Dennis Bires convened the Docent Winter Meeting at 3 p.m., Saturday, February 6, 2010, in Room 203 of John Rogers Hall at the University of Tulsa College of Law. We considered the spring events as listed here:
Dennis reviewed the docent coordinator positions open for management by willing volunteers. This is your opportunity to do what makes the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve docent program a success. Here are the job descriptions
Dennis reiterated the need for all active docents to complete the Liability Release form before doing the first shift of each year. Download the form from this link http://www.oklanature.com/docent/files/2010_liability_release.pdf complete and return it to Kay Krebbs at the Pawhuska office or give it to Ann Whitehorn when you begin your shift.
Betty Turner delivered a slide presentation about her and David’s visit to the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge in Prairie City, Iowa, which is a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Property with volunteer-staffed Visitor’s Center. You can view the web-site at this link: http://tallgrass.org. Betty compared the visitor centers in Iowa and on the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve with a view to expanding and improving our pedagogical displays. Our visitor's center has much less space available, but where we lack physical space and the money needed to fill it with material, we can expand into the unlimited virtual space of the information kiosk.
One of the first things that we need to do is to define the areas of interest. If we can take the information we want to present to the public and divide it into modules then we can offer the modules to school science teachers to use as special research project for their students; we can make the modules available via the web-site. From my experience of bringing the kiosk into existence, this expansion of information requires active and enthusiastic participants, particularly active and enthusiastic teachers, otherwise it isn’t going to happen. I can make a start with this; I think that I can solicit schools and get their involvement once we have something specific to offer.
Barbara Bates talked about her planning activities for New Docent Training. She is streamlining the course material to make it less intimidating, incorporating a suggestion from Ann Whitehorn to move to a more practical approach to teaching procedures for the Visitor’s Center, in which Ann provides new docents with on-the-job training.
Dennis speculated about the experience of international and long-distance U.S. travelers. He felt that it is important for us to make a special effort for these visitors who have come so far to see the Preserve. We agreed that we should make special effort for all visitors.
Dennis drew our attention to a recent summary of the first twenty years of research at the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve by OSU Professors Allen, Melcher, & Palmer, and Bob Hamilton. You can download Lessons from the Prairie by following the link.
Dennis invited discussion of other topics not on the agenda. One that arose concerned the patch-burn data and its representation. Someone said that the graphic in the Visitor’s Center is years out of date. Someone else said that the dates don’t matter because the principles remain the same from year to year. Another person recommended removing the dates from the graphic. I pointed out that this is ideal material for the kiosk and that we have worked on it already, as you can see from the preliminary animation to the right. You won’t see the animation if you are reading a printed copy of this newsletter; you need to see this via a computer. David Turner expressed an interest in working with the burn data. Here is what Bob Hamilton had to say about the animation in June 2009:
I like the bison unit burn pattern animation for the new Visitor Center kiosk! The only change I would suggest is to extend the fade for a year rather than just until the next burn season. In other words, spring 2005 burn patches are bright green in spring 2005, go to faded green from summer 2005 through and including spring 2006, then disappear with the summer 2006 burn season. This might better illustrate the fire-grazing interaction where the bison intensively graze a burn patch for a year post-fire. Also, I see that the spring 2005 burn patch boundaries never disappear.
To be finished, this graphic just needs amendment to conform with Bob’s comments.
We had a brief discussion about paper copies of the Docent Newsletter. Anita Springer reported that there are six persons who don’t have access to the Internet and need paper copies that they haven’t been receiving. John Fisher reported that since Tommy Wood in the Tulsa Office had been made redundant, nobody took over the task to print and send paper copies of the newsletter. Anita said that she had an address list and that it was no problem for her to send six newsletters each month via the postal service.
We talked about putting the docent manual on-line. I offered to combine the sections of the manual into a single PDF file. Dennis said that he would send them to me when ready.
Dennis closed the meeting at 4:30 p.m.
Just as the Bison is a symbol of the tall-grass prairie, there is a bird whose life cycle was interconnected with the great Bison herds and the prairie. Understanding this connection can help you better appreciate both the Bison and the bird. Obviously we have no problem seeing the larger animals in any ecosystem, but how does their presence influence the actions of other animals.
The Buffalo Bird is one opportunist whose feeding and breeding strategies may have evolved with the large herds of Bison. You will often see the Buffalo Bird or Brown Headed Cowbird following grazing Bison, feasting on the insects and seeds that the Bison stir up. Today cattle are a good substitute for the less numerous Bison, but the activity remains the same.
Another unique behavior exhibited by this bird is brood parasitism. Ornithologists suggest that this unusual behavior is the result of following the migrating Bison herds. In spring, as other birds arrive on the breeding grounds in the tall-grass prairie, there is a flurry of activity, the new male arrivals are busy singing to establish and defend territories and attract mates; the remainder of the season is devoted to building nests, laying eggs and caring for the brood. Aside from singing and breeding the Cowbird foregoes all other subsequent activities. Once fertilized, the female Cowbird will lay its eggs in the nests of over 220 other species. Some of these birds will recognize the Cowbird’s brown speckled white egg and eject it from the nest. The Cowbird will lay 4-5 eggs, one at a time in different nests to insure its breeding success. If the unsuspecting foster parent accepts the egg it will brood, hatch and feed the Cowbird chick. This activity is often to the detriment of its own chicks. When it hatches, the Cowbird chick monopolizes the food and time of its foster parents and in the end will eject its nest mates from the nest.
When fledged, the Cowbird chick will seek the company of other Cowbirds. It is here that it becomes proficient in singing the songs necessary to attract mates. Programmed in its DNA are the songs necessary to do this, but these songs must be perfected in the presence of other Cowbirds.
As a result of its roving feeding strategy the Cowbird evolved a breeding strategy which insures new generations without fixed parental responsibility.
The total number of visitors signing in during December was 25. There were 5 states and 2 countries represented. I imagine there were at least a few more visitors than that during the month, but people are not as prone to sign the register when the information center is closed.
The total number of visitors signing in during 2009 was 6401. There were 49 states (6093) represented with the highest counts after Oklahoma (3798) being Texas (257), Kansas (202) and California (176). Wyoming was the only state that was not represented. There were 308 international visitors from 41 countries. We had the largest number of international visitors from Germany (60), England (59) and Canada (29).
The history for the past 3 years shows 5553 visitors in 2007 and 5459 in 2008, so by comparison we had a very good year. There was only a partial count for 2006.
Please remind the visitors to sign the guest register.
We did well last year by managing to reduce by half, from the year before, the number of days that the Visitor’s Center is closed to the public. Let’s do the same this year and again reduce the number of days closed by half. Being open all season long would be a good excuse for a party on the lawn in front of the Bunkhouse during some balmy spring or fall weather.
Here is the latitude and longitude of the Visitor’s Center that you can give to visitors for entry into their GPS navigation device.
The manufacturer’s instructions for cleaning the touch-screen recommend use of a soft dry cloth only. This proved inadequate for smeared fingerprints. Soft-paper kitchen towels work well, slightly damp with a small drop of soft handsoap. Application of a dry kichen towel removes any residual moisture.
Over time, a matter of several weeks continuous operation, I have noticed that the calibration of the touch-screen drifts away from the initial set-point. If you notice that the cursor isn’t under your finger when you touch the screen then restart the kiosk by unplugging it from the wall, waiting a few moments and then re-inserting the power plug. It will restart and recalibrate.
This link points to the complete Kiosk Maintenance Manual.
Back issues of the Docent Newsletter, to February 2009, can be found in the two green and one blue-black 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.