Category Archives: Uncategorized

Find the three birds orchid in Michigan beech-maple forest, please

By rbrewer | Published: August 29, 2011

Today is a good time to take a walk in the forest, but then any time is.  It’s a really good time for a walk in the beech-maple forest, because a very rare orchid blooms this time of year. The orchid is three birds orchid (Triphora trianthophora).  It’s known from Kalamazoo County and in fact [...]

Also posted in Conservation, Michigan (including Kalamazoo), Plants and Plant Communities | Leave a comment

Quote 4, Jeremy Grantham on human population size as the latest bubble

By rbrewer | Published: August 22, 2011

Whether the stable population will be 1.5 billion or 5 billion, the question is: How do we get there?… I have no doubt we’re going to have a bad hundred years.  We have the resources to gracefully handle the transition, but we won’t.  We apparently can’t. –Jeremy Grantham   Jeremy Grantham is an investment strategist [...]

Also posted in Conservation, Quotations | 1 Comment

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 [...]

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

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

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 [...]

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

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 [...]

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

Trail through the Ott Preserve: Going out of its way to pave the esker

By rbrewer | Published: February 26, 2011

Last Saturday, I took a walk with about twenty other people at the Harvey Ott Biological Preserve. This is where the Calhoun County Trailway Alliance wants to put a 10-foot wide paved cycling trail. Tom Funke, Director of Conservation for the Michigan Audubon Society, led the excursion. MAS owns about 20 sanctuaries. Tom is a [...]

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

Darwin and the Tree of Life Vs. Science Illiteracy

By rbrewer | Published: January 27, 2011

I got an email message from Barack Obama today–well, maybe not from Barack personally.  The heading of the message was, “What does your T-shirt say?” The next message in my mail box was from the Center for Inquiry, Michigan chapter, reminding me not to forget Charles Darwin’s birthday, Saturday February 12th. The Obama T-shirt is [...]

Also posted in Southern Illinois Ecology | 1 Comment

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 [...]

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

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 [...]

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