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Photo of the Week – January 31, 2013
Another photo from the archives this week – June, 1996, in fact. These cottonwood leaves were lying on the sandy bank of a small stream at The Nature Conservancy’s Niobrara Valley Preserve. A cluster...
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Photo of the Week – February 8, 2013
I just got back from a trip through the Nebraska Sandhills. The trip included a brief stop at the beautiful Switzer Ranch – home of Calamus Outfitters, a ranch family-owned business providing...
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New Fellowship Positions Available: Platte River Prairies, Nebraska
Attention recent college graduates from Natural Resources and Conservation programs… I am excited to announce the new Claire M. Hubbard Young Leaders in Conservation Fellowship Program. The program...
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Photo of the Week – February 21, 2013
This photo reminds me of something, but I can’t figure out what it is. Help? Melting snow around the base of prairie grass. The photo shows melting snow crystals around the edge of some prairie grass....
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Prairies Forever? Collaborative Conservation for Pheasants, Pollinators, and...
Effective prairie conservation requires a collaborative effort among a wide variety of interests, including ecologists, naturalists, birdwatchers, ranchers, educators, hunters, and others. Each of...
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An Ill Wind…
You know, it’s not hard to grow native plants in a greenhouse. We’ve had pretty good luck over the years… But that assumes that you HAVE a greenhouse. Which we did – until early this morning, when a...
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Photo of the Week – April 11, 2013
Sometimes, you can see a lot by just sitting down. I carved out some time in the field last Friday to collect data on poison hemlock in our research plots. After finishing that, I had about half an...
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A Prairie Ecologist’s Perspective on Arbor Day
Today is National Arbor Day - a holiday initiated by J. Sterling Morton right here in my home state of Nebraska. The idea of Arbor Day is to encourage the planting of trees. However, as a prairie...
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Join Us For The Platte River Prairies Field Day: July 12, 2013
Come spend a day on the Platte River Prairies! Our annual open house/field day, just south of Wood River, Nebraska, will provide opportunities to hike the prairies with a variety of grassland...
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Wildfire Recovery at The Niobrara Valley Preserve – Spring Green Up
Spring is finally changing the color of The Nature Conservancy’s Niobrara Valley Preserve in north central Nebraska. After last summer’s wildfire and drought, much of the Preserve was barren and brown...
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Hubbard Fellowship Blog – Carp Fishing
Guest Post by Anne Stine, one of our 2013-14 Hubbard Fellows: The carp are so thick in one of our restored creeks near the Platte that their top fins stick out of the water like a shark’s and you can...
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Photo of the Week – July 25, 2013
I just got home from a week-long family vacation to the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. It was a welcome respite from the heat and humidity of the prairies here in Nebraska, but it’s good to be home...
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Hubbard Fellowship Blog – Photos by Eliza
Guest Post by Eliza Perry, one of our 2013-14 Hubbard Fellows (all photos are by Eliza Perry). The past month has been wild. Instead of writing up a succinct summary, I decided to share a few of my...
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Goldenrod, Allergies, and Spitballs.
Every year at this time, I find myself defending goldenrod from unfair attacks by sneezy, watery-eyed, congested people looking for something to blame for their discomfort. Poor goldenrod; for a showy...
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Flying Carp (WATCH OUT!!) on the Missouri River
Last week, I attended the Nebraska Natural Legacy Project’s annual conference, which was terrific. At the end of the conference, I had the chance to go on a boat tour of the Missouri River south of...
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Isn’t it a little late to be nesting?
As you might remember, my Photo of the Week last week was an image of a fledgling meadowlark I’d found in mid-September. At the time, I’d talked about how surprised I was to see such a young bird so...
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Hubbard Fellowship Blog – Last Day for the Cattle
A guest post by Anne Stine, one of our Hubbard Fellows. (All photos are by Anne) Today (Oct. 1, 2013) the lessee came and got his cattle, as per our agreement. I’ll miss them. It is with some sadness...
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Hubbard Fellowship Blog – Conferences
A guest post by Eliza Perry, one of our Hubbard Fellows. All photos are by Eliza. Last week, most of the Platte River Prairies cohort hopped in a van together and drove to South Dakota for the annual...
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The Kind of Conferences I Learn Best From
Last week, Eliza wrote a nice post about the value of professional conferences, and how much she’s learned by attending several of them during her time as a Hubbard Fellow. It’s great to know that...
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My Own Prairie, For What It’s Worth
A couple years ago, I wrote about the history of our family’s prairie. The prairie is about 110 acres (within a 160 acre farm) and is only a ten minute drive from my house. Most of it was farmed...
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