Incoming TPE Executive Director Debra Behrens tells the story of her journey into her new role. Debra wrote this additional greeting for our newsletter, The Prairie Promoter: It started as a wish. As a child visiting my grandparents in rural Minnesota, I fell in love with the vast prairie skies and the steady hum of insects […]
It’s been 4 years since our chapter started the Species Conservation Project (SCP) in northwest Illinois (see the feature article in the March 2016 Prairie Promoter here), and in those years I have occasionally written about the rare plant gardens we started to help the SCP along. Lonetree Farm’s rare plant garden beds. Photo by […]
Here’s a recap of Driftless Area phenology from the past month, written by our very own Pat Trochlell. Pat’s inspiration comes from her career as a wetland ecologist with the Wisconsin DNR. She and her husband, Ken Wade, live near and are stewards of TPE’s 30-acre Parrish Oak Savanna, a diverse woodland ecosystem of over 240 native […]
This article was a collaboration with Jeff Feece of Rochester Parks. Prairie Crossing Park in Rochester, Minnesota is living up to its name as the park’s managers strive to restore native plants to the site. Members of TPE’s Minnesota Driftless Chapter joined the volunteer efforts there earlier this month. Prairie Crossing is an 8.5-acre public […]
Here’s a recap of Driftless Area phenology from the past month, written by our very own Pat Trochlell. Pat’s inspiration comes from her career as a wetland ecologist with the Wisconsin DNR. She and her husband, Ken Wade, live near and are stewards of TPE’s 30-acre Parrish Oak Savanna, a diverse woodland ecosystem of over 240 native […]
How do children learn to care for the land? Often, it’s time spent outside with a family member that first makes them curious about nature. But teachers also have the power to spark curiosity. Walter Mirk of TPE’s Glacial Prairie Chapter has created a resource to bring the prairie into the classroom. A sampling […]
This article was a collaboration with Grace Vosen and is an update to an article in our August 2019 newsletter. Read the original piece here (navigate to page 5). The New Ulm (Minnesota) area is seeing a renewed interest in prairie. Residents, and especially educators, are working to understand the history of prairies and to restore […]
In 2019, the site stewards of Moely Prairie joined forces with Sauk Prairie High School to implement a summer internship program. Participants report to the prairie once a week and conduct monarch monitoring research. Not only are these exceptional students documenting meaningful data for scientists, but they are also learning about the need to preserve […]
This article was a collaboration with Pamela Eyden. Motivated to reverse habitat loss and fragmentation, a team of private landowners (the Pleasant Valley Pollinator Corridor or PVPC Team) began this spring to work toward creating a pollinator corridor in Pleasant Valley outside Winona, Minn. These landowners have worked for many years to manage natural areas […]
There’s another new face at TPE’s virtual “office.” Grace Vosen has joined our staff as a Communications and Outreach Specialist. She will be managing our communication channels (such as social media and the monthly E-News) and working to make them even more effective. Grace is a graduate of Northland College in northern Wisconsin. She has […]
