Category Archives: Conservation

The Ott Preserve and Attacks on Perpetuity

By rbrewer | Published: February 18, 2011

Preserved natural areas are vulnerable.  I don’t mean they’re delicate.  It’s true that some will need a particular kind of management, such as prescribed fire, and some may not tolerate a lot of human traffic, but good-sized natural areas–a few hundred acres–are often fairly robust.  They’re vulnerable not because they’re fragile, but because there are [...]

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New Attack on the Harvey N. Ott Preserve, Battle Creek, MI

By rbrewer | Published: February 10, 2011

The Ott Preserve at the east edge of Battle Creek was the subject of an attack several years ago.  The 260 acres had been preserved early in the 20th century through joint efforts of local naturalists and John Harvey Kellogg.  In 1977, Calhoun County bought the preserve using money from the federal Land and Water [...]

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Our Little House in an Unpredictable Habitat

By rbrewer | Published: November 3, 2010

When I taught ecology to biology majors and minors I would occasionally include a question on the final exam something like this:  Describe two ways in which the study of ecology could save your life. I was happy to accept answers at any level of the environment from “If I don’t build my house in [...]

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The Plenteous Summer

By rbrewer | Published: August 14, 2010

When I go outside this summer I’m impressed by the amount of greenery.  I don’t have data, but it’s the greenest summer–the largest volume of foliage–I remember. This makes sense.  The limiting factors for photosynthesis, Biology 101 tells us, are temperature, light, and carbon dioxide.  Translating photosynthesis into plant growth–that is, new biomass–also involves availability [...]

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Colony Farm Orchard: Get on the Visitors’ List ASAP

By rbrewer | Published: July 23, 2010

For 33 years, from 1977 to early 2010, the Colony Farm Orchard was protected by a restrictive covenant.  By virtue of the terms of the gift to Western Michigan University by the state of Michigan, this land was to be kept as open space for public use. Now, as can be seen, WMU is telling [...]

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Colony Farm Orchard: A Voter’s Guide

By rbrewer | Published: July 6, 2010

I sent the following to the Kalamazoo Gazette as a Letter to the Editor.  The Gazette’s automated response told me that publication could take up to 2 months, which would be a month after the primary elections on August 3rd.  So I’m posting it here, slightly modified. To what I say in the letter, I [...]

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The 2010 American Columbo Census

By rbrewer | Published: June 20, 2010

Last week I finished my annual American columbo census.  Every year in June, I check up on a marked population of American columbo (Frasera caroliniensis) plants in the oak woods near where my wife and I live in Oshtemo Township. Here in southwest Michigan, columbo was an oak savanna plant. I suspect that today this [...]

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Michigan League of Conservation Voters: Rep. Robert Jones-100, Colony Farm Orchard-0

By rbrewer | Published: June 3, 2010

The League of Conservation Voters is a national environmental group that is best known for its Environmental Scorecard, where the league tallies the pro- and anti-environmental votes cast by our elected representatives.  I’m glad the organization exists; I strongly support the idea that we should know how politicians vote on conservation issues and hold them [...]

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Why are Yellow-headed Blackbirds rare in Michigan?

By rbrewer | Published: May 29, 2010

A Yellow-headed Blackbird, a rare bird in Michigan, was seen near the end of April at Wolf Lake Fish Hatchery.  The Fish Hatchery is west of Kalamazoo, a few miles over the Kalamazoo-Van Buren County line.  The bird was first reported on 30 April.   I drove out Sunday morning, 2 May, to try to get [...]

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Asylum Lake Preserve: What Kalamazoo ought to do, part 2

By rbrewer | Published: May 21, 2010

My last post several days ago repeated and updated some remarks I’d made on Earth Day 2004.   It ended with the following comment about the Asylum Lake Preserve situation at that time: Today’s Gazette (24 April 2004) had more good news. After a long process, a Declaration of Conservation Restrictions and Management Framework for the [...]

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