Environmental Almanac

Out of the office, into a stream

2009-07-02T16:45:00.004-05:00

Out of the office, into a stream

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Summer is here, but the people I want to catch up with for stories are not. Phone calls get me voicemail, and emails bring out-of-office replies. Perhaps some first-hand research into the health of local waterways is in order.

The equipment list for this foray is short: binoculars, check; camera, check; fly rod, fishing vest, and waders, check. Away we go.

First stop, a stretch of the Salt Fork in Vermilion County. On the drive there I’m reminded of the massive fish kill that occurred on the river back in 2002 when workers at the U of I released ammonia into the system. Note to self: find out what happened to the $450,000 the University finally paid to settle that case last year.

At the bridge where I intend to get on the river, I find it still high and muddy from the extreme rains of June. Is it worth a shot? Not likely. My enthusiasm for this spot is dampened further by some new posting. The roadside trees here bristle with signs: “PRIVATE PROPERTY” -- “Keep Out” -- “NO TRESPASSING HUNTING OR FISHING: VIOLATORS WILL BE PROSECUTED.” It seems to me computer games aren’t the only thing keeping kids from spending summer days down by the old fishin’ hole.

[Photos: Silt-laden water and heavy posting discourage a stop on the Salt Fork River.]

Maybe a smaller stream would offer clearer water and better opportunities. Up the road there’s access to a tributary I’ve always meant to fish but never gotten around to. I park in the lot at a high school with grounds bordering the creek and get into my waders.

As I cross the lawn toward the woods I catch the music of water tumbling over rocks before I am able to glimpse the creek through the trees. The emphatic calling of an Acadian flycatcher, which often nests over streams, assures me I’ve come to the right place.

The creek here is even more attractive than it appeared to be from the road. Water plunges from one well-defined pool to the next over rocky riffles and through deeper, narrow runs. It’s like the Pennsylvania trout stream I’ll be fishing soon on a smaller scale, although here the fish I’m after are smallmouth bass.

The pools I cast to first are shallow, and yield only a few shiners. But as I make my way downstream I get into waist-deep water now and then, and that’s where the bass hang out. Over the next couple of hours I catch four of them, none trophies, but all worth the effort.

For the angler who’s a birder, too, the intervals between fish hold their own pleasures. I enjoy listening to the rising, buzzy trill of a northern parula, one of those songbirds that’s so eagerly awaited by birders in the spring and then forgotten once the trees leaf out. A kingfisher barrels upstream intent on her own fishing. At the sight of me she banks sharply and climbs higher, then drops back down toward the water once she is safely past.

The only heart-stopping moment of this trip comes when I flush a doe from the streamside brush. She thrashes as she rises, springs across the creek and clatters among the loose rocks there before disappearing into the woods.

I’ve substituted coffee for the lunch I didn’t pack, and by mid afternoon the impulse to eat overcomes the urge to explore one more stretch of creek. It’s good to know there will still be water that’s new to me when I come back again.

All invited to participate in Bee Spotter program, National Pollinator Week events

2009-06-18T16:45:00.008-05:00

All invited to participate in Bee Spotter program, National Pollinator Week events

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One day last August Johanna James-Heinz of Peoria took time at her lunch hour to photograph the plants in bloom at a prairie restoration in the Peoria Park District’s Robinson Park. She’s a landscape architect by trade, and she collects pictures of plants for her files. Outside her professional life, James-Heinz is also a member of the Bee Spotter network, and that day she was happy to see and photograph a bumble bee with a distinctive marking on the back of its abdomen. [The photo here is one she took.] She recognized the rusty-patched bumble bee, Bombus affinis, for a species she hadn’t seen before. But she didn’t realize that this once common bee was now so rare that scientists were not even sure it could still be found in Illinois.

The photos she took that day caused a sensation among people interested in the well-being of pollinators, and they represent the most remarkable observation yet to be recorded as part of the Bee Spotter project.

Based at the University of Illinois, Bee Spotter is a program that encourages everyday people to participate in an important scientific effort. That is to establish baseline information about the numbers of honey bees and bumble bees buzzing around in Illinois.

We know that managed honey bee colonies have suffered steep losses in recent years, and it seems that numbers of wild honey bees and bumble bees are also declining. But a 2006 report issued by the National Academy of Sciences emphasizes that researchers don’t have enough information about populations of wild pollinators to know for sure whether or how steeply there numbers are dropping.

What does it take to be a bee spotter? You do not need a degree in entomology, only the capacity to photograph bees with a digital camera and upload your pictures to the Bee Spotter website. You need not be able to identify every bee yourself, although the Bee Spotter project provides some excellent tools for making identifications. Most bee spotters simply photograph bees when and where opportunities arise, although the project also includes an option for setting up regular monitoring of a specific place, too.

Although no specific training is required to sign up as a Bee Spotter, people who are interested in the program are welcome to attend demonstrations of how to participate on the afternoon of Sunday, June 28th, at the recently established Pollinatarium on the University of Illinois campus in Urbana. At these demonstrations, participants will learn how to navigate the Bee Spotter website and get hands-on training in bumble bee identification. The afternoon will also include a workshop on photographing bees and other insects in nature.

The Bee Spotter workshop on the 28th will serve as a sort of grand finale for National Pollinator Week, which kicks off this weekend. Pollinator week is designated to recognize the importance of pollinators to ecosystem health and agriculture and to support efforts to increase awareness about pollinators. The celebration of pollinator week in Champaign-Urbana will include a show of bee-themed art, workshops on the types of bees found in Illinois and ways to benefit them in landscaping, and nature walks guided by U of I experts on plants and insects.

For further details about National Pollinator Week events and the Bee Spotter project, follow the links from the UI Department of Entomology website at http://www.life.illinois.edu/entomology/.

Time to undo artificial connection between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River basin?

2009-06-11T16:45:00.001-05:00

Time to undo artificial connection between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River basin?

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It's ironic that the Prairie State is bordered by two of the world’s most extensive aquatic systems. On the northeast we’ve got Lake Michigan, the fifth largest lake in the world and our connection to the rest of the Great Lakes system and by extension the Atlantic Ocean. On the west we’re bordered by the Mississippi River, which, with all of its tributaries, drains nearly half of the continental United States. Indeed, except for a tiny sliver of Lake Michigan shoreline, the whole of Illinois lies within the Mississippi drainage, since all of the other waters that flow from the state wind up in the Big Muddy.

Prior to the year 1900, these two colossal systems were nowhere directly connected. They came very close to one another in an area of what is now the southwest suburbs of Chicago. There, the upper Des Plaines River, which is part of the Mississippi drainage, and the West Branch of the Chicago River, which then flowed into Lake Michigan, were separated only by a slim drainage divide, known as the Chicago Portage. But because there was this land divide, however narrow, fish and other aquatic organisms were unable to easily pass back and forth between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River systems.

The land barrier between the two systems was breached in 1900 by completion of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, which famously reversed the flow of the Chicago River and enabled the City to flush its waste into the Mississippi basin rather than Lake Michigan. The extensive Chicago Waterway System still serves that function. In addition, it supports significant recreational boating and commercial shipping.

These functions notwithstanding, hindsight allows us to see that connecting the Mississippi Basin with the Great Lakes system so directly was not a good idea, either from an ecological or a financial perspective. That’s because doing so enables aquatic invasive species to move between them.

To date the most notorious invaders to make the passage from Lake Michigan into the Mississippi basin have been two small but prolific organisms, a fish called the round goby, and the better known zebra mussel. Both of these creatures cause irreparable harm to ecosystems where they are introduced, and control measures for zebra mussels alone cost millions of dollars annually.

Two species of invasive carp moving in the other direction—from the Mississippi toward the Great Lakes—have caused even greater concern in recent years, enough to generate action. The first line of defense against the movement of these invasive carp into Lake Michigan is an experimental electric barrier that has been operating in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal since 2002. The next step will be the long-anticipated completion of a more permanent electric barrier, which should be fully operational sometime in the near term.

Beyond that, however, a broad coalition of groups interested in the health of aquatic ecosystems has begun to call for the establishment of a more substantial ecological separation between the Mississippi and the Great Lakes ecosystems. In a report released late last year [http://www.greatlakes.org/Page.aspx?pid=818] the Alliance for the Great Lakes outlines six options for separating the two watersheds to prevent the transfer of invasive species between them. None of these solutions is easy or cheap. But in the long run, the financial and ecological costs of pursuing half-measures would be even greater.

Turtle talk

2009-06-04T16:45:00.007-05:00

Turtle talk

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At the tail end of a bird walk in May, a friend of mine who was beating the bushes for warblers came upon an eastern box turtle. Since, unlike songbirds, box turtles can’t escape human attention by flitting away, we picked this one up to admire it. As we did, I passed along my two bits of box turtle wisdom—that males can be distinguished from females by a look at their eyes, since males have a bright red iris, and that box turtles can live to be more than 100 years old. “Really,” a fellow birder asked, “how do you know that?”

I wasn’t able to say. So I checked in with Chris Phillips, who is a herpetologist with the Illinois Natural History Survey and U of I faculty affiliate, to get my story straight. First, he pointed out that our Busey Woods box turtle was almost certainly a released pet, since there are no historical records for them in this part of Champaign County. Then he suggested that the 100-year lifespan I mentioned wouldn’t apply to wild box turtles. At the extreme, individuals in the wild may live beyond 50, but 20-30 years would probably be a more typical lifespan. Long life is the norm for turtles, and even some of the shorter lived of the species that inhabit Illinois, sliders and painted turtles, have a lifespan of 15-20 years.

Phillips pointed out that as long-lived, late maturing creatures, turtles present people who study them with distinct challenges. For example, a scientist who wants to assess the health of the box turtle population in a given area may find a whole bunch of box turtles there, and that would seem to be a good thing. But in the case of creatures that live for decades, a good head count today does not tell whether sufficient young are surviving to replace older individuals as they die.

In fact, successful recruitment of new generations seems to be very difficult for some species of turtles in the highly developed landscapes that characterize most of Illinois today. According to Phillips, scientists studying Blanding’s turtles and spotted turtles in the northeastern part of the state have found that nearly all of their eggs are eaten by other animals on the very night they are laid. The direct culprits in this case are highly adaptable, mid-sized predators--raccoons, skunks, and foxes. But it is human development that sets the stage for these particular predators to thrive as they do, at the expense of turtles and other small animals.

In addition to predators, cars currently represent the greatest threat to Illinois turtles. [Photo: My family and I found this Gulf Coast box turtle crossing the road at St. Joseph Peninsula State Park in Florida in late March.] All turtles, including those that usually live in water, lay their eggs in nests excavated on dry land, and they sometimes travel considerable distances to reach preferred nesting sites. When their paths cross roads . . . well, turtles are not adapted to a world in which deadly threats approach at 70 miles an hour.

The month of June represents the peak of turtle activity in Illinois, so be on the lookout for them as you drive. If you can help a turtle across the road without endangering yourself or other people, I would encourage you to do so. Just remember turtles will stay on course even if you try to turn them around, so move them only in the direction they are already heading.

Developing prairie gardens to beautify, educate, inspire at U of I College of Veterinary Medicine

2009-05-28T16:45:00.004-05:00

Developing prairie gardens to beautify, educate, inspire at U of I College of Veterinary Medicine

[Details about volunteering to help with the project here: http://vetmed.illinois.edu/green/.]

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Once upon a time in the not-too-distant past, most of the land now occupied by the Champaign-Urbana campus of the University of Illinois was blanketed in tallgrass prairie. This now nearly vanished ecosystem was characterized by an astonishingly rich plant community, a mosaic composed of some 300 species of grasses and flowers.

As the University developed, the native flora that had occupied the land between buildings and sidewalks and parking lots was replaced with lawns comprising just a few species of nonnative turf grass, in keeping with the values of the times. In some places these lawns continue to serve important functions for people, as Frisbee throwers, sunbathers, and tailgaters can all attest. But much of turf grass on campus is maintained for reasons that can be fairly summed up in the observation “that’s just how it’s always been done.”

Would it benefit people on campus and in the wider community to displace some of that unused lawn and restore there plants native to the tallgrass prairie?

Kerry Helms thinks so. He is coordinator of graphic design for the U of I College of Veterinary Medicine and a member of the College’s Orange, Blue and Green Committee, which promotes a variety of environmental efforts. [Photo: Left to right, Jamie Ellis, Kerry Helms, and Joe Kunkel point out where volunteers will help replace lawn with native prairie plants in front of the Vet Med Basic Sciences Building on June 6th.] So does Joe Kunkel, another member of the committee who is also director of facilities at Vet Med. Together and in collaboration with Jamie Ellis, board president of the local group, Grand Prairie Friends, they have been working on an initiative to do just that.

Their project is to install two perennial gardens composed entirely of native prairie plants near the front of the Veterinary Medicine Basic Sciences Building off of South Lincoln Avenue in Urbana. One of these gardens will occupy the island that creates the traffic turnaround in front of the building, while the other will surround the large metal sculpture, called “Growing in Illinois,” just to the south. In total these gardens will replace more than 10,000 square feet of lawn.

The mix of native plants to be used in the project was chosen with attention to preserving sight lines for safety and enhancing views of the sculpture. Once these plants are established they will provide year-round visual interest, and serve as a living link to the landscape of the past for the education and inspiration of all who pass by.

There’s a good news/bad news story regarding the funding that was required to make these gardens happen. The good news is that the Student Sustainability Committee, which allocates money accumulated through fees that U of I students assess themselves to support sustainability, awarded it $20,000. That’s enough money to buy the 40 cubic yards of mulch and 10,000 seedlings the plans call for. The bad news is, the grant does not cover costs for labor to get those 10,000 plants in the ground.

Can you see where this is heading?

That’s right; this is a plug for the biggest prairie planting party in town. On Saturday, June 6th, people of all ages are invited to come to the College of Veterinary Medicine’s Basic Sciences Building and get dirty for a good cause. Volunteers need not know anything about prairies or even gardening to help out, since experts from Grand Prairie Friends will be on hand to guide the work. And the work itself is really no more complicated than making small holes in the ground and popping plants into them.

For more information about this wonderful opportunity to help bring back a bit of prairie to the flagship university of the Prairie State, point your browser to http://vetmed.illinois.edu/green/.

Notes from the annual meeting of the National Wildlife Federation

2009-05-14T16:45:00.003-05:00

Notes from the annual meeting of the National Wildlife Federation

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I had the honor recently of attending the annual meeting of the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) as an alternate representative for Prairie Rivers Network, which is the Illinois affiliate of the organization.

On the chance that you’re not familiar with it, NWF is America’s largest organization dedicated to conservation education and advocacy. It is also the one where I feel most at home. That’s because NWF consistently recognizes the vital connection between human well-being and the health of wildlife and wild places.

At the annual meeting, Prairie Rivers Network board member Clark Bullard of Urbana was elected to a second, three-year term as a regional director on the National Wildlife Federation board. He expressed pleasure with the organization’s leadership on climate policy, particularly its efforts to focus Congress on the need to establish contiguous migration corridors to ensure that plants and wildlife can survive global warming. “Even in the most optimistic scenario for phasing out fossil fuels,” Bullard noted, “wildlife and their food supplies must move northward at a rate of 30 feet per day, every day for the next century, just to survive climate changes already in the pipeline. If we don’t link fragmented habitats, logically along our rivers and streams, hundreds of species will be trapped and die in the fragmented habitats where they live today.”

In Bullard’s estimation the challenges NWF will address in the future are daunting. He points out that Congress has mandated a six-fold increase in biofuel production, forcing food and fuel to compete for a finite amount of land. “With agribusiness currently exempt from many environmental regulations,” he said, “there is little to keep industrial agriculture from decimating what is left of our natural world.”

I would emphasize that the annual meeting of NWF offered much cause for optimism, too. Being there allowed me to hear firsthand from the people of other NWF affiliates who have achieved significant conservation victories in recent years. Among them were representatives from Mississippi, who helped to head off an enormous Army Corps of Engineers project known as the Yazoo Pumps, which would have destroyed some 300 square miles of wetlands; representatives from New Mexico who helped coordinate the efforts of an uncommonly diverse coalition to preserve the Valle Vidal, also known as “New Mexico’s Yellowstone;” and representatives from Wisconsin, who promoted a state law that was signed this spring that bans the use of phosphorous in most lawn fertilizers.

Prairie Rivers Network board president Jon McNussen, with whom I attended the NWF meeting, enjoyed the opportunity for sharing among affiliates. “It’s good to learn what strategies are working effectively elsewhere,” he said, “on the chance we can adapt them to our own purposes Illinois. I also like to pass along to others what’s working for us.” Beyond that, McNussen noted the importance of face-to-face conversations to cultivate regional opportunities for collaborative efforts, such as the Great Lakes Compact. As he put it, “The concerns of clean air, clean water, and healthy wildlife transcend political boundaries.”

[Photo: Prairie Rivers Network board president Jon McNussen and other National Wildlife Federation representatives do some hands-on conservation at their annual meeting by participating in "TreeVitalize Pittsburgh.] In keeping with tradition, many of us who participated in this year’s annual meeting of the National Wildlife Federation took part in a local conservation project. Together with volunteers from the community we planted more than 1000 trees as part of an effort called “TreeVitalize Pittsburgh.” Those trees are small now, but they represent hope that we can leave future generations a world in which people and wildlife thrive together.

The 'why' and 'how' of gardening with native plants

2009-05-07T16:45:00.001-05:00

The 'why' and 'how' of gardening with native plants

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As the green of spring replaces the gray and brown of winter in the Illinois landscape I imagine that even people who don’t consider themselves gardeners feel the itch to plant something. For me the impulse is to transform a little bit more lawn into garden, using plants that are native to east central Illinois.

Why garden with native plants?

Aesthetics are part of it. I anticipate with great pleasure the colors of prairie flowers in summer—the bright yellow of black-eyed susan, the subdued lavender of our native bee balm, the vibrant orange of butterfly milkweed, the plant that also guarantees I’ll have monarch butterflies in my yard. Interspersed with these, I see in my mind’s eye the slender, flowing leaves of my favorite native grass, prairie dropseed, as well as sturdier stands of little bluestem.

I’m also prompted to landscape with native plants by the value I place on conservation. I know that my new prairie garden will require the use of no pesticides or fertilizer, and that once it is established, I won’t even have to water it. Nor will I have to spend time mowing it.

Of course, I could achieve these goals of conservation by using perennial plants that originate elsewhere in the world. But it is only by landscaping with plants native to our region that I can accomplish an even more important purpose, which is to help sustain populations of native insects. [Photos: an adult pearl crescent butterfly and a monarch butterfly caterpillar both spent time on my butterfly milkweed last summer.]

“Insects,” you say, “why would anyone want to help insects—aren’t they the enemy?”

Well, yes and no.

The ones that eat your garden vegetables don’t make for very good neighbors. But other insects, the ones that are adapted to feeding on native plants and trees (which are, in turn, adapted to tolerate them) are worth our attention for their own sake, and they are the key to sustaining diverse populations of birds and other wildlife.

Indeed, remaking urban and suburban landscapes with native plants is crucial if we are to slow the continuing wave of animal extinctions that began with the arrival of Europeans in North America.

In basic terms, the land we set aside from development is not itself sufficient to maintain a healthy level of biodiversity. We can compensate for that to a degree, however, by increasing the value of urban and suburban landscapes for wildlife. That starts with native plants, which are the food for native insects, which are, ultimately, the food for so many other creatures up the food chain.

If you’re interested in learning more about the ecological importance of landscaping with native plants, let me recommend the book “Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants” by Douglas W. Tallamy, who is an entomologist at the University of Delaware.

If you’re ready to start landscaping with native plants, let me recommend two local resources. The first is a book published by University of Illinois Extension, called “Native Plants in the Home Landscape for the Upper Midwest.” This book describes a wide variety of native wildflowers, grasses, trees, and shrubs that work well in home landscapes, and it provides specific plans for installing them in gardens that look great, too.

The second local resource you should be aware of is a conservation group, Grand Prairie Friends. Each Spring they grow and sell native plants to raise funds for efforts to conserve land and promote biodiversity in our area. This year’s Grand Prairie Friends Native Prairie Plant and Woodland Wildflower sale will take place from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 9th, at Lincoln Square Village in Urbana.

There you can get advice from members of the group about how and what to plant, and you can buy a wide variety of native plants at very reasonable prices.

Reader questions about birds

2009-04-23T16:45:00.001-05:00

Reader questions about birds

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A reader in Elburn, Illinois, west of Chicago, wrote, I have three sandhill cranes [pictured] nesting in my backyard right now. I saw on a Website that they are endangered in Illinois and was curious if that is really true.

Sandhill cranes, which are among the most magnificent birds of North America, and cousins to the endangered whooping crane, were never threatened nationally, but they were absent as a breeding bird in Illinois from 1872 to 1979. Over the past couple of decades, however, the number of sandhill cranes breeding in the state has increased steadily, and in 2000 the Illinois Department of Natural Resources counted 140 individuals in northeast Illinois. Since then, the population has increased by an annual rate of 33 percent. Hence the Illinois Endangered Species Protection Board is currently in the process of removing sandhill cranes from the list of state threatened birds.

According to Mike Ward, an ornithologist with the Illinois Natural History Survey at the UI and a member of the technical committee that advises the state Endangered Species Protection Board, there is an unfortunate flip side to this story, though. That’s because the recent success of sandhill cranes in the state is attributable to changes in the structure of wetlands that are detrimental the majority of other birds that depend on them for breeding. So while sandhill cranes have increased, seven other species of wetland birds have experienced statistically significant population declines. Most notable among these are common moorhens, black terns, least bitterns, and yellow-headed Blackbirds.

A neighbor called recently to ask, what should I do with the nest where a mallard has laid eggs in a bush by our house?

The best thing people can do for nesting birds is to leave them alone and keep pets away from them. It’s okay to replace eggs or baby birds that have fallen from a nest—bird parents really are not put off by scents from human handling—but the general principle to follow is “let wildlife stay wild.”

This principle applies to baby rabbits, baby deer, and other critters as well.

A reader in Champaign County e-mailed to ask, when can we expect to see eastern bluebirds and American goldfinches return? Are they already in transit from their winter quarters?

Experienced birders love to field the question about goldfinches because the answer comes as such a surprise. The fact is goldfinches do not leave Illinois for the winter. [Photo: a male American goldfinch in transition from winter to breeding plumage.]When they molt in the fall both males and females of the species put on a coat of olive feathers so drab that many people don’t recognize them. It’s when they molt again in spring that the appearance of male goldfinches becomes remarkable as their bright yellow breeding plumage comes in.

Bluebirds that breed in Illinois don’t move far for the winter, either, migrating only as they are forced to by weather and limits on the availability of food. Some bluebirds can be seen in east central Illinois through most winters. Bluebirds that have wintered farther south move back to or through the Midwest between the end of February and early May.

While we’re on the topic of migration, I would add that the next three weeks or so offer some of the best bird-watching opportunities of the year, as brightly colored warblers and other long-distance migrants return to their breeding territories.

If you’re wondering where to start seeing them, the Sunday morning bird walks conducted by the Champaign County Audubon Society at Busey Woods in Urbana offer a great place to start. These walks depart from the Anita Purves Nature Center at 7:30 a.m. and last as long as participants care to stay out.

Champaign 4th graders collaborate with UI students to raise awareness about aquatic invasive species

2009-04-16T16:45:00.008-05:00

Champaign 4th graders collaborate with UI students to raise awareness about aquatic invasive species

***Don't miss the video at the end of this post by Franklin Middle School students who participated in the Community Stewardship program***

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Today’s Environmental Almanac comes to you courtesy of students from Zanne Newman’s class at Stratton Elementary School in Champaign. This Spring, some of Newman’s fourth graders have been working with University of Illinois students enrolled in a service learning program called Community Stewardship through Environmental Education, which is offered cooperatively by Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant Program, the UI Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, and the Center for Teaching Excellence.

Through this program, the university students have taught the school children about some of the invasive species that are disrupting aquatic ecosystems in Illinois, and collaborated with them on stewardship projects designed to create public awareness about these creatures. [Photo: Stratton 4th graders recording their songs with WILL audio production manager Mike Pritchard, and with UI student Sam Gallardo, who provided guitar accompaniment, in the background.]

The students from Stratton decided to communicate their messages in songs, the lyrics of which are printed below. These songs were also recorded for radio with the help of WILL audio production manager Mike Pritchard, and you can listen to them by clicking on one of the audio links at the top of this post.

We’re Water Fleas

We’re water fleas, we’re like bees,
We have sharp spikes on our knees,
We can also spread with a lot of ease,
We’re water fleas.

There’s no way you can stop me
There’s no way you can stop me

I’ll bring down your fishing industry with an army,
I’ll beat out your natives, and your fish can’t eat me.

There’s no way you can stop me
There’s no way you can stop me

We’re water fleas!

Fishhook Flea Rap

Yo yo Mr. Fishhook Flea,
You're trouble to the billion dollar fishing industry,
I wanna get rid of you and set my lake free,
I’m not sure how but prevention is the key.

Once you're here you're hard to get out,
You clog up my nets and make my fish pout,
So listen up everybody have no fear,
If you want these pests gone clean up your gear.

Zebra Mussel Scallywags

Yo ho, yo ho we’ll take your ship,
Yo ho we’re zebra mussels ya know!

We’ll clog up your pipes, we’ll drive up the price,
We’ll take your water and you won’t know where it goes.

Yo ho, yo ho the lake will overflow,
You will never be able to catch us you know!
You can't stop us.

Yo ho, yo ho we came from Russia, now you better shova!

Zebra Mussel Pirate Song

Yo ho yo ho, if you wanna get rid of these zebra mussels, then heed this advice and listen up.

They come over here from the Caspian Sea,
'Til theyre dumped in our lakes and then they’re free.
They travel in groups, they clog up our pipes,
They kill native mussels, and cause a great fright.
Yo ho, yo ho preventing their spread is the key.

Rusty Crayfish Blues

Don’t want you here
We want you gone
Go away!
You won't be bait,
We'll clean our boats,
You’re not our pet,
If only you
If only you
Go away!

We Are Crayfish

We are crayfish,
We are crayfish,
We are crayfish.

We are the mighty crayfish and we came from Ohio,
Our lakes of crayfish we aren't takin' care of so,
And we are very dangerous you know.

We eat the eggs of native fish,
Your poor fish don't make it out of the dish,
Those fish make a tasty dish.

If you swim in our lakes we will make you dance,
If you swim in our lakes we will make you dance,
Because we will pinch your pants.

The Community Stewardship through Environmental Education course culminates with the “Nab the Aquatic Invaders! Community Stewardship Fair,” where all of the groups involved with the program will be present their projects. The fair, which is free and open to all, takes place on Thursday, April 23, from 6:30 – 8:00 p.m. at the Champaign Public Library.

From the Boneyard Creek Community Day to the Gulf of Mexico

2009-04-09T16:45:00.003-05:00

From the Boneyard Creek Community Day to the Gulf of Mexico

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If you were to launch your kayak in the Boneyard Creek on the University of Illinois campus and paddle downstream until you hit the Gulf of Mexico, you would travel roughly 1,400 miles on the water. From the Boneyard you would take the Saline Branch to the Salt Fork on into the main stem of the Vermilion River, which would lead you to the mighty Mississippi by way of the Wabash, and the Ohio. That’s a long trip in a small boat, and not one that any of us is likely to undertake. But it could be done. My point in imagining it is to emphasize the fact that our waterways, even the very small ones, connect us directly with the all the waters of the wider world.

Unfortunately for the Gulf of Mexico, that connection brings pollution from rivers that drain most of the area between the Appalachian Mountains and the Rocky Mountains. That pollution causes the notorious dead zone in the Gulf, which last year encompassed an area of more than 8,000 square miles, almost the size of New Jersey.

According to a report issued recently by the United States Geological Survey, Illinois is responsible for a large share of pollution in the Gulf. (The report is not written for a general audience, but it is available online at http://water.usgs.gov/nawqa/sparrow/nutrient_yields/index.html.)More than one third of the top 150 polluting watersheds in the Mississippi River Basin are located in the Prairie State. The watershed containing Chicago is identified as the worst single contributor to the problem, but in overall terms agricultural watersheds are responsible for the greatest share of the nutrient pollution emanating from Illinois.

Glynnis Collins, Executive Director of Champaign-based Prairie Rivers Network, says the US Geological Survey’s findings demonstrate the need for better enforcement of regulations requiring sewage treatment plants to clean up their discharge. But Collins emphasizes that the Survey’s findings also show a great need for farm programs that encourage less polluting practices in agriculture.

In the face of problems as large as the Gulf of Mexico’s dead zone you might be tempted never to stick a toe in the water at all. But if citizens of Illinois—whose activities are a significant cause of the problem—are not engaged, then there is little hope that the issue will ever be resolved. So try this.

Start the movement toward a healthier Gulf of Mexico right at the point where my imaginary kayak journey began, where the Boneyard Creek flows through the Engineering quad on the U of I campus. That’s where this year’s Boneyard Creek Community Day, which will take place on Saturday, April 18th, will be centered. [Photo: Volunteers at last year's BCCD remove trash from the creek at Scott Park in Champaign.] Volunteers participating in the community day will be able to choose from a number of activities to promote a healthier creek, from picking up trash, to marking storm drains, to helping naturalize the banks by removing invasive plants and planting native species.

Full details about this event are available on the Web at boneyardcreek.org.

While the activities of the Boneyard Creek Community day will benefit us locally, they won’t go far resolve the problem of nutrient pollution in the Gulf of Mexico. But if these activities lead people to the greater political engagement that does resolve larger challenges, then that’s a start.

Thanks today to Drew Phillips of the Illinois State Geological Survey for calculating the river distance from the U of I to the Gulf of Mexico.

All welcome at U of I conference, "Planet U: The Human Story of Climate Change"

2009-04-02T16:45:00.005-05:00

All welcome at U of I conference, "Planet U: The Human Story of Climate Change"

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One of the most curious aspects of the contemporary climate change story is the disconnect between scientific understanding and public perception. More than 98 percent of climate scientists operate on the understanding that large-scale, human induced climate change is already underway, and that the diverse phenomena associated with it will intensify in the future absent significant action to curb production of greenhouse gases. Compare that to the population at large. Up to 45 percent of the public does not believe in human-induced climate change, in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence.

In such a context, it is reasonable to think that the way forward lies somewhere outside the simple repetition of scientific data.

That’s the thinking that has shaped a conference regarding climate change to be held on the U of I campus next week. Hosted cooperatively by the Environmental Council, the Office of Sustainability and the Environmental Change Institute, it is titled “Planet U: The Human Story of Climate Change.”

The Planet U conference, which is free and open to members of the campus community and the general public alike, will not be without the kinds of dialogue that dominate most media coverage of climate change—scientific projections, policy debate, etc. But the goal of the conference is to situate that dialogue in a broader context, one that acknowledges the role played by climate in human life since civilization’s beginnings 10,000 years ago. In the words of conference organizers, Planet U “factors in the missing human dimension by examining the impacts of climate change on human society through time, with a view to better grasping the impacts of the current long-term warming and our means for adapting to its staggering demands.”

The conference will feature more activity than I can describe here, from a dance performance to a poster session where U of I students and researchers will present their work, but here are some highlights.

Keynote addresses will be given by Brian Fagan and Eugene Linden, both best-selling popular authors on climate change.

Panel talks by two U of I faculty members will address the ways climate has disrupted particular civilizations in the past. Professor of anthropology Lisa Lucero will talk about the lessons to be drawn from the role of climate change in the collapse of Classic Maya civilization. Professor of English Gillen Wood will discuss his current project, a historical study of the ecological and social impacts of the rapid climate change that resulted from the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history.

A lively session on climate change and the media will feature three internationally recognized journalists: Michael Hawthorne, environment reporter for the Chicago Tribune, Andrew Revkin, New York Times reporter and author of the blog Dot Earth, and Dan Vergano, science reporter for USA Today.

The ethical aspects of how people understand and respond to climate change will be the subject of a talk by Calvin DeWitt, who is both a professor of environmental studies at the University of Wisconsin/Madison and a leader in the movement among American evangelicals to integrate faith and environmentalism.

Planet U will take place on the University of Illinois campus beginning next Wednesday, April 8th, and continuing through Friday, April 10th. There is no need to register for the conference and there are no fees to attend. Members of the public and the campus community are encouraged to come to some or all of the conference as they are able. A full schedule and further details are available at http://www.planetu.illinois.edu/.

I hope to see you there.

Shedding light on the benefits of compact fluorescent bulbs

2009-03-19T16:45:00.002-05:00

Shedding light on the benefits of compact fluorescent bulbs

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Compact florescent light bulbs have been such a darling in efforts to fight pollution and curb global warming that it hardly seems necessary to tout their benefits. They provide light just was well as the incandescent bulbs most of us grew up with, but they use only about one-fourth of the electricity.

Since lighting accounts for an average of 20 percent of domestic electricity use, replacing incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents throughout your house can yield a 15 percent savings on your overall bill for electricity. Fifteen percent. On a bill you pay month after month, year after year. For a very modest one-time investment in new light bulbs, and with no further sacrifice in comfort or convenience.

The cumulative impact of many people switching to more energy efficient lighting is also impressive. According to the U.S. EPA, “If every American home replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR qualified bulb, we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year, more than $600 million in annual energy costs, and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars.”

Currently compact fluorescent bulbs are available for just about every home lighting application you can think of, and they don’t suffer from the slow start up or unpleasant colors that sometimes turned people off when they were first introduced.

The only real drawback to the current generation of compact fluorescents is that they contain mercury, which is an issue in two ways.

First, if a bulb breaks in your home you need to take special care as you clean up the pieces. Recently some folks who are bothered by the push for energy conservation as a response to climate change have seized on this as evidence that environmentalists care more about the welfare of the planet than the health of individuals. They point out that in the worst-case scenario, EPA recommends throwing away bedding or clothes if a broken bulb winds up on them.

That’s enough to give one pause. But context is important here. I’ll hazard that few people will ever actually have to throw away a shirt or a blanket because they have broken a light bulb on it. On the other hand, everyone benefits from the long-term reductions in pollution that come from conserving electricity with compact fluorescent bulbs. Those reductions include a significant net decrease in environmental mercury and the other pollutants associated with the generation of electricity, including greenhouse gases.

Because compact fluorescents contain a small amount of mercury, it is also best that they not wind up in landfills when they burn out. Some cities, including Urbana, offer programs for recycling them. But more importantly, retailers that sell lighting have begun to do their part, as well. In Champaign, Tepper Electric on South Neil Street now accepts compact fluorescents for recycling at no charge, and Home Depot does the same at its stores nationwide. Fortunately, with compact fluorescents there are fewer bulbs to dispose of, since they last about eight times as long as incandescents.

People who are informed about climate change and the varieties environmental degradation that go with most prevalent forms of generating electricity know that switching to compact fluorescent lights in our homes is not a panacea. It is, however, a painless step in the right direction.

University of Illinois scientists study, promote awareness of bees

2009-03-12T16:45:00.003-05:00

University of Illinois scientists study, promote awareness of bees

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Few of the environmental changes now taking place have the potential to affect human existence as much as the continuing apparent decline in insects that pollinate plants, a group that includes both wild bees and domesticated honey bees.

Scientists at the University of Illinois have been busy working to understand the extent and causes of declines in bee populations to provide a foundation for acting to reverse them.

The U of I lab headed by entomologist Sydney Cameron is cooperating with Dr. Leellen Solter of the Illinois Natural History Survey and a team from the USDA Bee Biology and Systematics Laboratory in Logan, Utah in an effort to understand the extent and causes of decline in several species of North American bumble bees. According to Cameron, the U.S. is just beginning to collect the quantitative data required to determine the extent and potential causes of population decline in some of its species.

Over the past year Cameron, Solter and the Western team have compiled specimen records of more than 50,000 bumble bees from natural history museums in the west and Midwest, and they are initiating a similar effort in eastern states. [Photo by J.B. Whitfield: UI professor of entomology Sydney Cameron collecting bumble bees at Bluff Spring Fen near Elgin IL last summer.] The historical records allow them to compare current bumble bee distributions, determined from their ongoing surveys, with historical distributions established from the museum records. This effort will generate robust measures of the status of targeted species and the degree to which they have or have not declined over the last half century.

Within the next year they expect to complete their surveys of species distributions, along with extensive work on genetic diversity and pathogen prevalence across the U.S. in an effort to find out why some of our native bumble bees appear to be disappearing.

May Berenbaum, head of the U of I Department of Entomology, has been among leaders of the international effort to understand Colony Collapse Disorder, or CCD. This malady, which was first recognized in Fall 2006, has caused large-scale losses of managed honey bees in Europe and North America. According to Berenbaum, although a definitive cause has not been pinpointed, investigators across the country have identified a wide range of stresses that may be contributing to losses, including extensive pesticide contamination of hives, pathogens new to the United States, and nutritional deficiencies associated with certain beekeeping practices.

Berenbaum adds that U of I investigators have recently identified a possible genetic marker for the condition, which may be a useful tool for beekeepers in reducing colony losses.

In addition to their scientific efforts, researchers at the U of I are also active in efforts to engage the public on the subject of bees and other pollinating insects.

Coming up on April 4th professor of entomology Gene Robinson and others will conduct a one-day course on bees and beekeeping. Participants in this course, whether they are beginners or advanced beekeepers, will learn about everything from bee biology to mite control, sting allergies, and queen rearing.

As spring progresses, the public will be invited to check out the newly established “Pollinatarium” on the U of I campus in Urbana, which is billed as “the first free-standing science center in the nation devoted to flowering plants and their pollinators.”

People are also invited to join the “Bee Spotter Network” a Web-based effort through which individuals are helping scientists establish baseline information about the numbers of bumble bees and wild honey bees in Illinois.

More information about all three of these efforts is available through the University of Illinois’ Department of Entomology Web site at http://www.life.illinois.edu/entomology/

Appreciating Illinois amphibians and habitats that support them

2009-03-05T16:45:00.009-06:00

Appreciating Illinois amphibians and habitats that support them

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It may be too early in the year to contemplate April showers bringing May flowers. But in much of Illinois heavy rains in late February and early March trigger an astonishing and ancient natural phenomenon—the annual congregation of amphibians in the waters where they breed.

The participants in the initial phase of this aquatic love fest, which begins in water cold enough to stun people, include frogs that are known by their vocalizations—spring peepers, whose once-per-second ascending peeps [IDNR audio] can be heard day and night, and western chorus frogs, whose call is often compared to the sound produced by running a stick over the teeth of a comb [IDNR audio].

These vocal frogs are joined in the frigid water by other more secretive amphibians. To me, the most fascinating of these are the eight species of salamanders that are known collectively as mole salamanders.

In central Illinois the most common member of this family is the six-inch-long smallmouth salamander [pictured], a blackish creature with blue and grey markings that give it a marbled appearance. The eastern tiger salamander can be found here, too, although I have to admit I’ve never seen one. A tiger salamander may grow to more that a foot in length, and it is marked by yellow spots that cover more and more of its body as it ages. You may or may not remember it, but the tiger salamander was elected the official state amphibian of Illinois in a 2004 contest sponsored by then Lieutenant Governor, Pat Quinn.

As their group name suggests, mole salamanders spend most of the year underground. There they move about in natural gaps, and the tunnels and burrows created by small mammals. They feed on a variety of invertebrates, including earthworms, slugs, and insects.

In the spring, though, as the earth thaws and the ice recedes, rainy nights bring mole salamanders above ground, and they trundle overland seeking the ephemeral pools where they were born. Ephemeral pools are wetlands that hold water far enough into the summer for amphibian larvae to mature, but which dry up at some point in most years. This characteristic prevents fish from becoming established there, and that’s important because fish eat amphibian eggs and young. [Pictured is an ephemeral pool at the Urbana Park District's Busey Woods.]

If you were to shine a light into such a pool on a spring night you would be amazed at how many salamanders you can see, and surprised at how gracefully they swim. You might also be interested to see how many other forms of life are active in such cold water—delicate, inch-long fairy shrimp, ferocious diving beetles, and more.

Looking into an ephemeral pool during the day you might see amphibian eggs, held together in a mass with a jelly-like substance, and attached to twigs or other underwater structure.

While it is still possible to find ephemeral pools where you can witness the springtime congregation of amphibians in Illinois, it’s not easy. More than 90 percent of the wetland acres that once existed in the state have been lost to agriculture and urbanization, and only a tiny fraction (0.05%) of the state’s historic wetlands persist in relatively undisturbed condition.

Whether future generations have the opportunity to experience the springtime awakening of life in ephemeral pools depends on whether our generation acts to preserve and restore them.

“Centipede Cinema” the theme for 2009 Insect Fear Film Festival at U of I

2009-02-26T16:45:00.004-06:00

“Centipede Cinema” the theme for 2009 Insect Fear Film Festival at U of I

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If you’ve been wondering, “Where can I catch a cheesy film about cave explorers being menaced by giant centipedes?” you’re in luck. This year’s Insect Fear Film Festival, which has been dubbed “Centipede Cinema,” features just such a production.

Suspecting that real-world centipedes harbor no great animosity toward spelunkers, I checked in recently with members of the University of Illinois Entomology Graduate Student Association (EGSA), which hosts the festival, to find out what does make them tick. EGSA members Michelle Duennes, Rob Mitchell and Scott Shreve collaborated to provide the following account. (Michelle's devotion to science kept her from being able to make it to our recording session, so only Rob M. and Scott are heard in the audio version of this spot.)

[Scott] While they are the theme for this year’s festival, centipedes and millipedes, known collectively as myriapods, are not actually insects. Both insects and myriapods belong to the broader group called arthropods because they have segmented bodies, hard exoskeletons, and jointed legs.

The main difference between insects and myriapods is in the number of their legs. While insects have only six, myriapods have a “myriad” of them—anywhere from 750 to fewer than ten. [Pictured is Orthoporus texicolens a millipede species found in the southwestern U.S. All photos by Rob Mitchell.] Millipedes appear to have two pairs of legs per body segment because their body segments are fused, while centipedes have only one pair of legs per body segment.

Millipedes are much slower than centipedes and feed primarily on leaf litter and detritus. Centipedes are predators that feed on a wide range of small critters, including worms, slugs and insects.

Unlike many insects, myriapods are discreet and tend to keep to themselves. Their long, thin bodies are perfect for worming undetected through soil and leaves. Curious and patient searchers should be able to locate them, however. In the home, they are most likely to be found in damp basements or cellars. If you’re looking for centipedes outside, try turning over rocks or rotting logs, or poking around in the soil while you garden.

Most of the centipedes you’ll find in nature are in the order Geophilomorpha. Members of this group are generally about half an inch long, very thin, and reddish brown in color.

[Rob M.] Most people have probably seen one myriapod in particular, the house centipede. If this name doesn’t ring any bells, just think of an eerily quick daddy longlegs with way too many legs. House centipedes may look scary, but they can’t bite people and they actually eat household pests like roaches and silverfish. If you prefer not to share your house with them, just put them in the garden instead and you’ll be rewarded with fewer insects eating your plants.

In tropical regions there are centipedes that can grow to nearly a foot in length and are capable of inflicting a poisonous bite. For a person, this bite is only about as dangerous as a bee sting, though, and you would have to go to the Amazon rain forest to get it.

This Saturday’s festival will have some live giant centipedes on display, but people will not be allowed to hold them. Giant millipedes, on the other hand, are safe for handling and will be featured in the petting zoo.

The film portion of the festival will kick off with two family-friendly Disney shorts from the 1930s. But parents should be aware that the feature-length films to follow--Centipede! (2004) and especially Centipede Horror (1984)--are much heavier on “fear,” and are not suitable for small children.

[Rob K.] The 2009 Insect Fear Film Festival will take place Feb. 28 in Foellinger Auditorium on the UI campus. Admission is free, and festivities begin at 6 p.m. Details are available at http://www.life.illinois.edu/entomology/egsa/ifff.html.

UI professor of industrial design William Bullock engages students, business to resolve problem of electronic waste

2009-02-20T10:55:00.001-06:00

UI professor of industrial design William Bullock engages students, business to resolve problem of electronic waste

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There is a little used room in the basement of my house. In that room sits a beige colored machine for which my family and I paid about $1,000 nine years ago. This machine functions just as well as it did on the day we bought it—better, really, since we’ve done some work on it over the years, but nobody wants to use it anymore. I bump into a similar machine taking up floor space when I visit with my colleague in the office next door at the U of I. Indeed, until very recently there was a supply room on our floor that housed little other than such machines.

I’m talking about old computers, of course, and I bet you know where some are parked, too.

There are a lot of them out there, and they comprise a significant part of the e-waste problem that has developed around the world as electronic equipment has come to play a larger role in the lives of more people over the past half century. In addition to computers this problem also encompasses old televisions, DVD players, portable phones, and more—just about anything that beeps or sports a keypad.

Recognizing the direct benefit to campus of addressing the problem of e-waste, as well as the opportunity to change the wider world for the better, University of Illinois professor of industrial design William Bullock has this year offered a two-semester sequence of courses in which undergraduate and graduate students from a wide range of disciplines take on this real world issue.

A key collaborator on these courses has been Chicago entrepreneur, Willie Cade. Cade is owner of a company called PC Rebuilders and Recyclers, which refurbishes donated computers and sells them at affordable prices to schools, non-profit organizations, and individuals who might otherwise not have access to one.

In the Fall 2008 part of the sequence students investigated the many facets of the e-waste problem and collaborated to draft a comprehensive report of their findings.

In the second part of the sequence, which is being taught this semester, the focus is on sustainable product design. Professor Bullock hopes that students will complete this class with an understanding of why products should be designed with attention to the entire range of environmental impacts associated with them--from the natural resources and energy used to produce them, to the toxic chemicals that must be accounted for when they are discarded.

Beyond that, students in the class will also gain considerable experience in the “how” of sustainable design, by working together in teams to create new or recycled products from discarded electronics. These products will be entered into a sustainable e-waste design competition, which will be held in April and which is open to all students on campus.

You can support the sustainable design competition and liberate yourself from items of personal e-waste by donating them at a collection event to be held on the UI campus this Saturday, February 21. Acceptable items include old computers, monitors, keyboards, printers, scanners and cell phones. Unfortunately televisions can not be accepted. The drop off will run from 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. at Lincoln Hall, 702 South Wright Street. Computer data will be treated securely and hard drives will be erased.

Ultimately, William Bullock and his collaborators are seeking to establish at the U of I an international center to develop policies and processes that will make the problem of e-waste itself obsolete.

** Collection Event Details directly from Sustainable E-Waste Design Competition Web Calendar **

E-waste collection event will be held on campus from 9:00-2:00 p.m., Saturday, February 21, 2009 at Lincoln Hall, 702 S. Wright St., to collect unused CPUs, monitors, keyboards, mice, printers, scanners and cell phones. (TVs and other electrical e-waste cannot be accepted). Donors are encouraged to donate there old computers as specified above as these items will be made available to students entering the competition. Donations will be limited to one carload of computer e-waste per donor. Additional material from donors beyond one carload will be accepted on a space available basis.

Making the most of winter birding opportunities

2009-02-12T16:45:00.004-06:00

Making the most of winter birding opportunities

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Arctic weather in the Midwest may keep other people inside, but it prompts many birders to put on another layer of clothing and get out to see what birds have blown in with it.

If you feed birds, you’ve probably noticed that some of your guests show up only during the colder months. Think of dark-eyed juncos, which many people know by the name “snowbirds.” Juncos are the sporty grey, black, and white sparrows that arrive in Illinois from their breeding range in the northern U.S. and Canada in mid September. During their winter vacation here, juncos scratch the ground for food in weedy places or take advantage of the seed that spills from backyard feeders.

In their distinctive plumage and adaptation to human settings, juncos may be the most visible of the northern birds that winter in Illinois, but they are just the tip of the iceberg.

This year birders throughout the state have enjoyed an unusual incursion of several species of winter finches, birds that feed heavily on the seed cones of trees such as spruce and hemlock. When cone crops in the north are sparse, these birds migrate as far as they must to find food.

[Internet discussion lists provide an excellent way of keeping up with such happenings. See Illinois Birders Exchanging Thoughts (IBET), "an e-mail list for the discussion of wild birds and birding issues relating to Illinois" and Birdnotes, "a discussion list for Birders in the Champaign County area . . . managed by the Champaign County Audubon Society."]

The most striking among this year’s irregular visitors are white-winged crossbills. The top half of a crossbill’s bill hooks over the bottom half at the tip, in a configuration that looks like a deformity until it is seen in action. The shape of the crossed bill enables this bird to pry open the scales of seed cones in order extract the seed from within using its tongue. [You can see how efficiently a white-winged crossbill extracts seeds from a cone in the video clip below, courtesy of Mike McDowell's birding blog.]

In addition to crossbills, pine siskins and common redpolls, both close relatives of goldfinches that may be absent from parts of the state for several years at a time, have been fairly abundant this winter.

Illinois birders have also been enjoying uncharacteristic opportunities to observe northern birds of prey in recent months. If you’ve seen a large hawk near the interstate and thought to yourself, “That’s not a red-tail” you may have seen a rough-legged hawk. Rough-legged hawks are about the same size as red-tails, but their coloration includes much more black, and it varies greatly among individual birds. [Photo: A rough-legged hawk atop a power pole along Staley road in Champaign.] Rough-legged hawks are also distinguished from red-tails in that they often hunt by hovering over a grassy area, rather than from a perch. This habit is attributable to the fact that they breed in the open country of far northern Canada and Alaska, where perches are few and far between.

Of course one of the surest bets for observing winter birds in the Prairie State is also one of the most spectacular, and that’s making time to see the bald eagles that congregate near our larger rivers. More bald eagles winter here than in any other state outside Alaska, and they may be spotted along the Mississippi River from the Quad Cities in the north to Union County in the south. On the Illinois River, Starved Rock State Park offers opportunities for seeing eagles from even shorter distances, with a visitor’s center nearby you can go to warm up.

To survive winter, birds have to be opportunists, and, likewise, to make the most of the season, birders do, too.

Committee invests student funds to promote sustainability

2009-02-05T16:45:00.002-06:00

Committee invests student funds to promote sustainability

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As President Obama works to change the course of national environmental policy and congress wrangles over economic stimulus measures, the idea of investing in green technology is hotter than ever. But as a nation, we’re really playing catch up.

Students at the University of Illinois have been investing in projects to generate pollution-free energy and reduce campus energy consumption since they voted to adopt a $2.00-per-semester fee nearly six years ago. With the addition of an even greater $5.00 per semester fee, approved by an overwhelming majority in a campus-wide vote in Spring 2007, they now have a fund that generates about $550,000 annually.

Money from that fund is dispersed through grants that are allocated by the Student Sustainability Committee, which is composed of 10 students and 10 members from the U of I faculty and staff appointed by the vice-chancellor for student affairs. The Student Sustainability Committee solicits proposals from members of the campus community, reviews them, and makes recommendations about which proposals to fund. The committee’s decisions are subject to approval by campus administrators from the Office of Sustainability and U of I Facilities and Services.

Between 2003 and 2008 the Student Sustainability Committee made grants totaling nearly $816,000, most of which were in the $10,000-$50,000 range. Many of these focused on prospects for energy conservation. One grant, for example, supported an audit of energy use in the Illini Union that identified opportunities for upgrading lighting that will save an estimated $30,000 a year in electricity costs, and money from the same grant will also be used to help make those upgrades.

Other grants have helped to promote alternative fuels, including an effort to convert waste vegetable oil from campus dining halls into biodiesel. It is anticipated that this effort, sponsored by the UI student chapter of Engineers Without Borders, will ultimately produce 8,000 gallons of fuel per academic year for use in campus vehicles.

More significant than any of these others are the two much larger scale projects the Student Sustainability Committee has funded for generating electricity on campus. [Photo: Solar panels atop the roof on the auditorium of the U of I's Business Instructional Facility.] It contributed half of the $373,000 cost of the solar panels that grace the greenest building on campus, the new Business Instructional Facility at Sixth and Gregory. These panels are expected to generate up to seven percent of the building’s annual electricity use.

The committee has also invested $300,000 in the project to bring wind power to campus, a long-running effort that embodies myriad opportunities for teaching and research. This effort ran into a substantial obstacle last December, when the university was unable to meet its financial commitment to the project in the face of mounting of budget concerns. But members of the Student Sustainability Committee, in cooperation with other faculty, staff, and administrators, continue to pursue the means to make the campus wind farm a reality. Most importantly, they have succeeded in retaining support from the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation, they have negotiated a substantial discount with General Electric on the purchase price of a wind turbine, and they have voted to increase the contribution of student funds for the project to $500,000.

Such determination and ingenuity will be needed to keep long term priorities on the table in these uncertain times.

Reader questions invited

2009-01-29T16:45:00.000-06:00

Reader questions invited

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One of the great pleasures of writing “Environmental Almanac” is the way it puts me in touch with people who share both an interest in the natural world and a concern for how human activity affects the rest of life on earth.

As I research segments, I have the opportunity to talk with scientists whose research is expanding human comprehension of everything from the soil beneath our feet to the atmosphere around us. I also talk with planners, policy-makers, engineers and others who are working to enable us to live well without imposing burdens on others around the world or in the future.

I also enjoy hearing from readers, whether they stop me to share a bird sighting, compare notes on bike routes, or speculate about the potential for wind and solar power to resolve the problems created by our current reliance on fossil fuel.

Over time, and with encouragement from others, I have wondered whether it would be possible to use “Environmental Almanac” to bridge the gap between readers and researchers by adding an occasional question-and-answer component to the column.

As I envision it, this might include using this weekly forum to investigate two or three questions on specific topics. For example, a while back when I ran a column on oak trees in Urbana that predate European settlement [click here to see it], a listener from Sidney emailed to ask how she might determine the age of mature oaks in her yard. I forwarded her question to University of Illinois Extension Forester Jay Hayek, who provided a reply that I found informative and entertaining, and one I thought other people might be interested to read as well.

Following is that exchange:

I was very interested in the article on ancient oaks as I have two very old Bur oak trees in my yard. I live in Sidney and my 2 story house has been in the family since 1909. In a family picture dated 1912, these two oak trees were already towering above the house. How do I safely determine the age of the trees?

Hayek's reply: There are three generally adopted methods to determine tree age: cut the tree down and count the annual rings; use an increment borer to extract a small core of wood and count the annual rings; or know approximately when the tree was established. Seeing that one rarely wants to cut down a healthy tree merely out of curiosity, an increment borer or historical data might be used to answer the question.

I'm not an advocate of using an increment borer on yard trees due to the small chance that infection may enter the wound made by the instrument; it’s not likely, but possible. Large prairie-borne bur oaks still alive and thriving in the prairie region of central Illinois have been estimated to be between 175-350 years old. My advice, use a best guess estimate of 150-275 years.

Of course it may be that readers are curious about broader topics, in which case a single question could also be the point of departure for a separate column.

So if you have a question about the natural world, or you would like to learn more about research on environmental questions taking place at the University of Illinois, send me an email at rkanter@illinois.edu. Otherwise, you could always just stop me the next time you see me birding or riding my bike.

Appreciating Illinois Coyotes

2009-01-22T16:45:00.001-06:00

Appreciating Illinois Coyotes

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Do you think you can name the largest native predator that currently lives and breeds in Illinois? I bet you can. It’s a member of the dog family, larger than a fox, but smaller than a wolf—that’s right, the coyote.

As you spot a coyote trotting away through a field of corn stubble you may feel like you’re looking at somebody’s dog heading home, and indeed coyotes are related to domestic dogs closely enough to interbreed with them. But unlike a dog, the coyote points its bushy tail to the ground as it runs. When it casts a wary look back to gauge your intentions, you see a wild predator that inhabited central Illinois long before cornfields came to dominate the landscape.

The lines of the coyote’s face and head further distinguish it from a domestic dog. They curve and taper into a long, narrow snout, which forms the bottom point of a triangle that’s completed by its tall, alert ears. [Photo courtesy of Illinois Natural History Survey.]The coyote’s fur—a mix of cream, yellow, tan, brown and gray, tipped with black—helps it remain unnoticed in the many varied habitats it occupies. And it occupies just about every habitat available in Illinois, from the streets of Chicago in the north to the Shawnee National Forest in the south. Standing at about two feet tall and weighing around 30 pounds, the coyote is just small enough to get away with living among humans.

The coyote’s success is also attributable to its flexible eating habits. Rabbits, mice, and other small mammals make up the bulk of the diet for coyotes in the Midwest. But coyotes are opportunistic. Depending on circumstances, they will eat road-killed deer or deer fawns, insects, reptiles and amphibians, grass, fruits and berries, rats, or unlucky house pets. One key to coexisting with coyotes is keeping small pets and pet food indoors overnight, when coyotes are most active.

A coyote on the move may cruise along at speeds of 20 to 30 miles an hour, which is why one that seems to be just trotting away from you is out of sight so fast. And for short bursts coyotes can hit 40 miles an hour or more. If need be they can also leap a distance of 14 feet, and they’re capable swimmers, as well.

Coyotes mate in late winter or early spring, so the weeks to come afford better-than-usual opportunities for seeing them out and about. Coyote pups are born in litters of four to nine sometime in April or May, and both mother and father care for them. The pups remain with their parents learning the skills they need to survive until late summer or fall, when they disperse to begin life on their own. The bonds between coyote pairs are strong, and they may mate together over many years.

As social animals, coyotes are great communicators, expressing themselves through the sorts of facial movements and body positions that are familiar to dog owners. They also keep track of one another by means of howls, yips, and barks—at least 11distinct vocalizations. The coyote’s latin name, Canis latrans, translates as “barking dog.”

For some people, the coyote’s howl will always be an emblem of nighttime in the desert west. But you need not travel far from an urban center to hear that howl as an Illinois sound, too.

Click to listen to IDNR's recording of a coyote howl.

Resolving to enjoy, conserve Illinois rivers in 2009

2009-01-15T16:45:00.003-06:00

Resolving to enjoy, conserve Illinois rivers in 2009

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I have a short list of perennial New Year’s resolutions, which always begins with my determination to fish more than I did in the previous year. As you might imagine, this one doesn’t get me much immediate respect at home, but I think it immensely important for people to pursue the connectedness that outdoor recreation provides. I never feel more fully myself than when I’m hip-deep in flowing water with a fishing rod in my hand. Without such moments of connectedness, I think people are liable to forget that they are truly part of the natural world, and lose sight of the need to protect and restore it.

In order to maintain fishing opportunities for myself and for others, I also resolve yearly to work for the benefit of Illinois waterways. [Photo: A bucket and an aquarium net are all the equipment needed to enjoy the shallows of the Middle Fork River at Kickapoo State Park.] This effort begins at home, with the steps my family and I take to conserve water and reduce pollution. But it goes beyond that, too, since no amount of individual effort can bring about change on a scale as large as the watershed of the Mississippi River.

To catch up on prospects for stream conservation in 2009, I checked in recently with Glynnis Collins, who is executive director of Prairie Rivers Network, the Champaign-based, statewide affiliate of the National Wildlife Federation, which aims “to protect Illinois’ rivers for people, fish, and wildlife.”

Collins explained with great enthusiasm that Prairie Rivers is currently working to articulate a comprehensive vision for healthy Illinois rivers over the long term, an answer to the question, “What do we want to see 30 years from now?” To do this the group will convene scientists who work on all aspects of river research and gather their input on the state of streams now, and the potential for their improvement in the years to come. Prairie Rivers will then work with policy experts to assign priorities and develop strategies for making those potential improvements real. Collins noted that the Illinois River was once the most productive fishery in the nation, and asserted that the road to reclaiming the many benefits our waterways can provide--for humans and wildlife--begins with envisioning them in a healthy state.

Collins noted that while that vision is in its early stages, in the end it will likely include some features that are already familiar to conservation-minded people: natural corridors to provide a buffer between streams and agriculture or other development, streams that are once again connected to their floodplains, and stream flows that are protected from over exploitation.

Indeed, Prairie Rivers already has a goal for 2009 of working to make sure that Illinois adopts a framework for dealing with conflicts among water users that accounts for the needs of aquatic life in addition to the accommodation of other uses.

This year Prairie Rivers Network will continue also to provide citizens with knowledge about various activities that have the potential to damage waterways so that they may take effective action, whether that’s monitoring streams near factory farms or keeping tabs on coal mines around the state.

Whether or not your New Year’s resolutions extend to fishing, I would encourage you to take time to enjoy the streams and rivers of Illinois in 2009. And if you’re inclined to work for their benefit of those waterways, either as an individual or part of a group, check in with Prairie Rivers Network at http://prairierivers.org/ to see what you can do.

Some highlights of 2008 climate change science

2008-12-19T09:36:00.002-06:00

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Some highlights of 2008 climate change science

The amount information now generated by scientific efforts to comprehend climate change can make it difficult to feel like you’re keeping up. But as 2008 draws to a close I think it is worth looking back at some of the year’s highlights.

Toward that end I checked in this week with Don Wuebbles, who is a professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Illinois and a lead author on the first two international assessments of climate change sponsored by the United Nations. Recognizing the continued, vociferous attempts to sow confusion by interest groups opposed to changes in public policy, Wuebbles emphasized that ongoing research substantiates the idea that the earth’s climate is changing significantly, and that that change is being driven by human activity.

The most dramatic aspect of the climate change story this year was the retreat of sea ice in the artic. Since 1979 scientists have been using satellites to measure the extent of arctic sea ice, and they use the minimum area it occupies in September as a benchmark for making comparisons among years. This year’s minimum was the second lowest recorded since satellite measurements began, following the record low set last year, and it was 34 percent lower than the average over the past three decades. [For short accounts see Sept. 17 NY Times article by Andy Revkin and Oct. 3 article from ScienceDaily. For much more information and cool animations of polar sea ice see "The Cryosphere Today" by William Chapman and others with the U of I Department of Atmospheric Sciences Polar Research Group.] At one point this summer both the Northwest Passage over Canada and the Northern Sea Route over Russia were open at the same time. The continued decline of ice in the arctic served to underscore the importance of designating polar bears as a threatened species, which U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service did this past March after years of footdragging.

Another dramatic ice story comes from Greenland, where the focus of attention is on how fast the Greenland ice sheet is melting, and how that melting will affect sea level over the next century. The most recent estimates used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projected that the melting of Greenland ice would contribute between one and four inches to sea level rise over the next 100 years. But a study published this summer led by a University of Wisconsin geologist suggests that projection is too conservative, and that melting Greenland ice could contribute between one and two feet to sea level over 100 years. [ScienceDaily short version │ Nature Geoscience long version (requires access through library or subscription).] This projection is based on analysis of how the last great ice mass to cover parts of Canada and the U.S. melted under conditions similar to those expected for Greenland in the century to come.

Closer to home, professor Wuebbles collaborated with a former student as lead authors on the climate science component of the report, Climate Change and Chicago issued in September. That report projects that by the year 2100 summers in Chicago will resemble present-day summers in Atlanta, even assuming that the global economy make dramatic moves away from fossil fuels. Even hotter conditions are projected under a business-as-usual scenario, with as many as 80 summer days with temperatures above 90 degrees, as opposed to the current average of 15. Unfortunately winters are not projected to be so much warmer. The Chicago climate report also projects disruptive changes in precipitation patterns, with increased precipitation and greater storm events occurring in winter and spring, but less rainfall when it is most needed, later in the growing season.

The good news evident in Chicago’s Climate Action Plan is that it is possible for scientists, policymakers, and stakeholders to work together to confront the challenges posed by climate change. Perhaps there’s hope for such progress at the national level in the year to come.

An environmental book list for the holidays

2008-12-11T16:45:00.000-06:00

An environmental book list for the holidays

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As I put together Environmental Almanac from week to week I have the opportunity to interact with many thoughtful, generous people who are motivated by a wide range of environmental interests. For this week’s column, I asked some of them for thoughts on a list of books that readers might want to give as gifts or add to their own reading lists.

Judy Miller, environmental program manager with the Urbana Park District suggested two books that highlight a child’s perspective on the natural world: Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne “because it is just plain fun to read and the perfect example of how a four-year-old thinks and interacts with nature,” and A Sense of Wonder by Rachel Carson, which Miller said, “reminds us what it is like to be a child experiencing nature for the first time.”

Robert McKim, a philosopher and head of the UI Department of Religion, recommended Daniel Quinn's 1992 novel, Ishmael. McKim called “Ishmael” “challenging, thought-provoking, wise, not at all heavy-handed, and a really enjoyable read.” Further, he noted, “It raises important questions about how we ought to think of our relationship to the other species with whom we share this planet.”

Jamie Ellis, a botanist with the Illinois Natural History Survey and board president of Grand Prairie Friends, suggested a work of nonfiction, Heartsblood: Hunting, Spirituality and Wildness in America. This book, by David Petersen, a takes a critical look at hunting today. Ellis said, “I feel that hunting brings me closer to the nature I want to protect and conserve, and this book provides the philosophy and thought behind my feelings about hunting.”

The staff at Prairie Rivers Network collaborated to recommend The Secret Knowledge of Water: Discovering the Essence of the American Desert by Craig Childs, which they describe as “an adventurous and poetic journal of a back-country guide’s treks through the water-shaped desert.” They also suggested, Staying Put: Settling Down in a Restless World, by Indiana writer Scott Russell Sanders,” which is concerned with the importance of putting down roots and of attachments to specific places.

Chris Phillips, a herpetologist with the Illinois Natural History Survey and UI faculty affiliate, suggested two books about the work of biologists in the field: Mean and Lowly Things: Snakes, Science, and Survival in the Congo, by contemporary herpetologist, Kate Jackson, and Into the Jungle: Great Adventures in the Search for Evolution, which tells the stories of earlier naturalists whose work provided the foundation for our scientific understanding of life on earth.

Cynthia Hoyle, a transportation planning consultant with the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District recommended Edens Lost & Found: How Ordinary Citizens are Restoring Our Great American Cities, by Harry Wiland and Dale Bell. This book, which is a companion to a PBS series available on DVD, tells the inspiring stories of how ordinary people have worked together to heal the Earth and bring hope and opportunity to our inner cities by uncovering and restoring the beauty of nature.

May Berenbaum, head of the UI Department of Entomology, and a leader in the ongoing, international effort to understand dramatic declines in honey bees, recommended a new book on that topic by Rowan Jacobsen called Fruitless Fall: The Collapse of the Honey Bee and the Coming Agricultural Crisis.

Finally, if you could use a break from shopping and reading you might want to check out Hotspots, a new film that will air on public television nextweek. It provides a global perspective on the current wave of plant and animal extinction, so it won’t be a pick-me-up, but it promises a view that includes hope for the future.

Beavers in the Prairie State

2008-12-04T16:45:00.001-06:00

Beavers in the Prairie State

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On a recent walk at River Bend Forest Preserve someone I met on the trail asked if I knew a good place in Illinois to see beavers. After a moment’s thought I answered, “Anywhere,” because there are unmistakable signs of them in so many places. Beaver-chewed trees, sticks stripped of bark and the slides beavers create by dragging branches down the bank are just part of the landscape along many bodies of water in the Prairie State. [Photo: Chewed trees, like this oak on the bank of the Sangamon River at Lodge Park in Piatt County, are an unmistakable sign of beaver activity.]

Looking back, though, I realized that my quick answer didn’t really get the questioner any closer to laying eyes on Illinois’ largest rodent. That’s because even though beavers live throughout the state, they are not often seen, since they are most active at night, or near dusk and dawn. My answer really should have been to say that if you want to see beavers your best bet is to find a site on a stream or pond where they’ve been active and quietly watch it in the hour before sunset.

There was a time in the not-too-distant past when it was difficult to find beavers in Illinois at all, since prior to 1900 they were nearly extirpated from the state by unregulated trapping. They bounced back over the course of the twentieth century through a combination of protection and reintroduction, and are now common where suitable habitat exists. Indeed, today, beavers sometimes prove a significant nuisance when their ideas about suitable locations for ponds conflict with ours.

Of course, some humans admire the ingenious ways beavers modify their environment, and their ability to do this also benefits the many plants and animals that make use of wetlands. For beavers, the point of building dams is to create ponds that are deep enough not to freeze solid in winter. This allows them to construct lodges that are accessible only through underwater passages. The typical beaver lodge is a dome-shaped mound made of sticks, logs and mud, and a really big one may be 10 feet tall and 30 feet around. But many perfectly respectable beavers live in burrows excavated in the banks of bodies of water, too. That’s why you may find all of the other evidence that beavers inhabit a pond or stretch of river without ever seeing a lodge. Bank burrows, like lodges, provide beavers with protection from weather and predators.

Beavers possess an array of physical adaptations that suit them for a semi-aquatic life. They propel themselves through the water with webbed hind feet, using their signature, paddle-shaped tail as a rudder. Their eyes are protected by a clear, third eyelid, and their nostrils and ears can be closed when they submerge. A beaver may remain underwater for as long as 15 minutes at a stretch.

Unlike most other mammals, beavers are monogamous, and male and female beaver mates remain together until one of the pair dies. Beaver young live with their parents for nearly two years, so family groups include adults, yearlings and kits together.

If you would like to learn more about beavers or any of the other 59 species of wild mammals that occur regularly in Illinois, I would encourage you to pick up a copy of the Field Manual of Illinois Mammals published this year by the Illinois Natural History Survey. The manual contains all of the information you could ask for in such a book, but it is written with attention to the interests of readers who are not scientists, and it is distinguished by first-rate photographs and original color drawings.

A Thanksgiving feast with local, organic food

2008-11-20T16:45:00.003-06:00

A Thanksgiving feast with local, organic food

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I’d like to be able to say that my concern for the long-term good of planet earth guides all of my decisions about the food I buy and consume. But the fact is, I do most of my shopping where it’s convenient, and I’m as likely as anyone to hesitate when the sticker price on organic food is higher than the conventional alternative.

But I think Thanksgiving represents a fantastic opportunity for being more mindful about food—being thankful, first and always, to have enough, but also appreciating where it comes from, thinking about my relationship with the people who produce it, and cultivating an understanding of how food production for humans affects the rest of life on earth. Since contemplating these matters always leads me back to the same place, which is a renewed commitment to seeking out locally produced, organic food, I’ll spare you the philosophy.

Instead let me tell you about a conversation I had recently with Alisa DeMarco, who knows local food and what to do with it as well as anybody in east central Illinois. DeMarco is currently chef and associate cheesemaker at Prairie Fruits Farm just north of Urbana. Before coming to Prairie Fruits Farm, she trained at the Culinary Institute of America in New York, after which she spent some time cooking in Austin and was then chef at the Great Impasta in Champaign. (DeMarco also currently operates Big Spoon Custom Culinary Services.)

Over lunch at the reinvigorated Common Ground food co-op in Lincoln Square Village, DeMarco outlined her plans for a Thanksgiving Day feast featuring local food. [Photo: some of the local, organic produce currently available at Common Ground, including leeks, carrots, brussls sprouts, and chard.] She emphasized that a person need not make any painful accommodations to put on a locally sourced meal, given the abundance and variety of local food available now in east central Illinois.

Since Thanksgiving can be an all day affair DeMarco suggested that a cheese board would be the place to start and, naturally, cheese from Prairie Fruits Farm would be essential to that, along with, perhaps, a mix of sliced apples and pears.

The first course of a meal could then be a soup, featuring either butternut squash, or pumpkin, or maybe even both together. (See recipe below.)

Follow that with spinach salad, wilted with a little bacon from Stan Schutte’s Triple S Farm or another local meat producer, and topped with toasted walnuts.

For the main course nothing beats a locally raised turkey, although you’re unlikely to find one of those if you haven’t already arranged for it. If you’re stuck with a grocery store bird this year, you might make a note to yourself to sign up for one with a local producer at the farmer’s market next summer. DeMarco said she would be making her stuffing with a traditional mix of herbs and onions, but that it would also feature fig and walnut bread from Stewart's Artisan Breads and Desserts in Monticello (217.586.7816 | equigno@msn.com).

We talked about so many possibilities for vegetables and potatoes that I won’t try to recount them all here. But DeMarco made the point that when you start with local produce, simple preparation is the key since the flavor is in the food itself.

While Thanksgiving is a great time to be mindful about the food we eat, it’s also a good time to recall that there are many among who need help just to get by right now. So as you’re planning what you’ll buy, you might also budget for a donation to the Eastern Illinois Food Bank. They can provide $10 worth of food for families facing hunger for every dollar contributed to them.

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Silky Butternut Squash Soup with Nutmeg Cream, from Alisa DeMarco

serves 8

4 lbs butternut squash, peeled, cleaned and cut into 1 inch cubes
1 stick unsalted butter
2 medium onions, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 celery rib, finely chopped
3 apples, peeled and diced
2 quarts vegetable stock
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
salt
pepper
1 cup heavy cream
freshly grated nutmeg
fresh thyme, finely chopped

In a large 3-4 qt. saucepot, melt butter over medium heat. Add onions, garlic and celery and sweat, stirring occassionally, until translucent, about 8 minutes. Add apples and squash along with vegetable stock. Season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until vegetables and squash are just tender, about 20 minutes. Working with a blender or food processor puree soup until smooth. For a finer texture, pass soup through a sieve and return to pot. Adjust with additional stock if necessary. Add 1/2 cup of heavy cream, cinnamon, cayenne and additional salt and pepper to taste. Whip remaining cream to soft peaks and add freshly grated nutmeg. Re-warm soup and serve ladled into bowls garnished with a small dollop of nutmeg cream and chopped herbs.