From the Tallgrass at the Neal Smith NWR

 

This is a slight duplication from my Prairie Hill farm studio blog, but definitely prairie related.  And I'm afraid that this exhibit has taken much of my time this spring and early summer to prepare.  Oh, I have had the odd chance here and there to spend time in our own prairie pasture here...not a lot new there except I am finding more Prairie Garlic (Allium canadense) this year.  I believe I saw my first plant here in 2012; they are now in two separate locations...not a lot of plants but encouraging to find more.  I have not "knowingly" harvested this for seeding before, so I'm presuming I am either wrong in that respect or they were here to begin with and are just now making some effort to come back.

I am seeing some early success of the seeding I did in the south pasture "top" late in the winter.  I only had enough seed for about the top third of the acre there...I'm seeing asters, some Partriidge Pea, and some goldenrods and Gray-headed coneflowers (of course), and even some false Gromwell...which surprised me a bit because it always seemed slower on the start-up.  But the spot is weedy and nothing I can mow to assist things getting a head start.  I did spend an afternoon on my knees in there pulling weeds, and it hopefully helped.  Time will tell.

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view) 

I got an interesting photograph there last week during some of our rain storms - some pretty wild clouds looking up that south pasture toward the SW.  I have no idea what these formations would be called, but for about 4 hours after this was taken, we had mammatus formations pop up constantly...an unusual evening.

The pastures started out very slow and somewhat sparse this spring - we hadn't had rain here since June of 2013.  But the sky busted loose in late May and it just doesn't seem to want to stop.  We've easily had over 13 inches of rain here since June 1st!  Not to mention hail and high winds...we're still cleaning up branches and larger limbs in the yard from a big blow that completely blocked our driveway with a huge tree trunk a week ago last Wednesday.

But more about the "From the Tallgrass" exhibit at the Neal Smith NWR.

Just 22 miles east of Des Moines, near Prairie City, Iowa, you'll find a truly unique refuge.  The Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1990, within the National Wildlife Refuge System, to "actively protect, restore, reconstruct and manage the diverse native ecosystems of tallgrass prairie, oak savanna, and sedge meadow. These were the native habitats existing on the Refuge’s 5600 acres prior to Euro-American settlement."

The refuge approached me in 2012 to do an exhibit of artwork and photography depicting the tallgrass, and I accepted.  This solo exhibit, at their J.N. "Ding" Darling Art Gallery, will feature work on the prairie theme and genre.

The exhibit will open on July 1st in the afternoon, and will run through August 20th.  More information about the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge, its hours and other contact information can be found online at - http://www.fws.gov/refuge/neal_smith

Its a great place to visit, as I've mentioned here on this blog in the past, and I'm looking forward to it!  If you're passing by the area this summer, take a little time and stop for a visit, you will be glad you did! 

 

Hope to see you on the Tallgrass!

Thinking of Grasses

"Big Bluestem in Bloom"

(Andropogon gerardii)

color pencil drawing © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view) 

This is a partial re-post from my studio blog; often they are separate, following different themes, but recently I have been working on exclusively "prairie" related subject matter and this is certainly related to the tallgrass :) 

 

Just finished another color pencil drawing for this summer's exhibit at the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge near Prairie City, Iowa.

I've never drawn grasses before, except "implied" as a background form or shape.  And since this summer's solo exhibit will be at a national "Tallgrass Prairie" type refuge, I thought it'd be very appropriate to try to do some small studies of prairie grasses as well.

Of course Big Bluestem is the Tallgrass icon for grasses, so what better subject to start with!?  I am drawing many of these small studies as "close-up" drawings; to bring the subject matter into a more personal/true experience type of presentation.  The grasses depicted here were in "bloom", which is actually surprising to some people; many do not equate grass with having flowers...sometimes referred to as "florets".  Bloom time is usually around early to late July "here", depending on the season's conditions.

This drawing was done from some video footage taken here on our native pasture in 2011.  When I started working on this summer's solo exhibit I garnered many images from the video work I've been doing over the past several years...they came in handy for reference material "and" inspiration, during this past winter!

I found a very good source of videos from last year's Iowa Prairie Conference that I thought I'd pass on to you; back in the "journal" days I would lay out several sources of good information for readers.  I haven't been as good at that since the "blog" version of the journal started, but will try and slip information in if I can.

The videos are of several topics given in 2013; the Tallgrass Prairie & Oak Savanna Fire Science Consortium has produced these - "Protecting Land, Protecting the Unknown (Especially Insects)", "Introduction of Management of Prairie Butterflies and Moths", "Prescribed Grazing, Are Herbivores the 'Natural' Choice?", "What Good is a Hill Prairie? Economic, Cultural, and Ecological Benefits", and "Driftless Area Stream Prairie and Savanna Restoration".

The videos can be accessed and viewed at the following link: https://vimeo.com/channels/646940

Well, back to work here - have a great week out there and hope to see you on the Tallgrass!

 

Still Waiting...

 

"Prairie Lily"  

(Lilium philadelphicum) 

color pencil drawing - © Bruce A. Morrison 

(click on image for a larger view)

Still waiting in the wings for spring!  Aren't we all?!  But there is hope in the air with predictions of day time highs above freezing toward the end of the week! 

A year ago we were only days away from seeing our Great Blue Herons returning to the rookery across the valley and were seeing the area Bald Eagles sitting tight on their nest.   The Great Horned Owls are apparently incubating/hatching nearby...we see the top of the "sitter's" head when we pass by and crane our necks.  And the numbers of Mourning Doves is stretching a bit here on the acreage...we haven't seen huge flocks of Red-wing Blackbirds yet but a few individuals have been on the feeders in the yard.

But I've been working on early summer on the drawing board; another prairie forb  has grown to fruition.  I chose a lily that is native to my county (O'Brien) and still exists in a state remnant nearby.  I won't disclose its location as there are a meager few left and I don't want them stressed any more than they already are. 

I first came upon "Lilium philadelphicum" on the north shore of Lake Superior and in the adjacent forests, where it is locally known as the "Wood Lily".  I was quite surprised to find this beautiful small lily back in the mid 1990's here in O'Brien County when the state acquired a wonderful native prairie remnant; we walked the remnant the year prior to its public disclosure and found the "Wood" Lily on the prairie there!  I discovered the "Lilium philadelphicum" was one and the same as on NE Minnesota's "Arrowhead" region, and was pleased to call it "Prairie Lily" for the first time! 

I drew this color pencil drawing from that very same "first" Prairie Lily here...from a slide I took of the plant in bloom that morning of discovery. Hmmm, "slides", that's something I haven't worked from in a long while!

Its been cathartic doing these prairie plant drawings, getting that winter "thing" purged from my system!  I do hope to do more when I can.

I have an exhibit on the prairie coming up in July-August this summer, down at the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge near Prairie City, Iowa.  Neal Smith has a large and quite nice visitor center and the exhibit will be at the J. N. "Ding" Darling Gallery there.  The exhibit will follow my past "From the Tallgrass" theme, relating wholly to the Tallgrass Prairie.  I'll follow up more in a future blog on the details.

Still waiting and trying to be patient!

Waiting on Spring...

"February Evening, Mammatus Clouds"

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view) 

 

This is a duplication of my Prairie Hill Farm (Studio) blog...even though the pasture was put to bed back many weeks ago, the prairie is ever on my mind.  I hope to delve into some very pressing things in the near future, as soon as (or "if") I get ahead of studio work. 

 

I'm no different than the next person...I'm being tricked by the nice little breaks in the winter weather here and getting somewhat of a case of spring fever.  Not that I want to give up my studio time yet; I still have too much to do!  

 

But late in the afternoon yesterday, Georgie came over to the studio to tell me that I'd better get my face peeled off of the monitor and look outside!  It was pretty cool and a real surprise - mammatus clouds in mid February (see image above)!  That's weird...ya cool too, but not something you'd expect to see!  She caught me just in time too because I only had a couple minutes to get some photographs of the scene before the light was lost to the early evening. The view is right outside the kitchen looking east.

 

Today is a nice day as well, but the snow, ice and wind is supposed to pick up tonight making tomorrow (Thursday) somewhat unpleasant again; the birthing process for spring can be agonizingly long!

 

"False Gromwell and Prairie Phlox"

(Onosmodium molle and Phlox pilosa)

color pencil drawing - © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

 

I have been forestalling the inevitable onslaught of spring fever by working on spring subject matter here; the spring landscape finished about a week and a half ago (last blog) and the small color pencil piece seen above.  

 

Over the past couple years or more I've been working on artwork of various prairie forbs (wildflowers) found in our native pasture here.  The "False Gromwell and Prairie Phlox" is the latest color pencil drawing, just finished this week.  These are both fun plants - the False Gromwell is less showy from a distance but quite a "looker" up close...the Bumble Bees love this plant; I'd say an early summer favorite of theirs!  It has some "nicknames" like most wildflowers, one that fits it real well is "marble seed".  It has a small roundish seed that is creamy white when matured, and is as hard as a marble.  A weird charachteristic is - after a rain, the plant can smell like a wet dog or mule!  (All's normal again once it dries out thank goodness!)  You can't tell much from this drawing, but this plant's "structure" is quite beautiful, pretty even when not in bloom.

 

The Prairie Phlox (some call it "Downy Phlox") is another native plant here I've been doing my best to help proliferate.  It is quite showy from a distance and up close...the issue around here seems to be that the deer and the rabbits love to eat it as soon as it starts blooming...ugh!  I do my best to dissuade them, but its not easy.  Skippers seem to like the phlox about as much as the Bumble Bees do.  These are both early summer bloomers, out before the prairie really goes crazy with color, but once they are out - its like the gate has been swung open for the race to begin, a fun time on the tallgrass prairie!

 

Think Spring, but don't be too impatient!

Happy New Year on the Tallgrass!

Echinacea angustifolia at Prairie Hill Farm

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

The last day of 2013...I have mixed reviews for this year, but as Georgie says "even numbered years are the best".  Something to look forward to, right!

One event I left hanging out there late in the summer was the transmission lines (to be the largest ever erected in Iowa) running along side our acreage.  This, thankfully has changed.  We had contacted several state agencies and environmental organizations about this and the encroachment on the Waterman Creek Great Blue Heron rookery across from us.  We were concerned about this, as well as the prairie remnants here in the valley that the line would displace, and of course - the ambiance that was still here - the bird songs in the morning, the insect music through the night, the views of the night sky, and the relative silence in the background of the days and nights here.  We had several individuals meet with the out-of-state corporation and it was finally revealed to us that the route has been redirected two miles further north.  Now it will only interrupt farmland instead of natural ground and disappearing habitat in our county.

This may not be the case in other areas throughout the state, particularly where it routes through riparian areas across streams and rivers.  I do know that those folks who were speaking with the corporation are also working on protecting other sensitive areas across the other 16 affected counties in Iowa; all I can say is God Bless 'em all for trying to protect what little Natural Heritage we still have in this "most changed" state in the union!

There will be wind farms built in the area directly to our west and the corporation has "officially" stated they are solely rerouting the transmission line to avoid interfering with the wind farms to be built.  Regardless of their reasons, I am still taking my hat off to the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, The Iowa Nature Conservancy, Iowa Audubon, Iowa Sierra Club, Iowa Environmental Council, and the Iowa DNR for their input in this event.  Please support these organizations and state people who are working for your children's children's future in our environment!

We're off to a cold yet sparse start with moisture this winter, but there's a ways to go - we'll see how things shake out, you just never know what the new year will bring.  The Great Horned Owls in the valley have been communicating back and forth each night...probably sizing up their nesting options.  They'll actually be nesting in the not too distant future, perhaps as soon as 3-5 weeks!  And the squirrels in the yard and grove are shoring up their nests and being amorous on the tracts of tree trunks about here and there.  I think they eat too well here as we've gotten two broods a season the past couple years here - that's a lot of Fox Squirrels!  (Keeps the Red-tailed Hawks happy anyway!)  We've also been seeing more hen pheasants than all last year; not many but at least a hopeful few!

What else will the year bring?  Hopefully some more native forbs and grasses in the south pasture.  As I mentioned in the last blog, we just completed our first planting there as the first true winter front moved in about 3 weeks ago.  That pasture will take a few years to complete but we don't plan on going anywhere!  Its fun to watch the changes through the years.

I'm lining up work here in the studio to keep me busy till spring.  Lets cross our fingers on that prospect!

And here's to sending our best wishes out to each and everyone of you - for a very Happy and Prosperous New Year!

Hope to see you on the Tallgrass next year!

Winter Solstice and a Merry Christmas!

Today is the first day of winter!  Sound excited?  Well sort of...at least from here the days will slowly (agonizingly) begin to get longer and spring will be on the distant horizon to look forward to.  

OK, I don't really want winter to go away entirely, we all need a rest from spring/summer/fall chores, plus it is a great time to get work done here in the studio!  Besides, one gets really fired up during the winter, thinking about those wonderful things we have to look forward to...getting into the garden, or here, the prairie....being able to spend time outside in the warm sunshine.  These things are more precious when you have to wait for them I guess.

My studio time since I last blogged (sorry its been awhile) has been spent filling client orders, framing and painting commission work.  I have several paintings waiting on the back-burner here and hope I can get to them after Christmas has passed.

I did manage one feat of final fall work in the south pasture here about two weeks ago.  As some of you may know, the north pasture is a native remnant, and there are some native grasses in the south pasture but overall the south pasture has been degraded to the extreme by years of constant grazing.  

Georgie and I had been collecting seed from the north pasture this fall and the first week of December had our first winter storm front of "real" consequence coming in, so I seeded as much of the top of the south pasture slope as I had seed for.  We had burned this section late in November in anticipation of a fall seeding. We'll continue doing this each year until we have a good native stand of grasses and forbs...it should look great eventually!

One great thing that happened this year on the prairies here down the valley was the Prairie Heritage Center was able to put together a Federal grant, and a REAP (Iowa) grant, to purchase the riparian and prairie area along the Little Sioux River in the valley below the center!  This was done with a great deal of help from various local organizations and the expertise of the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation.  But we still have loose financial ends to finalize the purchase and land exchange.  

Last year we sold a local calendar through the Prairie Heritage Center to raise funds towards this effort.  This year we are doing this again and the fun thing about the calendar is each month the PHC will draw names of calendar purchasers for prizes.  You'll be eligible for drawings 12 times throughout the year!  We're kicking off the first month with a $150.00 gift certificate toward any purchase here at the studio - drawings, paintings, prints or cards...whatever strikes your fancy!  Each month will be other great prizes too such as Tablets, Digital Cameras, Cabin stays, and more!

The calendar can be purchase for $50 by calling the Prairie Heritage Center at 712 295-2700.

Take advantage of this fun opportunity to support the new land purchase and not only have the reward of  neat new place to walk, fish, or hunt...but to support saving a wonderful piece of habitat and maybe get a prize on top of that!  Hey its Christmas after all!

Speaking of Christmas - Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone out there!

See you next year!

Pasture Tramping

Eastern Black Swallowtail in Dotted Liatris

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

Whew!  Its been a bit warm and humid for us lately!  But the summer marches on and things keep evolving and finishing out - you have to keep up!

A couple days ago Georgie came in the studio to let me know there was some butterfly activity going on out there, so I grabbed the camera.  There were a couple Monarchs in the pasture and a sulphur or two, but what really caught my eye was an Eastern Black Swallowtail...it appeared to have just recently emerged because of it reluctance to take flight and its flawless marking - no frayed edges or worn markings.

I also realized the heat had spurred the Dotted Liatris (Liatris punctata) into a peak bloom.  Things can get by a person around here if they get too busy!

Eastern Black Swallowtail on Stiff Goldenrod

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view) 

The late summer forbs are now all moving along quickly here, the most dominant this time of year are the goldenrods - we are over run with Stiff Goldenrod (Solidago rigida) unfortunately...oh it is striking and a nectar favorite for all pollinators, but it is much too aggressive and is crowding out some very nice plants. 

 Monarchs on Stiff Goldenrod in our pasture on 09-02-2009

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

At this time of the year we are usually over run with Monarchs, especially on the Stiff Goldenrod, but have only been managing one or two ever day or so...this is a disturbing  situation all over the country where they usually migrate through.  This subject is worthy of a blog entirely of its own I think. 

 

I've left another subject hanging in the background for a few weeks and just wanted to say that it is now "officially" proceeding.  I'll explain in a little more detail but don't want to make this too much of a soapbox as this blog is more about our place in the prairie and the tallgrass. 

 

Clean Line LLC is a corporation building large transmissions line around the country.  They are not a utility company in the states they are building, until they become franchised.  Once they become franchised in Iowa, they will have the same power of a utility, and in our case that means eminent domain.

 

They are building what they call the "Rock Island Clean Line".  They have been talking to the counties in NW Iowa for about 3 years or so about their proposed transmission line, so there is quite a bit of invested time for local governments and this corporation.  I only mention this "time investment" to give a background on the support for this endeavor by the county officials here in O'Brien County.  I am in the minority here if I do not support it, well I don't, so-be-it.

 

This transmission line would be the largest and longest to pass through Iowa.  It will be a 600kv line; would carry 1.3 times the equivalent power of the Hoover dam past our home and pasture each year.  Many things are unclear about this project, even though the "official" public informational meeting was supposed to clear things up. 

 

This is a "merchant line" (my words), the line is not coordinated with any existing grids in Iowa, even though it travels across 16 counties to the state of Illinois, it ties into no existing grid - it is solely being built to pick up electrons from wind power generated here in NW Iowa and sell it at higher rates in northeastern states. They do not have contracts with any wind farms in NW Iowa either; this is being built with the philosophy "if you build it they will come" in mind.

 

 "Waterman Morning"

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)  

* This is an actual location that will be clear cut in our valley

"if" the proposed line does go through.

I first heard about this line last fall when I read an article in the paper...I thought it odd at the time that we were allowing a line to be built just to take our produced power somewhere a couple thousand miles away.  Didn't we have use for power produced here ourselves?  We, after all, are so dependent on western coal for our local power...wouldn't our own wind power be beneficial and responsible for us and our region?  Then I read a quote by a county supervisor in the article.  The supervisor responded to a question or supposition by someone asking whether someone might object to the line going through their property, the supervisor responded by saying  (I'll paraphrase) "There's nothing in the county that a transmission line would bother."  That really got my attention!  I wrote Clean Lines LLC right away and asked them to please not take those supervisor words to heart - that there was indeed much in the SE corner townships that a transmission line could hurt or disrupt!  These two townships carry 99.9% of the entire county's natural heritage.

 

 Great Blue Heron

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)  

*The largest rookery of these birds in the state of Iowa (west of the

Mississippi River) will be disrupted "if" the proposed 

line does go through.

 

I thought at the time that this line was a done deal...the media reported it in that vein.  Well when we got a certified letter this July, telling us the transmission line would have its easement on our south pasture and would be 466 feet from our house, and pass across the valley past the largest Great Blue Heron rookery in Iowa, west of the Mississippi River, and through the northern most prairie remnants still found in this county - I began researching the corporation, its goals and its "behavior" and opposition in other states it is running through. I have serious doubts now as to how much "checking around" the local county officials did themselves with this corporation.

 

Clean Line LLC has been working in Illinois much longer at trying to receive a "franchise" status than it has in Iowa, because Illinois' utility regulations are much stricter than Iowa...they have been having quite a time there and the dockets in the Illinois testimony records are quite a read.  But this is the early stage for Iowa - out of the 16 counties it will pass through, there are still 10 counties that have not heard of any routes...there are still a lot of people who are unaware of their property's potential future.  

 

We are talking very large poles and/or towers.  They would all require blinking aerial lights.  The registered documents required in Illinois state that they could use grid towers of "200-240 feet or more"...a definite flight hazard for herons in a rookery access path and a definite "footprint" hazard for any prairie remnant in its path. (Just for reference - the statue of Liberty is 150 feet tall)  Oh, we were told at our public meeting on August 20th that this would have no affect on our property value...Uh...ya, the county will still tax you "as if" the transmission line and tower didn't exist, But...try convincing someone to buy that tower and huge lines too, when you try to sell your house!  Also, our studio is very much a "destination" business and that would inevitably suffer as well.

 

The corporation could not give any clients listed to hook onto their line when questioned at the public meeting.  They used the "patriotic American" card when asked why we could not use our area's wind farm electron production for "our region".  Is it unpatriotic to produce enough electrons for 1.4 million homes and not use it in our own region?  It certainly isn't "clean" energy when we have to use western coal here and not our own wind energy - its especially not clean to have to ship our electrons east when they are already needed here!!!

 

A large wind farm that was about to build in this area was just bought up by Mid American Energy (a franchised Iowa utility).  They just announced plans to build 600 or so wind towers.  Are they hooking up to Clean Line LLC?  No - they upgraded existing grids and are transmitting it themselves.  That makes perfect sense.

 

I won't dally further in this discussion, it is deeper than I've taken you so far, and its obvious where I stand.  If you are an Iowa resident and are possibly in one of the 16 Iowa counties or would just like to help us keep truly "clean" transmission in this state and our region - you can fill out an Objection Form with the Iowa Utilities Board using their electronic filing system online at http://efs.iowa.gov or by clicking on the link on their web site at http://iub.iowa.gov.  You can also support the grass roots organization which is forming across the entire state - The Preservation of Rural Iowa Alliance...become a member or just make a small donation to their cause - their link is here - http://www.iowastopricl.com   You can e-mail me if you have any questions about this at all.

 

Thank you for being patient with me.  And thank you for your support.