Newsletter title

October 2008

In This Edition

Docent Recognition Luncheon & Fall Field Day

—Andrew Donovan-Shead

Dennis hands out service awardsDennis Bires convened the Docent Recognition Luncheon and Fall Field Day at 12:15 p.m., Saturday, 11 October 2008. We enjoyed a catered lunch of grilled chicken, green beans, new potatoes, with a salad followed by peach or cherry cobbler. Dennis encouraged us to have seconds and thirds because, at 24-head, we were fewer than expected for the event. After lunch, Dennis introduced Harvey Payne.

Harvey announced that the docent apartment is occupied from 11 October until 8 December. Bob Hamilton is staying there while he puts in long days rounding up bison and working them through the corrals.

Having been associated with the Preserve since before its inauguration, Harvey announced that he has become Director Emeritus, stepping aside in favor of Bob Hamilton who became Preserve Director effective from 5 September 2008. This change had long been planned and now Harvey has a chance to slow down a bit and pursue his interests more fully, such as his photography that has been dormant for some time.

Matt Poole has resigned his position, much to the chagrin of Bob Hamilton who highly valued Matt’s contributions. Harvey said that Matt went home to Texas so that he could care for his ailing grandfather who was a big influence on Matt during his formative years.

Steve Forsythe has retired, again. After retiring from the Fish & Wildlife Service, Steve was persuaded to work in outreach for The Nature Conservancy where he helped facilitate partnerships between landowners and the Conservancy.

Once again, Harvey thanked all docents for their efforts. Many visitors take the trouble to telephone the Pawhuska office to express their satisfaction with their experience with the friendly, informative persons in attendance at the Visitor’s Center. We gave ourselves a round of applause.

Grass as high as a docent’s eyeHarvey relinquished the podium to Dennis who then gave out the service awards. Afterwards, Dennis told us to meet Bob Hamilton outside for the post prandial hike.

With Bob leading the way, we went through the gate to the east of the Research Station, south along the old oil-field road, west up to the MESONET weather station, north through the tallgrass and mixed woodland to the county road, and then back to the Research Station via the Visitor’s Center. As you can see from the picture taken by Betty Turner, the tallgrass is as high as a docent’s eye. As usual, Bob was a fount of information. We got a good look at Sericea Lespedeza, owl scat containing the bones of a rodent, and osage oranges amoung other things. During the course of the walk we got strung out along the trail. You can see more pictures and a couple of video clips by following this link. In one video clip Bob is anathematizing Auburn University for its prolific publications concerning the care, feeding, and weeding of Sericea Lespedeza; in the other, intrepid hikers emerge from the tallgrass onto the county road. There is a picture too of a flat rat that didn’t have the attributes of Wily Coyote.

Fence-pulling Work Day

—Dennis Bires

Interested Docents are encouraged to join the first Fence Removal Work Day on Saturday, October 18, from 10:30 a.m. till 3:00 p.m. Meet at the Visitor’s Center, and please bring a lunch for the noon break. The work site will be near the low-water crossing on Hickory Creek, on the Bison Loop, which was the starting point for the Docent Hike last May.

This will not be back-breaking work, as the staff cowboys will provide a fence jack, something like a car jack, for removing steel T-posts. Fence wire must be taken off first by bending off the clips at each post. Volunteers should bring a tough work jacket, leather gloves, and pliers.

The pay-off is a bison range cleared of internal fencing, an important aspect of The Nature Conservancy’s ecosystem restoration at the Preserve.

Bison Round-up Docent Day

—Andrew Donovan-Shead

During the Docent Recognition Luncheon, Dennis Bires announced that the Docent Day at this year’s bison round-up is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday, 15 November 2008. Docents may bring a guest and should meet at the Visitor’s Center for convoy to the corrals.

Harvey Payne reminded us that the round-up is closed to the public, should we receive any inquiries from members of the public, and that it is closed for reasons of safety. He said that the round-up can be viewed from a safe distance at the northern scenic turn-out just before the exit into Kansas, where visitors can see the herd massed for its annual veterinary inspection, counting, and culling.

Osage County Landowners

—Kip Cowan

Several times while doing docent duty, I have been asked about the size of the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, and the sizes of other ranches in Osage county. Possibly some other docents have also been asked, in which case you might find this useful.

An excellent article on this subject by Bill Waller and Les Warehime appeared in the Winter 2007 issue of the Bartlesville Magazine. If future visitors ask, listed below are the five largest Osage county land owners according to the article, in order from largest to smallest landowner:

  1. Church of Latter Day Saints (Sooner Cattle Company) 67,500 acres.
  2. Ted Turner (Osage Bluestem Ranch) 42,000 acres.
    Turner’s ranch is an interim point for supplying bison to his restaurant chain, Ted’s Montana Grill. There are about 7,500 bison on the Osage Bluestem Ranch. With the 2,500 bison at the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, there are generally some 10,000 bison in Osage County.
  3. Nature Conservancy (Tallgrass Prairie Preserve) 41,000 (37,000) acres.
    The article listed the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve as the fourth largest holding, at 37,000 acres, but the preserve has since added to its holding, bringing it to approximately 40,000 - 41,000 acres. Assuming no additions to the other holdings, the additions to Tallgrass Prairie Preserve would make it the third largest holding in Osage County.
  4. Bass Brothers (Osage Land & Cattle Company) 38,496 acres.
    The Bass brothers also own 18,000 acres in Kansas adjoining their Osage County ranch. This acreage also contains some tallgrass prairie.
  5. L. S. Drummond & Sons 19,385 acres.
    The Drummond Family’s nine largest holdings combined represent 109,500 acres.
    L. S. Drummond is the largest single land owner in the Drummond family at 19,385 acres. There are nine members of the Drummond family in the largest twenty-five land owners in Osage County. The combined holdings of these nine members amounts to 109,500 acres. Additional family members having smaller holdings bring the total Drummond family holdings to 119,699 acres according to the LandReport.

Holland Hall Students

—Van Vives

On Sept. 18 we had a group of sixth grade science students visit the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, led by Margery Armstrong and Karen Moore. A few teachers also came with the 63 students. The students from Holland Hall are always well prepared for the visit and eager to do the assignments given them.

Anita Springer and Ann Whitehorn assisted me with this group since their time was very limited and they wanted to walk on the trail and also visit the Science Building. We were able to split the group into two sections and then into four for the trail hike.

They all had their journals to record what they saw and to sketch special sightings. They are presently studying the Arthropods of Oklahoma. What did you study when you were in the sixth grade? School groups are always at the mercy of the bus schedules, so the hikes were cut short, but the students made the best of the time they did have.

We look forward to having more visits from Holland Hall.

The Nature Conservancy Field Trip

—Van Vives

After the HikeSteve McGuffin of the Oklahoma City office and Nancy Hatfield of the Tulsa office scheduled a field trip for Oct. 10. They and the 11 people who wanted a field trip arrived at the Information Center about 8:00 for their scheduled time of 9:00! I complemented Steve and Nancy for being the very first group to not only being on time, but being early.

The visitors were Joseph Magann of Oklahoma City, Ralph Daub of Oklahoma City, Linda Russell of Bartlesville, Trish Jones of Owasso, Christina Stallings-Roberson and Kelly Roberson of Oklahoma City, Gerald Schneider of Tulsa, Rhonda and John Jacobs of Tulsa, Melissa Fox of Tulsa, and Cathy McBee of Ponca City. Christina and Kelly Roberson were married at the Tallgrass Prairie two years ago.

Anne was prepared with cookies, coffee, and hot cider at the Bunkhouse. After this Tony Brown from the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve gave a very interesting overview of the Patch Burn Program. He also included some information about the roundup. Ann was asked to talk about the Chapman-Barnard Ranch and the part Ben Johnson, Sr. and Ben Johnson, Jr. played on the ranch.

After a brief introduction by me, we headed for the trail. We gathered at the gazebo for photos then began the hike on the short trail. There were a few elderly people that I was concerned about if we took the 2-mile hike. I told them that with the cool weather we would not come across any snakes, which eased the mind of some. BUT we disturbed two snakes sunning on the hiking path. So much for their confidence in me. It was a beautiful day and everyone enjoyed the hike. In fact, some enjoyed it so much they wanted me to take them on the long trail. No one collapsed along the way, even me.

Tony Brown then took the group to the Science Building to see that wonderful facility.

From the comments of the group everyone seemed to have had a great day.

Christopher Harris, Pin-hole Photographer

—Andrew Donovan-Shead

Lisa Harris Gallery AnnouncementRegular readers of The Docent News might remember that photographer Chris Harris visited the Preserve last year when he exposed the prairie vistas to his pin-hole camera. This year his work is being shown at the Lisa Harris Gallery in Seattle. See this link: www.lisaharrisgallery.com and the flyer to the right.

Back Issues

Back issues of the Docent Newsletter, to April 2008, 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.