! Plans are underway for a fall 2021 Annual Celebration. Porter West Preserve (Monroe County) Explore our region’s Native past and present with historian and IU PhD candidate Amy Ransford. We’ll acknowledge the land’s traditional indigenous stewards, then discuss Friends take a hike through the Native American history and culture as we hike the beautiful trail. Porter West prairie in January 2020. THIRD THURSDAY VOLUNTEER STEWARDSHIP DAY 8/20 Thursday, August 20, 8:30 am – 3:00 pm Trevlac Bluffs Nature Preserve (Brown County) We’ll work on eradicating woody invasive plants like autumn olive and Asian bush honeysuckle. Carpool leaves from Cedar Crest.

LITTLE HIKERS: NATURE’S TEAS AND TREATS 8/21 Friday, August 21, 10:00 am – 11:30 am Cedar Crest (Sycamore Office) Many plants in your yard are edible and delicious. Learn all about them as we hike the prairie and woods around Sycamore’s office, and then make food and drink to try. 25 26 $1,000 TO $19,999 $20,000 AND ABOVE Scheetz BUSINESS ANDFOUNDATIONSUPPORTERS APRIL 1,2019-MARCH31,2020 Mark P.Adams,CERTIFIED FINANCIALPLANNER™ Laura HareCharitableTrust Sarkes and MaryTarzianFoundation, Inc. Protect OurWoods Bussing-Koch Foundation Stars End Incdba Tracks Craven Auctioneering Ropchan Foundation G H a a r r m d o e n n y s Land Stewardship Assistants: EllenBergan, Uphouse Sydney Land Preservation Director: Rob McCrea Communications &Development Fellow: Eva Lapp Communications Director: Abby Henkel Administrative Director: SusanHaislipDaleke Environmental Education Director: ShaneGibson Land Stewardship Manager: ChrisFox Development Director: AnnConnors Executive Director: JohnLawrence GET INTOUCH! Vicky Meretsky Jim Madison George Korinek Rick Johnson John Hurlow Baron Hill Fischer Burney Steve Ferguson Jim DeCoursey Doug Dayhoff Bill BussingIII Mike Baker Mark Adams ADVISORY BOARD Jenny Johnson Elaine Caldwell Emmi Jim Eagleman Tim Dunfee Bob Costello Brian Besser Sarah Baumgart BOARD OFDIRECTORS [email protected] www.sycamorelandtrust.org P.O. Box 7801,Bloomington, IN47407-7801 MAILING ADDRESS Graphic Designerof TheTwig : DanielleKayLucas Editor of TheTwig: Abby Henkel #sycamorelandtrust @sycamorelandtrust facebook.com/sycamorelandtrust STAFF &BOARD

Todd Young Tom Tarzian Betsy Smith Randy Shepard Scott RussellSanders Ron Remak Patti Pizzo Karen Pitkin Del Newkirk Ted Najam Jim Murphy Greg Meyer Lindsay Wood John Whikehart Maria Viterisi Judy Stewart Jenny Stephens Bill McCoy Andrea Lutz Stine Levy Sara and TimLaughlin Theresa Cooper Mark Landand Sylvia andJackKing Jenny Johnson Rick andAlice Johnson Greg Jenkins Stevens-Jacobi Bob Jacobi andFreddi Humphrey Rod andMarsha Cassie Howard and Alice Reed Stephen Higgs Margaret Harter Chris and Britt Harmon James Gladden Jeannine Gilles Darlene Gerster Ben andCathy Fulton Felicetti Linda andCarmen and PhilEmmi Elaine Caldwell Emmi Sam Tobin-Hochstadt Katie Edmonds and Mike Edgeworth Todd andSamEads Ann Dunfee Tim &Mary Finn andNara Downey Downey Abby andJames William Doemel Ditzler Nancy William and Mike andBetty Davis Michael Conway Dan andDebbiConkle Brumleve Paul andTerri Judy Borron Bookwalter Mary Jeffrey Stant and Mike Baker &Beverly Anonymous (5) Darrell Haile Annette Alpertand Matt andEva Allen Joan Allen FamilyMary Dale Steffey Dawn Adamsand INDIVIDUALS ANDFAMILIESWHOHAVEGIVEN $1,000 ORMOREINTHEPASTYEAR. LEADERSHIP SOCIETY APRIL 1,2019–MARCH31,2020 Williams Arlie andCarol Weingartner Carol andLarry Maria andPaul Viterisi Rebecca Tibbetts Dennis and Thompson Judith andMaynard Thieneman Andrew andMartha Cathy Steele Tom Tarzian and and Carol McCord Melinda Swenson Summerville Gregg andJudy Strickler Steve andKathy Jeff andJanet Stake Amber Slaughterbeck Scott andRuthSanders Kathy Ruesink Ellen Rothrock Paul andMary and JasonKasza Emily Rosolowski Lawrence Koplik Sarah Roberts and Barbara Restle and MichaelCain Linda Raymond Steven andJanePratt Ryan andTyler Prall Popolizio Stephen andJill Carol Pettys Jay andSallyPeacock Oliver Bill andKathleen Ann Nolan Del andLetty Newkirk Marsha Minton Greg andSueMeyer Methvin Caitlin McClelland Chip Methvin and Phil andJackieMerk Mattson Dr andMrs Scott Rachel Manley Joseph and Jane Lorenz Fred andMary Sycamore Land Trust NONPROFIT - 2020 - P.O. Box 7801 US POSTAGE PAID Bloomington, IN 47407-7801 PERMIT No. 333 Bloomington, IN NATURE PRESERVE GUIDE 812-336-5382

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Sycamore Land Trust NATURE PRESERVE GUIDE NSORED O B P Y S

Preserving land, restoringsouthern habitat, Indiana and since connecting 1990. people to nature in

Our new Nature Preserve Guide is out, with updated maps, photos, and more! To request your free copy in the mail, visit sycamorelandtrust.org/explore PRINTED ON RECYCLED-CONTENT PAPER