YOU CAN HELP excerpt from Missouri State Parks

Family fishing at Roaring River State Park

You Can Help

The successful renewal of the Missouri Parks, Soils and Water Sales Tax is critical to the funding of the parks, soil and water conservation programs it supports. It will be on the November 8, 2016, ballot as Constitutional Amendment #1, and we need your help!

Why does it matter?
Missouri’s parks, soils and clean water are important to our quality of life, our health and our economy. More than 19 million people visit our state parks and historic sites annually, providing more than $1 billion a year in economic impact and supporting 14,000 jobs.

What does it do?
The sales tax works to maintain our state park system and keep it free, to maintain and improve our water quality and to combat soil erosion.

How does it work?
Constitutional Amendment #1 is a smart investment. It simply renews an existing program that has successfully protected our parks, soils and water for more than 30 years — with no increase in taxes.

So, how can you help?

Get involved and help support the renewal of the Parks, Soils and Water Sales Tax on November 8! We welcome you to join us in educating Missourians on the importance of renewing the Missouri Parks, Soils and Water Sales Tax.

Perhaps, one of the easiest ways is to follow Missouri Parks, Soils and Water Sales Tax Renewal on Facebook or Twitter and help us spread the word on social media. Share the information and videos you find on this website with your friends and family.

If you’d like to be actively involved or have a special opportunity to share the story of Missouri’s state parks, soils and water conservation efforts, there is atoolkit available that includes brochures, posters, stickers and a PowerPoint presentation for meetings. Yard signs are coming soon! Please complete and submit the form below with your requests or questions, and a Committee representative will contact you soon!  

Note:  the toolkit and form are available at this website:

https://soilwaterparks.com/you-can-help/

MILKWEED VISITOR By Tamra Sunby

This eye-catching beetle shown here on Swamp Milkweed (asclepias incarnata) is the Swamp Milkweed Leaf-beetle (labidomera clivicollis). 

It is aposematically colored, which means it is a species that advertise their distastefulness by being brightly colored. 

This species displays the orange and black mimicry complex which includes the Monarch Butterflies. They feed on the leaves, stems, flowers and pollen of milkweed including Swamp and Common milkweed.

Tamra Sunby recently retired from the Monett School District as the Agriculture Instructor and FFA Advisor for twenty seven years. She joined the Chert Glades Chapter this year and attributes her interest in the Missouri Master Naturalist program to encouragement from Jeff Cantrell who has been an inspiration to her. 

POLLINATORS ARE IMPORTANT By Billie Mullins

This week is National Pollinators Week.  In 2007 the US Dept. of Agriculture and the US Dept. of the Interior set aside this week to celebrate pollinators and spread the word about what each of us can do to protect them.  

Pollinators are a vital part of a healthy environment.  They convey pollen to fertilize flowers that produce fruit and seed.  Bees are the main pollinators and the US has 4000 species of native bees.  Native bees are ground or wood nesters, they are solitary, most do not sting and their average foraging distance is 50 feet to one-half mile.  The most common bird that acts as a pollinator is the hummingbird.  Other pollinators are bats, butterflies, moths, wasps, beetles, flies and ants.

More than 80 percent of the world's plants need pollinators.  75 percent of the world's flowering plants and 35 percent of the world's food crops depend on pollinators.  The US grows more than 100 crops that need or benefit from pollinators.   Some food items that we would not have if we lost our pollinators are apples, blueberries, strawberries, almonds, melons, peaches, pumpkins, tomatoes and citrus fruit.

There are two things each of us can do to help protect pollinators.  First, reduce or eliminate the use of pesticides, and second, plant a variety of native plants with different bloom colors and shapes that flower at different times throughout the growing season. 

A simple recipe for a pesticide substitute is a teaspoon of liquid dish soap in a gallon of water.  Spray as needed on both sides of leaves to control aphids, spider mites and white flies.

Plants that provide pollen or nectar (or both) that bloom early in the Spring when food is scarce are especially helpful.  Some examples of pollinator friendly shrubs and trees are dogwood, blueberry, cherry, plum, willow, oak, buttonbush, spicebush, serviceberry and New Jersey tea. Examples of native forbs are aster, beardtongue, bergamot, blazing star, cardinal flower, prairie clovers, compass plant, coneflowers, coreopsis, goat's rue, goldenrod, Indian paintbrush, indigo, leadplant, milkweed, mountain mint, poppy mallow, rosinweed, spiderwort, and sunflowers.

Planting host plants (food for the larva of pollinators) is also important to assure that pollinators successfully reproduce. Here are some examples of host plants for butterflies and moths.

·         Common buckeye - blue toadflax

·         Great spangled fritillary - violets

·         Monarch - milkweeds and butterfly weeds

·         Painted lady - pearly everlasting and sweet everlasting

·         Red-spotted purple - cherries and willows

·         Spicebush swallowtail - sassafras and spicebush

·         Tiger swallowtail - basswood, birches, black cherry, tulip poplar and willows

·         Zebra swallowtail - pawpaw

·         Luna moth - alders, American beech, birches, hickories, maples, oaks, persimmon, sweetgum and willows

Pollinator Week has grown into an international celebration of the valuable ecosystem services provided by bees, birds, butterflies, bats and beetles.  Wouldn't it be great if wildflowers lined all roadways and our vegetable gardens and agriculture fields had a border of native wildflowers?

We can all be a friend to pollinators.

 

 

 

CHAPTER MEMBERS DOCUMENT SPRING HAPPENINGS!

Members of the Chert Glades Chapter are out in the area seeking signs of spring; hiking, exploring and sharing their finds.  Walk with us as we show you what we’ve been up to and what to expect right now in the wild.  Get out there yourself and enjoy this early spring!

 Jeff Cantrell – “Greetings Naturalists. To us spring arriving early conveys an abundance.  The wheels and cogs are certainly turning in the web of life machine.  I walked the Eagle Roost Trail, Roaring River State Park, after work yesterday, so much is ahead of schedule, at this rate morel mushrooms could be following Easter.  Sweet William, Hepatica & Bloodroot (at its peak), Trout lily, Dutchman’s Breeches, pussy toes, toothwort (passed its prime) are all along the slopes.”

 Becky Wylie – Becky has been busy documenting spring blooms on the Facebook page for Wildcat Glades Conservation and Audubon Center. 

New member, Caroline Perigo documented the Saturday field session hike at Prairie State Park.  Members learned about prairie history, ecology and preservation, and enjoyed a great day at Prairie State Park!

Karen Garver and Ann Butts documented a Saturday field session at the Neosho National Fish Hatchery and Bicentennial Park in Neosho.  The morning session covered mammals with Jeff Cantrell and lots of hands-on activities.  Members learned how the hatchery contributes to pallid sturgeon species recovery, recovery efforts for threatened or endangered native mussels, and recovery of the Topeka Shiner.  At Bicentennial Park, Keith Jones led the class on a hike and exercise in habitat maintenance and recovery.

 New member, Karen Richardson, worked on her capstone project at the Outdoor Nature Lab at Monett High School.  Close to 90 Missouri native plants were chosen for planting because of their soil conservation properties. “The nine-bark and choke berry are really leafing out nicely,” she says.  “I am especially looking forward to seeing the cypress start greening up.” 

Member and artist Joyce Haynes documented her visit to Wah kon ta Prairie to view endangered prairie chickens by writing and using her amazing talent to draw a prairie chicken in her journal. 

ALL THAT WHITE! by Kevin Mouser

When my parents call me from St. Louis, one of the go to questions in the spring is, "Are the dog woods blooming?" They know that this will never get a straight answer from me, but they love me so they tolerate my rambling stories about the wonderful springs here in southwest Missouri. Dog wood trees are definitely a popular tree, they have festivals, roads, and many other things named after them. Many towns even sponsor a day of driving in the country with just the purpose of seeing these lore wrapped beauties in bloom.

What if I told you that most of the white trees you are admiring aren't dog woods? Is that horrible news or are you suddenly excited about the diversity and beauty our region has to offer? Well, if you are excited, let me tell you about a small white tree that decorates our fence rows and forest edges. After it finishes decorating our world and being one of our first harbingers of spring it finishes the year with a sweet treat, if you are quick enough to find one. What is this wonder of our world? The wild plum tree.

Enjoy the spring and all the beautiful white flowers, but know that there is diversity in them there hills, and you are getting just a glimpse of it. If you are intrigued by this hint of diversity then maybe leave the road and explore a conservation area or state park. There are a myriad of beautiful, small flowers that you need to see to believe.

A NATURALIST'S EYE by Ann Butts

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.”

― Albert Einstein

Anyone that has routinely studied our natural surroundings by “getting out there,” has a Naturalist’s Eye.  Naturalists love to spend time observing and recording natural events; an endangered flower on the prairie, an eagle “watching us” in a park, and a flock of thousands of snow geese landing on a lake.  Yes, we’ve done all that and much more as Missouri Master Naturalists. 

While Master Naturalists have considerable training opportunities available from many experts, it is with our eyes that we become Naturalists.  Our eyes lead us out to prairies, woods and lakes filling our minds with mysterious experiences that become education.    Our eyes are open to conservation needs, and that spurs our hands to actively pursue projects to protect nature. Our eyes are the windows through which our hearts receive love and devotion to nature, so we can share it each in our own particular way.

The person who said, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” regarding art must have had a Naturalist’s eye.  Many famous painters worked outdoors to capture natural forms.  John James Audubon could not have created his famous watercolors of birds without spending so much time observing them in their natural habitats.  Claude Monet’s outdoor paintings hang in many famous museums worldwide.  He attributed his eye for nature to be his most important accomplishment when he said of himself; “My only merit lies in having painted directly in front of nature, seeking to render my impressions of the most fleeting effects.” Monet was known for dragging his contemporaries, Renior, Sisley and Brazille, also famous artists, on his outdoor excursions. Such famous artists, all with the eye of a naturalist, brought nature to others.  Who would challenge that these famous artists were not “naturalists?” 

Who is better to become an advocate for conservation of natural resources than those who love and study nature like Master Naturalists?  Each of us has particular interests and talents, along with the drive to preserve and protect our natural surroundings.  Each of us finds a way to share our knowledge by unobtrusive measures to those whose minds are open to learning along with us.   Each of us has our eyes open waiting for the beauty of nature to inspire us.  After all, anyone who does not “stand in rapt awe” at the sight of a tiny bug, a delicate flower, or a purple sunrise, must be those who truly have their eyes closed. 

Ann Butts has been a member of the Chert Glades Chapter of Missouri Master Naturalists since 2005.  She loves "thinking about nature, learning about nature, and respecting nature," through Master Naturalist activities. You can find her photography website and nature blog under Natural Thoughts Photography and Natural Thoughts Blog. 

WINTER SUNSETS ARE THE BEST By Katharine Spigarelli

Everyone loves sunsets. Sunsets grace the covers of travel magazines and brochures. People talk endlessly about the sunset they saw on this beach or that beach. Photographers are always trying to capture that perfect sunset picture. On Facebook, people share photos of the sunset they saw that night. Sunsets are definitely inspiring and enchanting. But, have you noticed how sunsets in the winter seem even more beautiful?

I was curious about whether I was actually seeing a more beautiful sunset in winter or if it was all in my imagination. In my thinking, I had decided that the air must be cleaner and crisper in the winter, resulting in more beautiful sunsets. I thought about the heat you can see rising off the pavement in the summer and thought this might affect the sunset. But, I’m no scientist, so I did some research to find out if there was a scientific explanation. Turns out, there is.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) affirms that late fall and winter sunsets are indeed more beautiful. Steven Corfidi, a meteorologist with NOAA, says that winter sunsets tend to be more colorful because “the air along the path of the ray of sunlight tends to be dryer and cleaner.” In an article in Mother Earth News, December 2014, titled “Why sunrises are more amazing in the winter," they report that NOAA states, "Because air circulation is more sluggish during the summer… late fall and winter are the most favored times for sunrise and sunset viewing over most of the United States."  So, sunsets are more beautiful in the winter.

Now, get out there and take advantage of these last few weeks of winter and enjoy those sunsets, and if you are an early riser, enjoy the sunrises. You won’t be disappointed.

Katharine Spigarelli joined the Master Naturalists in 2010, but she feels she has been a naturalist all her life. She grew up in the country and being outdoors is where she loves to be.  Photography is a passion and nature photography, in particular, inspires her.  She is proud to be a tree hugger.