February 2008
In This Edition
- Docent Reorientation for 2008
by Dennis Bires - Deer Out of My Window
by Josie of the Prairie - Prairie Documentary: America’s Lost Landscape
by Dennis Bires - Tallgrass Prairie Preserve Kiosk Progress Report
by Jamie - 2008 Docent Winter Meeting
by Andrew Donovan-Shead - Tallgrass Prairie Remedies
by Van Vives - Oklahoma Threatened Species
by Van Vives - Back Issues
- Newsletter Publication
Docent Reorientation for 2008
—Dennis Bires
All returning Tallgrass Prairie Docents are invited to attend the Docent Reorientation program on Saturday, February 23, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., at the Ecological Research Station at the Preserve. Please bring a lunch. Feel free to invite a guest to Reorientation, particularly if the guest might have an interest in joining the Docent Program.
We are delighted to welcome as our featured speaker Dr. Carmen Greenwood, Assistant Professor of Entomology and Plant Pathology in the Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources at Oklahoma State University. Professor Greenwood has been conducting research at the Preserve on invertebrate communities in patch-burn-grazing sequence habitats.
In addition, we will have updates on the bison herd and other Preserve news, and announcements of upcoming events for docents. Always a highlight of the docent year, Reorientation promises to be a most interesting and enjoyable day.
Deer Out of My Window
—Josie of the Prairie
One cold winter day, I looked out my window and saw some whitetail deer. They were eating in the grass along my driveway. I saw one doe that had really short ears. My dad said it looked like she had the tips froze off when she was young. Along with the doe was a beautiful buck. I grabbed my camera and took these pictures.
Prairie Documentary: America’s Lost Landscape
—Dennis Bires
On Monday, February 25, at 7:00 p.m., Circle Cinema, located at 12 South Lewis Avenue, in Tulsa, will present America’s Lost Landscape: The Tallgrass Prairie, co-sponsored by The Nature Conservancy. The documentary film describes the history of the Great Plains, including the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve.
Admission is $20 and all proceeds help fund The Nature Conservancy’s work in Oklahoma. Refreshments will be served thirty minutes prior to the screening.
Tickets may be purchased online at www.circlecinema.com, or by calling the box office at 918-585-3504. For more information, contact Nancy Hatfield at The Nature Conservancy office at 918-585-1117.
Tallgrass Prairie Preserve Kiosk Progress Report
—Jamie
6th Grade students at Holland Hall Middle School continue to meet every
week to work on research topics in order to create a kiosk for the
Tallgrass Prairie docent program. Julian and Will are farthest along in
their research about moles and voles. Julian is creating a slideshow with
pictures and facts. He is writing as if he is the mole. Julian thinks that
it is interesting how moles can eat without getting dirt in their mouth.
Will Booker is also far along, but not quite as far as Julian. He has
started his slideshow about voles. The rest of the people in the group are
still researching their projects, which includes prairie grasses, bison,
butterflies, and ranch and Osage history. We will be going to the
Tallgrass Prairie Preserve Docent Reorientation on February 23rd to
present some of our research to the docents.
2008 Docent Winter Meeting
—Andrew Donovan-Shead
Thirteen docents convened the winter meeting in Room 203 of John Rogers Hall at the University of Tulsa College of Law. Dennis Bires called the meeting to order at 3 p.m.
Dennis opened the meeting by announcing David Turner’s resignation as coordinator of New Docent Training. For the last ten years, David has done an admirable job. He has completely revised the Docent Manual. Our 2007 recruiting and training effort was the best yet. David decided to leave so that he can pursue other interests. Barbara Bates has agreed to become our New Docent Training Coordinator.
Dennis directed our attention to the bison roundup statistics provided by Bob Hamilton, here reproduced.
| 2007-born Calves | 301 male 320 female 621 total |
| Largest & Smallest Calves | 438 lbs heifer; 140 lbs bull |
| Red Calves (1-2 months at roundup) | None |
| Calving Rate = # calves at roundup ÷ # females of calving age |
73.5% |
| Bison at Roundup worked through corral | 2,517 |
| Known Roundup escapees, uncatchable | 1 adult bull |
| Number Sold | 411 |
| Number Purchased | None |
| Number Acquired by Trade | None |
| Over-wintering Herd Size | 2,106 |
| Expected Spring 2007 Calf Crop | approximately 550 |
| Bison Year-round Pasture Acres | 21,045 |
| Maximum Weight | 1,758 lbs 2002-born bull from the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve |
| Average Corral Processing Time | Adults at 77 head per hour; Calves at 78 head per hour |
Dennis reported that on May 16th, 2007, the Oklahoma Department of Transporation designated the Osage Scenic Byway from Bartlesville to Ponca City, which includes the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve.
On February 25th, the Circle Cinema will show the film "America's Lost Landscape: The Tallgrass Prairie tells the rich and complex story of one of the most astonishing alterations of nature in human history". Follow this link for a summary of the plot at the IMDb.
Dennis announced upcoming events:
Docent Reorientation is scheduled for February 23rd from 9:30 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. Our guest speaker will be Professor Carmen Greenwood from OSU. Docents are encouraged to bring guest, particularly if the guest is interested in becoming a docent. Anita Springer is the coordinator. Bring your own lunch.
Visitor’s Center Opening: Saturday, March 1st.
Prairie Road Crew: Saturday, March 8th.
New Docent Training is scheduled for Saturday & Sunday, April 12th & 13th Barbera Bates coordinating.
Trail Maintenance or Oilfied Cleanup is planned for a day in April yet to be determined.
We agreed that May 3rd is a good day to for the Prairie Road Crew, Cookout, & Hike.
Dennis asked Andrew Donovan-Shead to talk about The Docent News. Andrew said that the newsletter is now being published as a web-page in an effort to eliminate the need for additional software to read the Adobe Portable Document Format files that had been used to publish previous editions. Now anyone using a computer should be able to open the newsletter with a web-browser.
Dennis asked if the pictures would be better. Andrew thought that they would because they can be made bigger with better resolution. When publishing the newsletter as a PDF file, the pictures tended to enlarge the file to unmanageable proportions, which meant that the resolution had to be reduced in order to enable users to download the file in a reasonable amount of time.
George McCort asked if it would be possible to receive some training on how to get at the newsletter. Andrew said that we could allocate some time during Docent Reorientation for general instruction.
Andrew asked which electronic method of publication is preferred. There were no strong feelings either way. Dennis declared that we should continue with the web-page for now.
Andrew relinquished the floor to Dennis who then discussed the 2007 Docent Survey Results, saying that it didn’t indicate the need for radical change in the way we are operating. The survey was divided into six areas of interest
- Volunteer Days:
- Ease of duty sign-up system on computer
- My desire to drive the distance from home
- My chances to have windshield chips or cracks
- My chances to have a flat tire
- My comfort level with working alone
- Greeting Visitors:
- My comfort level in greeting guests
- Information about using preserve map on the porch
- Information in our Docent Manual
- Information about The Nature Conservancy
- Bison facts (number wintered over; number on site; expected new baby count, etc.)
- Information about this Preserve (TGP) (history, mission, goals)
- Information about TGP ranch history
- Information about TGP grasses and other plants
- Information about Osage Nation history
- Information about the Bison Round-up and its purpose
- Information about Science projects on the Preserve
- Information about the cattle grazing project
- My comfort level with Emergency Procedures
- Financial Procedures:
- Ease of counting cash before opening
- Ease of knowing the price to enter for merchandise
- Ease of entering information on the cash receipt
- Ease of adding up sold items for a customer’s ticket total (to avoid over or under charging)
- Ease of using credit card machine to enter sales
- Ease of counting the day’s cash sales
- Ease of counting the day’s credit sales
- Ease of daily closing out the credit card machine
- Ease of counting cash on hand at end of day
- My knowledge of how to correct errors either during the day of at the end of the day
- Nature Displays:
- My knowledge to use in interaction with visitors
- Ease of using the Grass display
- Ease of using Flower pictures
- Ease of using Bison pictures
- Ease of using the Science Project list
- Ease of using the Burn Map
- Ease of using the wall mural
- Ease of using the Round-up pictures
- Ease of using the bugs, bones, skulls
- Ease of conducting Headquarters tours
- Merchandise:
- Ease of finding prices
- The method of recording the number of books sold
- The book options available and their prices
- The choice of shirts, caps
- The choice of cards, stationary items
- The choice of food, drink items
- Above & Beyond:
- Adopt-A-Mile (trash pick-up)
- Trail Maintenance
- Docent hikes & outings
- Topical Fall Field Day (wildflowers, birds, rocks, etc.)
- Docent Program Coordinator
- Work Day Coordinator
- Help with Docent Recognition Luncheon
- Help with Docent Recruiting
- Help with New Docent Training
- Help with Docent Reorientation
- Social activity coordinator
- Assist professors & students with TGP field research
The survey required a response in one of four columns, either Excellent
,
Good
, Poor
, or Not Applicable
. In the first five areas,
the majority of responses appeared in the Excellent
or Good
columns. Only in Above & Beyond
did the majority of responses
indicate a lack of interest; in this area the response columns were entitled:
My Interest Level to Participate is:
with the individual columns labeled
as High
, Medium
, Low
, or No Interest
.
Dennis said that these opportunities remain to be filled by willing docent coordinators: Docent Recognition Luncheon, Workday, and Tulsa Docent Recruiting. The Docent Survey showed significantly less interest than for the other categories.
Dennis asked David Turner to talk about embroidered docent shirts. David described the plan and said he would enquire of the embroidery shop in Pawhuska and find out if they are still willing to perform the embroidery service, reporting the results in a future newsletter.
Dennis talked about docent recruiting and the need to advertise in an effort to produce as good a response as we had last year, as well as the need to be diligent in responding to interest expressed by potential docents.
Tallgrass Prairie Remedies
—Van Vives
Wayside, Kansas, is a very small community on the prairie a few miles
north of Caney. It’s only a few houses now, but it’s fame is
that it was the home of the Ingalls family, and has a replica of the Little House on the Prairie. My wife, Loretta, is
from there. We recently got a book, by way of Ebay, titled Prairie
Recipes and Kitchen Antiques
It is about recipes of members of Wayside
many years ago. In it are two remedies
from a relative of
Loretta.
- Grandma Zenor’s Remedy to Stop Bleeding:
Dissolve 1 level teaspoon of sugar in 3 ounces of peroxide. If in a hurry for a bad cut, cover with black pepper. (Lesson- be careful and don’t get cut.) - Grandma Zenor’s Mustard Poultice:
- 2 Teaspoons of flour
- 1 Tablespoon of dry mustard
- 1 Tablespoon of water or enough to make a paste thin enough to spread on a piece of cloth large enough for the affected part of the body.
Chances are you’re going to feel better after this.
These were hard-working prairie families. Grandma Zenor died at age 95 while on a trip to Washington. Aunt Potiah Stonecipher died at age 102, and with a name like that one might have expected her to survive many years on the tallgrass prairie.
Oklahoma Threatened Species
—Van Vives
The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation publishes a list of the endangered and threatened species for the state. Most of the Endangered Species are also listed as endangered by the Federal Government under the Endangered Species Act. Some of these are the Gray Bat, Whooping Crane, Interior Least Tern, Black-capped Vireo, Red-cockaded Woodpecker, and Cave Crayfish.
Oklahoma’s Threatened Species also includes some of the Federally Threatened species. One is the American Alligator. Coming from south Louisiana I was a bit surprised, since the Alligator has made such a comeback and a nuisance in certain areas. Hunting them for their skin is allowed, although controlled.
There is another category, the Oklahoma Species of Special Concern, which contains 95 species and only one is Federally listed. That is the Arkansas Darter. The list includes the Golden Eagle, Prairie Falcon, Woodchuck, Black-tailed Prairie Dog, Mountain Lion, Swainson’s Hawk, Barn Owl, Redbreast Sunfish, River Darter, Prairie Mole Cricket, Regal Fritillary Butterfly, Lesser Prairie Chicken, and the Oklahoma Salamander.
Once a species has been classified as endangered, it receives special protection. It is illegal to hunt, collect, kill, injure, harass, or otherwise take endangered wildlife, as well as to purchase or sell. Even with such protection, wildlife species still die out. Habitat loss, pesticide poisoning, forestry practices and illegal shooting can spell the end for some species.
Back Issues
Back issues of the Docent Newsletter, to November 2007, can be found in the two green and one blue zip-binders, stored in the Perspex rack by the file cabinet in the office of the Visitor’s Center.
Newsletter Publication
Deadline for submission of articles for inclusion in the newsletter is the 10th of each month. Publication date is on the 15th. All docents, Nature Conservancy staff, university scientists, philosophers, and historians are welcome to submit articles and pictures about the various preserves in Oklahoma, but of course the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in particular.