prairie wings magazine winter 2012 / spring 2013

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

A recent book by Emma Marris entitled Rambunctious Gardening:Saving Nature in a Post-Wild World goes a long way in explaining muchof what Audubon of Kansas does. Her philosophy is based on what hasbeen lost and what is now being regained or reclaimed. She explains,“We have lost a lot of nature in the past three hundred years – in bothsenses of the word lost.”

We have lost nature in the sense that much of nature has beendestroyed: where there was a forest or prairie, there is a subdivision;where there was a creek, there is now a pipe and a parking lot; wherethere were enormous flocks of Passenger Pigeons and abundant StellarSea Cows in the north Pacific, they were hunted to extinction and thereare now only remnant skins and bones in dimly lit museum galleries.

But we have lost nature in another sense. We have misplaced it; wehave hidden nature from ourselves.

Our mistake has been thinking that nature is something “out there” faraway. We imagine a place somewhere distant, wild and free, a placewith no people, no roads, no fences and no power lines, untouched byhumanity’s careless hands, unchanging except for the seasons’ turn. Thisdream of pristine wilderness haunts us.

For Emma Marris, wilderness is slipping away like slivers of soap inthe hand that shrink and disappear. But nature is also the adaptive birdsin your backyard, the blackberry and butterfly bushes that grow alongthe urban river, the brushy draws between farm fields, the carefullydesigned landscape garden, the avocado tree that sprouts in yourcompost pile. Nature is almost everywhere. But where it is, there is onething that nature is not: it is not pristine in most places.

Audubon of Kansas agrees with her views: “We are already runningthe whole Earth, whether we admit or not. To run it consciously andeffectively, we must admit our role and even embrace it.” In most (butnot all) landscapes, we have to temper our romantic notion ofuntrammeled wilderness and find room next to it for the more nuancednotion of a “global, half-wild rambunctious garden, tended by us.”

For Audubon of Kansas’ diverse rolein collective policy and stewardship, afew examples of our RambunctiousGarden include:

■ Promoting an ecological andeconomical approach to naturalisticstewardship of the tens of thousandsof miles of vegetated rights-of-wayand their ecological values alonghighways and country roads

■ Working with ranch landowners whohave hosted the successfulreintroduction of the once-considered-extinct Black-footedFerret on private land in westernKansas

■ Restoring an incredibly beautiful property as a sanctuary for“wildlife and people” in the Nebraska Sandhills to demonstrate themerit of optimizing wildlife habitat, especially for declininggrassland birds, as a complementary part of a working cattle ranch

■ Encouraging the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and TourismCommission to reinstate hunting regulations that do not needlesslythreaten endangered Whooping Cranes when they migrate throughour state

■ Advocating to the EPA that prairie-dog poisons that threaten theexistence of raptors (Ferruginous Hawks and Golden Eagles) andother at-risk predators (Swift Foxes) should not be approved whenother toxicants without the risk of secondary poisoning are alreadyavailable; and

■ Working with many others to retain conservation titles(programs & practices) in the Farm Bill, retain grasslandsand wetlands within the landscape--and species such asLesser Prairie-chickens and Swift Foxes.

But this “Gardening,” which we often refer to as conservationadvocacy and education, promotion of nature appreciation andstewardship is not possible without the involvement, partnershipand support of a substantial number of people who share thesevalues. If you haven’t already, please join us and become a partof Audubon of Kansas.

Robert McElroy, MDChairman of the

Board of TrusteesBob McElroy riding withEli, his grand nephew, onthe Hutton NiobraraRanch Wildlife Sanctuary.

“The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders andrealities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have fordestruction.”

– Rachel Carson

Rambunctious Gardening

Upland Sandpiper on a fence post at the Niobrara Sanctuary.

Ron K

lataske photos

CONTENTS

The mission of Audubon of Kansas includes promotingthe enjoyment, understanding, protection, andrestoration of natural ecosystems. We seek to establish a culture of conservation and an environmental ethic.

Prairie Wings is a publication of Audubon of Kansas,Inc. Additional newsletters and AOK E-News arepublished periodically. See our websites atwww.audubonofkansas.org andwww.niobrarasanctuary.org

Please consider becoming a member, giving a giftmembership, and/or contributing to the vital work ofAudubon of Kansas. AOK is an independent grassrootsorganization that is not administered or funded by theNational Audubon Society. All funding is dedicated toour work in the central Great Plains and Prairie states.

Send comments or materials for consideration to any of the following:

Ron Klataske, Executive Director/Managing EditorAudubon of Kansas210 Southwind PlaceManhattan, KS 66503e-mail: [email protected]: 785-537-4385

Neal Rasmussen, Admin. AssisantLana Micheel, Local Sanctuary CoordinatorRyan Klataske, Consulting Webmaster

Board Editorial Committee:William R. Browning, Chairman/Special EditorJoyce Wolf, Special/Copy EditorRobert T. McElroy, Contributing EditorDick Seaton, Contributing Editor

Printed by:

1531 Yuma Street, Manhattan, KS 66502785.539.7558www.agpress.com

President’s Message ............................................IFC

New Trustees Join AOK Leadership ..........................2

Profile of a Great Wildlife Research Scientist, Conservationist and Sportsman, Robert J. Robel ..................................4

Potential Benefits of Patch Burning for Prairie Chickens..............................................7

Kansas Supreme Court RulesFavorably for the Flint Hills ..................................8

Wonderful Things Happen in the Flint Hills..................9

Reflections on a Culture Renowned for Horsemanship and a New Opportunityto Preserve Prairie ............................................10

The Good, the Bad (Wasteful and Ugly) & Extraordinarily Beautiful ................................12

The Stealth War on Quail and Songbird Habitat ................................................19

Birds of Kansas ..............................................................................................21

Owls: Marvels of Life, Countless Legends,and here Expressions of Love ..................22

Red Foxes in the Backyard, Blue Darters in the Trees ............................................24

Wildlife Viewing from the Kitchen Window ........................................................26

AOK Philanthropy ..........................................................................................29

The Destruction of Native Sandhills Grasslands: A Rancher’s Viewpoint ................................................................................31

Jan Garton and the Campaign to Save Cheyenne Bottoms ....................................32

An Audubon of Kansas Position: Safeguards for Whooping Cranes Need to be Restored ..........................................................36

Rediscovering the Prairies and Great Plains, Sharing the Nature of Kansas and Nebraska..................................................................36

AOK Applauds Appeals Court Decision ..........................................42

“Silent Spring” Revisited ................................44

Prairie Dog Colony Reestablished atNiobrara Sanctuary....................................49

Are Ethanol Subsidies and Mandates aFool’s Errand?............................................52

A Kansas Native Led the Politically-Challenging Campaign toCreate the Arctic Wildlife Refuge ..................56

WINTER 2012 / SPRING 2013 Prairie Wings 1

Cover photos by Ron Klataske: Black-footed Ferret and Sharp-tailed Grouse

LISA STICKLERobtained her Bachelor andMaster Degrees inmechanical engineering fromthe University of Missouri-Kansas City and started herengineering career at theIdaho National EngineeringLaboratory in 1991. In 1996she entered the energyservices industry and hasworked for the past 10 yearsfor Chevron EnergySolutions implementingenergy-conservation projectsfor public sector customers.She is a licensedprofessional engineer,currently a member of severalprofessional engineering societies andheld offices in local chapters of twoengineering organizations while living inIdaho.

In addition to her involvement withand support for Audubon of Kansas for anumber of years, Lisa is also a memberor supporter of a number of state andnational wildlife conservationorganizations, humane societies, animalshelters, public radio and publictelevision. 2012 marked her third year asa volunteer with the Symphony in theFlint Hills. Lisa is a life member of theKansas Native Plant Society, KansasOrnithological Society, and NationalRifle Association.

Lisa represented Audubon of Kansasat the June meeting of the KDWP&TCommission meeting, speaking on thedesirability of not changing the shootinghours for Sandhill Cranes because the

changes proposed by the department willplace Whooping Cranes in increasedperil.

Lisa lives in northern Miami County,sharing a home with two mules and apride of cats. She enjoys reading,gardening, and creating--includinghousing for Eastern Bluebirds and nativebees. She manages four apartmentcomplexes with 36 units for PurpleMartins!

TIM AND REBEKAH PETERSONTim and his wife Rebekah became a partof the extended “AOK family” andleadership network last year in responseto the challenge to find a place to hold aspecial educational event. The Petersonsoperate a family farm in western Kansasnear Winona. They share an interest anda legacy of leadership in conservationand youth education. Tim has served aschairman of the Kansas state committeefor the USDA Farm Service Agency, an

2 Prairie Wings WINTER 2012 / SPRING 2013

Board of TrusteesRobert T. McElroy, MD, Chairman,TopekaDick Seaton, Vice Chair, ManhattanPatty Marlett, Vice Chair, WichitaJoyceWolf, Secretary, LawrenceWilliam R. Browning, MD,Past-chairman, MadisonHaroldW. Anderson, Omaha, NEBarbara Atkinson, GardnerPhillip L. Baker, MD, TopekaBernita Berntsen, MD, BerrytonMike Bily, Joliet, ILCarol Cumberland,WichitaEvelyn Davis,WakarusaKristine B. Davis, HutchinsonJoyce Davis, Dodge CityMatt Gearheart, ShawneeDavid Gnirk, Herrick, SDDon Heikes, LenoraIrwin “Hoogy” Hoogheem, Ogden/ManhattanKelley Hurst, LawrenceHon. James C. Johnson, AbileneCathy Lucas, LiberalJan Meyers, Overland ParkTim Peterson,MonumentMary Powell, TopekaRandy Rathbun,WichitaA. Scott Ritchie,WichitaRobert J. Robel,ManhattanWesley Sandall, Bassett, NEJohn Schukman, LeavenworthLisa Stickler, BucyrusMarjorie E. Streckfus/Neva Heikes, SalinaRichard G. Tucker, ParsonsElsie Vail, AltamontDonaldWissman, ManhattanHonorary TrusteesLarry and Bette Haverfield, WinonaKarl and Carmen Jungbluth, Boone, IAKay McFarland, TopekaPaul Willis, SalinaGlenn Chambers, Columbia, MOCharles Wright, Lincoln, NE

Lisa Stickler on Teton Pass with a view of Wyomingscenery.

New Trustees JoinAOK LeadershipThe AOK Board of Trustees approved the nomination of and elected three

new Trustees this year. The existing and additional combination of talentshighlights the statement that Tim Peterson made in an e-mail regarding theorganization and its leadership: “Voices such as (those of Audubon of Kansasleaders and partners) are important, and unfortunately, too rare.”

agency that among other responsibilitiesadministers the critically importantConservation Reserve Program.

A year ago the Logan CountyCommission blocked the U.S. Fish andWildlife Service staff in Kansas fromsponsoring an educational event. Theevent was for Oakley schools, youth andthe public in recognition of the 30thAnniversary of the rediscovery of theBlack-footed Ferret in Wyoming inSeptember 1981. Up to then was fearedthe species was extinct. Tim Petersoncalled the AOK office and offered to hosta similar event at their home and familyfarmstead.

Representatives from the CheyenneMountain Zoo were there to display aBlack-footed Ferret (BFF), two captiveprairie dogs, a domesticated skunk and a

Corn Snake. Dean Biggins, a wildlifebiologist with the U.S. Geological Survey(regarded by many of us as the “dean” ofBFF studies), detailed the rescue andefforts to recover this unique species.We lead field trips to the Haverfield/Barnardt ranch complex and observedGolden Eagles and other wildlife, eventhough there were gale-force winds. Thehospitality arranged by the Petersons forthe 87 participants of this “Ferret Fest”included music by Anne Zimmerman ofSalina and pizza provided by anappreciative friend from Wichita.

KELLEY HURST is a natureenthusiast, with particular interest in birdbehavior and birds during migration. Sheincorporates birding into her travels allover the United States and Europe. She

has been involved in thesurveys of thereintroduced Black-footed Ferrets in Kansas,has volunteered for theSymphony in the FlintHills as well as KansasCity-based arts, culturaland neighborhoodorganizations.

Kelley Hurst has herown qualitative marketresearch business. Shehas clients of all sizes,from Fortune 100 tofamily-ownedbusinesses, in the USand in Italy. Sheuncovers deeply feltvalues, behaviors andattitudes that impact

how consumers act and react to products,services and brands.

Born in Kansas, and now residing inLawrence, Kelley has also lived in NewYork, Massachusetts and NewHampshire as well as in Kenya, EastAfrica. Her published works include:

• Author, Luxury Houses Toscana,published by teNeues, March, 2007.

• Editor, Sassicaia: The OriginalSupertuscan (English Edition),published by Centro Di Publishing,Florence, Italy, October, 2000.

• Author, Italian Country Hideaways:Vacationing in Tuscany’s andUmbria’s Private Villas, Castlesand Estates, published by UniversePublishing, August, 1999.


Tim and Rebekah Peterson in the barn where some ofthe presentations were made.

Kelley Hurst

AOK Needs Leaders to Reach Out and Make a Difference!As an organization that relies on volunteer leadership, Audubon of Kansas needs Trustees and others in

leadership capacities who are willing to contribute a combination of the qualities needed within a board asa whole, and within our program partnerships. Charles H. Callison, former Executive Vice President of theNational Audubon Society, once outlined the collective needs for a board as a whole as the three “w’s”:“wisdom” in the form of expertise and experience, “work” in the form of skills and a willingness to be involved,and “wealth” including a willingness to provide outreach to help build membership and financial support tosustain organizational effectiveness. Please let us know if you want to be involved or supportive in anycapacity. One does not have to be on the board to make a world of difference.

lthough Robert “Bob” Robel,professor emeritus of biology, hasbeen officially retired for several

years, he still maintains an office in theKSU Division of Biology and hecontinues to help other faculty memberswith their research.

Most recently, he provided leadershipin research that has benefited bothGreater and Lesser Prairie-chickenpopulations by identifying man-made

structures thatrepel females fromnesting, such as windturbines, center pivotirrigation systems and evenfences. In the past few years he alsoadvised one of the big wind energycompanies to move the proposed locationfor a major industrial windpowerdevelopment proposed in the KansasFlint Hills from their first three choices to

an area with lessof an impact on

Prairie-chickens.

“They wanted to avoidadverse impacts on Prairie-

chicken populations,” Robel said. “Theyhad three sites down in south centralKansas, great sites – probably better windsites – but that’s a company that has anenvironmental conscience.”

Robel has a longtime passion forwildlife, and anatomy. When he was insixth grade he began working with ataxidermist and later bought the businessfrom his retiring mentor when he was asophomore in high school. He owned andoperated it throughout his undergraduateyears, putting himself through college atMichigan State University.

Although Robel was accepted inmedical school when he was a senior inhigh school, he switched from premed towildlife ecology in his junior year ofcollege because he felt he would beconfined to an office if he became adoctor.

During his undergraduate years, hemounted 80-100 deer shoulder-mountsper year in addition to preserving otheraspects of the animals. His interest intaxidermy remains today. He still has apair of 60-year-old leather moccasins and

Profile of a Great Wildlife

Research Scientist,Conservationist and

Sportsman: ROBERT J. ROBEL

A

Bob Robel and Anice, 2010 at Glendye Estate in Scotland, returning fromdriven pheasant shooting.


a pair of velvety deer-hide leather gloves,made by his company. Step into hisDivision of Biology office and it’s likestepping into a natural history museum,with its array of animals displayed on itswalls.

After working for the Michigan StateUniversity museum, where he collectedand harvested specimens for scientificresearch and educational display, Robelknew he wanted to continue hiseducation. While he was still anundergraduate, he sought out advisersand had funding lined up at theUniversity of Idaho and Utah StateUniversity, for his master’s and doctoraldegrees, respectively. In 1961, he washired as an assistant professor in KansasState University’s department of zoology— before the merger that created theDivision of Biology.

On a Fulbright Scholarship, Robeltraveled to the United Kingdom to studyBlack Grouse in 1967. While there, hewas asked to help with a long-term studyon Red Deer, a close cousin to NorthAmerica Elk. The celebrated “Monarchof the Glen,” the Red Deer stag is aScottish icon. It is the largest landmammal in Britain and is widespreadthroughout Scotland.

Dr. Robel developed a managementplan for increasing Red Deer numbers byculling female deer that were not capableof producing healthy offspring.

“We decided to maximize productionby taking the nonproductive individualsout of the population,” Robel said. “Wedeveloped a technique where we coulddetermine whether or not a female deerwas going to have a calf that survived toadulthood, when she was only one and ahalf years old — before she was everbred.”

It was through his deer managementplan that he gained worldwiderecognition in that field, and he wasinvited to speak in various countries fromRussia and Australia to Singapore andThailand. In exchange, Bob Robel askedhis hosts to arrange opportunities to huntvarious legal game animals and/or to see

and experience wildlife in their naturalhabitats throughout the world.

Like several of the most prominentsportsmen-conservationists that providedvital leadership in the first half of thetwentieth century, Dr. Robel’s duelpassions for conservation and huntinghave fueled his lifelong dedication toboth. His grounding in this tradition hasadvanced the conservation movement,environmental protection and wildlifemanagement in the second half of thatcentury and now the first decades of thetwenty-first century.

Dr. Robel’s lecture travels allowedhim to pursue Mid-Asian Ibex in theKyrgyz Republic, Roebucks in Siberia,and Chamois in the Caucasus Mountainsof Russia, as well as wild boar, MouflonSheep, and huge forest (Red Deer) stagsand Fallow Deer in Austria. He hashunted Elk in New Mexico, Colorado andWyoming; and pursued Mule Deer andWhite-tailed Deer across the U.S.Farther north on the continent Bob hasstalked Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep,Stone’s Sheep and Dall’s Sheep in BritishColumbia, Alberta and the YukonTerritory, as well as Mountain Goats,Grizzly Bears and Black Bears. Bob andAnice, his wife of 47 years, have made anannual tradition of traveling to Scotlandfor driven pheasant and grouse shooting,

and stag stalking in the Highlands.

An extensive amount of Robel’sresearch in Kansas has been devoted toupland gamebird species, includingPrairie-chickens and NorthernBobwhites. This research has lead toenhanced understanding of theirbehavior, habitat needs and providemanagement frameworks designed tomaintain sustainable populations. In aneffort to strengthen such research inKansas, he helped establish the KansasCooperative Fish and Wildlife ResearchUnit on KSU’s campus to serve as animportant collaborator for theuniversity’s ecological and wildlifescientists.

Robel has served as consultant andscience adviser for several Kansasgovernors, energy companies andnumerous committees and task forces. Inthe 1970s, Dr. Robel was a ProjectLeader in the Office of TechnologyAssessment of the U.S. Congress. Hewas in charge of evaluating techniques toenhance the recovery of oil and naturalgas. He was looking at theenvironmental impacts of “fracking” torecover crude oil and natural gas longbefore the technique became widely used.

He has also served as the U.S.Olympic shooting team chairman, whichis the third most popular sport forparticipants in the Olympics. He retainsa keen interest in the shooting sports,beginning his competitive shootingactivities while a high school student inMichigan. He holds numerous regionaland state championship titles in skeet andrifle shooting from Michigan, Idaho andthe Midwest. He currently serves asChairman of the Kansas State RifleAssociation Foundation, a tax-exemptentity that raises funds to promote legalshooting activities among youth andwomen in Kansas.

Robel is a member of severalprofessional societies and wildlifeconservation organizations, includingbeing a Life Member of The WildlifeSociety, an Honorary Life Member of theKansas Wildlife Federation, an Elective

“Greatness is the dream of youth realized” for the remainder of one’s life.– adaption of an Alfred Victor Vigny quote (French poet, dramatist, and novelist, 1797-1863)


Member of the American OrnithologistsUnion, and a Fellow of the AmericanAssociation for the Advancement ofScience.

In 1989, he received the CentennialDistinguished Alumni Award from theUniversity of Idaho and was inductedinto the school’s Alumni Hall of Fame in1997. In 2001 he received the LifetimeAchievement Award from the College ofNatural Resources Alumni Association atUtah State University. He has also beenthe recipient of the Governor’sConservationist of the Year Award,Proud Kansan Award from the KansasOutdoor Writers Association and theOutstanding Professional Award from theKansas Chapter of The Wildlife Society.

As just one among awards, Audubonof Kansas presented Dr. Robel with a“Greater & Lesser Prairie-chickenLifetime Conservation Award” in 2010.He also received the Meritorious ServiceAward from the Grouse Research Unit inBanchory, Scotland for his work withRed Grouse, unique to the heather moorsof the British Isles.

Fifty Years of Wildlife BiologyLeadership in Kansas

It is without a doubt that Dr. Robelhas more of a lasting influence on theprofession of wildlife biology,conservation and management in Kansasthan any other person in the history of thestate. During the past fifty-one yearssince he became professor of wildlifebiology at Kansas State University, hehas taught, advised, guided and inspired

hundreds of students who have gone onto work in this profession in Kansas--andfrom the eastern seaboard to Alaska. Inaddition to all of those who receivedBachelor of Science degrees, many othershave achieved masters or doctoratedegrees under his leadership, andthousands more students in other majorshave gained an understanding of wildlifebiology and management from classes hehas taught.

Robel is regarded by wildlifescientists as this continent’s – and thusthe world’s – foremost authority onprairie grouse. In addition to devotingmore than thirty years to prairie grouseresearch, Dr. Robel has conductedextensive research on bioenergetics ofNorthern Bobwhites and numeroussongbirds, parasites of gamebirds andfurbearers, and food habitats of White-tailed Deer in Kansas. He was involved

in a multi-year National Institute ofHealth evaluation of the relationshipbetween herbicide exposure and theincidence of certain cancers in theagricultural sector of Kansas. Results ofhis research efforts, and those of hisstudents, have resulted in over 250 peer-reviewed publications in professionaljournals.

Dr. Robel is a member of the Board ofTrustees and the Executive Committee ofAudubon of Kansas.

As a member of his first class ofwildlife biology students, it is an honor tobe one of many whose career path was sorichly benefitted by his guidance andleadership.

– Ron Klataske

Portions of this article were adapted from afeature entitled “Robel’s ResearchRealizations” in The BULLETIN, Spring2012, printed by the KSU Division of Biology.

The world needsdreamers and the

world needs doers.But above all, the

world needs dreamerswho do.– Sarah Ban Breathnach,

Simple Abundance: A Daybook ofComfort and Joy, 1996



Year one of the study to define the differential impactsof annual burning/double stocking (oneyearling per 2 acres for 90 days) versus

patch burning a different third of a pastureeach year with full-season cattle (oneyearling on 4 acres for 180 days) is overand year two has proceeded.

First-year results appear toconfirm the hypothesis that Prairie-chicken nesting and brood-rearingare vastly more successful onpatch-burned prairies. The key forPrairie-chickens, especially nesting,is the third that has not been burnedin the current or previous spring –leaving sufficient residual cover forhens to hide nests.

The last two seasons in the centralFlint Hills have been devastatingly hot anddry. But Prairie-chickens apparently areadapted to this situation if there is nesting andbrood habitat available. Recruitment last year (2011)was major, and according to reports from the cowboysmonitoring the pastures this past summer it may have beenequally successful this season.

On our place, Prairie-chicken numbers from lek counts ofmales have gone from a low of 33 in 2006, the year webegan patch burning, to 110 this past spring. This countincludes cocks on three leks that are adjacent to our pastures.Two newly-occupied leks on our ranch and another new lek,100 yards east of our fence appeared this spring

I am definitely an ardent fan of this grazing/burningregime and not just for wildlife. The other

benefits include: improved range health,a greater abundance of forage,marked reduction in trailing (thetendency of cattle to walk thefences creating trails thatlead to erosion) and moreefficient grazing (everydigestible plant isharvested on a three yearrotation, but that intensityonly occurs once in threeyears with our approachin the Flint Hills).

Prior to this project inKansas, much of thefundamental research and fieldstudies on patch burning have

been conducted by Samuel D.Fuhlendorf at Oklahoma State

University. That work has demonstratedthat patch burning and varying grazing regimes can

be used to recreate grassland heterogeneity and increasebiodiversity. Audubon of Kansas is also using patch burningwith light-to-moderate grazing to benefit Sharp-tailed Grouseand other grassland birds on the 5,000-acre Hutton NiobraraRanch Wildlife Sanctuary in Nebraska.

– Bill Browning

The photo above shows patch burning on the Niobrara Sanctuaryshowing unburned nesting cover retained on the left and prescribedburning on the right.

POTENTIAL BENEFITS OF PATCH BURNING FOR PRAIRIE-CHICKENSUpdate on the article in the Fall/Winter 2011 edition of PRAIRIE WINGS. To view the article online, including spectacular photographs,go to http://www.prairiewingsmagazine.org/

udubon of Kansas and its conservation partners havewon a major legal victory for the Kansas Flint Hills. InZimmerman v. Board of Wabaunsee County

Commissioners, the Kansas Supreme Court considered andrejected a series of attacks on the county’s prohibition againstcommercial wind farms. In two lengthy and unanimous opinions,written by Chief Justice Nuss, the Court held that the prohibitionis a reasonable one, that it does not deprive those land ownerswith wind leases of any property rights, and that it does notdiscriminate against interstate commerce.

The decision is one of the first in the country, and establishes aprecedent in Kansas. It should also be an important guide forother states considering such prohibitions.

Of course its importance here is limited to those countieswhich have zoning regulations, and not every Flint Hills countyhas them. Wabaunsee County has both zoning and acomprehensive land use plan. It established a temporarymoratorium on such wind farms in November of 2002; and thenin June of 2004, its commission voted, 2-1, to prohibit them.

Suit was then filed against the County by landowners who hadleases with wind developers. They were joined in their claims byowners of wind rights who are not themselves land owners. Aftersome back and forth between the District Judge in Alma and thecounty officials, the Judge dismissed all the claims of thePlaintiffs and their associates.

The Plaintiffs appealed to the Kansas Supreme Court in 2007.Audubon of Kansas filed a friend-of-the-court brief, togetherwith the Kansas Wildlife Federation, urging the Court to upholdthe county’s prohibition. Protect the Flint Hills also filed asupporting brief. The Wind Industry and the Kansas Farm Bureaufiled briefs urging reversal of the District Court’s decision. Alsofiling a brief were the Kansas League of Municipalities and TheKansas Association of Counties.

The Supreme Court dealt with the case at length and in twoseparate opinions. First, in October 2009, it found that thecounty’s action was reasonable, that it followed statutoryprocedures, that it didn’t violate the Contract Clause of the U.S.Constitution, and that it was not preempted by federal law. TheCourt reserved ruling on two other issues and ordered new briefsand re-argument as to those issues.

Then in October of 2011 the Court determined, in a secondopinion, that the prohibition does not constitute a “taking” ofprivate property without due process of the law and does notdiscriminate against interstate commerce.

The Court said there was one remaining issue, which neededfactual clarification, namely whether or not the regulationsimpose an excessive burden on interstate commerce in violationof the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. It sent thatquestion back to the District Court for trial on that singlequestion.

Article by Dick Seaton

“The health of the eye seems to demand a horizon. We are never tired, so long as we can see far enough.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

A

Kansas Supreme Court Rules Favorably for the Flint Hills


A view of Alma in the fall.

But in early 2012, the Plaintiffs and their associates who ownwind rights dismissed their case rather than take it to trial. Thusafter almost 10 years the case was completely resolved. Itrepresents a major victory for conservation, and for preservationof the Flint Hills, which are the last major remnant of what wasonce a vast sea of Tallgrass Prairie in the central United States.

What are the lessons to be learned? First, to take advantage ofthe decision a county must have zoning regulations. Next, thoseregulations must include a comprehensive plan which emphasizesthe need to protect and preserve the rural character of the county,and the aesthetic values of the landscape. These were criticalfactors relied on by the Court in upholding the Wabaunsee Countyregulations. Finally, a county commission adopting such aprohibition needs to make factual findings, with the assistance ofits attorney, which support the plan and the prohibition.

At this point, the outlook for the Flint Hills is favorable.Governor Brownback, like his predecessor Governor Sebelius, haslent the weight of his office to protect the Flint Hills fromindustrial windpower development. He has actually expanded theinformally-protected area established by her.

Meanwhile, wind developers have begun to look farther westin Kansas, where extensively cultivated landscapes are candidatesfor siting of commercial windpower projects without destroyingecological values associated with native prairies and wetlands(assuming they are avoided). Finally, Congress has balked atextending the production tax credit (PTC), which is an enormouscost to taxpayers. At some point this major subsidy may be paredback in recognition of budget limitations. Developers considerthe tax credits essential to the viability of commercial winddevelopments. All in all, even in those counties which lackzoning, the outlook at this point is positive for those of us whoseek to limit industrial wind farms in the Flint Hills.

Dick Seaton is an attorney in Manhattan. He served as assistantattorney general in the 1960's and then as university attorney at KansasState for 38 years, while also maintaining a private practice. Herepresented the plaintiff in a successful free speech case in theU.S.Supreme Court in 1995. He served on the 2002-2004 KansasWind and Prairie Task Force designed to help deal with the issue ofsiting wind power facilities. He serves as Vice President for Policy andLegal Affairs for AOK. He lives adjacent to the Konza Prairie andadvocates for the Flint Hills.


Wonderful Things Happen in the Flint Hills

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The Flint Hills of Kansas have long been apriority conserva�on focus for Audubon in

Kansas. In 1989 Audubon ini�ated the proposalthat led to the Congressional passage of the Actthat established the Tallgrass Prairie Na�onalPreserve in 1996. Two key elements were apurchase agreement on the 10,984-acre Z-BarRanch held by Audubon and a shared visionwith local community leaders. Buildingapprecia�on for the natural and pastoral valuesof this landscape, and the remaining TallgrassPrairie, was our foremost objec�ve of this newunit of the Na�onal Park Service system. Thatwas also AOK’s objec�ve when preparing theTallgrass “Prairie Parkway” Wildlife and NaturalHeritage Trail brochure, which is s�ll availablein quan��es from our office.

This year two facili�es opened that willdrama�cally enhance educa�on, apprecia�onand enjoyment of this unique area. Theimpressive Flint Hills Discovery Centeropened in Manha�an in April, and theNa�onal Park Service opened the preserve’sVisitor Center near the historic ranchsteadnorth of Strong City in July. Earlier in June,Emily Hunter and all the other incredible folksinvolved pulled off the eighth annualSymphony in the Flint Hills – an event thata�racts more than 6,000 a�endees andvolunteers to experience these prairie hills foran a�ernoon of educa�onal events and anevening of music. AOK has been honored tobe suppor�ve with flora and fauna field trips,and to simply join in the day’s hospitality.

Last year, as detailed in the Fall/Winteredi�on of PRAIRIE WINGS, Governor SamBrownback designated the TallgrassHeartland, as a substan�al part of the FlintHills that should not become marred byindustrial windpower developments. He alsoini�ated a Flint Hills Visioning Summit held inthe Ritchie Lodge at Camp Wood YMCA on apicture-perfect day in May 2011, followed by asecond summit this past January in Topeka.These events gave a big boost to the work ofthe Flint Hills Tourism Coali�on, and helped tobring many addi�onal stakeholders together forone celebratory and networking event.

It is heartening that so many individualsand organiza�ons are enthusias�c about theFlint Hills. They share the hope that most ofthe scenic, ecological and cultural quali�eswill be retained for future enjoyment ofresidents (ranch and farm landowners andtheir neighbors in area communi�es) andvisitors alike. AOK con�nues to advocate foran addi�onal complementary recogni�on:that at least a por�on of the Flint Hills – anarea approximately the size of Vermont – bedesignated as a Na�onal Heritage Area. Thiswould simply underscore the culturalimportance of the area, as well as encouragegreater apprecia�on for the area’s history andheritage. It is a history of splendidstewardship by genera�ons that have largelykept their heritage intact. There are currently49 na�onal heritage areas in the country.

ugust 31, 2012 – Last night wereturned from a hectic journey toSan Antonio to visit a sick friend.

This morning I needed to renew myconnection with the prairie. As I sat on ahigh ridge some twelve miles west ofMadison, I watched a much diminished,but still grand streamer of hurricaneIsaac slide in from the east. As it spun agalactic arm across the Flint Hills, cloudsdimmed the sun’s light on abandonedTeterville, miles to my south, andstuttered west up the turnpike far to mynorth.

The nearly unfathomable majesty ofnature that this storm remnant representsis staggering. A weather system that hassustained itself for more than two weeksover thousands of miles suggests the oldsong lyrics: “Off the coast of Africa,

bound for North America” and finally itcomes here to our Flint Hills Prairie!

It has been the second in a row ofterrible summers for this part of Kansas,but this scene this morning still holdsevidence of our beautiful grasslands.

In contrast was our trip down I-35through central Texas, formerly thepurview of great buffalo herds and theComanche Nation. Everywhere thesystems of nature now lay in ruins,replaced by the systems of unfettereddevelopment. From Ft. Worth south thejourney was truly harrowing. Commonlythere were 25 or more semis per mileand 50 or a hundred cars, darting likebeetles among the behemoths. At onepoint we were nearly swept off the roadby two halves of a swerving pair ofdouble trailers. The whole of 300 miles

down from Ft. Worth to San Antoniowas like a continuous strip mallpunctuated by sprawling cities, industrialsites and mega car-dealerships, one ofthe ugliest vistas imaginable. Terrifiedof tempting the fates, we returned on aless-travelled highway fifty miles west ofI-35 where the topography was muchmore inspiring but where whatever hadbeen the ecosystem was largely replacedby junipers, (aka “ Texas Cedars”,Juniperus ashei, a cousin to our area’sEastern Red Cedars, Juniperus virginiana).

We saw one pastured “buffalo” andno evidence of the “pre-settlement”Comanche culture. Suffice it to say thatthe Comanches of the 18th and 19thcenturies and other Native Americanswould never have recognized theirhomeland anywhere but here on our Flint

Reflections on a Culture Renowned for Horsemanshipand a New Opportunity to Preserve PrairieReflections on a Culture Renowned for Horsemanshipand a New Opportunity to Preserve PrairieReflections on a Culture Renowned for Horsemanshipand a New Opportunity to Preserve Prairie

I was born upon a prairie where the wind blew free and there was nothing to breakthe light of the sun. I was born where there were no enclosures and where

everything drew a free breath. – Ten Bears, Yamparika Comanche

An aerial view of an intact prairielandscape in the Flint Hills.

AArticle by Bill Browning


Hills prairie and on otherremnants of our state’sremaining grasslands.

To borrow, and change, aline from an Alaskan beltbuckle for my purposes here:“Parts of Kansas still are whatthat part of Texas was.”

And that in a nutshell is theinspiration and conservationpolicy basis for the new FlintHills Legacy ConservationArea conservation easementprogram that was officiallyactivated in the spring of thisyear and is being sponsored bythe U.S. Department of theInterior.

A long process ofdegradation and disappearanceof ecologically sustainable,open-prairie landscapes hasprompted this program to savea significant piece – hopefullyand eventually up to a millionacres – of the remainingtallgrass prairie in the FlintHills with voluntary, perpetualconservation easements.Permanent, irrevocable loss ofour continent’s remaining

tallgrass prairie is occurring in severalforms. The obvious combination includesconversion to cropland and cities,suburban sprawl and fragmentation withsmall acreage developments, andestablishment of industrial windpowercomplexes. Other true prairie areas arebeing overtaken with woody plants inroute to becoming early successionwoodlands. From a prairie or savannahenthusiast’s perspective, these are notecologically distinct and attractivesavannahs like those on the oak forestedge. These areas become dominatedwith cedar, locust, hedge and elms. Theyare utilized by White-tailed Deer and asuite of species – but not Greater Prairie-chickens, Upland Sandpipers and EasternMeadowlarks.

Factors leading to this devolutioninclude: land owner/operator neglect ofinvasive woody plants; conversion oflarge ranches to ranchettes, often withhorses pounding the life out of nativeprairie; fire suppression in areas with

increasing numbers of residential andother structures; individuals intent oncreating large fescue lawns or lettingeverything grow wild to attract a trophybuck. Then, to add insult to injury,excessive and repeated broadcastapplications of herbicides which destroythe plant diversity of native grasslands.

An intact remnant area of grasslandhas been identified and boundaries havebeen established. The scale of theprogram is truly grand, encompassingmore than a million acres in the FlintHills. Landowners within the designatedregion are offered generouscompensation in exchange for foregoingcertain development rights in perpetuityand agreeing to maintain the open prairie.

Funding for easement acquisition isvery limited for this first year but will

hopefully grow through time. This is notthe first foray by the U.S. Department ofthe Interior into voluntary easementprograms with private landowners. Priorto more recent work in other criticalhabitats, the USFWS has a long historyof protecting wetlands with conservationeasements. The agency now has morethan 100,000 acres protected withconservation easements along the RockyMountain Front and in the Blackfoot andCentennial valleys of Montana.

Audubon of Kansas heartily supportsthis conservation easement initiative ofthe USFWS. It will be a perfectcomplement to other easement programs,including the Grassland Reserve Programand the Farm and Ranch Land ProtectionProgram administered by U.S.D.A’sNatural Resource Conservation Service.

In addi�on to federally sponsored conserva�on easements, several nonprofitconserva�on organiza�ons accept donated conserva�on easements. The listincludes the Kansas Ranchland Trust, The Nature Conservancy and the Kansas LandTrust. Audubon of Kansas is also qualified and recep�ve to consider dona�on ofconserva�on easements consistent with our mission. Audubon has a special interestin preserving small remnant prairies that are ecological arks, and other cri�callyimportant wildlife habitats. Immediately to the north, Wachiska Audubon Society ofLincoln, Nebraska has conserva�on easements on prairies within fourteen coun�esin southeast Nebraska.

An early morning view of gathering steers from a pasture on the BrowningRanch. Conservation easements are compatible with traditional ranching.The stogy-smoking cowboy on the right was Bill in an earlier era.

– Photos by Ron Klataske.


These public lands are in plain sightbut often overlooked, and in thepast, seldom considered important

for their extraordinary ecological oraesthetic values. If anything they havebeen managed as a burden on taxpayers,requiring expenditures of multiplemillions of dollars each year just to keepthem mowed. Yet, they are thegrasslands of Kansas that are within easyview of more residents and visitors everyday than any combination of other landsmanaged for public purposes. Theyencompass 150,000 acres along state-administered highways alone. With20,000 miles of linear vegetated buffers,they total a distance greater than thecircumference of the Earth at thislatitude!

This 20,000-mile figure representsvegetated rights-of-way (ROW) strips onboth sides of the 10,000 miles ofhighways administered by the KansasDepartment of Transportation (KDOT).However, it does not include the broadroadsides on both sides of the 236-milereach of highway managed by the KansasTurnpike Authority. The turnpikeinvolves an additional 8,000 acres of land.

Audubon of Kansas has advocatedthree key elements as part of itsconservation priority: urging KDOT staffto improve 20,000 miles of rights-of-waywith policies and management practicesdesigned to reduce mowing and herbicideapplications; establishing morebeneficially-timed “mow-out” regimes;and seeding with only native grasses andwildflowers on newly disturbedreconstruction sites.

Starting with a Bad Situation and Roadblocks.

This campaign is a continuation ofadvocacy initiated forty years ago. At thattime the state highway department practicewas to mow everything from fencerow tofencerow FOUR TIMES every year! Thecost was astronomical. The head of themaintenance division bluntly told me in hisTopeka office in the early ‘70s that he

Roadside Management in Kansas Photos and Article by Ron Klataske



wasn’t having “any do-gooder upsettinghis apple cart!” I was surprised by theabsolute rejection of any consideration ofany changes by this publicservant.

Previously, in 1971 I wasinvolved in presenting aNational Audubon Societyaward to the NebraskaDepartment of Roads for thatagency’s trail blazingleadership in naturalisticroadside management. Thepresentation was made at theAmerican Association ofState Highway andTransportation Officials’meeting in Miami, Florida.The citation presented to theNebraska DOR read:

“For combining theprinciples of ecology andeconomy through a policy of seedingmixtures of native grasses along roadwaysand by limited mowing to 15 feet from theedge of surfacing thereby harmonizingroadsides with the Nebraska landscape,improving natural beauty, conservingwildlife and enhancing the environmentalvalues of rights-of-way areas.”

Following the earlier rejection inTopeka, we (a coalition ofconservationists) had a much moreencouraging meeting with Jerry Brindle,general manager of the Kansas TurnpikeAuthority (KTA) in early 1972. That wasfollowed by dramatically improvedmowing reductions that very year, and thepractices remanded in place during hisleadership tenure. There was nobureaucracy in play within the KTA at thattime! An array of previously mowedwildflowers reached maturity and literallycovered some roadside vistas withgayfeathers and goldenrods late that firstsummer. It was like an epiphany of nature.We still have the photographs.

With the stonewall resistance unlikelyto give way at the Kansas HighwayDepartment (now KDOT), we shared ourconcerns with Governor Robert F. Bennettin the spring of 1976. Governor Bennettwas fiscally conservative and he took anactive interest. A meeting was arrangedwith the receptive twelve-memberHighways Advisory Committee in March,and that was followed in May by an

announcement that a policy change wouldallow the agency to reduce mowing ontens of thousands of acres. A permitsystem was also implemented todiscourage the common practice of “hayrustling” from these public lands.

Agency paradigms die hard, however,and we’ve had seven changes in thegovernorship since Governor Bennettencouraged a new approach. A lot ofbudgets were padded for decades with theprevious approach, and it isn’t easy -- evenfor governors -- to change bureaucracieswithin agencies when millions of dollarsare involved and “policies” can beinterpreted differently at many levels. Thelarger the budgets, the more employeesunder each command, and the higher thewages for some administrators!

It is Especially Difficult tomake LASTING CHANGES.

Some progress was made resulting in:significantly reducing the number of timesthe rights-of-way were mowed annually,and decreasing the amount of herbicideapplied by private companies and countyweed departments. But the changes werenot enough to substantially enhance theecological or aesthetic values. With adegree in wildlife biology, Governor MikeHayden expressed a strong interest inpromoting reduced-mowing policies and amuch more naturalistic approach.However, as was relayed later, the

philosophy in some (but not all) KDOTdistricts was that “this will all pass, andwe’ll have another change inadministration.” Governors have manyother things demanding and diverting theirattention and cannot ride herd everywhereor in every season to determine if theirpolicies are implemented at every level.

KDWP Secretary Steve Williams, whoserved under Governor Graves, added hisendorsement and joined me for apresentation to the KDOT secretary.Lower-level KDOT staff were sent in theKDOT secretary’s place and it thereforefailed to become much of a priority for theagency. Over time, however, KDOT staffwithin the landscape-architecture division,who shared our vision, worked with us tomake incremental progress. TroySchroeder of KDWP was also veryhelpful, and representatives of otherorganizations (Pheasants Forever andQuail Unlimited) added their philosophicalsupport.

Fast forward to the administrations ofGovernor Kathleen Sebelius and GovernorSam Brownback for the two mostencouraging developments: first, theleadership of KDOT Secretary Deb Millerwho served with both administrations(until the end of 2011), and second, theexpression of support and leadership byGovernor Brownback in early 2012.

Following an Audubon of Kansasrequest in 2007, KDOT Secretary DebMiller expressed her willingness toconsider changes in roadside maintenancepractices, and she established theAesthetics Task Force (ATF) in early2008. It consisted of biologists with

Beneficiaries of ROWHabitat Range fromBobwhites to Butterflies.

wildlife organizations, native plantbotanists, a KDWP biologist, and severalKDOT staff members including ClayAdams, who served as chairperson.Following months of meetings andopportunities to share and discussinformation, the task force’s report wasfinalized and presented to Secretary Millerin December. She endorsed the findings.It called for more universalimplementation of the “limited mowingpolicy” already in place, and additionalreductions in mowing to pare down someof the $6.6 million spent on mowing eachyear. That figure probably did not includethe capital costs of equipment, employeebenefits and all the other state costs.Millions spent on unnecessary mowing "isa lot of money."

During the summer of 2008 prices fordiesel and gasoline were extraordinarilyhigh and that was an added motivation forreduction of mowing. Secretary Millersent a directive to hold down consumptionand costs, and KDOT maintenance unitslimited mowing to approximately 15 feetout from the shoulder in most areas. As aresult, native grasses and wildflowerswere incredibly showy along statehighways that fall.

In addition to reducing costs, limitedmowing can become part of the state’senergy conservation plan by limitingfossil-fuel consumption through reducedmiles driven/hours of operation for tractorsand support trucks.

The final report acknowledged that: “Itis the general consensus of the Task Forcethat the policy as written is not followeduniformly throughout the State. Thereseems to be entirely too much mowing inmost areas and both sides of the highwayare rarely left unmowed at the same time.Mowing native grasses and forbs isgenerally unnecessary….” One of the

circumstances that allows policies to beignored is the fact that there are reportedly212 KDOT subdivisions involved inmaintenance throughout the state. Theymay not be independent fiefdoms, but itsometimes seems like there is littleaccountability beyond their “jurisdiction.”Thus, policies established byadministrative personnel headquartered inTopeka aren’t always implemented.

Within a year there was a return to farmore extensive mowing. Mowing out tothe fencerows in many places, even whilenative grasses and wildflowers were in fullbloom, was commonplace in the fall of2009. It appeared that the mowingrecommendations of the ATF were alreadybeing ignored, and by the fall of 2011 –after Secretary Miller announced that shewas leaving the position – it appeared that

mowing doubled and accelerated muchmore in many areas. The previousobservance of fifteen feet from theshoulder became thirty feet overnight, andthis year we’ve observed complete mow-out on both sides of some highways,extending a half to a mile or more fromsmall towns or intersections, and in areasnear streams.

We were concerned following thedeparture of Secretary Miller. Based on adiscussion on this subject with then-Senator Brownback on the 2010 campaigntrail, our observance of his leadershippromoting preservation of the Flint Hills,and his interest in reducing wastefulspending, we believed that it wascompelling that we provide him with theresults of the ATF report and anopportunity to hear from a broad spectrum


“Two hundred thousanddollars is a lot of money.We're gonna have to earn it.”

–“Blondie,” in the 1966 movie,The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

K-18 near Manhattan before and after untimely mowing in 2010. The cost was bothecological and much of the state's investment in seeding wildflowers.

of conservation leaders. GovernorBrownback hosted a meeting in his officeon February 23, 2012. The conservationdelegation included Chip Taylor withMonarch Watch, Fred Coombs with theKansas Native Plant Society, SteveSorensen representing the Kansas WildlifeFederation, John Schukman with theNortheast KS Upland Bird Partnership,Doug Rubick with the Smoky HillsAudubon Society, Jordan Martincich andMarc Glades representing PheasantsForever/Quail Forever, and me on behalfof Audubon of Kansas. Robin Jennison,Secretary of KDWP&T, also participated,pointing out at the onset that this is oneissue where he fully agrees with me!

The 18-page illustrated briefingdocument presented to the governor isavailable on the AOK website. Thephotography helped to illustrate all of thekey points we made to the governor. Ahighlight of the meeting was thegovernor’s statement that he would beinclined to reduce mowing – for economic,ecological and aesthetic purposes – evenmore than we had suggested. Iowa,Illinois and several other Midwesternstates do very little ROW mowing alongtheir major highways.

Governor Brownback asked us toschedule a meeting with the next KDOTsecretary to share our collectiveperspective, and we did that soon afterMike King was confirmed. Secretary Kingwas receptive and open-minded, hisbackground operating a constructioncompany likely brings a somewhatdifferent set of priorities, and he arrived inhis new job with a lot of other things onhis plate. The conservation communityneeds to build additional stakeholdersupport for our objectives and share thatwith him.

The Merit of Sharing Your Viewswith Governor Brownback

With the governor on the samewavelength as the conservationcommunity, and Secretary King receptive,it is now everyone-who-cares’ obligationto provide citizen support so that thegovernor’s endorsement doesn’t end therewithout any impact or implementation ofthe ATF’s policies. Although it is usefulto share one’s views with local KDOT

employees, it is potentially far morebeneficial and effective to send letters tothe governor. He in turn can share themwith Secretary King and then they can gobeyond to the district level. It is asimportant to point out examples of placeswhere KDOT is doing an excellent job of“stewardship” of this resource as it is tohighlight the places where theirmaintenance approach is destructive.Please see the sidebar box for contactinformation.

Prior to the advent of email,Congressman Larry Winn (R-KS) oncetold me that he figured that one well-written letter represented the views of10,000 people, because the other 9,999never get around to articulating theirthoughts in writing. A written letter is stillthe best. E-mails can also be forwarded.Phone calls are good if they are timely andnot disruptive, but a phone message cannotalways be forwarded effectively.

A State Budget Cut (orRedirection) that will BenefitEcological Resources in Kansas

Many people overlook the fact thatfiscal conservatism and conservation aresometimes perfect complements to eachother.

At a time when funding for many stategovernment programs, includingeducation, has been or is being reduced, it

seems inexcusable for KDOT to bespending multiple millions of dollars toneedlessly cut grass – especiallyconsidering that this action often doesmore harm than good. Sometimes itsimply seems to be “make work.” This isone of those occasions when it is possibleto advocate a state budget cut that willbenefit ecological resources in Kansas. IfKDOT’S budget cannot be reduced, betteralternatives for those funds within KDOTare possible.

Governor Brownback asked if we hadany suggestions for redirection of thefunds if some of the mowing expendituresthat could be saved. Our consensus wasthat there is a need for KDOT toeffectively address and control a class ofinvasive plants that are spreading fromhighway roadsides. Known as “old-worldbluestems” generically and specificallyCaucasian Bluestem, these non-nativeinvasive grasses may be the most severelong-term threat to native grasslands. Thisgrass gets started in disturbed areas andspreads – essentially choking out all othernative grasses and vegetation. Statehighways and some county roads appear tobe the primary places where it hasestablished strongholds, possibly fromcontaminated seed or mulch used initiallyon the roadsides, and then spreading withmowing operations and wind. Harvestinghay from infested roadsides has thepotential of spreading it far and wide.


The Caucasian Bluestem along this road is taking over native range in the Flint Hills.

Once they become established, thesegrasses are aggressive and competitive –and very difficult to eradicate. Theyshould be designated as state "noxiousplants.”

As with Sericea lespedeza and manyother invasive plants, old-world bluestemswere inauspiciously developed andpromoted by misguided agronomists withUSDA connections, and thencommercialized by seed producers. Theywere planted on hundreds of thousands ofacres in CRP fields in Texas andOklahoma.

In addition to dealing with the growingthreat of Caucasian Bluestem, it would benice if the funds could be used forenhancement of the vegetation. Over-seeding with wildflowers and nativegrasses, strategically planting nativeshrubs, and controlling bromegrass wouldall improve ecological and aestheticroadside resources.

Roadsides can be a Showplace fora State’s Natural Beauty andNative Prairie Flora.

Ladybird Johnson was one of ourcountry’s most successful advocates forpractices to encourage roadsidewildflowers and her legacy still exists inTexas. However, the June and Septemberdisplay of prairie wildflowers in parts ofKansas is equally as impressive as theearly spring Bluebonnets of Texas. With asuccession of different wildflowers from

April thru October, a hundred or morespecies add beauty and interest to roadsidevegetation in areas where it has not beendrenched with herbicides in the recent past,set back with excessive and recentmowing, or overwhelmed with bromegrass(historically planted) or other invasivenon-native grasses. Native grasses,including Indian grass, switchgrass, bigand little bluestem are also showy duringthe fall and winter.

Obviously vegetation of this nature isexcellent habitat for a diversity ofbeneficial pollinating insects. Butterflies,native bees and honeybees depend on asuccession of blooms for nectar, and thefoliage is necessary for various life stagesand overwintering habitat for somespecies. In many cultivated landscapesthere are very few, if any, suitable habitatsavailable.

The same is true for a number ofgrassland and shrub-nesting birds. Therelatively undisturbed linear habitats ofroadsides can provide habitat that is nototherwise available – habitat for nesting,foraging for insect foods for broods,loafing and roosting cover. Depending onthe setting, the list of birds utilizingroadsides for nesting can include NorthernBobwhites, Pheasants, Eastern andWestern Meadowlarks (our State Bird),Brown Thrashers, Bell’s Vireos,Dickcissels, Indigo Buntings,Mockingbirds, Eastern Kingbirds, SedgeWrens, Mourning Doves, Song Sparrows,Lark Sparrows, Grasshopper Sparrows,Eastern Towhees and Blue Grosbeaks.

I’ve often thought that if KDOT hired onlyquail and pheasant hunters, and birders fordistrict and local maintenance staff, therewould be far less mowing/brush-hoggingof grasses, wildflowers and native shrubs –as recommended by the ATF report – andonly spot spraying with herbicides.

After the leaves had fallen, I oncecounted 18 nests, mostly of Red-wingedBlackbirds, in a narrow 200-yard long stripof shrubby roadside on the once-wetlandsouthwestern edge of Lawrence. Whiletaking photos of rights-of-way, it wasextremely disappointing to observe henpheasants and Red-winged Blackbirdsbeing flushed from their nests by a private,hay-harvester along I-70 just west ofQuinter. The potential value of this kindof habitat is nothing new; research insouth-central Nebraska four decade agofound that about 25 percent of wildPheasant chicks hatched in roadside cover.

During other months of the year, thenumber of species that utilize unmowed-roadside habitat increases as birds thatnest in northern biomes migrate through orwinter in the central Great Plains. This listincludes Spotted Towhees, Dark-eyedJuncos, Harris’s Sparrow, White-throatedSparrow and many others. It is best fromseveral perspectives if the outer ROWareas are not mowed until late winter orearly spring. For all of the birds, tallvegetation (especially stiff-stemmed nativegrasses) can be vital for thermal protectionand shelter from cold rain and blowingsnow, and the seeds from sunflowers andother forbs provide high protein food.

Of particular note and importance inKansas, there are usually thousands ofvisiting and resident Red-tailed Hawks thatuse perches on or along roadsides to huntfor small rodents in these grassy habitats.After crop fields have been cultivated, andpastures grazed down, these are often thebest habitats that provide sufficientopportunity for these wintering raptors toobtain prey. We have conducted surveysand counted nearly 100 hawks in adistance of 100 miles, with most of themon hunting perches within fifty yards ofroadside habitat.

Limited mowing practices and theplanting of native grasses and forbs onroadsides serve as filter strips and bufferareas, which help to remove pollutantsfrom roadside runoff and help to keep


Stiff-stemmed ROW vegetation is an effective "living snow fence."

many kinds of litter from washing intonearby streams, rivers and lakes. Allowingdeep-rooted native plants to mature alsohelps to capture sediment and pollutants,prevent ditch erosion and bank slides.Whereas soil conservation and waterquality agencies recommend retention ofthe vegetativestructure that bestserves thesepurposes, KDOTregards these areas as“drainage ditches” tobe mowed with twopasses. It is notuncommon to seesteep slopes and wetareas that havebeen torn up by anoverly-ambitiouscrew with tractorsand mowers, gettingstuck, destroyingvegetation andsometimesdamagingequipment.

While someKDOT crews aredetermined to mowdown thousands ofmiles of vegetation of what are, in effect,“waterways” paralleling highways,taxpayers are providing funding forestablishment of filter strips and riparianbuffers on farms. In Kansas, federal fundstotaling approximately $1,440,650 are paidannually to landowners who haveestablished 28,817 acres of filter strips,and another $146,600 for riparian buffers.Likewise, 29,301 acres of upland game-bird habitat (mostly field buffers) and1,365 aces of pollinator habitat areenrolled in the Conservation ReserveProgram (CRP) to help these decliningwildlife species—which can also benefitfrom improved roadside-managementpractices, even if the roadside habitat is notas good for all species acre-for-acre andmile-for-mile.

Unmowed vegetation, especially stiff-stemmed native grasses and forbs serve as“living snow fences” and help to keepsnow from blowing across road surfaces inmany areas. This enhances safety andreduces the cost of snow removal and saltapplications. Everyone who has

experienced “groundblizzards” knows theimportance of structural or“living snow” fences.Reductions in road closings areimportant for everyone whohas a need to travel, whether

they are truck drivers or studentpassengers on a school bus. Themost critical ROW areas that shouldNOT be mowed prior to latewinter/early spring (ideally March)are those on the north side of statehighways and Interstate 70 as itcrosses Kansas, and in many places thewest side of north-south highways.Unmowed ROW vegetation also reducessunshine glare from snow-coveredlandscapes.

Ideally, KDOT should be working inpartnership with USDA to encourage andhelp finance establishment of “living snowfences” (practice 17 in CRP) in fieldsadjacent to the north side of I-70. Withsome roadside areas mowed by KDOTand/or hay harvesters, in some areas itdoesn’t seem like there is much more thana barbed wire fence between the roadwayand the North Pole. As a result, whenthere is blowing, snow closure gates aresometimes required to block traffic fromentering the interstate at various pointsfrom Hays to the Colorado state line.

Conservation CommunityGoals/Requests for KDOT and KTA

Please join us in urging KDOT andKTA administrators to adopt andimplement recommendations of theAesthetic Task Force. There are severaladditional guidelines (policies) that wouldserve the public interest and be ofecological or aesthetic value. They areoutlined below.

1) One additional policy that should bebetter articulated and implemented is thatmow-out of the rights-of-way (beyond the15-foot corridor next to the shoulder)should not occur before November. Inmost recent years, many areas have beenmowed to the fence line in October. Thisis usually before the first killing frost andwhen many of the native fall prairie


Some individuals harvest hay from longstretches of highways, turning publicresources into personal gain (hay worthtens of thousands of dollars) without anyconsideration of public benefit. Thispractice is done without any payment.The conservation community generallyrecommends that KDOT adopt a “NoHay-Harvesting” policy, with noexceptions along the interstate system.

Requests for improvements can gothrough the governor’s office to keepGovernor Brownback informed of yourinterest.

flowers are still blooming (includingmany of the asters, goldenrods andperennial sunflowers), before mosthave produced mature seed toeffectively reseed roadsides, andbefore the plants have gone dormant.

(2) Ideally, for snow-holdingcapacity, water quality and wildlifebenefits, scheduled mow-out should bedelayed to late winter or early spring. Allof the tractors have climate-controlledinteriors, so there are few occasions whenmowing cannot be scheduled. The policycalls for mow-out once every four years,on a rotational basis for different sides ofthe highway (north, east, south, west), soit shouldn’t be too overwhelming toschedule appropriate timing andconditions.

(3) We believe that KDOT and otherstate agencies and stakeholders shouldcooperatively evaluate the threat ofinvasive grasses (starting with CaucasianBluestem), develop a plan for dealingwith ROW infestations and begin toimplement control measures to preventspreading.

(4) Most in the conservationcommunity believe that KDOT needs todevelop regulations to restrict “openrange” private, hay harvesting alongstate-administered highways, whichdestroy all of the public benefits oflimited mowing policies. Hay harvestingduring the nesting season destroys birdnests and eliminates resources for nativepollinators. Private haying practices alsothreaten to spread Caucasian Bluestem.

Governor Sam BrownbackOffice of the Governor

Capitol, 300 SW 10th Ave., Ste. 241STopeka, KS 66612-1590

785-296-3232, [email protected]�tuent Services

785-368-8500, [email protected]–––––––––––––––––––––––

Copies or separate correspondence canalso be sent to:

KDOT Secretary Mike King700 S.W. Harrison

Topeka, KS 66603-3754785-296-3461, [email protected]

–––––––––––––––––––––––And/or regarding management of KTA

roadsides to:KTA CEO Michael JohnstonKansas Turnpike Authority

9401 East KelloggWichita, KS 672071804

316-682-4537, [email protected]


As this ROW was mowed for hay, nesting pheasants and songbirds were flushed from their nesting habitat.


The Stealth War on Quail & Songbird Habitat– and on

Wildflowers, Native Shrubs and Beneficial

Pollinating Insects

It is the most insidious, government-sponsored assault on the naturalenvironment in Kansas, Nebraska and

many other states. Although thosewaging this war would neveracknowledge it – because they have neverthought about the unintendedconsequences – it is occurring in hundredsof counties and has become “business asusual.” There is little if any oversight andno effective way of evaluating the resultsof millions of dollars of excess spending,no environmental assessment, and feweffective ways for landowners tocollectively protect their interests in thethousands of miles of land that involvestheir properties.

Foremost, it is a stealth chemical warthat counties wage on country roadsides,in many cases on every roadside in acounty. This “chemical warfare” isgenerally conducted by the countynoxious weed departments with newversions of “agent orange.” In RileyCounty, Kansas for example, most of thecounty roadsides are broadcast spayedevery fall with a combination of 2,4-D(2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid) andTordon (the trade name for a chlorinatedderivative of picolinic acid, a systemicherbicide used for general woody plantcontrol). That is in addition to theherbicide applications applied earlier inthe growing season.

I have had more than one occasion tocoincidentally be behind a spray truck thatwas going down the road with the spigotsturned on with herbicides shooting outover the entire roadside area extending tothe fenceline. Sometimes the sprays gobeyond the fencelines, as occurred several

years ago at our farm inWashington County. On atleast one occasion in RileyCounty I was following atruck spraying when the windwas blowing at least 20 mph.Most recently, in earlyNovember as I drove from justeast of Green to Randolph, Ifollowed a county sprayer thatsprayed all the way. If therewere noxious weeds, they didn’textend the entire ten miles. Iasked the driver why he wasbroadcast spraying everythingand his response was, “Tocontrol musk thistle andbindweed.” I suggested that there wasn’tany evidence of either. He said, “Butthere would be if we didn’t spray.” I wentback later in the day and made severalstops, but couldn’t find any of eitherplant. Imagine if the entire landscape wassprayed with this philosophy – therewouldn’t be a natural prairie left andbiodiversity would be decimated.

Although Riley County is a relativelysmall county with far fewer country roadsthan most counties in Kansas, it does have233 miles of county-maintained roads anda much higher than average budget. Weare not aware of how much is preciselyspent (including chemicals, salaries and

benefits, equipment and upkeep, fuel andother operations, etc.) on this type ofroadside herbicide spraying, but thecounty’s noxious weed department spent$99,235 on herbicide chemicals last year,and had a total department budget of$495,043.

On a statewide basis, expenditures bycounty weed departments on herbicidesare just over $10 million, and totalbudgets add up to $23,477,307. Theaverage budget is $230,169. There areapproximately 80,500 miles of county-maintained roads in the state. In additionthere are likely tens of thousands oftownship-maintained roads. In some

American plum thickets and wild rose sprayed along acountry road in Rock County, Nebraska, but the same canbe seen along any of thousands of miles of rural roadsthroughout the heartland of America. A Riley CountyNoxious Weed Department truck on a fall quest to spray75 percent of the roadsides in the county.


plum thickets for quail. NorthernBobwhites need thickets and associatedcover from which they can run through,hide in and fly out of. Bromegrassimpedes all of those habitat qualities.Bromegrass, fescue, reed canary grass andother invasive grasses further diminish thevalue of habitat by reducing theabundance of forbs (native legumes andother broad-leaf plants, often referred toas wildflowers or weeds depending on aperson’s understanding or lack ofunderstanding of their values). Theseplants provide much of the food requiredby upland game bird chicks, andsongbirds. The invertebrates, seeds, fruitsand buds associated with or produced byforbs are critically important.

For those of us who grew up on a farmor ranch (or in a city) and remembercountry roadsides where one could seenative grasses, wildflowers, native shrubsand vines, coveys of quail and an array ofnesting songbirds, the transformation torelatively sterile roadsides with few ofthese amenities is disappointing. Asrecently expressed by the chairman of ourBoard of Trustees, the “first rule ofoperation,” borrowing from medicalethics, should be “to do no harm.”

Maintaining a healthy prairie plantcommunity of native grasses andwildflowers, with limited chemicalapplications and requiring less fossil fueluse, is actually less expensive than thepresent methods employed. In addition, a

stable native plant community without alot of disturbance is less susceptible tobecoming portals for undesirable invasiveplants.

It appears that the only way fortaxpayers, landowners and other residentsto correct this assault on the land, wildlife,and the public interest in ecologicalstewardship is to begin to organize andwork with organizations that share ourcollective views. Landowners may alsowant to provide county officials with legalnotification that the rights-of-way landassociated with their property should notbe sprayed – except spot treated whenthere is a presence of noxious weeds.

– Ron Klataske

Bu�erflymilkweeds andscores of otherna�ve prairiewildflowers areincreasingly rarealong rural roadsidesdue to rou�ne scheduledspraying – whether it is"needed" or not. Folks at the FarmersMarket and rural families frequently commentthat it is increasing difficult to find wild plums,elderberries and other natural fruits and berries.This Bell's Vireo was photographed singing in aroadside thicket on our Washington County farm,but the next year the thicket was sprayed.

counties, as in Wabaunsee County, theyare routinely sprayed with a cocktail ofherbicides as well.

Adding insult to injury, counties arealso, unknowingly, waging “biologicalwarfare” on quail, songbird and CottontailRabbit habitat, and on wildflowers, nativeshrubs and vines and beneficial insects. Itis standard practice for county roaddepartments to plant roadsides tobromegrass following reconstruction ordisturbance. Bromegrass is not native andworst of all it is invasive. It “takes over”many areas where it has been planted, andit crowds out many of the native plants. Itis about as useless for most wildlifespecies as Astroturf and it evenundermines the value of such cover as

“Birds of Kansas” was publishedlast year by University Press ofKansas. Authors include Max C.Thompson, Charles A. Ely, BobGress, Chuck Otte, Sebastian T.Patti, David Seibel, and EugeneA. Young.

The 473 species accountsdetailed includes 47 more thanthe last similar book, “Birds inKansas,” co-written by MaxThompson and Charles Ely intwo volumes published in1989 and 1992.

One of the many exciting things about birding is the factthat birds sometimes travel far and wide from wherethey are expected. The ink was barely dry on the

fabulous new book, “Birds of Kansas,” detailing the 473 speciesof birds that had been documented in the state when anothernotable avian traveler arrived. An impressive Crested Caracarain adult plumage was discovered by a farmer on the evening ofAugust 1. The next morning, Warren Buss, who farms nearbyand doubles with Dan Thalmann, publisher of the WashingtonCounty News, as one of the county’s two most active birdersmade an outstanding photo. The bird was perched in a treeabove a hay meadow, then swirled down to the ground andproceeded to walk hunt—as they often do when searching forsnakes, lizards, insects and other small prey.

The Crested Caracara, AKA Mexican Eagle, is a member ofthe falcon family and has been described as a “tropical falconversion of a vulture,” that “reaches theUnited States only in Arizona, Texas, andFlorida.”

Three weeks after the Kansas sighting,Greg Neuman of Seward, Nebraska observedand identified a Caracara feeding on aroadkill in Nebraska about 15 miles west ofLincoln--80 miles north of its Kansasdiscovery.

There had been one previous credible reportof a Crested Caracara in Kansas. A KDWPemployee observed it several times in July2008, once feeding on a road-killed rabbit nearthe Woodson State Fishing Lake west of YatesCenter.

Unknown to most birders, a Green Violet-ear Hummingbirdspent some time visiting a feeder in a yard in Keats, Kansas inJune 2011. This tropical hummingbird is normally found insouth-central Mexico south into Panama and the Andes ofSouth America. Occasional wanderers have been recorded inother states and north to Canada.

This summer an additional rare vagrant arrived. A Red-necked Stint was observed at Quivira National Wildlife Refugeon July 1. This small wader breeds in northeastern Siberia andwestern Alaska. It normally migrates to southeast Asia orAustralia in late summer and fall, and is common there duringthe northern hemisphere’s winter--and Austrian summer.However, this bird apparently took a south-bound flight withAmerican “peeps” (small sandpipers) with central Kansaswetlands programed on their DNA guidance systems.

Photo ©Warren Buss, Washington County, Kansas

Birdsof

KansasA “Texas bird” joins the ranks.

Birdsof


Birdsof


Warren Buss, like the bird hephotographed, is a world traveler and visitedEurope for the fifth time this past summer.


hey showed up in early spring, actually, and I took my first owlportrait on May 5, 2010. After that they lived closely with thepeople of Black Swan estates, a lake community in Shawnee,

Kansas, with about 130 homes. We were loading up our car with neighborsfor an outing, all the while discussing our recent sightings when someonesaid, “There she is!” Not twenty-feet distant, she perched in a white pine tree,eavesdropping on what was being said about her (we assumed the bigger ofthe pair was the female).

On another occasion, five or six walkers had paused under a tree to tradenews, when the owl flew onto a branch not ten feet over our heads to studyus, or perhaps the lakeshore bullfrogs. From our porch my wife and I sawtwo owls in a tree across the lake. One flew down to touch the water and upagain to land on a post on our side. Why had she dipped to the water? Backagain she flew, down to the water and splashed her claws in, yanking out atwo-foot, wildly-wiggling, water snake. She flew with it to the far shore,sharing the grim meal with her pal. We ate breakfast once with the male owlsitting six feet away from our screened porch.

One day we watched as the pair teamed up on a squirrelthat kept circling around a tall stump, trying to stay awayfrom them. The squirrel was just too spry for them. Theynever did get him. These owls may also have beennocturnal, but they were certainly diurnal. We sawthem at all hours of the day. Standing not morethan 15-feet away, I shot several photos ofour Canoodling Cousins on July 21on the street near our mailbox.Owl sightings were a dailyoccurrence through March, 2011.Having likely thinned out theedibles near our home, the BarredOwl pair later moved a half-milewest to the other side of theneighborhood. We hope the folks over thereenjoyed the seasons that followedwith the owls.

TPhotos and Article by Charles Hammer

BARRED OWLS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD


BARRED OWLSHabitats, Distribution and Prey

The primary habitats for Barred Owls (Strix varia) are woodlands across theeastern North America. The species is particularly numerous in a variety ofwooded habitats in the southeastern United States. They often nest in tree cavities.With protection they have ventured into suburban areas with large trees. Smallrodents and mammals up to the size of squirrels and rabbits, amphibians and somebirds provide prey.

VocalizationThe usual call is a series of eight accented hoots ending in oo-aw, with a

downward pitch at the end. The most common mnemonic device for rememberingthe call is "Who cooks for you, who cooks for you all". They often call during theafternoon.

Without the “you all”, Barred Owl calls are sometimes confused with GreatHorned Owls (Bubo virginianus). Their call is a low-pitched but loud ho-ho-hoohoo hoo; sometimes it is only four syllables instead of five. The female's call ishigher and rises in pitch at the end of the call. The Great Horned Owl is larger andrecognizable because of the prominent feather tufts on the head of adults. – RDK

Owls have been Widely Featured in Myths and FolkloreIn Greek mythology, the Little Owl (Athene noctua) was the messenger of Athene, the goddess of wisdom and foresight. Similar

to the Burrowing Owl, which is possibly related, when threatened, Little Owls (a species of Europe and Russia) have the habit ofbobbing up & down.

Charles Hammer is a former reporter for the Kansas City Star, author of two youth novels published by Farrar Straus and Giroux including a Civil Warnovel, "Of Love and War: 1864," and co author of "Unsportsmanlike Conduct," a history of college sports published by University of Michigan Press.


GIVE A FRIEND A GIFT MEMBERSHIP, OR JOIN AOK TO SUPPORT

CONSERVATION AND NATURE APPRECIATION

Audubon of Kansas is proud of its logo, picturing a GreaterPrairie-chicken in full display at sunrise in a prairie setting. Ithelps to project that AOK members and leaders take pride inprairie landscapes, wildlife, other resources – and everyone whoplays a role in stewardship of the land.

Audubon of Kansas does not normally sell merchandise, butwe have great ball caps and make them available at cost, or atno additional costs with $20 gift memberships or greaterdonations. A cap can be mailed if requested. Wild ducks havedifferent colored beaks! So it is only natural that AOK capscome with a choice of bill colors: green, black or khaki!

WHAT’S IN YOUR BACKYARD?

Photos and Article by Neil Weatherhogg

Neil and Janet Weatherhogg enjoytaking photos of neighborhoodwildlife since they retired; Neil aspastor of Topeka's First PresbyterianChurch, and Janet from teaching atTecumseh North Elementary School.Neil has also photographed wildlifein South and Central America andYellowstone Park.

“The sleeping fox catches no poultry” – Benjamin Franklin

rofessional photographers often encourage beginners tostart taking photos of potential subjects most familiar to

them, such as family and friends; flowers, autumn leaves,birds and butterflies in their yard; neighborhood parks and nearbynatural areas. For example, Red Foxes would occasionally wanderthrough our backyard on Burlingame Road about half a mile fromShunga Creek in Topeka, Kansas. My wife Janet and I kept ourcameras close at hand for serendipitous occasions such as those.

One winter morning I looked out the window in my study tosee two foxes, probably siblings, wander into our backyard. Forabout fifteen minutes or so, they played, they rested, they“danced”. All the while, as an awe-struck spectator standingindoors behind a plate glass window I observed and photographedthem. What a gift to be able to witness this animal behavior upclose within the city limits.

Since that memorable day, we have seen other fox on occasion,some staying only briefly, others for several hours. We havephotographed various hawks and other bird life, an AmericanRobin feeding her babies, a mother duck guarding her eggs next to

P

Photo by Janet Weatherhogg

Red Foxes inRed Foxes in

the Backyard,the Backyard,

Blue DartersBlue Darters

in the Treesin the Trees

Red Foxes inRed Foxes in

the Backyard,the Backyard,

Blue DartersBlue Darters

in the Treesin the Trees


a next-door neighbor’s house, and a swallowtail resting on one of ourbutterfly bushes. The backyards for many of us provide a potpourri ofpossibilities for viewing and, if we choose, photographing various wildlife.In addition to providing habitat, food and/or water, there are oftenphotographic rewards if one keeps a camera nearby and watches forinteresting fauna and flora displays in one’s own backyard.

Many dramas of nature are revealed in our backyards W ith foxes on the prowl throughout the neighborhood, it

doesn’t seem like a safe place for a Mallard Duck to hide anest. With Burlingame Road to cross to get ducklings to the nearestwater, success is nearly “mission impossible”. With a Cooper’sHawk and/or a Sharp-shinned Hawk observing every movementfrom the trees it seems like an equally challenging place forAmerican Robins to nest.

Red Foxes are notorious waterfowl nest predators in the northernprairie pothole region. However, in areas where Coyotes arerelatively abundant and a danger to smaller canines in thecountryside, Red Foxes often resort to living in suburbanneighborhoods and small towns. A ranch friend north of Emporiarecently commented that a family of Red Foxes lives in hisranchstead and eats with their domestic cats. In some ways life hereis more “enchanted,” and they dramatically add to the enchantmentthat comes from the presence of wildlife near our homes. Life forRed Foxes has gotten better in suburban settings since domestic dogsare seldom allowed to run free.

With application to Coyotes as well as their domesticatedcousins, a Danish Proverb seems to be fitting: “Relatives are theworst friends, said the fox as the dogs took after him.”

Cooper’s Hawks and the smaller Sharp-shinned Hawks are thetwo most common Accipiters in the United States. This group ofraptors is characterized by slender body shapes, long tails, and shortrounded wings that enable them to maneuver quickly and with agilityin and out through trees in pursuit of other birds. They have long legs

and long talons which enable them to reach out while in flight tograsp and kill birds they have ambushed. That is how these birdsgained the colloquial name “blue darters”.

Back when many farms had free-roaming chickens, Cooper’sHawks were a threat. The 1945 edition of BIRDS IN KANSAS,published by the Kansas State Board of Agriculture maligned thisnative raptor, printing that, “It may flash into the poultry yard,strike and carry off a half-grown fowl too rapidly for one toapprehend the marauder, unless one is lying in wait…Unfortunately, so swift and strong are the movements…that theyfrequently escape their just fate.”

That misguided "nuisance proclamation" helped give otherhawks, especially the slower and more common Red-tailed Hawk,the undeserved designation as "chicken hawks" and misconceptionthat they contribute substantially to the decline of gamebirds.However, relative to redtails the publication did go on to state that,“All farmers owe a great debt to this fine specimen for its aid in thecontrol of rodents…” Fortunately, all hawks, owls and eagles arenow protected.

In respect for the dynamics of nature, we try not to unnecessarilydetermine winners and losers to accommodate a diversity ofwildlife. The best way to provide for songbirds and gamebirds is toprovide exceptional habitat, including escape habitat. When feedingbirds in one’s backyard, a substantial shrub thicket or largerelatively open brush pile near the feeders will provide a degree ofsecurity for many of the small birds that are attracted. – RDK

Cooper’s Hawk

Sharp-shinned Hawk



Wildlife Viewing from the Kitchen Window– AT THE HUTTON NIOBRARA RANCH WILDLIFE SANCTUARY

"In every walk with natureone receives far more thanhe seeks."

– John Muir


The Hutton Niobrara Ranch Wildlife Sanctuaryguesthouses are managed to be like homes awayfrom home for guests. The Hutton Guesthouse

was the home for Harold and Lucille Hutton, andmaking it available to guests who appreciate wildlife,the prairies of the Sandhills, and the wetlands and forestof this area is consistent with the vision theyshared of it becoming a wildlife sanctuary.The guesthouse is surrounded by uplandprairie with a view of the sunrise and sunset.It is also situated on the edge of a tributaryof Rock Creek and has an oasis of treessurrounding the house – including acottonwood worthy of monument status forits shade and habitat. These pleasantsurroundings provide a place where an arrayof wildlife can be seen and/or experiencedfrom the front porch, back patio or throughthe kitchen window.

The photographs included in these pagesillustrate just a few of the sights of wildlifeenjoyed by guests this past spring, summerand fall. The images of Goldfinches andother birds at the feeder, the Wild Turkeys,Wood Ducks and a Whitetail doe and fawn arescenes viewed and/or photographed from the kitchenwindow. The hen turkey and her eight poults werephotographed from the edge of the house as they settledin for the night on a major branch of the cottonwoodjust outside the kitchen window. The young birdsscooted under her wings until they were all securelytucked away and tightly packed under their mother’soutstretched wings. This strategy may at least protectthem somewhat from Great Horned Owls, but perhapsnot always enough from Bobcats or Raccoons.

Photos by Ron Klataske


Birds that came to the feeder includedscores of Goldfinches, a pair of Cardinals, apair of Spotted Towhees and a variety ofothers including Red Crossbills in latesummer. The Towhees had a nest on theground behind the metal shop building, andthe whole family frequented the feeder afterthe young birds fledged.

The Lazy Easy Ranch Guesthouse islocated two miles away from the HuttonHouse on a quarter section of grassland andwoodlands that extends within a half milefrom the larger part of the 5,000-acre

sanctuary. This guesthouse is an equallydelightful place to stay and relax. It ismore wooded, and the 160-acre propertyis subdivided into several pastures andhay meadows by shelterbelts of long-standing cottonwood plantings andundergrowth of red cedars. Essentially,the same suite of birds can be seen on theLazy Easy Ranch.

The Niobrara Sanctuary website<www.niobrarasanctuary.org> has detailson the sanctuary, including theconservation mission and guestopportunities. Reservations for either ofthe guesthouses are made by contactingthe Audubon of Kansas office, or via theemail address listed on the website.

Contributions from guests andrevenue from lodging helps pay some ofthe expenses associated with providingthese unique accommodations (includingupgrading the guesthouses, utilities,property taxes, supplies, etc.) and forstewardship of the sanctuary.

Continued on page 30

Include a Bequest in Your Will or Trust (specific property, cash donation, or ashare of the residual estate). You can make a gift for the future of Audubon of Kansasprograms in a way that does not affect your options during your lifetime. You may changeyour mind on beneficiaries at any time if these assets are needed for other purposes. Such abequest may, however, provide an eventual estate tax deduction.

Persons wishing to make a bequest to Audubon of Kansas, Inc. may tailor it to theirindividual interests or use wording similar to the following:

I bequeath ___% of my residuary estate (or $_____) to Audubon of Kansas, Inc., a not-for-profit 501(C)3 conservation organization incorporated in the State of Kansas with itsaddress at P.O. Box 256, Manhattan Kansas, 66505.

Make a Gift of Land, or other Real Property. Gifts of real estate or other propertyare excellent ways to establish a major donation. Gifts of land that can be sold with theproceeds to be used to support general or other specific programs (in this case Audubon ofKansas programs), are often referred to as “Trade Lands.” Some parcels may be protectedwith conservation easements prior to sale. Proceeds can be designated for specificconservation, education or even stewardship of an established AOK sanctuary. Otherdonated property could include items like paintings, sculpture, books, etc. that could be used or sold to support similar purposes.

Gifts of Land to be Maintained as a Wildlife Sanctuary (such as the HuttonNiobrara Ranch Wildlife Sanctuary) generally require establishment of an adequateendowment to fund future operations, pay annual property taxes and ongoing stewardshipof the property. Gifts of land for this purpose must be consistent with the Audubon ofKansas mission, and require Board of Trustees approval. Thus, lands destined to become aprotected sanctuary or preserve are best achieved with advanced planning and notification

of AOK.

Cars for Conservation! Although AOK has notpromoted this avenue of philanthropy, vehicles and similarproperty can be donated and then sold to generate fundsfor AOK operations. In addition, AOK is interested inreceiving an energy-efficient vehicle to retain for businesstravel. We are also looking to obtain a tractor with 3-pt.hitch, and rotary mower for use at the Niobrara Sanctuary.

Audubon of Kansas, Inc. is administered by a Boardof Trustees with interests in conservation and education inKansas, Nebraska and generally the central Great Plainsand prairie states. AOK is an independent, grassrootsorganization that is not administered or funded by theNational Audubon Society. All funds received are devotedto conservation advocacy, nature appreciation initiatives,education and stewardship (including management ofwildlife sanctuaries) in this region.

“Treat the Earth well. We donot inherit the Earth form ourAncestors, we borrow it fromour Children”

– Ancient IndianProverb

Your annual membership and othergifts to Audubon of Kansas are vital to ourongoing conservation, education, sanctuarystewardship, and advocacy work. AOK cannotfunction without the support of members andannual contributions. We thank you for yourcontinuing dedication and generosity.Donating online allows monthly giving. Weuse Verisign SSL security to ensure ourdonors a safe and secure transaction. Otherways to contribute include memorials/tributes, and gift memberships. Pleaseconsider making a contribution at this time.

By establishing a planned gift to Audubon ofKansas, you can also ensure that AOKcontinues to be equally effective in the future.We have outlined several ways to establish aplanned gift below:

Make a Gift of Stock or Bonds.Appreciated stock or bonds held formore than one year is mostadvantageous. Your gift will providea financial contribution to Audubon ofKansas, and you will avoid capitalgains taxes.

Create a Charitable GiftAnnuity. By establishing a charitablegift annuity with Audubon of Kansas,you will continue to receive fixedpayments for the rest of your life andhave a charitable deduction.Charitable gift annuities offerpayment rates that are more attractivethan many other investments, with therate amount determined by your age.In addition, you have the satisfactionof knowing that the remainder of yourgift will benefit Audubon of Kansasconservation and education initiativeswell into the future.

Your Support:Your Support:

Legacy GiftsLegacy Gifts

is vital to AOK’s effectiveness

Planned Giving Options

Please contact any of our Trustees or AOK Executive Director, Ron Klataske at 785-537-4385 [email protected] for additional information.



We are particularly pleased when extendedfamilies – including children and multiplegenerations – schedule a stay at the sanctuary andenjoy their time together in nature with few otherdistractions. We are reminded of an organizationcalled Healthy Families Play Outside that wasorganized in Lincoln, Nebraska some years ago.Activities may include hiking the network of trails,exploring creeks and canyons, wading in smallstreams, or lounging in the warm, shallowcurrents of the Niobrara River. In winter after afresh snow it is a delight to search for animaltracks. We encourage guests to go for a drive orbicycle along the “country roads” withinsanctuary, watching for wildlife and listening tothe sounds within the surrounding landscape.Whether you prefer to keep active or just relaxat the guesthouse, we hope you visit soon!

June 2, 2012

Thank you for the privilege of staying at the Hutton Guesthouse and

visiting the Hutton Niobrara Ranch Wildlife Sanctuary last weekend. The

weekend was a lot of work, beginning with lying in bed for a while the first

morning listening to the quiet light rain. My next job was to sit on the

front porch and listen to the Western Meadowlarks alternating with

Grasshopper Sparrows. Listening to meadowlarks is like eating potato

chips—it is hard to stop—but I eventually tore myself away to get a

second cup of coffee from the kitchen, where just outside was a female

Bobwhite and a male not far behind.The whole visit was like that, just one enchanting encounter after

another with Nature. My six hour walk around was restorative, and the

only interruption in looking at one bird was that there was another one to

look at too, or an interesting plant, or a dung beetle, and so on. Thank you

very much for the written suggestions about where to go. The flagging

on the trails helped me especially when I got to the woods in the

northeast part of the sanctuary. By the way, I like the “monuments” to

the beavers (the bases of tree trunks they had cut) you left behind when

cutting other trees and trimming limbs for the trails.

In sum I enjoyed the trip immensely. Lana Micheel was so helpful and

professional. I so appreciated her coming out on a Saturday and giving me

a personal tour. I am grateful to Audubon of Kansas for providing some

space for wildlife near and along the Niobrara and grateful for your

continued conservation efforts.Best,

Rachel Simpson

Volunteer Opportunities. A series of trails are being developed on the sanctuary. Some sections are complete, but several extensionshave not been. Volunteers (individuals or organized groups) interested in helping clear a pathway through timber along the river, along andoverlooking the wet meadows, and across creeks and canyons are welcome. With sufficient assistance and planning, this activity may bescheduled for winter, “spring break,” summer or fall. We are open to various possibilities. Send an email to aok@audubonofkansas or call785-537-4387 if interested.


In north central Nebraska the drought of2012 has been devastating. It has beenamplified by severe high temperatures

in the 100 to 112 degree range, with 45 to60 mile per hour winds at times. Thepastures were used up on many ranches byAugust. Following a good rain on April15 we didn’t have another for three and ahalf months. The extreme heat and highwinds burned up the grasses and dry landcornfields. On August 4 we received 2inches of rain, but that didn’t break thedrought cycle.

Beef production suffered a lot withpoor weight gains, because the grass wasdry without moisture to carry the nutrientsup from the roots. Beginning in late Juneand early July a lot of yearling cattle begangoing to market far ahead of time. In threesales at the Bassett Livestock market morethan 20,000 yearlings were sold at muchlighter weights than normal. Then ranchersbegan culling cows. Beef cow numbers arethe lowest in 50 years, according to theUSDA cattle report.

Feedlots placed more cattle on feedthan normal. Later into the next year thesupplies of feeder cattle will be short andthe demand will climb. This puts the cattlecycle out of its normal pattern. A lot morecows will be going to market the rest ofthis year. Nation wide the drought hasshortened the grass supplies.

During the last two yearsapproximately 100 quarters (each 160acres) of precious native range has beendestroyed by putting it under the plow, andunder irrigation. This had taken place innorth central Nebraska due to the highprice of corn, supported in large part byethanol production. Twenty-five years agoI said that “a nation that burns it’s food”has the possibly of perishing. This areahad a similar loss of native ranchland in thesixties and early seventies. Outsideinvestors thought they were going to makea killing on corn.

The area has had an abundance ofunderground water from the OgallalaAquifer. The Sandhills obviously consist ofsand – which is very fragile. When thetopsoil is made bare of cover, it is subjectto blowing and it is difficult to get it to stay

put. When cultivated for corn this is aproblem until the corn is high enough tomake a cover.

Forty-six percent of Rock County wasowned and operated by absenteelandowners at one time during the earlieryears of irrigation development.Sometimes the crop grew well the first yearor two, but high inputs of fertilizer andwater were increasingly required. Sanddoes not hold much water in the top foot ofsoil. Many of those farmers went bankruptand abandoned their investment. Some ofthe ground was sold to another sucker.Corn production nationwide was more thanthe market could handle and the price wasdepressed.

Then, more native grass was plowed upin hopes of more corn to help pay theexpenses. The eighties came along andinvestment money disappeared. Thenirrigated land became a drag on the market.Banks held title to a lot of land and manypeople didn’t have money enough to farmit. The government was then asked to rideto the rescue. Hefty payments were madeto plant some of the cropland back to grasscover under the Conservation ReserveProgram.

An unfortunate aspect of high cornprices is that it causes more sandy land tobe farmed. That makes for a shortage ofgrass for cattle producers. Cattle are madefor grazing. The cattle industry cannot relyon dry lots. The cattle “beef” businessneeds grass to survive.

The cow herd has now declined to thelowest level it has been since in the fifties.Drought has taken a toll in recent years andthere is not enough grass to support thiscountry’s cow herd in many areas, and itisn’t logical for most ranchers to increasetheir herds in these conditions.

Once destroyed, native prairie cannever be put back to its originalenvironment. It can be planted back tograsses, but it will never become like theoriginal native range. In sandy country ittakes a perfect season to start a “decent”stand of native grass and several years toget it reasonably well established, even ifirrigated.

The trend in this rapid loss of nativegrasslands raises a number of questions.Where is the grass of tomorrow? Where’sthe beef? What is the future of ranching?

– Wes Sandall

The Destruction of Native Sandhills

Grasslands: A Rancher’s Viewpoint

Wes Sandall with a view of the Niobrara Riverin the background. Wes was state chairman ofthe Save the Niobrara River Associationduring the struggle to keep it from beingdammed and diverted in the 1970s and 80s.

Article by Seliesa PembletonPhotos by Ed Pembleton

POOL 2 – CHEYENNE BOTTOMS, 1984

“Now don’t you ladies worry your pretty little heads. There’s $2,000 in ourbudget to take care of the Bottoms this summer.” With those words we wereushered from the office of an indifferent agent of the Kansas Fish and GameCommission (now Kansas Department of Wildlife Parks, and Tourism). Littledid he know those were fighting words!

endangered, too. Water rights for theBottoms were being ignored; stretches ofthe Arkansas River were dry; and flowsfrom Walnut Creek, the immediate watersource, were diminished.

Like a Watershed: GatheringInformation & Seeking AdviceOur first actions were to seek advice

from long-time Audubon members andothers who shared concern about theBottoms. Many expressed sentiments that“Nothing can be done to save theBottoms, we’ve tried and gottennowhere.” Not what we wanted to hear.Despite all of the negative responses, asfledgling activists perhaps we were toonaive to know we couldn’t save theBottoms. We had a vision that workingtogether we could all make a difference.We were taking a stand! A group of fiveAuduboners travelled to the Bottoms tolearn about the problems.

Stan Wood, a former manager at thewetlands, had previously drafted arestoration plan on file at Pratt. So thenext step was an appointment with the

Jan Garton came forward to volunteeras conservation committee chair, and withsome urging, also agreed to be chaptersecretary. We set about finding othercommunity leaders to fill the slate ofofficers and pull the organization out ofits lethargy. We recognized the need for acompelling cause to rally around and Janimmediately identified Cheyenne Bottomsas the issue that inspired her to volunteer.By the end of the first year, chaptermembership had almost doubled in partdue to “ownership” in this positiveenvironmental cause.

The Dry Facts:An Endangered WetlandCheyenne Bottoms, a natural

depression of some 64 square miles justnorth of the Arkansas River near GreatBend, Kansas, is the most importantinterior wetland in the United States,providing critical habitat for diversespecies including the endangeredWhooping Crane and threatened LeastTern. In 1983, the wetland was

As new officers of the Northern FlintHills Audubon Chapter inManhattan, Jan Garton and I had

travelled to Pratt seeking a copy of aCheyenne Bottoms restoration planprepared years before by a formerBottoms manager. We were dismissivelytold, “It’s around here somewhere.”Managing to keep her cool, Jan informedthe agent he needed to find it because wewould be back! On the drive home fromthat first infuriating meeting we had timeto fume a bit – and time to beginformulating an attention-getting plan.

Ripples in the Water:Getting StartedIn June of 1983, the Northern Flint

Hills Chapter of National Audubon inManhattan, KS was at a low ebb ofactivity. Only twelve members attendedthe meeting to elect new officers andthere was only a slate of three: SilPembleton, president; Monty Hinton,vice-president, and Di Ann Roberts,treasurer. John Zimmerman was the KSUcampus sponsor for the chapter.


Fish and Game Department to obtain acopy. The agency employee we met withwas dismissive. Barely rising from thepaperwork on his desk, his response was,“The plan is around here somewhere.Don’t worry your pretty little heads aboutCheyenne Bottoms. We have $2,000budgeted to take care of it.” Maintainingher cool, Jan told him we would return toget the plan.

Stirring the Waters: Raising Awareness

Through the Kansas Audubon Counciland the network of chapter newsletters,Jan requested that members across thestate write letters to the Kansas Fish andGame Commission expressing concernand the need for action because of thelack of adequate water in the wetlands.Next, Jan was off to Topeka to meet withRepresentative Ron Fox, Vice-Chairmanof the Kansas House of RepresentativesEnergy and Natural ResourcesCommittee, who immediately voiced hissupport for our project.

In the meantime, unbeknownst to us,Audubon members from across the statehad dutifully responded to our request andwritten their letters of concern to theKansas Fish and Game Commission. Wereceived a call from Pratt inviting us to

The next step was to build a coalitionof stakeholders with an interest in thehealth of the wetlands and a concernabout the lack of water in the region.Hunters, birders, anglers, local businesses,scientists, garden clubs, school groupswere all potential allies. Many of thesegroups had never communicated – andsome were downright suspicious of eachother – but all agreed that the Bottomswas worth saving!

One of Jan’s goals was to establish aCheyenne Bottoms Task Force withrepresentatives from the followingorganizations: Kansas Audubon Council,Kansas Wildlife Federation, KansasChapter of the Sierra Club, DucksUnlimited Council, the AmericanFisheries Society, the KansasOrnithological Society, Kansas RuralCenter, Kansas Natural Resource Council,and the Kansas chapter of The WildlifeSociety.

The objectives of this group were two-fold:

■ Achieve state-wide awareness of thecritical situation at CheyenneBottoms,home to diverse speciesand vital to migrating waterfowl andshorebirds; and

■ Develop a proposal for a feasibilitystudy identifying problems and

Cheyenne Bottoms, September 15, 2009. Water birds includeFranklin's Gulls, American Egrets, and White Pelicans.

come down for a meeting. When wearrived, we barely concealed our surpriseas we were ushered into a conferenceroom to be greeted by the Director and aroomful of his top administrators. Theywere astounded by the number of lettersthey had received and were veryconcerned, wanting to know, “What haveyou been telling people? We have beengetting letters from all over the state!”We had their attention.

Twelve letters – that’s all it took to rilethe department. We had the attention ofthe agency, but not its support. Despiteour assurances that we intended to raiseadditional funds for the agency, theiremployees’ feared that a public outcry onbehalf of the Bottoms would force a shiftin the department’s budget priorities withno new money for an additional project.

Luckily, one of the Audubon letter-writers happened to be a woman ofinfluence who called her son, StateSenator Joseph Norvell from Hays, toexplain how important those wetlandswere – and to tell him to do somethingabout it! Now we had a champion in boththe Kansas State Senate and KansasHouse of Representatives. But what couldbe done to save Cheyenne Bottoms?

Pooling Resources: Building aStatewide Coalition


possible restoration options, and toseek funding for this study from thestate legislature during the 1984 and1985 legislative sessions.

The Kansas legislature meets annually,although bills that don’t clear in the oddyears are carried over to the followingyear. The elections take place in even-numbered years, so those who served in1985 would have been elected inNovember 1984.

After Audubon meetings there weremany late-night brainstorming sessionsover cups of hot chocolate in a localrestaurant in Manhattan. Notes on napkinsheld the design for a Save CheyenneBottoms – Great Birding in Great Bendbumper sticker. The Great Bend Chamberof Commerce liked the idea, paid forproduction of a high-quality product andbecame a strong ally.

Other tactics for raising public andlegislative awareness statewide included:newsletters, posters, pamphlets, pressreleases, letters to the editor,establishment of a speakers’ bureau and aprepared slide presentation, contacts withoutdoor writers, resolutions, booths atpublic events, T-shirts, mugs and specialevents.

To emphasize the importance of waterto the Cheyenne Bottoms wetlandcomplex, members of the Kansas Chapterof The Wildlife Society organized an avidrelay team of runners to carry water to theCapitol in Topeka. Alternately runningdistances of a mile to several miles at a

time, members Randy Rodgers, BobCulbertson, Joe Kramer, Jim Hays, BunnyWatkins, Bruce Zmrzla, Mike Watkinsand Joe Schaefer carried a PVC batonfilled with water from the Bottoms. Theyused Steve Sorensen ’s orange van astheir trail vehicle and to carry theirprecious liquid cargo. When they arrivedin Topeka after a weekend of running,members provided Senators with aporcelain jug and Representatives with abeer bottle specially labeled Bottoms Up!Governor Carlin received both containers.

As Jan said, “Best of all, lots and lotsof just plain folks said over and overagain that Cheyenne Bottoms had been apart of their childhood, an experience intheir coming of age. They didn’t want tosee it die. Hundreds, perhaps thousands ofpeople spoke out.” The ripples becamewaves of public action.

Making Waves: Preparing aLegislative Initiative

The mission of the CheyenneBottoms Task Force was daunting:

■ Collaborate with state agenciesto prepare and coordinate afeasibility study proposal forrestoration;

■ Prepare legislation for the 1985session and work for passage ofa funding bill;

■ Coordinate with the privateconsulting firm assisting withthis process;

■ Support recommendations forrestoration, and work for passage oflegislation; and

■ Expand public awareness andconcern for values associated withwildlife and natural resources.

The Kansas Audubon Council and theKansas Wildlife Federation joined forcesto co-sponsor a Saving Cheyenne BottomsConference on September 22, 1984, heldin Great Bend. Conference participantslearned in detail the problems confrontingthe Bottoms and possible alternatives toimprove the situation.

The Great Bend Chamber ofCommerce handled conferenceregistration and welcomed the group. JanGarton presented the slide show,“Cheyenne Bottoms: EndangeredWetland” and Jean Schulenberg ofEmporia voiced the peril of theendangered Least Tern. John Campbell,Kansas Assistant Attorney Generaldiscussed Colorado’s impact on theArkansas River. Tom McClain, KansasGeological Survey, highlighted the watersupply problems for Cheyenne Bottoms.Clark Duffy, from the Kansas WaterOffice, illustrated how the State WaterPlan protects wetlands and wildliferesources. Senator Joe Norvell andRepresentative Ron Fox provided insightto the legislature’s role in saving theBottoms. And Kansas Fish and Gameofficials discussed current situations andpossible solutions. An afternoon caucus tocoordinate goals and activities ofinterested groups was conducted by MariPeterson, director of the Kansas Natural

L to R: Representative Ron Fox, Vice-Chair House Energy and Natural ResourcesCommittee; Senator Joe Norvell; Jan Garton; and Mike Hayden, Speaker of the House.

Jan Garton being interviewed by Dale Goter,reporter, following the distribution of the "Save the Bottoms" seat cushions.


Resources Council, followed by a tour ofthe wetlands and water-control structures.The banquet speaker, Len Greenwalt,former director of the U.S. Fish andWildlife Service and then Vice-Presidentof the National Wildlife Federation,eloquently explained why CheyenneBottoms is of national significance.

The Bottom Line: Making a Big Splash

But an endangered wetland was not amemorable or important issue in the statelegislature. Despite the posters, brochuresand T-shirts, all designed by Jan, weneeded an effective hook to captureattention, especially of the KansasLegislature. More late night hot-chocolatesessions between Jan, Ed PembletonAudubon Regional Representative, andme, with notes on napkins and the idea ofa Save the Bottoms stadium cushion washatched. Operating on a shoestring budgetfrom the Flint Hills Audubon chaptertreasury, Jan found orange fabric for salecheap (cloth rejected by the DenverBroncos) and designed a wetland logo forthe pillow. With humor, passion anddetermination Jan Garton urged citizensto visit, write or call their legislators aboutthe importance of the Cheyenne Bottomswetlands. And with these words, shemade the statewide offer for folks tosponsor a seat cushion for their senator orrepresentative.

A press conference was scheduled inTopeka on Feb. 12, 1985, and with TVcameras rolling, Jan delivered the linewith a coy grin, “If we save your bottoms,will you please save ours?” This uniqueidea caught the attention of the legislators,who made sure they were in their officesto receive their hand-delivered seatcushions, which came with backgroundinformation and the names of the local

constituents who had sponsored theircushions. No longer could a Senator orRepresentative say they were not familiarwith the issue.

Liquid Assets: Receiving Fundingfor a Feasibility Study

In one of its final actions of thesession, the 1985 Kansas Legislatureapproved a funding measure for a study ofCheyenne Bottoms, looking at itsgeology, biology, ecology and hydrologyand making recommendations on the bestway to restore the area. Long-timeactivists were astounded that this missionwas accomplished in such a relativelyshort time!

On November 22, 1986, the SavingCheyenne Bottoms II Conference was heldin Great Bend. Researchers from theKansas Geological Survey and KansasBiological Survey introduced theaudience to the findings of the recentlycompleted feasibility study and providedan overview of the tentative options. OnJanuary 20, 1987, the EnvironmentalAssessment was submitted to the Fish andGame Commission.

At the time the EnvironmentalAssessment for Cheyenne Bottoms wasbeing finalized Mike Hayden becamegovernor. He reorganized the KS Fish andGame Commission and the KS Park andResource Authority into the KansasDepartment of Wildlife and Parks. Thishappened during his first year in office, in

July 1987. His administration also foughthard to establish stable, permanentfunding sources for the State Water Plan –financed by money from the State GeneralFund, Economic Development InitiativeFund, Clean Drinking Water Fee Fund,fees on water use, sale of fertilizer andpesticide registration and pollution fines.With that many sources, it took two yearsto craft an acceptable compromise in theKansas Legislature. Passed in 1989, theWater Plan Fund currently generatesabout $20 million each year. This was animportant step, eventually leading tofunding for restoration of the Bottoms.

About the same time, KAC hired apart-time lobbyist, Joyce Wolf, who wasable to capitalize on the enthusiasm andsolid information that Jan’s work forCheyenne Bottoms had generated.Audubon Chapters across the statereceived periodic legislative reports onwildlife-resource issues and chapterphone trees were established.

A Flood of Support: SecuringFunding for Restoration

Now, big tasks lay ahead: selectingmanagement and restoration options, andseeking funding for the restorationprocess. More letters to legislators, phonecalls, visits to Topeka, press releases,letters to editors: finally the Kansaslegislature agreed to FY 1992 funding of$1,000,000 for restoration of CheyenneBottoms.

“IS YOUR LEGISLATOR A SITTING DUCK?”

Sponsor a cushion, so while thelegislators’ “bottoms” areresting comfortably, therepresentatives may be

encouraged to think favorablyabout saving our “Bottoms!”

Members of the Kansas Audubon Council urge Governor Carlin to support efforts torestore Cheyenne Bottoms.L to R: Paul Watson, KC: Billie Farmer, Salina; JeanSpinazola, Lawrence; Marge Streckfus, Salina; Joyce Wolf, Lawrence; Dan Larson,Topeka; Jan Garton, Manhattan; Ruth Welti, KC; Seliesa Pembleton, Manhattan.


Seliesa (Sil) Pembleton began her career as a classroom teacher in MO, AR and KS and obtained aMaster’s degree at KSU. As president of Northern Flint Hills Audubon Society in Manhattan, KS, Silenjoyed the camaraderie and friendship of members and was active in conservation issues including“Saving Cheyenne Bottoms.” After moving to Washington, DC, she worked at the National ScienceResources Center, based at the Smithsonian Institution, writing hands-on curriculum for the NationalAcademy of Science. She served as Director of Environmental Studies at Hard Bargain FarmEnvironmental Center, located on the banks of the Potomac, teaching everything from wetland ecologyto cow milking. She was invited and traveled to Japan several times to teach environmental education“American style.” She authored two natural history books for children, The Pileated Woodpecker, andThe Armadillo, part of the Remarkable Animal series published by Dillon/McMillan Press. Seliesacurrently serves on the board of the Jeffers Foundation and works free-lance as an environmentaleducator and teacher-trainer, encouraging teachers to move the classroom outdoors and team-teach

with Mother Nature. She and husband, Ed also lead natural history tours.Ed Pembleton, a life-long educator and conservationist, has dedicated his professional career to connecting people of all ages to nature. Pembleton

has taught a wide variety of “students” in settings ranging from the sandbars of the Platte River to the corridors of Congress. A Missourian, trained asa biologist and classroom educator, Ed taught in public schools and nature centers before becoming a Kansas-based field representative for NationalAudubon and worked throughout five states in partnership with Ron Klataske in the regional office in Manhattan. In 1987, he transferred toWashington, DC, to direct Audubon’s water resources program and redirect his educational skills toward 535 members of Congress and members oftheir staff. He had become a lobbyist! In 1994 he went independent working as a photographer and an "outside the Beltway" water resourcesconsultant to non-profit organizations and the Department of Interior. In 2000 he returned to the Midwest to join Pheasants Forever as Director ofthe Leopold Education Project, with a mission to educate individuals to develop a personal land ethic based on Aldo Leopold’s writings in A SandCounty ALMANAC. In 2008, he returned to photography, consulting and leading natural history tours.

letters from national headquarters. Theresults were stunning. By margins of 36 to0 in the Senate and 107 to 17 in theHouse, the Kansas legislature voted tooverride the Governor’s veto!

At the End of the Rainbow:Celebrating Success

Although Jan was a modest and shywoman, over the course of a decade, she

interacted with three Kansas governorsand thousands of concerned citizens fromall walks of life. With degrees in historyand in journalism, it is not surprising thatwhen the restoration battles were over in1999, Jan donated 1.5 cubic feet ofdocuments and associated artifacts to theKansas State Historical Society.

Today, the Ramsar Convention onWetlands of International Importance

Prior to Governor Joan Finney’sinauguration, but after her election in thefall of 1990, members of the“Environmental Lobby Caucus” wereinvited to meet with her to bring to herattention issues that each organization hadbeen working on. The group consisted ofrepresentatives of: Kansas AudubonCouncil, League of Women Voters ofKansas, Kansas Rural Center, KansasWildlife Federation, the Kansas Chapterof the Sierra Club and the Kansas NaturalResource Council. As the conversationprogressed, someone queried theGovernor-elect about her environmentalpriorities. Her response was, “I’m a blankslate,” meaning she was open to all ideasthat would be proposed. Joan Finney hada reputation as being a sort of “quirky”politician, and unfortunately, the SierraClub lobbyist took her statement out ofcontext and straight to the press!Needless to say, it caused quite a stir andsubsequently led to her line-item veto in1992 for restoration funding for CheyenneBottoms.

However, because of the effectivenessof the “phone trees” of Kansas Audubonchapters, phones in Topeka were ringingoff the hooks. Legislators were besiegedby callers from their local districts. Thishad become an issue of national interestwith National Audubon, Ducks Unlimitedand the National Wildlife Federationsupporting their grassroots activists with

American Egrets gathered near awater-control structure.


conservation award program judged by apanel of independent conservationists.The presentation of awards began withthese words:

IN SERVICE TO THE EARTH AS A CITIZEN VOLUNTEERON MAY 16TH, HERE IN

WASHINGTON, D. C., WE HONORTHOSE WHO HAVE TAKENMEANINGFUL ACTION TO

PROTECT AND PRESERVE OURQUALITY OF LIFE AND NATURAL

ENVIRONMENT.

More than ever before, now is the timewe must actively seek realistic solutionsto our environmental problems. We canachieve success through our imagination,determination and cooperation. Symbolicof these qualities are those individuals andorganizations recognized through theChevron Conservation Awards Program.This year, at the 36th annual awardsceremony and dinner; the pioneers of thenew environmental decade will behonored. Their independent spirit andselfless actions help ensure the future ofour planet and set the example for us all.

Jan Garton set the example for us all.

recognizes Cheyenne Bottoms as a vitalworld-class wetland. Approximately 45%of all migratory shorebirds nesting inNorth America stage at CheyenneBottoms. The site is classified as "criticalhabitat" for the endangered WhoopingCrane and Least Tern and also supportsother diverse wetland species. OnNovember 6, 2009, twenty WhoopingCranes were reported by the manager ofthe new Kansas Wetlands EducationCenter established at Cheyenne Bottoms –and Whooping Cranes have been seenthere every spring and fall since then. Thecenter was Jan Garton’s last collaborativeeffort on behalf of the wetland shetreasured. Friends within the conservationcommunity have started a movement toestablish a memorial for her at the newcenter. Jan Garton would blush at thethought of such an honor.

Jan maintained a 4:00 am to 9:00 amjob loading trucks at UPS because it gaveher the day to research, plan, write, create,make phone calls and collaborate onissues of importance. Clean air, cleanwater, wild and special places and thecreatures dwelling there, prairies, parks,trails, burgeoning populations, unbridleddevelopment, global climate change, theplight of whales, social justice issues allmattered to Jan and she worked tirelesslyon their behalf. But the dire condition ofCheyenne Bottoms Wildlife ManagementArea was the focus of Jan’s passion andtalents. For more than ten years shedevoted herself to Saving CheyenneBottoms. Her extraordinary effortsgarnered a vital, internationallyrecognized and restored wetland – as wellas statewide admiration and nationalrecognition.

In 1990, in Washington, D.C., JanGarton was honored with a prestigiousChevron Conservation Award. In 36years, she was only the third Kansan to berecognized by the country’s oldest private

Jan Garton grew up in Chapman, andthen lived the remainder of her life inManhattan. She died at age 59 onNovember 9, 2009. I thought of Jan andSil Pembleton two days earlier whenvisiting the Wetlands Education Center.One of the things usually missing fromofficial display, as in this case, is the vitalrole of public citizen conservationadvocates in pushing governmentalagencies and lobbying other institutionsto do the right thing to protect ournatural heritage of wetlands, wildlife,prairies, rivers and more. Jan providedthe passion and intellect that was thecatalyst for turning the fate of CheyenneBottoms from one of dryland fields andoccasional wetlands to a wonderfullymanaged wetland complex.

We wish Jan could have been therethat extraordinary weekend: 36Whooping Cranes were observed in asingle day in the vicinity of CheyenneBottoms and Quivira National WildlifeRefuge. On Monday after learning of herdeath, the first thought was that,

“Her spirit will undoubtedly be underthe wings of these magnificent birds asthey lift in the thermals as they continuetheir migration.”

If Kansas, following Missouri’s lead,ever develops a Conservation Hall ofFame, we trust that Jan will be honoredwith a plaque—and an accompanying“Save the Bottoms” seat cushion in acase nearby. – Ron Klataske

In the next issue of Prairie Wings, there will be a follow-up article:

“Saving Cheyenne Bottoms – Part Two.” With the groundwork having been laid,

the next major hurdle was to ensure that its water rights would be upheld by

the Division of Water Resources, a part of the State Department of Agriculture.

The article will touch on the history of water rights in Kansas and tell the story

of the monumental decision upholding the Bottoms’ water right.


Our ability to perceive quality in nature begins, as in art, with the pretty. It expandsthrough successive stages of the beautiful to values as yet uncaptured by language. Thequality of cranes lies, I think, in this higher gamut, as yet beyond the reach of words.

– Aldo Leopold, Sand County Almanac, 1949


One of the most discouraging aspects of conservation advocacyis the fact that substantial successes seldom stand for longwithout attempts by other interests to dismantle them. That

proved to be the case in 2012 when the Kansas Department ofWildlife, Parks and Tourism’s Secretary and the Commissionchairman decided to scrap important safeguards for WhoopingCranes established by the KDWP Commission in 2005. The ideapromoted and implemented was that change the shooting hours forSandhill Cranes from “one-half hour after sunrise to 2 p.m.” to makeit now from “sunrise to sunset.”

Following the shooting of three Whooping Cranes by a group ofSandhill Crane hunters near the Quivira National Wildlife Refuge inNovember 2004, the KDWP Commission modified the shootinghours to reduce the prospect going forward that hunters would againmistake the federally endangered Whooping Cranes for the moreabundant Sandhill Cranes. The hunters claimed that they mistook theWhoopers for Sandhill Crane shooting around sunrise.

In 2005 the commission changed the daily opening of shootinghours from sunrise to a half hour after sunrise to provide for a bitmore light on normal days. We urged that change in the regulationsand applauded the commission’s approval as a vital safeguard forWhooping Cranes. On many occasions when the glare of the earlymorning light is behind the birds they all appear as silhouettes.Aside from a difference in color with Sandhill Cranes generally graywith some brown coloration and adult Whooping Cranes white withblack wingtips and juveniles modeled white and rusty, they fly thesame and are shaped the same. They also roost in the same areas andfrequently fly together.

An Audubonof Kansas

Position:Safeguards for

WhoopingCranes Need to

be Restored

Allowing shooting of Sandhill Cranes in low-light conditions inplaces where both species fly together and congregate to roost hasbeen, and will again be in Kansas, an accident waiting to happen. Inmost cases mistakes, carelessness or vandalism of this nature are notdiscovered or revealed, but when it occurs it will be costly to ourwildlife legacy and prospects for recovery of this endangered species.The approach to shooting a protected species is often half-jokinglycharacterized by the phrase, “shoot, shovel and shut up.” Shoved intothe reeds, the remains of even birds as large as these aredismembered, eaten and dispersed by scavengers within a night or afew days.

Collisions with powerlines are the largest known mortality factorfor migrating Whooping Cranes. Intentional and accidental shootingis also a factor, possibly much greater than is known. Retaining the2005 to 2011 shooting hours for Sandhill Cranes would have servedto reduce the risk of mistaken identity by otherwise honorable (andKDWP&T sanctioned hunters) who cannot distinguish one cranesilhouette from another and/or are overly anxious to shoot.

During the discussion at the April commission meeting it wasargued by the two audience proponents (one a Wichita outdoor writerand the other a KWF spokesman) that mistakes like that aren’t likelyto occur again because everybody knows that Whooping Cranes areprotected. And, in order to get a permit one has to pass an onlinequestionnaire!

Confidence in the theory that these provisions will keep allhunters from becoming overly anxious was disproved within a coupleweeks of the meeting. Tragically, two spring turkey hunters were

Article and Photos by Ron Klataske


shot by their hunting companions whey they mistook them for WildTurkeys. One hunter was shot a second time, perceived to be awounded turkey. One young hunter was killed. If tragedies of thismagnitude cannot be prevented by mandatory hunter safety courses,how can we conclude that an online questionnaire will prevent theshooting of Whooping Cranes when shooting of Sandhill Cranes isallowed in low light conditions and/or when the birds are silhouettesagainst a sunrise or sunset?

The Audubon of Kansas Board of Trustees of Trustees, several ofwhom are hunters and including two who are Life Members of theNRA, unanimously opposed the change. At the April meeting,Commission Chairman Gerald Lauder asked if the National AudubonSociety was anti-hunting. Having worked for National Audubon for 28years (1970-1998) I indicated that I only knew on one instance whenthat could be suggested. That was when Audubon opposed thesuggestion of some entity that National Parks should be open torecreational hunting.

When it became clear in mid April that AOK and others were goingto oppose the change is shooting hours, KDWP&T proponents soughtand received on the day of the commission meeting, letters ofendorsement from the Kansas Farm Bureau and the Kansas LivestockAssociation. At the June commission meeting, two commissioners(Debra Bolton and Donald Budd, Jr.) voted to keep the safeguards inplace. The five others voted to implement the proposed sunrise tosunset shooting.

Although the thought was that sunrise to sunset shooting wouldprovide more shooting opportunity for Sandhill Crane hunters, it mayprove to diminish hunting opportunities in Kansas. With few places toretreat to rest and roost, more of the Sandhill Cranes may be forced tocontinue their migration earlier.

In the case of Sandhill Crane hunting, I submit that it is wrong forour state agency to permit and even encourage crane shooting inCheyenne Bottoms proper or on the “shooting line” that is set up on theedge to take birds as they arrive or leave. Shooting cranes at wetland

Crane silhouettes, one view of cranes flying by a huntingblind at sunrise or sunset.

roosting sites is done without respect for this wildlife resource, and inthe case of sunrise to sunset shooting hours without concern for eitherof our crane species. However, since it is now promoted by KDWP&Tit isn’t against the law. But, we would submit, it is a crime!

There are only a few places--wetlands with shallow waters--inKansas that are suitable as roosting habitat for thousands of SandhillCranes, and Whooping Cranes. The places that are relativelyundisturbed are fewer still. Aside from the Quivira National WildlifeRefuge, Cheyenne Bottoms is the best available potential roosting andloafing area and it is publically owned by the agency charged bystatutes with safeguarding wildlife in the public trust.

The “utilitarian-only” perspective is not entirely new. In 1949 AldoLeopold wrote that, “Wildlife administrators are too busy producingsomething to shoot at to worry much about the cultural value of theshooting.” Declining revenues due to declining resident game habitatand populations, and declining numbers of hunters, may be amotivation for the agency’s quest to promote more shootingopportunities. No investment required.

Without a doubt, Ding Darling and Aldo Leopold wouldbe appalled by the institutional abandonment of thephilosophies of conservation and hunting ethics that theyinstilled in a generation of wildlife professionals andsportsmen. Along with their outdoorsmanship, thesephilosophies were foundational to their inspirationalwritings and careers.

Needless to say, the legacy of Audubon advocacy to“Save Cheyenne Bottoms” or sixty years of craneconservation work carries little currency with currentKDWP&T leadership. With Audubon opposition tochanges in shooting hours, and advocacy of more focus fortourism on the staging of Whooping Cranes during the fallmigration, it wasn’t surprising that no Audubonrepresentatives were asked to be directly involved in theEco-tourism Task Force.

We are not sure what can be done to achieve restorationof Whooping Crane safeguards? But we do believe that it isappropriate for constituents to share their perspectives withGovernor Brownback, and those who succeed him.Perseverance is a prerequisite for the conservationcommunity, not just in one generation but for generations. Whooping Cranes on a migratory stop in Kansas.

e were delighted when Governor Sam Brownbackhosted an Ecotourism Summit on April 28 at theKansas Wetlands Education Center at the Cheyenne

Bottoms Wildlife Area, and also with recent news that anappointed committee of 16 people will explore ways toenhance opportunities for hiking, biking, camping, wildflowerwalks, wildlife watching, river floating, enjoyment of uniquelandscapes and many other outdoor activities

In March of this year, it was a special honor to accompanyGovernor Brownback on an afternoon trip to the LillianAnnette Rowe Bird Sanctuary along the Platte River in centralNebraska. Governor Brownback joined Nebraska GovernorDave Heineman and Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper todiscuss and experience nature-based tourism and share ideas oninterstate water compacts.

It is always nice to be back on the Platte with tens ofthousands of Sandhill Cranes every spring. I first experiencedthis natural world spectacle and started hosting annual toursand conferences there in 1971. Those gatherings havecontinued for 42 years in various Audubon-sponsored andother similar events as the nationally acclaimed “CraneCelebrations/Festivals” in Kearney and Grand Island. NationalAudubon acquired the first parcels of land to create the sanctuaryfrom farm families who shared our conservation vision in 1973.

Other initiatives combining conservation and natureappreciation/nature-based tourism have included development of theproposals and spearheading the efforts that led to the NiobraraNational Scenic River in Nebraska, Tallgrass Prairie NationalPreserve in Kansas, trail systems using current flood-control leveesand abandoned railroads in Lawrence and Manhattan, and theTallgrass “Prairie Parkway” Wildlife and Natural Heritage Trail.Most recently AOK’s contributions have included the NiobraraSanctuary with two guesthouses and Mt. Mitchell Prairie HeritagePreserve.

During the next few weeks we will be sharing our ideas, and othersthat you and other members or partners of Audubon of Kansas submitto us. KDWP&T did not invite any specific representatives ofAudubon organizations or the Kansas Ornithological Society to be onthe committee. Therefore it is important for birders and others to

“I’ve never been to Kansas, but I’ve driven through.” – a declaration first heard many years ago. So much is missed when travelers stay

on the interstate and pass through Amercia’s heartland.

develop proposals on how wildlife-viewing opportunities can beimproved in Kansas and present these ideas for consideration tocommittee members or directly to the governor’s office. As herecalled his trip to Africa, we share Governor Brownback’s thoughtthat some “out-back” type, overnight shelters could be provided atCheyenne Bottoms or on some other wildlife areas where the soundsand sights of nature could be experienced in ways that are nototherwise available to most people – young or old. It could be notonly compatible with wildlife – but inspirational.

We believe that additional wildlife-viewing and photographyblinds – on public and/or private land – will attract and reward morepeople. Opportunities to experience Prairie-chicken courtship ritualsare limited and have to be carefully orchestrated to avoiddisturbance. However, at the other end of the spectrum, prairie dogcolonies can provide year round fascination, educational andenlightenment perspectives.

During the first couple weeks of November, the state of Kansashas an opportunity that is somewhat comparable to the gathering of

Whooping Cranes in Kansas.

After touring the Iain Nicolson Audubon Center, Rowe SanctuaryManager Bill Taddicken, governor’s Dave Heineman, SamBrownback and John Hickenlooper lead the way to the wildlifeviewing blind on the banks of the Platte River.

W


Sandhill Cranes each spring in centralNebraska. The Quivira National WildlifeRefuge is the most consistent and one of thebest places to view Whooping Cranesduring fall migration. Family groups ofwhoopers arrive and there are often a dozenor more at Quivira and/or CheyenneBottoms for days in early or mid November.They are often joined by tens of thousandsof Sandhill Cranes and lots of waterfowl.Audubon of Kansas recommends creationof, and we are willing to partner in, anextended “Celebration of Cranes” to drawattention to the birds and provide assistanceto visitors.

Although some members of thecommittee represent organizations that havestaunchly opposed Rails-to-Trails initiativesin the past, we urge the committee torecommend that the State does everythingfeasible to preserve abandoned railroad linesin a “rail banking system” and promote thecreation of a network of trails. In a state thatranks 50th in public ownership of land, thisis the easiest way to provide access forenjoyment of the countryside.

There are also overlooked opportunitiesin Kansas metropolitan areas to utilizeflood-control levees as trails, as we havedone in Lawrence and Manhattan. Topekaand Wichita have similar potential trailpossibilities. In addition, with elimination ofunnecessary and too-frequent mowing of thefloodways, those areas could provide morewildlife and wildflower viewing – andprovide additional habitat for Meadowlarks,Harris’ Sparrows, Juncos, NorthernBobwhites and attract raptors as well.

Some of these areas consist of hundredsof acres, and are places where kids could

experience a bit ofnature. Maybe, justmaybe, state andlocal leaders shouldprovide managers ofthese lands withcopies of the bookLAST CHILD in theWOODS/ SavingOur Children fromNature-DeficitDisorder. We need toprovide ways through the fences and accessbeyond the “No Trespassing” signs.

Full implementation of therecommendations to KDOT included in the2008 Aesthetics Task Force report, will helpto sell Kansas as the “Prairie State”with some of the most pleasing displaysof native grasses and spectaculardisplays of wildflowers at various timesof the year. We recommend inclusionof a KDOT staff member on the eco-tourism committee. KDOT has been avaluable partner in buildingappreciation for the Flint Hills.

Country roads also provide far-too-few-of-us with a chance to view thechanging seasons and experience manydimensions of nature. An array ofstriking fall flowers gives way to thecrimson leaves of sumac and brightyellow leaves of ash in early autumn. Afresh snowfall calls for a holiday fromeveryday tasks. Redbuds and wild plumblossoms color April. One doesn’t haveto go to Vermont for fall colors orTexas to see their famous roadsidewildflowers. The Flint Hills, SmokyHills, Red Hills and Chautauqua Hills

are wonderful contenders. All that isrequired is that we recognize these specialpastoral places, awaken our collectiveawareness of their value, and find ways toshare them with others.

– Ron Klataske

Inside the wildlife viewing blind, Marian Langan (center),Audubon Nebraska Executive Director, joins the governorsand Bill Taddicken for an historic photograph.

Sandhill Cranes can be seen in both Kansas and Nebraska.

2011 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting,and Wildlife-Associated Recreation

Last year, 90.1 million Americans 16 yearsold and older enjoyed some form of fishing,hunting or wildlife-associated recreation.Outdoor recreation is a huge contributor toour nation’s economy. Expenditures by thisgroup of outdoor enthusiasts were $145billion.

Almost 37.4 million Americans participatedin fishing, hunting or both in 2011. Onaverage each sportsperson spent $2,407 in2011. Nearly 71.8 million people engaged inwildlife watching. That number fed birds,photographed and/or observed wildlife.Approximately 22.5 million participated bytaking trips for the purpose. Overall trip-related expenditures pursuant to wildlifewatching increased 67% from 2001 to 2011.

ECOTOURISM AND

OUR ECONOMY


July 2012 - Audubon of Kansas applauds the decision ofa Kansas Court of Appeals panel that affirmed anearlier decision by Senior Judge Jack Lively, which

permanently enjoined the Board of County Commissionersof Logan County from eradicating prairie dogs onapproximately 10,000 acres of ranchland owned by Larryand Bette Haverfield, Gordon Barnhardt and Maxine Blank.Prairie dog colonies are scattered over several thousand

acres of rangeland on these jointly managed ranches,making it the largest and possibly the most ecologicallyimportant Black-tailed Prairie Dog complex in the state ofKansas. It serves as a principle focus for the reintroductionof federally endangered Black-footed Ferrets in Kansas.This small predator relies almost exclusively on prairie dogsfor prey and lives in the burrows they create.After being regarded as extinct in the state for fifty

years, fourteen captive-raised ferrets were released on theHaverfield/Barnhardt complex in December 2007. Severaladditional releases followed, and the ferrets have beenreproducing in the wild on the property and another nearbyreintroduction site.As argued by attorney Randall Rathbun on behalf of the

landowners – who wanted to retain prairie dogs, the ferrets andother wildlife on their land – the Endangered Species Act (ESA)preempts the county from unilateral eradication of prairie dogswithin the complex. Eradication as “authorized” under K.S.A.80-1202 would destroy the food supply and habitat of the Black-footed Ferret, constituting an unlawful taking under the ESA.In summary, the Court of Appeals declared that the ESA

preempts K.S.A. 80-1202 because eradication may constitute anunlawful taking within the meaning of the act. The district courtwas correct that it did not have jurisdiction to determine the issuesthe County has presented that clearly fall under federaljurisdiction. The court decision stated that, “The County’scontention lacks legal merit because it is an attempt to do an endrun around the ESA and the protection afforded the black-footedferret.”The Logan County Commission began a campaign to force

landowners throughout the county to eradicate prairie dogs in thesummer of 2005. During the past seven years the commission hashired and sent extermination contractors and a county employee to

the Haverfield ranch complex with mandates that the land bepoisoned with toxicants including Rozol® Prairie Dog Bait andPhostoxin, a dangerous gas that kills everything in treatedburrows. The Logan County Commission and the Kansas FarmBureau have spearheaded litigation to force landowners to complywith eradication orders. The landowners have defended theirinterests in various court proceedings.It was hoped that the recent Kansas Court of Appeals decision

would bring the seemingly endless barrage of litigation against theranch landowners, and their rights to retain wildlife on their landto a close. .Audubon of Kansas and other wildlife conservation

organizations have argued in the Kansas Legislature that theeradication statutes (K.S.A. 80-1202) used by counties to forcelandowners to poison prairie dogs, enacted more than a centuryago, is antiquated and should be repealed. When eradicationmandates are imposed, they drastically infringe on privateproperty rights and promote extinction of wildlife whenconservation and support for stewardship should be the state’s role– rather than promoting extinction.In filings and arguments before the Court of Appeals hearing,

Logan County commissioners contended that if the landownersfailed to eradicate the prairie dogs at least they should adopt thesame management and control strategy employed by The NatureConservancy at the 16,800-acre Smoky Valley Ranch preserve.

Kansas Court of Appeals Supports Position of LandownersHosting Reintroduction of Black-footed Ferrets

Larry & Bette Haverfield and Gordon & Martha Barnhardt. Notice therecently released Black-footed Ferret peaking out of the burrow!

– Photo courtesy of USFWS

AOK Applauds Appeals Court Decision

A detailed article on the other aspects of the controversy waspublished in the 2011 Fall/Winter edition of Prairie Wings magazine.Entitled “CONSERVATION of Prairie Dogs and Reintroduction ofBlack-footed Ferrets REQUIRES COURAGE”, the article can beviewed online at http://www.prairiewingsmagazine.org.


The two recent Black-footed Ferret (BFF)nighttime spotlight surveys demonstrate

that, with sufficient habitat, the reintroducedanimals are adapted to survive extremedrought and many of the dangers thatthreaten this small but specialized prairie-dogpredator. The results also reveal that theprotection afforded to the prairie-dog coloniesthat provide food and shelter to the ferrets hasbeen incredibly valuable to this endangeredspecies. Although adversely impacted byseveral years of drought and a substantialdecline in prairie dog numbers in the winter of2010-11, the BFF population has proved to besustainable and had substantial reproductionon the Haverfield/Barnhardt/Blank (HaverfieldRanch) complex this year (2012).

A BFF litter survey was conducted by agroup of interns in August who devoted 15nights to spotlighting on the tworeintroduction sites. They observed fourlitters with 13 BFF kits, along with fourfemales on the Haverfield Ranch, plus anadditional four solitary adults. One adult wasobserved on the TNC Smoky Valley Ranch.

A fall survey was conducted with theinvolvement of 36 volunteers betweenSeptember 25 and October 4. Thirty-four BFFswere observed on the Haverfield Ranch,consisting of 14 juveniles (8 females and 6males), 14 adults (8 females and 6 males) andsix that were not captured. The survey alsoconfirmed the likelihood that there were fiveBFF litters on the Haverfield Ranch this year.

Five BFFs were located on the TNCproperty, one adult female, one adult maleand three unknowns. Twelve newcomerswere brought in from the captive-rearingfacilities and released on the TNC SmokyValley Ranch to boost the population there.The release of these new recruits brought theknown population going into the winter to atotal of 51, with 17 now on the TNC propertyand 34 on the Haverfield Ranch.

Spring and fall surveys are organized byDan Mulhern, project leader with the U.S.Fish and Wildlife Service. The large numberof volunteers from as far away asMassachusetts is an incredible testament tothe value placed on this recovery effort bypeople from Kansas and across the country.

Never mind that different entities involved in ranchlandmanagement have different objectives.

In an effort to accommodate the County Commissioners andcritical neighbors, and stay within an established managementplan to keep the prairie dog complex to about 2,000 acres or a bitmore, TNC has maintained an established strategy of eliminatingprairie dogs within a half mile of the boundary. Additionally,designated areas within the complex have been poisoned toprovide areas that can be “filled in” with any growth of thepopulation – possibly deterring expansion outward. AlthoughCommissioner Carl Uhrich acknowledged in the first court trialthat his preference would be for total elimination, this approachwas advocated by Mr. Uhrich and the county’s “expert” wildlifeextension witness in the first trial in November 2006.

Needless to say, if prairie dogs were poisoned back a half milefrom all of the 27 miles of property line around theHaverfield/Barnhardt/Blank ranch complex, there wouldn’t beenough area left for a serious Black-footed Ferret recoveryprogram. That, of course, is the second objective and ongoingthought process in the commissioners’ destructive pursuit, and

that of the Kansas Farm Bureau – which filed an Amicus brief,and assisted with other aspects of opposition to the ranchlandowners.

Except for limited boundary control with Zinc Phosphide (notRozol®), Larry Haverfield and Gordon Barnhardt prefer to rely onFerruginous Hawks, Bald and Golden Eagles, Black-footedFerrets, Swift Foxes, Coyotes and Badgers to help keep prairiedog numbers in check on the ranch complex. Control beyond thisproperty (and that of TNC’s land) is provided without any cost toneighboring landowners by APHIS with funding from apartnership including USFWS, KDWP&T and TNC.

Following word of the decision by the Kansas Court ofAppeals an avid anti-prairie dog person with no interest inproperty near the Haverfield/Barnhardt Ranch, and with onlylimited property interest near the TNC property, organizedseveral opponents to ask the commissioners to appeal thedecision. In early August, the county filed a Petition for Reviewwith the Kansas Supreme Court, stating in traditional legallanguage that, “The County prays that the lower courts arereversed and the matter is set for trial.”

Black-Footed FerretCounts in Kansas

Black-Footed FerretCounts in Kansas


It is as if “SILENT SPRING” and the lessons of DDT were irrelevant, asnow EPA’s “Office of Pesticide Programs” disregards concerns for wildlife.

Article by Ron Klataske

n 1962, exactly 50 years ago, RachelCarson had just finished writing a bookcalled “Silent Spring” which detailed

pesticide usage in the1930s, ‘40s and ‘50sand the impacts thereof. In particular, thebook drove home the point that theinsecticide DDT was impacting humansand wildlife far beyond the originallytargeted insects. Her book began awakingthe nation to the unintended consequencesof broad-scale pesticide applications thatindiscriminately kill wildlife. “SilentSpring” spoke to the myriad of problemsthat occur when natural food chains arecontaminated and/or disrupted by alienchemicals. She noted how it often tookyears or decades to comprehend thatplummeting populations of one animalcould be traced back to pesticide orchemical applications made – with goodintentions – much earlier in time.

That agency, we know today as theEnvironmental Protection Agency or theEPA. It remains the lead agency to overseerisk assessment, regulation and appropriateuse of pesticides to prevent future adverseimpacts on human and ecological (fish andwildlife) health.

To be sure, EPA has many rolesbeyond regulating the labeling and use ofpesticides, but the Office of PesticidePrograms within EPA is charged withriding herd on that industry, and it is a bigjob indeed. Unfortunately, as is sometimesthe case, it appears that over time somewithin that section have become overlycozy with the very entities they arecharged with regulating, and lax in thechallenging task that EPA is charged with– protecting the environment. During theClinton Administration, Vice President AlGore implemented an across-the-government directive directive to adopt“Total Quality Management” with theobjective being to “satisfy the customer.”Unfortunately, EPA’s Office of PesticidePrograms’ actions indicate that thecustomer is the manufacturer, rather thanthe environment or the public interest.

Today one has to wonder if pesticidemanufacturers, with the assistance of

I

In the photos above: a beautiful, but emaciated, Ferruginous Hawk found unableto fly in a field in Logan County, Kansas in 2008. This is the expected destiny forraptors that are poisoned with levels of anticoagulants that impair their ability tohunt or withstand the elements. Even with the best of veterinary care available,it soon died. Most raptors die in the landscape, unrecorded. One Logan Countyrancher counted 17 dead hawks in one winter season. – Photos by GregoryStempien.

The realization that pesticideapplications can ripple through naturalecosystems and cause unintendedconsequences elsewhere, was new to mostof the scientific community and the public.The unavoidable truth was that DDT wascausing eagle, falcon and other raptorpopulations to plummet by causingthinning of raptor eggshells, which in turnprevented raptors from fledging youngbirds.

That seminal book was in no small wayresponsible for an entire generation ofAmericans becoming aware of pesticideissues and developing an appreciation forhow easy it can be to disrupt naturalfunctions. It ultimately also played animportant role in the formation of thefederal government agency that Congressauthorized to oversee pesticide usage toensure protection of human and ecologicalhealth.


“hired help” in various capacities,lobbyists and political supporters, havebeen able to circumvent safeguards andregulations. Some well-informed pesticideprogram observers have suggested thatwell-placed administrative personnelregard the agency as the “gateway tomarket” and are said to keep the dedicated,science-based employees at bay. If this isthe case the agency has become sopolitically diverted or distracted by otherissues that it has forgotten its coreresponsibilities. It is as if “Silent Spring”and the lessons of DDT are irrelevant asEPA’s Office of Pesticide Programsmethodically green lights pesticide afterpesticide without due diligence, therebysetting up potential ecological train wrecksthat aspiring authors can reveal in future“Silent Spring” sequels.

Recent examples include EPA’s rushedefforts to get additional prairie dog-control

rodenticides on the market. It didn’t seemto matter that there were already a varietyof rodenticide products labeled for andeffective in killing this burrow-dwellingdenizen of the Great Plains. Black-tailedPrairie Dogs have long been a symbol ofthe shortgrass and midgrass prairies andare a “keystone species” because so manyother wildlife species depend on or derivebenefit from their presence and colonies.They are also a widely-hated species bymany ranchers who view them ascompeting for forage that would otherwisebe consumed by livestock and/ornegatively impacting the rangelands.Consequently, various poisons have beenconcocted since the early 1900s to destroyprairie dogs. However, in the 1960s, afterdecades of various poisons being used tokill them, there was a push to move towardrodenticides that wouldn’t secondarilypoison the next animal in the food chain

that might consume a poisoned prairiedog. New poisons were developed thatwould efficiently kill prairie dogs butwouldn’t poison the raptors ormammalian predators (such as SwiftFoxes, Black-footed Ferrets and

Badgers) that are typically associated withprairie-dog colonies—and would thereforeencounter poisoned prairie dogs.

During the 1960s and ‘70s variouschemicals were evaluated for possibleprairie-dog control and many weredismissed for one reason or another. Anotable line of potential products calledanticoagulants, due to their ability to thinblood, were evaluated. If enough of theanticoagulant is consumed, the animal cancompletely bleed out – either internally orexternally. However, it can take from oneto four weeks for prairie dogs to bleed outand die after consuming an anticoagulant.Two of the anticoagulants,Chlorophacinone and Diphacinone, wereevaluated and found to have the ability tokill prairie dogs. However, due to thechemicals’ slow-acting nature andpersistence within the prairie dog, thoseearly tests determined the chemicalswouldn’t make good prairie-dog poisonsbecause of the secondary poisoning hazardto non-target animals. Other products,most notably zinc phosphide, weredeveloped and thus filled the niche

demanded by landowners for aneffective prairie-dog rodenticide.

Since the 1990s, chemicalmanufacturers wanting to boost salesof anticoagulant-based productsrenewed their quest to promoteanticoagulants as prairie-dogrodenticides. They apparently thoughtthey needed the assistance of anExtension Service research programwith a land-grant college. Thesecolleges are often hungry for funds,

2005 photos of dead and dying prairie dogsapproximately twelve days after an (illegal)application of Rozol® on a S.D.colony prior to EPA approval inthat state. More than fifty wereobserved over an area of about160 acres with hundreds morepicked up over the course ofseveral weeks. In spite of this typeof evidence on the extended dyingprocess and high risk of secondarypoisoning, EPA has now madeRozol® (and Kaput-D®) available inten states.

– USFWS law enforcement division photos.


If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience. – George Bernard Shaw

Rozol® bait

A concept, or more aptlya ruse, was put forth thatprairie-dog poisoners, inconjunction with thelandowners or managers,would retrieve (and bury)the poisoned prairie dogsbefore other animals couldconsume them. Only a naïvefool would believe there tobe the interest and/or timeavailable by the peoplepoisoning prairie dogs toreturn to a colony dozens oftimes to collect dead and

dying prairie dogs. In addition, finding thepoisoned prairie dogs in diversevegetation and terrain is a challenge, andto do it effectively one would have tocollect them early each day prior to thehunting of raptors and late each day priorto the hunting of nocturnal mammalianpredators. Badgers, Swift Foxes andBlack-footed Ferrets further complicatetheir exposure to secondary poisoning byentering or digging up burrows toconsume dead and dying prairie dogs.

Enter the EPA Office of PesticidePrograms: with all the gullibility you’dexpect from out-of-touch and/ordisinterested Washington bureaucrats,somebody in that office was eager tobelieve that pesticide applicators wouldcontinually return to poisoned prairie-dogcolonies for weeks to retrieve dead prairiedogs. Other federal biologists pointed outto EPA staff in that office that during theone-to-four weeks that prairie dogs in acolony are bleeding out, after consumingthe anticoagulant poison, there are live –but progressively debilitated – prairiedogs that also pose a hazard to whatevermight consume them. EPA needed aremedy for that dilemma. The chemicalmanufacturers suggested, and EPA wasquick to agree, that adjusting the chemicallabel to include retrieval and disposal ofeven the moribund (live) prairie dogsalong with the dead prairie dogs wouldthus solve the secondary poisoning issue.One wonders if EPA could really be thateasy to fool? It turns out the answer is anembarrassing, yes.

Obtaining approval for the use ofRozol® first occurred in Kansas in 2005and proved to be an easy task. The Kansas

Department of Agriculture applied to EPAfor approval for use in the state underSection 24(c) of the Federal Insecticide,Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA),a Special Local Needs (SLN) provision.With funds funneled through KSU anddirectly to the staff member for follow-upconsulting services, the ground wasalready plowed for Liphatech in this state.The salary for the wildlife extensionspecialist is partially funded by the KansasDepartment of Wildlife and Parks, so inessence the agency’s endorsement wasimplied along with that of KSU. That mayhave been the reason it was overlooked atthe time by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service(USFWS) staff in Kansas.

An “SLN” is supposed to be based onan existing or imminent pest problemwithin a state for which the state leadagency, based upon satisfactorysupporting information, has determinedthat an appropriate federally registeredpesticide product is not sufficientlyavailable. First, as previously noted, therewere and are other effective rodenticidesavailable without the secondary poisoningissues.

Second, EPA originally requestedconsultation with USFWS onchlorophacinone (Rozol®) anddiphacinone (Kaput-D®) in 1991. USFWSissued a biological opinion in March of1993, identifying concerns with the use ofchlorophacinone for specific rodent-control activities and that this use wouldjeopardize the continued existence of 21listed species (at that time). The use ofchlorophacinone for prairie dog controlwas not included as a use in thisconsultation and thus not evaluated withnew future uses expected to undergo theirown section 7 consultation. UnderSection 3 of FIFRA, consultation withUSFWS must be conducted for any new use.

Nebraska was the next target forLiphatech, the manufacturer of Rozol®. Inthe spring of 2006 the company asked thestate’s pesticide board to approve thistoxicant for statewide use under thesecond “Special Local Needs” request.Biologists with the U.S. Fish and WildlifeService office in Nebraska and theNebraska Game and Parks Commissionopposed the request. However, the

which are provided by industry to financefield studies on the efficacy of chemicalsdesigned to kill insects or other pests, or“weeds and brush” (everything that is notgrass in pastures and on roadsides). Thistemplate has been a pathway toregistration used many times in the past. Ifall goes according to plan, this partnershipgives pesticide/herbicide manufacturerssomething akin to a university’s “goodhousekeeping seal of approval,” andsometimes they acquire the principalinvestigator as a consultant to helpadvocate either officially or unofficiallyfor the product.

That proved to be the case with Rozol®

Prairie Dog Bait. Sadly, officials inKansas became the enablers. Field trialsconducted under the auspices of the KSUResearch and Extension Service by thewildlife specialist determined that thisanticoagulant was lethal to a largemajority of prairie dogs in a treated colony– exactly what Liphatech wanted formarketing purposes.

But, the negative ecological impactswere not thoroughly studied prior to a rushto get Rozol® labeled for sale and use. Itwas left to others to try to contend with allof the collateral damage that has and isoccurring. As to be expected, a lot of thedead and dying prairie dogs end up on thesurface, which obviously poses hazards topredators and scavengers, includingraptors. Ferruginous Hawks and GoldenEagle are just two among many victims.Due to eradication of prairie dogs andother food sources, poisoning andshooting, these two magnificent raptorsare now plunging toward extinction asbreeding species in Kansas, with a furthertoll taken on migrants.


One of two Bald Eagles found that succumbed tocholorophacinone poisoning in Nebraska. – USFWS

wildlife extension agent from Kansas wasthere on behalf of the manufacturer tourge approval, and he also recruited andconvinced his Nebraska extensioncounterpart to add another voice toLiphatech’s request. State pesticide boardsare comprised principally of folksinvolved in the industry as applicators oragricultural users. They are not expectedto be ecologists; EPA should fulfill thatfunction as a backstop. Approval wasgranted and EPA took no action todisapprove, possibly in part because theyhad already opened the gate to marketingand use in Kansas.

Liphatech printed thousands ofpromotional brochures with testimonialsespousing the high efficacy of Rozol® inKansas and had them placed inextension offices and farm storesthroughout the west. The ten-pagepublication is fraught with misleadingstatements, and omissions. It makes nomention of the fact that the labelrequires removal of dead prairie dogsor that there is a substantial risk ofsecondary poisoning. In contrast, itstates on the cover that Rozol® use is“With less effort and less risk to non-targets.” That statement targetscompetition from Zinc Phosphide PrairieDog Bait, a toxicant that does not presentnearly as much risk of secondarypoisoning, but does involve the addedwork of pre- baiting with untreated oats.The implication is that if one overlooksthe need to remove dead prairie dogs, onecan poison the colony with Rozol® in onepass and move on. In fact, a salesrepresentative for Liphatech suggested at aLogan County Commission meeting in2006 that people shouldn’t need to worryabout picking up dead prairie dogs.Subsequent label changes now indicateeven live prairie dogs are to be retrieved.

The floodgates were opened andwithin the next couple of years, semi loads of Rozol® were being deliveredthroughout western Kansas, and otherGreat Plains states that followed suit andreceived Special Local Needs approvalfrom EPA. Logan County Kansas officialsalone purchased 46 tons of Rozol® in 2008 as part of their attempt to force every landowner in that county toeradicate prairie dogs.

By August 2008 the WesternAssociation of Fish & Wildlife Agencies(WAFWA) wrote to EPA urging theagency to “rescind any existing permits”(for Rozol® and Kaput-D®) andimmediately suspend issuing any morepermits. The U.S. Fish and WildlifeService sent similar letters. The concernwas that the widespread use of theanticoagulants was resulting in the deathsof unknown numbers of “non-target-wildlife species”. The EPA Office ofPesticide Programs acts as if it could careless about the need to consult with theUSFWS, even on endangered species, andconcerns expressed about migratory birdsseem to fall on deaf ears. The biologicalopinion drafted by

USFWS in April of 2012 emphasized thatthe measures included to protect listedspecies are inadequate for protectingraptors and that unpermitted take of eaglesand other migratory birds are expected tocontinue despite current Rozol® userestrictions.

With official comment letters andlitigation, Audubon of Kansas haspartnered with Defenders of Wildlife(which has provided legal expertise andleadership in Washington D.C.) and theAmerican Bird Conservancy to try topersuade EPA to address the ecologicalrisks of these poisons and the concernsexpressed by WAFWA and USFWS.

Anticoagulant poisoning of raptors canstart them on a debilitating spiral towardsdeath. The poison may not kill themdirectly or immediately; however, theanticoagulant toll on body condition – andthe ability of these precision athletes tocapture elusive prey – more likely rendersthem incapable of surviving in the wildand/or successfully reproducing and

rearing young. Scientists

Note that the cover states thatRozol® use is “With less effortand less risk to non-targets.”


with the U.S. Geological Survey PatuxentWildlife Research Center havedemonstrated that the standardized avianacute oral toxicity test, used by EPA togenerate risk assessments for therodenticides such as chlorophacinone anddiphacinone, underestimate the real-worldhazards to wild raptors. Recommendationsto correct the limitations of thestandardized acute oral toxicity testmethodology have resulted in stonewallingby EPA, and if officially proposed willlikely cause pesticide lobbyists and theirpolitical allies to "howl" louder thancoyotes on steroids.

Tragically, the EPA Office of PesticidePrograms has for the 2012 prairie dogpoisoning season (October to April)authorized two anticoagulant rodenticidesfor the purpose of killing prairie dogsunder the trade names Rozol® and Kaput-D®. Looking forward, we can expect theskies of the Great Plains to be increasinglyempty, especially of Ferruginous Hawksand Golden Eagles, and the remainingshortgrass prairies to be lessaccommodating for Swift Foxes andBlack-footed Ferrets.

Once EPA gives a green light for use ofa toxicant, even though they haven’tadequately considered the risks orconsulted with the USFWS, it is difficultto pull it out of distribution. It becomeshugely profitable for companies to laterdisregard EPA risk-mitigation decisions.Industry attorneys and lobbyists force theagency into years of administrativeprocesses and litigation prior to removal ofthe pesticides in question, if it ever comes.Once something is registered it takes aHerculean effort to get it removed. Thiswas particularly evident with carbofuran,an insecticide that resulted in millions ofbird kills annually prior to the 2009restrictions on most uses in granular form.Carbofuran also causes neurologicaldamage in humans.

EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programshandling of registration of rodenticides thatpose substantial secondary-poisoning risksto other wildlife, especially imperiledspecies, is bad precedent unworthy of anagency with such noble beginnings rootedin a book called “Silent Spring”.Americans and our continent’s wildliferesources deserve better stewardship.

THE GRASSLAND RAPTOR

IN GREATEST JEOPARDY

The Ferruginous Hawk, perhaps more thanany other raptor, is an indicator of the healthof grassland and shrub-steppe ecosystems.Because the species is a small-mammalspecialist, the presence of ground squirrels,

prairie dogs, pocket gophers, hares, and rabbits has historically been correlatedwith stable hawk popula�ons. The loss of these prey species from control anderadica�on programs, and the poten�al effects of secondary poisoning fromroden�cides are especially concerning because they occur not only withinFerruginous Hawk breeding ranges, but where the con�nental popula�on ofFerruginous Hawks congregate to forage.

A�er breeding, Ferruginous Hawks east and west of the Con�nental Dividearrive in large numbers in the northern plains to feed on Richardson’s GroundSquirrels, and in winter many of these hawks migrate to the southern and centralGreat Plains to Black-tailed Prairie Dog colonies. On these same rangesFerruginous Hawks are experiencing other stressors including wind turbines, newresiden�al development, conversion of na�ve habitat, exposure to West Nile Virus,electrocu�on, and poaching, that either result in direct mortality or displacementfrom these tradi�onal habitats. Addi�onally, Ferruginous Hawks do not competewell with Red-tailed Hawks where habitat is altered, and the result is thatFerruginous Hawks are being forced into smaller na�ve ranges that are o�en ofincreasingly poorer quality.

The Ferruginous Hawk is listed as Threatened in Canada, a Species ofConserva�on Concern in the United States, and a Species of Concern in Mexico.The status of Ferruginous Hawks in the U.S. has been shrouded with uncertaintythrough the years because ofpresumed widespread nomadismof the species that makesdetermina�on of its breedingpopula�on status difficult. Thiswas a factor in the U.S. Fish andWildlife Service decision to notformally list the species asthreatened or endangered in1992. However, recent migra�onstudies of adult and juvenileFerruginous Hawks failed to findnomadism among any range-wide breeding popula�ons(www.ferruginoushawk.org).

From a regional perspec�ve, the species is listed as Threatened, Endangered, orImperiled in 7 northern states or provinces in the American west, including a 2009Endangered lis�ng in Alberta, one of the two historic nes�ng strongholds for thespecies. Nine western states iden�fy the Ferruginous Hawk as a species ofconcern. Widespread concerns from federal, state and provincial lis�ngs warrantmonitoring of hawk popula�ons and point to the need for further review of theFerruginous Hawk as a federal candidate for T/E species lis�ng in the U.S.

– James W. Watson (WDFW)

The remains of prairie dogs in this nest inOklahoma attest to the importance of thisprey. The hawk pictured above is eating aground squirrel.

Jim Watson is a Wildlife Research Scientist with the Washington Department of Fishand Wildlife, specializing in raptor studies. His raptor investigations span 40 years,including a 10-year international study of Ferruginous Hawk migration, and currentstudies on wind turbine/raptor interactions.


Late this summer and early fall a hundredBlack-tailed Prairie Dogs were captured atthe Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge

and relocated to the Hutton Niobrara RanchWildlife Sanctuary. Although there used to beprairie dogs on the property and in that part of RockCounty, they were extirpated a couple decades ago.

The relocation was allowed under a Scientificand Educational Permit issued by the NebraskaGame and Parks Commission. Staff of theNebraska Game and Parks Commission evaluatedthe reintroduction site and carefully considered theviews of all stakeholders prior to approval.Qualifications for the permit were extensive, andrequired considerable investment, but ecologicalrestoration of a full complement of prairie wildlife native to thisvicinity is an integral part of our management plan.

We are hoping that the experience and information obtained willhelp to encourage and/or prove useful to other landowners andmanagers who want to establish new and/or maintain existingprairie dog colonies. In particular, success with fencing may helplandowners who want to include it along with other techniques, suchas vegetative barriers, to discourage dispersal from existing prairiedog colonies to adjacent areas where they are not wanted. We alsoknow that the new colony will benefit many of the speciestraditionally associated with prairie dog colonies. These includeBurrowing Owls, Ferruginous Hawks, Golden Eagles and OrnateBox Turtles.

Capturing Prairie DogsOn Saturday July 28 and on September 13, Fish and Wildlife

Service staff and family members, and students working at theFort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge for the summer,volunteered to lead the way in the capture of prairie dogs fromthe horse pasture behind the headquarters and residentialfacilities. The population there has been encroaching into thatarea beyond the level desired for other management purposes.

I had tried in mid July to capture prairie dogs with box traps,however, that approach wasn't successful. In this location, thehorses in the pasture discovered and responded to the "sweet

feed" and oats more quickly, and they routinely turned the trapsover to spill the bait.

During the previous week, NWR staff had been in the fieldhelping with the major effort to fight the devastating wild fires thathad erupted from lightening along the Niobrara River valley. Afterthe fires were under control the refuge's fire engines were availablefor the prairie dog capture enterprise. With a soapy substance addedto the water in the tanks, water was flushed down prairie dogburrows to flood them out. Usually the suds would come up out ofone or more additional interconnected burrows, suggesting a directconnection. Other long-established burrows seemed to bebottomless and could conceivably accept hundreds of gallons.

Then our luck changed and a few prairie dogs began emergingfrom most of the flooded burrows. We grabbed them with ourgloved hands as they emerged soaking wet and rushed them over towater coolers with spigots where they were rinsed off. Then theywere placed in holding cages kept in the shade since it was anotherof many days with temperatures above 100 degrees.

At the end of the first afternoon, a fairly long day with a briefbreak for pizza and ice cream, we loaded them in the stock traileracquired to be a mobile wildlife viewing blind at the sanctuary andheaded 70 miles east to the relocation site designated to be a newprairie dog colony on the Niobrara Sanctuary.


Prairie Dog ColonyReestablished atAOK’s Niobrara

SanctuaryArticle and Photos by Ron Klataske

Purposes of a New Colony: EcologicalThe idea is to establish the new colony to serve several

ecological, scientific and educational purposes. We have prepared aremarkably inviting place for their new home. Although prairiedogs were once common in Rock County, and occurred on theproperty now owned by Audubon of Kansas, the species hasapparently been totally extirpated from the county. A couple smallcolonies have survived in Keya Paha County a few miles north,across the Niobrara River. Lewis and Clark first encountered prairiedogs about 50 miles northeast of the sanctuary, at a place calledBaldy Knob.

Lewis and Clark described their first prairie dog "town"experience near the Nebraska/South Dakota state line, west of theMissouri River and north of the Niobrara River, where theycaptured their first prairie dog. A live prairie dog was among thespecimens sent to President Thomas Jefferson from Fort Mandan in1805.

From the Expedition Journals, September 7, 1804:

“Discovered a Village of Small animals that burrow in theground (those animals are Called by the french Petite Chien)Killed one and Caught one alive by poreing a great quantity ofWater in his ....”

As a prairie keystone species that benefits many other wildlifespecies, the added presence of a prairie dog colony at the sanctuaryshould soon or eventually provide nesting habitat for BurrowingOwls, and become a part of the prey base for Ferruginous Hawksand Golden Eagles that fly overhead. However, predation will be afactor that we will try to minimize until the colony is wellestablished within the 20-acre enclosure designed for this purpose.

The colony will help to fulfill our goal of making the sanctuary aplace that will help to maintain grassland birds and other prairiewildlife native to the area.

Purposes of a New Colony: Education and Wildlife Appreciation

One of the important goals of the Niobrara Sanctuary is toprovide unique wildlife viewing opportunities to give visitors anopportunity to gain insight into the behavior of various wildlifespecies and interaction between species. The observation blindadjacent to the colony site will also be a good place forphotography, especially once the colony is established and active.Among other things, prairie dog colonies attract a diversity of birds,including Upland Sandpipers, Western Meadowlarks, Horned Larks,and Sharp-tailed Grouse.

Purposes of a New Colony: Scientific(Evaluating Fencing and Relocation Success)

The project will give us an excellent opportunity to evaluate theeffectiveness of the fence I designed several years ago. We used itin western Kansas to discourage dispersal, but this will be anopportunity to observe its effectiveness as a complete enclose. Inthis case we can evaluate its effectiveness at keeping translocatedprairie dogs on the site (within the fenced enclosure), and hopefully

discouraging some badgersfrom invading the site andpotentially decimating the newinhabitants. For the first fewdays, possibly weeks, prairiedogs translocated to newcolony sites (without any deepburrows available) areparticularly vulnerable topredation by badgers.

In this instance, we dug"starter burrows" by auguringat an angle at least three feetdeep into the ground with a 4-inch posthole auger. That isnot nearly enough to providesecurity from the digging skillsof a badger, but it provides abrief underground hiding placewith some sense of security.

To make these starterburrows even moreaccommodating, and consistentwith natural burrows, Bruce and Marge Kennedy brought their weedeater and cut the vegetation surrounding many of the starterburrows. We used a mower to accomplish the same around some ofthe other potential burrows. Prairie dogs prefer short vegetation


adjacent to the burrows so they can see approaching predators andretreat to their burrows when alarmed.

A stock trailer converted to a mobile wildlife viewing blind wasparked adjacent to a special smaller enclosure. Corn was placednear the burrows to make sure that they had nutritious foodavailable, even though vegetation was relatively abundant. The areawas drought stricken without much grass growth this year in this“old field.”

We captured a disproportional number of young-of-the-year"pups", but there were some adult prairie dogs. One aggressive"scar-face" male bit down on my gloved finger and held on like aSnapping Turtle! Thick gloves designed for welders made itpossible to handle them without being scratched or severely bitten.We treated each with flea powder prior to release.

One by one, they were released, generally head first into thestarter burrows. A small quantity of hay was used to cover someburrows to provide an added sense of security for the prairie dogs,and it seemed to accomplish that objective.

During the first day, and into the second quite a few of the pupsin the smaller enclosure ran around trying to escape. Sometimesthey would try climbing up the poultry netting, stall out as theyreached the overhanging netting extending inward, hesitate and thendrop or climb back down to the ground two feet below. The electricwire on the inside of the enclosure was not turned on and it neverseemed to be necessary to prevent their escape.

By the third day it appeared that all of the prairie dogs wereconditioned to run to a nearby burrow and disappear underground.They did not linger above ground.

Potential Limiting Factors: The Vulnerability of Pups in Their First Year of Life

With starter burrows located throughout the large enclosedfield, there are certainly a sufficient number of sites for releasedprairie dogs to establish new burrows now and later. Consideringthe relatively large area of high-quality habitat available within the

confines of the fenced area, it is unlikely that there will be much ifany dispersal pressure in the foreseeable future. In addition to theeffectiveness of the fence, tall vegetation serving as a visual barriersurrounds the site just beyond the fence and that will furtherdiscourage adventurous prairie dogs.

We are keeping the electric fence wire on the outside of the largeenclosure electrified. It may also help deter Coyotes and Badgersfrom entering the enclosure, but we do not expect it to beimpermeable. Badgers have been our greatest concern, and onegained entrance and started devouring prairie dogs within a coupleweeks. The first order of business was to make the burrows lessaccessible to Badgers. That was accomplished by purchasingspecial panels similar to “cattle panels” but with 4”x4” squareopenings. They were securely staked to the ground to prevent themfrom being dislocated. This proved to be effective as a deterrent,but it wasn’t possible to provide cover for every burrow.

The prairie dog colony is one of several wildlife conservationand habitat projects implemented within a 212-acre unit of theHutton Niobrara Ranch Wildlife Sanctuary designated as the HaroldW. “Andy” Andersen Wildlife Habitat Area. Most of that unit waspreviously cultivated. Native grasses and forbs planted on a 150-acre portion have become a brood-rearing habitat for Sharp-tailedGrouse, and it is a magnet for nesting Dickcissels and GrasshopperSparrows.


Lana Micheel, Niobrara Sanctuary Coordinator

“We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see landas a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.”

– Aldo Leopold, American ecologist, 1887-1948

In the Spring of 2008 I led a surgicalteam to do what I expected to beurgently needed surgery in a small

hospital on the north coast of Haiti about20 miles from Cap Haitien, the secondlargest city in Haiti. I have made 30+ tripsto Haiti over the past decades to performsurgery in the Bon Samaritain Hospital inLimbe. During that time I have come toadmire the stoical resignation of theHaitian peasant as he or she endurescrushing poverty and the frequentdiseases that are preventable in anymodern advanced society. Still when onewalks off the plane at Cap Haitien, theimmediate impression is one of heat,noise, confusion and small boysaggressively demanding: “You! You, giveme one dollar!” The drive into townreveals a town in a beautiful setting withram-shackle housing climbing the steephills, streets crowded with vendors, smallchildren, and students all dressed insimilar uniforms. The streets are full oftrash, the roads unpaved, and one quicklysenses a society that does not work well atthe civic level. Walking the streets thereare times the impression is of hostility,suspicion, glaring stares, and a sense ofimpending violence.

When we arrived at the hospital readyto work, the local doctor told us there hadbeen street riots in Port Au Prince, theHaitian capital, over the rapid increase inthe price of food, especially beans, riceand corn. Haitians will not come out, orride public transportation when there isthe threat of trouble. For us, that meantthe clinics were virtually empty, and mytalented team had little to do afterfinishing a series of minor cases. Wewould be done by noon; I cannot tell youhow disappointed I was.

The rioting in Port Au Prince wasbased on the near doubling of the price ofcorn and rice, which had a profound effecton the amount of food available in acommunity where 50 to 70 percent of theresidents’ income is spent on food. Theworld price for these commodities haddoubled and so had the price of food inthe local market in Haiti. In the UnitedStates, where about one-tenth of incomeis spent on food, rising food prices doesnot have such a dramatic impact. But inHaiti, Jakarta and many other countries itmay mean going from two to one meal aday. Those who are barely hanging on tothe lower rung of the global economicladder risk losing their grip entirely. The

experience is then of hunger, globalunrest and as I write in mid-October 2012renewed rioting in Port Au Prince overfood prices.

Lester R. Brown, in Foreign PolicyJournal, May-June 2011 wrote an articleentitled “The False Promise of Biofuel,”which I will quote at length on therelation between the use of food for fueland the worldwide effect on foodsupplies. “The U.N. Food Price Index hassteadily eclipsed its previous all-timeglobal high.” This trend has continuedand as of July 2012 it had climbed fortwenty-four consecutive months. “Thisyear’s harvest has fallen short as predictedand governments in Africa and theMiddle East are increasingly unstable.With the price of food sustaining oneshock after another, food is quicklybecoming a hidden driver of worldpolitics.” Although food prices were notthe spark that started the uprising inTunisia, it was a factor that contributed tothe protests. Egypt is reported to haveonly a few months of food reserve in acountry that is facing potential economicfreefall. We are entering a new paradigmof chronic, global-food scarcity with itsassociated instability and unrest.

ARE ETHANOL

SUBSIDIES AND

MANDATES A

FOOL’S ERRAND?Article by Robert T. McElroy


In the same articleLester Brown continues,“Until recently, suddenprice surges just didn’tmatter as much, as theywere quickly followedby a return to therelatively low foodprices that helped shapethe political stability ofthe late 20th centuryacross much of theglobe. But now both thecauses andconsequences areominously different.Historically, price spikestended to be almostexclusively driven byunusual weather – a

monsoon in India, a drought in the formerSoviet Union, a heat wave in the U.S.Midwest. Such events were alwaysdisruptive, but thankfully infrequent.Unfortunately, the elevated demand isdriven by trends that make it moredifficult to increase food production: arapidly expanding population, increasingdrought associated with rising

temperatures (aka climate change), andirrigation wells running dry.”

Alarmingly, the world and especiallythe United States are losing their ability toaffect changes in the world food supply.Until about 1995, the United States hadeither grain surpluses or idle cropland thatcould be used for reduction of potentialfamine. When the Indian monsoon causeda total crop failure in 1965, for example,President Johnson’s administrationshipped one-fifth of the U.S. wheat cropto India, successfully staving off famine.This safety net is now gone.

There has been a strong desire by theenvironmental movement to lower thelevel of carbon dioxide and dependenceon foreign oil by substantially increasingthe use of biofuels. They were successfulin getting Congress to pass laws thatrequired the EPA to issue standards forblending ethanol with gasoline. Thislegislation resulted, as Lester Brownpointed out, “By 2010 nearly 400 milliontons of grain were harvested, of which126 million tons was sent to the distilleryfor conversion to ethanol. This massivecapacity to convert food to fuel means

that the price of grain is now tied to theprice of oil. If the price of oil goes up, sodoes the price of grain, which makes itmore profitable to blend ethanol withpetroleum products. Outside of the UnitedStates, Brazil is using sugar cane toproduce ethanol, while the EuropeanUnion seeks to have 10 percent of itstransport fuels come from renewalsources and China had declared itsintention to produce 15 percent oftransport fuels from renewable sources.”

Henry Miller and Colin Carter in thearticle “Running on Empty (HooverDigest, 2008 No.1; The Environment)”observed that, “President Bush announcedin January 2007 a goal of replacing 15percent of domestic gasoline use withbiofuels (ethanol and biodiesel) over thenext 10 years, which would requirealmost a fivefold increase in mandatorybiofuels use to about 35 billion gallons.Six months later Congress pushed thetarget to 36 billion gallons, of which 15billion gallons were to come from cornand 21 billion from other sources that aremore advanced but largely unproven.”

Miller and Carter continue, “Thedemands on the American farmerwould be staggering, considering theamount of farmland and energyneeded to produce such huge amountsof corn for ethanol and the rathermeager amount of energy yielded byethanol, because it is 30 percent lessefficient than gasoline or diesel. Ananalysis by the Paris-basedOrganization for EconomicCooperation and Developmentsuggests that replacing even 10

Irrigation for corn production is the largest use of both groundwaterand surface water in many parts of the Great Plains. Current usagerates are not sustainable in most areas.

Above, opposite page: Plowing of native prairie, as witnessed here inKansas, has become drastically increased in recent years.



percent of America’s motor fuel withbiofuels would require that about a thirdof all the nation’s cropland be devoted tooilseed, cereals, and sugar-crops.Achieving the 15 percent goal wouldrequire the entire current U.S. corn crop, awhopping 40 percent of the world’s cornsupply.”

Miller and Carter also point out that,“Another unintended consequence withethanol production is the pressure onwater supplies. According to a reportfrom an environmental advocacy group,three to six gallons of water are needed toproduce each gallon of ethanol. Just toprocess the corn and produce the fuel, thegroup estimates, 2.6 billion gallons a yearcould be required from a single largeaquifer that extends from Texas, to SouthDakota, and an additional 120 billion

gallons a year would be needed forirrigation to grow more corn.”

Travel around the Sandhills ofNebraska and other parts of the northernGreat Plains reveals hundreds ofthousands of acres of pristine prairie thathas been recently plowed and replacedwith corn, irrigated with water pumpedfrom wells. Some ranchers haveindicated that there is now a shortage ofadequate grazing and haying land. Thedrought of 2012 has, of course,aggravated this condition.

Miller and Carter reported,“The effecton food and corn prices has beendramatic. Corn has gone from $2/bushelto the $7 to $8/bushel range. An IowaState University study estimates that foodprices have already increased by $47

annually per capita, or $14 billion overall.Prior to the ethanol boom, more than 60percent of the U.S. corn harvest was feddomestically to cattle, hogs, chickens, orused in food or beverages. Thousands offood items contain corn or cornbyproducts. Cattle production has also feltthe effect of feed prices over the lastseveral years, with one large producerreporting an increased cost of 36 percentand adding $101 to each animal finishedat the feedlot.”

Corn growers and ethanol producershave greatly benefited from the windfallof artificially enhanced demand. But it isalready proving to be an expensive anddangerous experiment for the rest of us.Any shock to corn yields, such asdrought, unseasonably hot weather, pests,or plant disease could send food prices

Crop Subsidies Contribute to MassiveHabitat Losses

Subsidies and the resul�ng highcommodity prices have contributed to theloss of more than 23 million acres ofgrassland, shrub land and wetlands between2008 and 2011, wiping out vital habitat thatsustains many species of wildlife, according to a report on recentresearch by Environmental Working Group and Defenders of Wildlife.

Of the 23.7 million acres, more than 8.4 million were converted toplant corn, more than 5.6 million to raise soybeans and nearly 5.2million to grow winter wheat.

Wildlife habitat was destroyed across the country, but the greatestlosses took place in states of the Great Plains and Upper Midwest. Thestudy showed that some of the highest rates of conver�ng habitat tocul�va�on were in drought-plagued por�ons of West Texas andOklahoma. In each of 10 west Texas coun�es, growers plowed up more

than 50,000 acres of habitat to plant co�on, corn and wheat, for a totalloss of more than 655,000 acres of wildlife habitat.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, widespreaddestruc�on of grassland is pu�ng at risk numerous imperiled speciesincluding Sage Grouse, Lesser Prairie-chicken, Swi� Fox and MountainPlover.

Many wetlands and grasslands are also cri�cal habitat for migratorybirds and a diversity of wildlife. In the Dakotas, more than 3.2 million acresof habitat were destroyed between 2008 and 2011. Experts also es�matethat 1.4 million small wetlands in the eastern Dakotas, which areespecially important for breeding ducks, are at high risk of being drained.


into the stratosphere. Suchconcerns are not without theirbasis in reality. In 1970, awidespread outbreak of afungus called southern-corn-leaf-blight destroyed 15percent of the U.S. corn crop,and in 1988 drought reducedU.S. corn yields by almost 30percent. Because of thedrought in the Midwest thissummer the ending stocks for2012/13 were projected in the NovemberWorld Agricultural Supply and DemandEstimates report at 647 million bushels,the lowest since 1995/96, when endingstocks were 426 bushels.

David Biello, in the August 2011 issueof Scientific American states that, “Thehope of obtaining more advanced biofuelsthat could be produced at commercialvolumes has failed to appear. Greatattempts with large financial input toextract or brew ethanol from corn stalks,switch grass, or even trees, using sugarderived from the stalks and husks and notthe edible kernel have not provencommercially viable. Nor has liquid fuelsharvested from algae, which moreefficiently turn water, CO2 and sunlightinto fats that can be converted intohydrocarbons, or more effective still,from genetically engineeredmicroorganisms that could directlyexcrete hydrocarbons. The Navy recentlybought 21,000 gallon of algae-derived jetfuel at $424/gallon compared to diesel at$5 per gallon. Current experiencesuggests that the scientific or industrialimprovements needed to solve thechallenges of making advanced biofuelspractical may be extremely difficult toattain.”

The goal of producing 36 billiongallons of biofuels annually by 2022, setby the U.S. government as a significantsolution to energy independence andclimate change, looks to be an even moredistant prospect. And the California low-carbon fuel standards, which will start in2015, expect the new generation ofbiofuels like cellulosic ethanol to be

It has been calculated that replacingall U.S. transportation fuels with cornethanol would require farmland threetimes the size of the continental U.S. InOctober 2010 the Congressional ResearchService reported that if the entire recordU.S. corn crop of 2009 was used to makeethanol, it would replace only 18 percentof the country’s gasoline consumption.”Expanding corn-based ethanol ... tosignificantly promote U.S. energy securityis likely to be infeasible,” the researcherconcluded

Although breakthroughs are alwayspossible in the scientific quest foraffordable biofuels, at present, corn andsugarcane must provide the main – if notthe only source – of alternative biologicenergy, straining a global agriculturesystem already struggling to provide food,feed, and fiber for seven billion people –plus livestock – and counting.

It is difficult not to conclude that theeffort to produce

economical and high-energy biofuels inface of the world’sneed for food isimmoral, because ofchronic humanhunger and potentialstarvation ofmillions in thedeveloping nations.From an ecologicaldamage standpoint,it is proving to be afool’s errand.

Robert Thomas McElroy is a retired general surgeon. He worked in Topeka for many years andwas founding president of Tallgrass Surgery, PA. of Topeka. Dr. McElroy has a strong interest inhelping the poor in the third world. Early in his career he lived and worked at a remote hospital inWestern Ethiopia with his wife Jean for nearly two years. He has made more than thirty medicalservice trips to Haiti, Nicaragua, Ecuador and Zaire. He is currently on the board of AMOS Hopeand Health which sponsors rural health clinics in Nicaragua. He and Jean have two sons. Tomcurrently works in London. Will and his wife Jill live in California and are parents of twogranddaughters, Hannah and Fiona. Bob enjoys trail and open country riding with his TennesseeWalkers, many aspects of nature, including upland gamebird hunting.

AMERICA, SWEET LAND OF SUBSIDIES

There is now a federal subsidy program for every year that has passed since

Emperor Augustus held sway in Rome. OnJanuary 22, 2010 the federal government

reportedly added its 2,000th subsidy program. The number of federal subsidy programs soared 21 percent during the 1990s and 40 percent during the 2000s.

References:Biello, David; “The False Promise of Biofuels,” Scientific American Magazine, August 10, 2011, pp. 59-65.Brown, Lester R.; “The New Geopolitics of Food,” Foreign Policy Magazine, May-June 2011, Miller, Henry I. and Colin A Carter; “Running on Empty,” Hoover Digest, 2008 No. 1; The Environment

Foxes of the vanishingshortgrass prairie, two

Swift Fox kits.

plentiful. It is also clear why the EPA hassteadily reduced its mandate for theproduction of 100 million gallons ofcellulose-based ethanol to six milliongallons

David Biello further stated, “in theyear 2010 subsidies of $5.6 billion wereneeded to produce ethanol mandated forfuel consumption. Ethanol is not veryenergy efficient and its production is notcarbon neutral. Fermentation, the coretechnology for making ethanol,requires heat from burningfossil fuels such as naturalgas or coal to distill theethanol, plus moreenergy is required toplant, fertilize, harvestand transport the corn tothe distillery. After allthat trouble, a gallon ofethanol supplies a vehiclewith only two-thirds of theenergy in a gallon ofpetroleum-based gasoline.Those energy inputs costmoney, too, and cornethanol may nevercompete on price withgasoline without subsidies.Greater production is alsolimited by fertile land.”


The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northeast Alaska isthe largest refuge of its kind in the United States. With 19.3million acres, it contains the greatest diversity of plant and

animal life of any protected area inside the Arctic Circle.

The refuge began in December 1960, when the Secretary ofInterior, by administrative order, set aside 8.9 million acres asthe Arctic National Wildlife Range. In 1980, Congress doubledit in size and changed it to a “Refuge.”

The Secretary of Interior in late 1960 was my uncle, FredSeaton. Fred had grown up in Manhattan. He later moved toNebraska, and was always active in Republican politics. Heserved four years in the Nebraska legislature and briefly filled avacancy in the U.S. Senate. He traveled the country withEisenhower in the 1952 campaign and Ike appointed himAssistant Secretary of Defense, then Administrative Assistant tothe President, and finally in 1956, Secretary of Interior.

Fred had graduated from Manhattan High School and KansasState University, and always retained close ties with Kansas –both family and business.

The movement to establish a wildlife refuge in Alaska wasmuch older. It began in the Teddy Roosevelt era, but theemerging environmental movement in the 1950s gave it newimpetus.

Many of the powers in place in Alaska opposed preservationof the area by the federal government. Alaska had achievedstatehood in early 1959. By 1960, the state legislature, thegovernor, both U.S. Senators and the lone Alaska House

Member all opposed a federal refuge. On the other hand, as youmight expect, all the national conservation organizationssupported it. This led to objections in Alaska about “outsider”interference. There was also hostility toward the U.S. Fish andWildlife Service and a strong preference on the part of some forstate agency control of the refuge.

The editor of Alaska Sportsman magazine even called it“socialism,” and one letter to the Fairbanks paper said it wouldbetter be named “Seaton’s Ranch.”

In spite of the opposition, a bill to establish the Refugeactually passed the House of Representatives in 1959. But it wasbottled up in the Senate by Alaska’s own Senator Bob Bartlett.

Fred Seaton had preferred congressional action to create therefuge, and in fact his department had drafted the legislation.Ted Stevens, later a long time Senator from Alaska, was thensolicitor for the Interior Department. He advocated long andhard for passage of the legislation.

In the presidential campaign of 1960, Fred campaigned forNixon in Alaska. But Nixon lost there, as he did in the nation.After Kennedy’s election, and before his inauguration, there wasa “lame duck” session of about two months. Congress had failedto act and Republicans were about to depart. On December 6,1960, Fred signed the administrative order setting aside 8.9million acres as the Arctic National Wildlife Range. In the same order, he also set aside 1.8 million acres in southwestAlaska and 415,000 acres on the Alaska Peninsula as additionalWildlife Ranges.

“The idea of wilderness needs no defense. It only needs more defenders.”– Edward Abbey

A Kansas Native Led thePolitically-ChallengingCampaign to Create the Arctic WildlifeRange/Refuge

Article by Dick SeatonFred Seaton and President Eisenhower on the campaign trail.

Douglas Brinkley, in his book The Quiet World: SavingAlaska’s Wilderness Kingdom, extols Fred for his last-minuteaction, and says he is among the most “underrated Secretaries ofthe Interior in U.S. history.”

Following the designation, he said, “I felt it my duty, in thepublic interest, to move as promptly as possible to take the stepsadministratively which would assure protection and preservationof the priceless resource values contained in the proposed ArcticNational Wildlfie Range area.”

Twenty years later, in 1980, under President Carter, Congressenlarged the area to 19.3 million acres, and renamed it the ArcticNational Wildlife Refuge. It was at that time that Congress alsodesignated 1.5 million acres along the north coast for study,looking toward the future of petroleum development. Howeverthe legislation requires congressional action before drilling canbegin. This has been the focus of recent political wranglingabout drilling in the arctic coastal plain in Alaska

In addition to annually hosting thePorcupine Caribou Herd and CentralArctic Herd in summer, totalingsubstantially over a hundred thousandcaribou, the refuge is an extraordinaryexpanse of arctic biodiversity andwilderness.

The 1980 legislation designated the remaining 8 million acresof the original Range as Wilderness. The 10.1 million acresadded at that time was designated for “minimal management.”

Interestingly enough, Ted Stevens, in his capacity as Senatorfrom Alaska and who had supported the earlier set aside of 8.9million acres, led the charge against the 1980 legislation toenlarge it. Of course the political winds are constantly shifting,but I’m sort of glad that his old boss Fred Seaton was no longeraround to see that. Fred died in 1974.

Map provided by and ©University of Alaska Press. Used in the LASTGREAT WILDERNESS, The Campaign to Establish the Arctic NationalWildlife Refuge published 2006.

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