If you know of someone without the skills or access to the Internet needed to electronically read the newsletter and who is not receiving a paper copy then please refer them to Tomi Wood at The Nature Conservancy office in Tulsa. Tomi’s telephone number is 918-585-1117. Ask her to add to the USPS distribution list the name and address of the person who would like to receive a paper copy.
All Docents are invited to our annual outdoor event, the Prairie Road Crew, Cookout, and Hike, on Saturday, May 3, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Meet at the Tallgrass Prairie Headquarters at 10:00 for road assignments. After collecting roadside litter for a couple of hours, return hungry for our annual cookout at noon. All the goodies will be provided.
After lunch, Matt Poole of the Preserve science staff will lead us on a hike up Hickory Creek to the hidden interior of the Bison Loop. Aside from lovely rolling prairie possibly dotted with grazing bison, one attraction there is an old spring box, a defunct water gathering device at a spring that flows into the creek. The hike will not be steep, but there is no trail, so good walking shoes are in order.
Docents are welcome to bring along a guest. Docents who can’t make it for all parts of this event, or who don’t feel up to it, are encouraged to come just for the cookout. We’d like to see everyone there.
We still have some VHS videos and one DVD available in our office for docents to view. Particularly, I suggest the following for viewing during slow times as a learning tool:
We Call Them Last Great Placesby The Nature Conservancy (VHS only)
Old & New Floral Friendsby Kim Shannon (who was at that time a staff member of The Nature Conservancy) Kim led our walk last fall. (VHS only)
Geology of Osage Countyby Neil Suneson, Oklahoma Geological Survey (VHS only)
Interested Docents and friends of the Tallgrass Praire Preserve are encouraged to participate in an Oilfield Cleanup Day at the Preserve on Saturday, April 26. Assemble at the Visitor’s Center at 10:00 a.m., and we’ll work until noon, with a lunch break until 1:00 p.m., and finish working by 3:00 p.m. Please bring your lunch.
Our efforts will focus on some aging oil production sites, some of it shut in, in the Hubble Pasture in the southwest corner of the Preserve. We’ll remove scraps of metal, rubber, and plastic discarded by production crews over the past half century or more. Anyone who would rather not drive all the way to the Visitor’s Center before driving back to the Hubble is welcome to meet us at 10:15 a.m. at the first left turn less than a mile west of the entrance monument near the south end of the Preserve.
Saturday, 12 April 2008, was a sunny and windy day. I helped Jo Brooks run the Visitor’s Center and had lunch with the new docents who were undergoing training at the research station. Our new docents seemed very interested in what they were doing, asked questions and willingly took part in the practical aspects of running the shop, which bodes well for their future participation.
Before lunch, I walked the Study Trail. Blooming redbud trees provided an
attractive blush of purple to brown woodlands that contrasted nicely with carpets of new
green grasses. I saw a Bluebird, what I think was a Purple Martin, and up on
the prairie I heard and saw an Eastern Meadowlark perched on top of a bush. Turkey
Vultures and hawks were riding the air currents above, pierced by the cries of
the hawks calling to each other — Keeee! Keeee!
I now have the counts for the first 3 months of 2008. We are running 33 people behind last year at this time. Last year we had 432 visitors sign in, and this year we had 399. There were 29 states and 8 foreign countries represented.
In January, only 26 people signed in, but we did add a new country, Estonia. February showed some increase with 74 visitors. Those visitors represented 9 states and 3 foreign countries.
In March things began to pick up some. I feel certain that not everyone who visits on a day the Visitor’s Center isn’t open signs the book. We had 24 states and 7 countries represented. Two of the countries were new, Iraq and Kurdistan. From the atlas it seems that Kurdistan is a part of Iran where the western boundary is with Iraq and Turkey, so I probably shouldn’t count it as a separate foreign country. Oklahoma visitors led the list with 204 signing in. California (14) was in second place with Missouri and Texas following with 9 each.
Please remember to remind people to sign the visitor’s register.
Any docents who are interested in assisting scientists in their field-work at the Preserve should give their contact information to Dennis Bires by May 15th. Dennis will collect and pass the information to Bob Hamilton who will make the list available to scientists who need help. Send Dennis email at dennisbires@lycos.com or telephone him at 918-341-3908.
Assistance involves helping to record data, to carry equipment, and to just be another pair of hands. It is an opportunity to see science in action on the ground.
Back issues of the Docent Newsletter, to November 2007, can be found in the two green and one blue zip-binders, stored in the Perspex rack by the file cabinet in the office of the Visitor’s Center.
Deadline for submission of articles for inclusion in the newsletter is the 10th of each month. Publication date is on the 15th. All docents, Nature Conservancy staff, university scientists, philosophers, and historians are welcome to submit articles and pictures about the various preserves in Oklahoma, but of course the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in particular.