Author Archives: rbrewer

Hazelnut, Fire, Oak Openings, Nostalgia

By rbrewer | Published: June 21, 2011

Early this April, I saw a tall skinny shrub without leaves but with catkins.  It reminded me that early last fall I had come across a clump of similar skinny trunks that bore pointed, toothed leaves.  The leaves were more or less like leaves of several groups of woody plants–birches, elms, hornbeams, and conceivably a [...]

Posted in Conservation, Michigan (including Kalamazoo), Plants and Plant Communities, Southern Illinois Ecology, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Zombie Seed Production by Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata)

By rbrewer | Published: June 16, 2011

I need to give the results of the small trial mentioned a month ago, when I put out eight garlic mustard plants (four small and four large) that we had pulled up early in the spring on 23 April at the Audubon Society’s Harris Sanctuary. I spread them out on the floor of an oak [...]

Posted in Conservation, Land Trusts (& other private land conservation), Michigan (including Kalamazoo), Plants and Plant Communities | 1 Comment

Quote 2, Henry David Thoreau on Preserving Land

By rbrewer | Published: May 6, 2011

  Each town should have a park, or rather a primitive forest, of five hundred or a thousand acres, where a stick should never be cut for fuel, a common possession forever, for instruction and recreation. We hear of cow-commons and ministerial lots, but we want men-commons and lay lots, inalienable forever….   All Walden [...]

Posted in Conservation, Land Trusts (& other private land conservation), Plants and Plant Communities, Quotations | 2 Comments

Harris Sanctuary, Kalamazoo County, on a warm sunny Earth Day

By rbrewer | Published: April 27, 2011

Saturday, the day after the date of the original Earth Day, was the next to last stewardship work day scheduled for the spring at the Mildred Harris Audubon Sanctuary.  Katy and I started within the east edge of the beech-maple forest, that is, within the forest proper ignoring the border with briars and fallen wood [...]

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

More About Aldo Leopold’s Subversive Ideas

By rbrewer | Published: April 24, 2011

@Dick Klade in Comment 3 to preceding post Thanks for restoring the interesting lost section of your comment. It’s not surprising that Leopold’s ideas didn’t always suit the bureaucracy.  Ecology is the subversive science, as Paul Sears said. The game managers seemed to accept Leopold early.  As an undergraduate in 1953 or 1954, I had [...]

Posted in Conservation, Land Trusts (& other private land conservation), Quotations, Southern Illinois Ecology | 1 Comment

Quote 1, Aldo Leopold and the Odyssey of Evolution

By rbrewer | Published: April 19, 2011

Every once in a while someone puts a thought so well that other people ought to know about it.  As I come across such a wise saying, or wise crack, I’ll put it in a post like this, for a while at least. Here’s the first one. We know now what was unknown to all [...]

Posted in Birds, Conservation, Quotations | 3 Comments

Early Spring at Mildred Harris Audubon Sanctuary, Kalamazoo

By rbrewer | Published: April 9, 2011

In Oshtemo Township, it’s 64 degrees and sunny this afternoon and the wood frogs in the pond close to the road were clacking loudly.  This morning though, a few miles away at Harris Sanctuary, it was high 30s at the beginning and high 40s at the end. I spent the early part of the morning [...]

Posted in Birds, Conservation, Land Trusts (& other private land conservation), Michigan (including Kalamazoo), Plants and Plant Communities | Leave a comment

Stewardship Work Days at Aububon’s Harris Preserve Sat 9 April AM and Tues 12 April early PM

By rbrewer | Published: April 8, 2011

Saturday 9 April 2011 is the first Harris Sanctuary (Audubon Society of Kalamazoo) stewardship day, or to be blunt, first work day.  Hours are 9-11 AM. The second work day is Tuesday, April 12, hours 5:30-7:30 PM. Anyone who has an interest in the sanctuary and its management is invited to join in the effort [...]

Posted in Birds, Conservation, Michigan (including Kalamazoo), Plants and Plant Communities, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Bicycle Trail Through or To the Ott Biological Preserve: A Decision Near

By rbrewer | Published: April 6, 2011

Following is a slightly revised version of a letter that I sent to members of the Calhoun County Board of Commissioners on 29 April 2011.  They will soon (Thursday, 7 April, 7 PM at the County Building, 315 West Green St. in Marshall) be taking an important vote related to whether the Calhoun County Trailways Association will [...]

Posted in Conservation, Land Trusts (& other private land conservation), Michigan (including Kalamazoo), Plants and Plant Communities | 3 Comments

Wide Bike Trail Through the Preserve?: Speak Out to Save the Ott

By rbrewer | Published: March 9, 2011

Take Action on the Proposed Trail Through the Harvey Ott Biological Preserve The Calhoun County Commissioners will be the ones voting on the trail.  They may give more weight to messages from their constituents; nevertheless, it will be of value to them to know if the threat to the Ott Preserve is a matter of [...]

Posted in Conservation, Land Trusts (& other private land conservation), Michigan (including Kalamazoo), Plants and Plant Communities, Uncategorized | 2 Comments