Smoke, Fire, Haze, and Regrowth

 You couldn’t miss it. Either inside on the news or outside on the horizon, the haze created by northern wildfires hundreds of miles from Ohio was unavoidable. While often reports on events are over blown, that wasn’t the case this time. Fire has always been a shaping force on the environment, and that was definitely happening in Canada and Minnesota.

Fires from lightning have been a natural part of the environment forever, and have been started by people for thousands of years. Ecosystems have developed alongside them, creating a rhythm of growth and renewal. In the west, for example, stands of ponderosa pine trees relied on a burn cycle of one every 5 to 25 years. That frequency at a relatively low burn intensity cleared grasses and smaller trees enough to create mixed-age forest stands. 

Read the complete column here: Wildfire Haze Carries Lessons

Participate and learn more about fire and wildlife habitat in Ohio.

The Five Rivers Metroparks and Ohio Division of Wildlife, along with Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever, are hosting "A Day in the Uplands Workshop Series." The next event, Prescribed Fire & Pollinators, is scheduled for 9 a.m. - 2 pm Saturday, August 15. It will include a 1.5 mile walk through high quality habitat with a discussion of the methods used to achieve. The event is free but registration is required. 

https://events.pheasantsforever.org/events/prescribed-fire-pollinators---landowner-workshop/a64dcc87-0a42-4904-923e-64cca89fc357 

Additionally, Pheasants Forever recently created Habitat University, a collection of free online courses related to habitat and land management. The Five Rivers Metro parks offers a variety of classes throughout the year, including prescribed fire instruction. 

Resources and Events

Conservation for Kids- presented by Mercer County Pheasants Forever

8:30 a.m. Saturday, August  8

Celina, OH

Field Dog First Aid Seminar Presented By Mercer County Pheasants Forever

3 p.m. Saturday, August 15

Fishing Patience Doesn't Have to Be Passive

 I get it. Fishing might seem boring to some people. The historic image of a man in a straw hat napping on the shore with a bamboo pole seems about as close to doing nothing as one can get. I think there's a time for that.

At the polar opposite are modern big-money fishing tournaments with triple-digit horsepower motors pushing purpose-built boats to the next casting spot. The mission there is “more and faster.” There's a time for that as well. But neither of these methods teaches one of the greatest lessons in the outdoors: patience.

Read the complete column here: Patience is Fishing's Lesson

European Starling - Not Wanted - And on the Worlds Worst List

 

The summer solstice had barely passed, and we were within the first week of July when I saw them. It was July 7th this year, to be exact. The first day I noticed what I take to be a sign of Autumn: multiple family groups of European Starlings, or a “murmur” as a flock of starlings is called. It was way too early for me to think about fall. But here they were in early July, in the hundreds blanketing the neighborhood. As the name, European Starling suggests, they’re not native to the US, but they are certainly here. I wish they would pack up and just go.

New York, New York, if they can make it there … 

There is debate about whether their introduction was inspired by a desire to ensure every bird mentioned in Shakespeare's works was released in the United States. But for sure, eccentric New York pharmacist Eugene Schieffelin, was involved at some level. Part of the American Acclimatization Society, a group of wealthy New Yorkers who sought to trade and introduce European flora and fauna, he released 100 starlings into Central Park in 1890. Unfortunately, releasing new species onto the landscape that were deemed “useful or interesting,” or that just reminded them of the homeland, was a common practice at the time. There wasn’t a full understanding of the impact they might have.

Read the complete column here: You've Probably Seen this Noisy Invasive Bird

Resources

https://www.aphis.usda.gov/sites/default/files/European-Starlings-WDM-Technical-Series.pdf

https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-1533.07

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Acclimatization_Society

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/100_of_the_World%27s_Worst_Invasive_Alien_Species

Download Starling BB Gun Target Here

Eagles Soaring Over Ohio

“I know something you don’t know,” isn’t the gleeful greeting you expect from someone well past elementary school, never mind retirement. And in reality, there are a lot of things I don’t know and I expect that everyone knows things that I don’t. But it didn’t bother me because it was too big a secret for them to hold very long. That’s kind of typical with that phrase.

Read the complete column here: National Symbol Soaring High in the Miami Valley

Where to see Bald Eagles

You could see an eagle literally anywhere in Southwest Ohio. Immature Bald Eagles can be difficult to differentiate from a Golden Eagle, but there’s no mistaking the adults. 

• C.J. Brown Reservoir 
• Great Miami River near Carillon Blvd
• Any major body of water

Little Miami Conservancy Bald Eagle Nest Cam - Live YouTube stream https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHOdKaPsFk8

Resources

https://ohiodnr.gov/ and search for eagles

https://www.history.com/articles/how-did-the-bald-eagle-become-americas-national-bird

Beavers - Reshaping Edges and Water

 KERSPLASH!

We were quietly casting jitterbugs after sunset towards the shore of what was an Ohio Power (now American Electric Power (AEP)) pond when it sounded like someone had lobbed a bowling ball into the water towards our jon boat. We were fairly remote, and there weren’t any other campers around. Flashlights didn’t reveal Bigfoot on the bank. No trees had fallen into the water. Back to fishing, working our way around, and it happened again. Then again.

We retired for the night, knowing something was out there. But it was the 1970s, and there was no internet available to search “big splash at night.” Also, no cellphones to call for help if it were an escaped convict or locals trying to scare us away from their favorite lake. ’70s TV and Scooby Do will make a kid think that way. Turns out it was a local family trying to scare us away — a family of beavers.

Read the complete column: Beavers Making the World a Wetter Place

New Tick in Town

Being outdoors in southwest Ohio has its blessings. While we don’t have snowcapped mountains or sweeping oceans, it’s also relatively safe. Walking outside doesn’t mean prepping against a host of lethal things trying to stick, sting, bite, or eat you immediately. There are no alligators in the pond. Poisonous snakes are rare. Maybe an occasional bear wandering through. For the most part, we deal with minor annoyances that have existed for centuries, probably led by mosquitoes.

That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be cautious and prepare for what is out there. In Ohio, it’s often not an immediate, imminent danger that gets us; it’s the later consequences of insect encounters. Lyme disease, carried by blacklegged or deer ticks, has been around for centuries and has become more common as deer and human populations have grown and shifted. I’ll go ahead and throw honeysuckle amur under the bus with that one as well.

Read the complete column here: Lone Star Tick

Summer Fishing School

 

Sometime during my elementary school years, a guy built a pond on his land in the middle of our neighborhood. I don’t know all of what was said or discussed about having a pond in the middle of a neighborhood, but I’m sure it was a lot. But he did it anyway. And there it was.

It was private property, in complete view of his house and anyone driving by. If someone was fishing, you’d see them, but there never was. Rumor was that it was stocked with fish, but no one was allowed.

One of those things turned out to be true one summer.

Read the complete column here: Local Events to Get Kids Fishing