Longspur Prairie Friends! A big, BIG meeting this last week with some local rock-stars working together on LPFs Site 2 - Mahnomen. Rock star Phil Doll (Goosefoot, LLC), Dan Shaw (BWSR, St. Paul), Stacy Salvevold (USFWS, Detroit Lakes Wetland Management District), bad-ass John Voz (BWSR, Detroit Lakes), and local pollinator luminary, Dr. D. Bryan Bishop (Concordia College, Moorhead MN) were all present. The site is managed by LPF in coordination with Dusty Jasken (Mahonmen NRCS). Heres whats been decided: All acres not being restored to wetlands -- about 260+ acres, in all -- are going to be seeded with a seed mix specifically designed for native pollinators: bees, butterflies, and other wildlife. The dispersal and plotting of the seeds is going to be governed and designed by the team. More specifically, Bryan and his students will be designing a variety of high-level experiments geared towards a better understanding of pollinator behavior. This might come as a surprise, but we dont really understand bee activity very well. And thats got to change if we want to figure out what is really going on with bee colony collapse. The site -- and this project -- is gaining statewide (soon to be nationwide) attention, and for good reason: It is one of the first parcels in Minnesota for which the conservation plan is being designed, from the start, with pollinator research in mind. The pics: Some nice shot of some bees (courtesy Martin Durn) accompanied by some shot (courtesy Phil Doll) of the finished seed bed prep. Jeff Lunde (Jasons brother, the guy who did our wetland scrapes) completed the tillage using an awesome machine from German implement maker Lemken. (The tool is basically a super disc that allows us to prep the seed bed in one pass, as opposed to three or four.) We are ready to seed in the Spring. And those pics are going to blow the doors off. Respect for local economies + respect for local ecologies + fantastic state and private partnerships = prompt, tangible, authentic results. Want to help us keep going? Then hit longspurprairie.org to invest in something local, awesome, and real. This is our land. And we are just getting started. The Longspur Prairie Fund is hosted by the Impact Foundation, Samantha Kundinger, Foundation Director, which, in turn, is funded by Dakota Medical Foundation, Pat Traynor, Executive Director.
Posted on: Sun, 14 Dec 2014 12:13:15 +0000
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