Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Public invited to view plan for widening portions of Huntsville Road and Fifteenth Street from 4 to 7 p.m. today

People interested in protecting Northwest Arkansas' two major watersheds, in this case, the watershed of the Town Branch of the West Fork of the White River and Beaver Lake, need to turn out and make sure that the planners are taking into account the potential affect of this project on water quality and the need for stormwater retention to avoid increasing the flooding and erosion threat downstream.

View Larger Map
Please use controls and cursor to move the image, zoom in or out and trace the whole route to be discussed this afternoon.

Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department officials will reveal the first phase of design for widening a 2.7-mile stretch of Arkansas 16 between S. College Avenue and Stonebridge Road to four lanes and installing a traffic light at the Stonebridge intersection, east of Crossover Road from 4 to 7 p.m. in the activity center of Fayetteville First Assembly of God at 550 E. 15th St. There won't be a presentation; residents can look at displays, ask questions and give feedback verbally or on survey forms, The Northwest Arkansas Times reported in its March 31, 2009, edition.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Severed limb budding at end. Birds and squirrels and rabbits may eat them



Here is the caption with the photo of limbs burning in Benton County:
Up in smoke:
Benton County employee Harvey Johnson watched a fire at 10791 Stoney Point Road near Lowell on Thursday. The county is burning limbs and trees broken by this winter’s ice storm. Other burn sites are at 9900 Marchant Road in Elm Springs, 21447 Waukesha Road in Siloam Springs and 19941 Bettis Hill Road near War Eagle. Washington County is also burning ice-storm debris on North 40th Street in Springdale. DAVID FRANK DEMPSEY / Benton County Daily Record

If no one in either county had a fireplace or a wood stove, this might seem slightly less ridiculous.
I hope a lot of people who can use firewood or who would collect it and sell it will be at those sites before more is burned and load it up and take it away.
This wood would save people money, reduce air pollution now and save the carbon in these limbs for actual home heating and reduce global climate change (because people with wood stoves and fire places will be buying wood next fall and reducing the tree cover even more in Northwest Arkansas).
Additionally, birds and squirrels are eating buds on those limbs where they are lying. In fact, many large limbs or trunks lying separated from the main trunk for nearly two months are budding right now! So wildlife are having to search a bit more for food, which may be tough for birds facing nesting season.
Burning material with this much value is WRONG.
It is even worse than chipping it all. This is incredibly wasteful and inconsiderate of people and other living things. I am proud to live in Fayetteville where an effort is being made to separate potential firewood for sharing and where the rest is being chipped rather than burned.
This is an example of the need for cross-training and keeping all environmental enforcement under one big umbrella. Apparently, it would be the responsibility of the EPA to see that FEMA's requirements for subsidizing "cleanup" efforts meet environmental guidelines. But I would bet that the EPA has had no input in the cleanup efforts. Otherwise, they would have required sound environmental use of the downed trees and limbs.
And, if there were any budgetary control of FEMA, their pet contractors would be required to compact and compress the loads of loose limbs in their trailers and trucks before claiming a load is full and counting it on the basis of cubic yards.
If you take waste metal to a steel yard or aluminum-recycling facility, you will have your vehicle weighed and then weighed again after the workers pull off what can be recycled. They don't pay more for half-empty truckloads or uncrushed cans that fill a big bag. The scales tell the story.
Should the taxpayers support a system that rewards only selected contractors and ignores the value of the material being destroyed in the pretense of "cleaning up" after a disaster? And requires the hiring of "inspectors" or whatever from different pet companies to make sure the trucks aren't overfilled?
My questions aren't original. I have heard these questions from residents of Fayetteville who are offended by the appearance of poor management and waste.
The city can't ask these questions because the EPA MIGHT look into the problem and FEMA MIGHT delay reimbursement of the city for the work that took a big chunk out of the city's reserve fund.
But somebody has to ask why they don't just weigh the loads and pay and reimburse on the results. My neighbors have asked.

Severed limb budding at end. Birds and squirrels and rabbits may eat them



Here is the caption with the photo of limbs burning in Benton County:
Up in smoke:
Benton County employee Harvey Johnson watched a fire at 10791 Stoney Point Road near Lowell on Thursday. The county is burning limbs and trees broken by this winter’s ice storm. Other burn sites are at 9900 Marchant Road in Elm Springs, 21447 Waukesha Road in Siloam Springs and 19941 Bettis Hill Road near War Eagle. Washington County is also burning ice-storm debris on North 40th Street in Springdale. DAVID FRANK DEMPSEY / Benton County Daily Record

If no one in either county had a fireplace or a wood stove, this might seem slightly less ridiculous.
I hope a lot of people who can use firewood or who would collect it and sell it will be at those sites before more is burned and load it up and take it away.
This wood would save people money, reduce air pollution now and save the carbon in these limbs for actual home heating and reduce global climate change (because people with wood stoves and fire places will be buying wood next fall and reducing the tree cover even more in Northwest Arkansas).
Additionally, birds and squirrels are eating buds on those limbs where they are lying. In fact, many large limbs or trunks lying separated from the main trunk for nearly two months are budding right now! So wildlife are having to search a bit more for food, which may be tough for birds facing nesting season.
Burning material with this much value is WRONG.
It is even worse than chipping it all. This is incredibly wasteful and inconsiderate of people and other living things. I am proud to live in Fayetteville where an effort is being made to separate potential firewood for sharing and where the rest is being chipped rather than burned.
This is an example of the need for cross-training and keeping all environmental enforcement under one big umbrella. Apparently, it would be the responsibility of the EPA to see that FEMA's requirements for subsidizing "cleanup" efforts meet environmental guidelines. But I would bet that the EPA has had no input in the cleanup efforts. Otherwise, they would have required sound environmental use of the downed trees and limbs.
And, if there were any budgetary control of FEMA, their pet contractors would be required to compact and compress the loads of loose limbs in their trailers and trucks before claiming a load is full and counting it on the basis of cubic yards.
If you take waste metal to a steel yard or aluminum-recycling facility, you will have your vehicle weighed and then weighed again after the workers pull off what can be recycled. They don't pay more for half-empty truckloads or uncrushed cans that fill a big bag. The scales tell the story.
Should the taxpayers support a system that rewards only selected contractors and ignores the value of the material being destroyed in the pretense of "cleaning up" after a disaster? And requires the hiring of "inspectors" or whatever from different pet companies to make sure the trucks aren't overfilled?
My questions aren't original. I have heard these questions from residents of Fayetteville who are offended by the appearance of poor management and waste.
The city can't ask these questions because the EPA MIGHT look into the problem and FEMA MIGHT delay reimbursement of the city for the work that took a big chunk out of the city's reserve fund.
But somebody has to ask why they don't just weigh the loads and pay and reimburse on the results. My neighbors have asked.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Joe Neal finds Trillium pusillum variant ozarkanum at Cave Springs Natural Area on March 22, 2009

After seeing the trilliums in bloom at Ninestone Land Trust on March
20, I decided to head over to Cave Springs Cave Natural Area in Benton
Co., to visit the mother lode of Ozark Wake Robin (Trillium pusillum
var. ozarkanum). They were sure enough in bloom -- thousands on a
gentle north-facing slope above a cave that houses the rare Ozark Cave
Fish. I was also hoping to get my first spring hearing of
Black-and-white Warbler, an early parula or Yellow-throated Vireo, but
struck out. The trilliums alone were worth the effort. However, I
didn't go away feeling all that great about the visit...

Unfortunately, patches of these rare trilliums on Cave Springs Cave
Natural Area are in the process of being overwhelmed and smothered by
honeysuckle. The only cure for such a thing is mother nature's
favorite tool, fire. Repeated winter or early spring burns, before the
trilliums are up, would suppress/push back the honeysuckle and other
alien plants, leaving the cherty rubble free for the emergence of
trilliums and other botanicals adapted to open forest landscapes free
of smootherers & stranglers like honeysuckle. Some patches have
already been lost to honeysuckle.

I mention this in the context of rare trilliums, because the same
thing hugely impacts birds. Many among us in the conservation (in our
case, bird lovin/ Audubon community) still don't have the fire thing
figured out -- how historically fires shaped the natural landscape,
and how without deliberately using fire, it will be impossible to
reset the clock, even in those patches that we call preserves, natural
areas, national forests, etc.
Admittedly, my attitude about this is STRONGLY shaped by years of
working as a USDA Forest Service Wildlife Biologist with endangered
Red-cockaded Woodpeckers, which were headed for extinction before
biologists began to strongly push fire back into southern pine
forests. Bobwhite quail, Bachman's Sparrows, Prairie Warblers and many
other birds have rebounded in those habitats where fire is
reintroduced. I saw it for myself on the Ouachita National Forest in
west central Arkansas.

So, my friends in the conservation community with a worry about fire,
treat yourself to a good read. The bible in this case: Restoring North
American Birds, Lessons from Landscape Ecology, by Robert A. Askins (I
read the second edition). Unlike many environmental books, this one is
pure as a bedside reader, Aldo Leopoldish astride our fire-hungry
landscape.

We don't need to keep scratching our heads about this one. Just get
that drip torch and go to work!

JOSEPH C. NEAL in Fayetteville, Arkansas

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Focus group to discuss plan for Beaver Lake

On Wednesday, March 25th, you are invited to a focus group meeting with Tetratech to discuss the status of the Beaver Lake Watershed Management Plan that they have been helping facilitate. This follow-up focus group meeting with conservation and environmental representatives will take place on Wednesday, March 25th at 3pm in the Chicago Room (room #220) at the Jones Center for Families in Springdale. They want to gather your feedback on some of the management options that they have been developing for the watershed.
I believe each of you participated in the first focus group meeting Tetratech convened a few months back. If you have suggestions for other folks who should be included in this focus group, please let me know or pass this invitation along to them.
Tetratech has put together a series of newsletters to update you and other focus group members on the status of the project. I will distribute some of the newsletters attached to this message and others attached to another message early next week.
Please let me know if you have any questions and whether you will be able to attend the meeting on Wednesday, March 25th at 3pm.
Thank you!
Mike Malone
387-5590 (cell)

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Grackles 30 feet from World Peace Wetland Prairie

Please click on images and please comment below to confirm the species. Are these the common grackles?


Sunday, March 8, 2009

Daylight-saving time means woodcock roosting will be later this week

(1) Well, as I do annually, I plum forgot about daylight savings time.
I will still be out there at 5:30, as announced, but the dancin' is
unlikely until near sunset, which is an hour later, as of today! But
there is other stuff to do, anyway. (2) When I set the trip up I
didn't know Forest Service road 1754 would be under reconstruction,
which it is. Therefore, I must assume we will have a short (but
interesting & birdy, etc etc) walk to the fields, rather than drive in
there with our bigtime gas guzzlers. (3) BRING A FLASHLIGHT. Jacque
Brown reminded me that it is a great idea to bring a flashlight, since
we have this unplanned walk (see #2) out. She & Mike found woodcocks
still going there yesterday (Saturday). (4) Just in case there is
comment that our Sunday field trip interfers with church: it is a kind
of church & hopefully we will have a big worshipful congregation at
our upcoming Wedington services.

JOSEPH C. NEAL in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Privit-berry bandits remain at World Peace Wetland Prairie

Please click on images to Enlarge view of cedar waxwing enjoying privit berries on March 5, 2009, at World Peace Wetland Prairie in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

February 2009 newsletter of the NWAS

Please click on images to read the pages of the newsletter.


Please click on images to view pages of the February 2009 Northwest Arkansas Audubon Newsletter.

Bewick's wren photographed by David Oakley on February 22, 2009

Please click on image of Bewick's wren to Enlarge photo made by G. David Oakley of Springdale on 2/22/09 when Mike Mlodinow, Jacque Brown, and Oakley identified the wren at Pea Ridge Military Park where Mike had found it a couple of weeks previously.



At the risk of showing just how poorly I function as a photographer of birds, I am displaying a different species photographed on March 2, 2009, near a hollow portion of a damaged maple tree in the hope that someone will identify its species by clicking on the "comments" link below and sharing the information. Please click on the image to ENLARGE. The photo will still be blurry but will likely made identification easy for those who recognize it.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Wedington woodcock on radar for March 15


American Woodcock field trip Sunday March 15. Sponsored by Northwest
Arkansas Audubon Society.

The 450-acre Wedington Small Game Area is on the northwest
corner of the Wedington Unit of the Ozark-St. Francis NF, approx. 16
miles west of Fayetteville & approx. 4 miles east of Siloam Springs.
The 15,000-acre Wedington Unit is designated as an Urban Forest. We
will listen for & hopefully observe woodcocks in the small game area.

From the intersection of HWY 412 and Interstate 540 in Springdale, go
west approx. 13.2 miles on HWY 412. Note that Kincheloe Road bisects
412, with turns north AND south. If you are driving from Springdale,
you will first pass Kincheloe Rd on your north at approx. 12.6-12.7
miles; don't turn. Keep going another 0.5 miles and turn left SOUTH
onto Kincheloe Road and travel WEST for approx. 1.3 miles to Forest
Service road 1754 (on the right). We will meet at this intersection
(Kincheloe and FS 1754) promptly at 5:30 PM. (if you arrive late,
drive 1754 & find us ? we will be less than a mile away on the road).
Bring a chair, since we will sit and wait for the woodcock displays to
begin near and shortly after sunset. LOTS of other birds are in the
area to enjoy during the wait. Mosquitoes could be out & about if the
weather is warm. Sunset is 7:25 PM.

View Larger Map
Overall, this should be a fairly easy trip for most folks, including
those with walking impairments. The woodcock displays should be
viewable/audible from where we park. Maps: if you use Google Earth,
type Kincheloe Road Siloam Springs, AR into the search. This will
produce a map of this area. There is also a map of the Wedington Unit
at:
http://www.agfc.com/!userfiles/pdfs/wma_lake_maps/Wedington%20WMA%20Map.pdf

JOSEPH C. NEAL in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Joe Neal visits Woolsey Wet Prairie after prescribed burn and snowfall to find birds active on March 1, 2009

I was out at Woolsey Wet Prairie in Fayetteville this morning, for
about as long as I could take it: temps in 20s, north wind, water
iced-over, and a thin crust of snow. Woolsey was prescribe burned on
February 20, so a lot of the tall grasses are short and black. But
there are many places too wet for fire to be effective, and vegetation
remained there. First thing I noticed -- more meadowlarks there than I
had seen before (35-40) -- no doubt, taking advantage of the good
foraging after the burn (I only heard Easterns). Also, maybe 15
Wilson's Snipe. Sedge Wren - 1 -- in sedges not much impacted. Then,
suddenly, an American Bittern lifted up in front of me out of some
dense vegetation between the prairie mounds, tried to go north, then
sort of drifted back low and right over me. Other than a bittern I
once saw & watched in a leisurely fashion while sitting in my car at
Centerton, this was one of the best looks ever. This bird clearly had
both legs and both feet. There were 15-20 Swamp Sparrows, ~10 Song
sparrows, 8 White-crowned Sparrows, and a seemingly endless flock of
Savannah Sparrows, which I counted up to 78.

Now for a couple of landscape comments: Behind Woolsey is NWA's newest
mountain -- it's called Mt Limb & Tree Trunk, child of the ice storm,
growing daily, and being returned to wood fiber by the planet's
biggest wood chipper. The prairie itself never looked more
interesting: with much of the vegetation burned-off, you can clearly
see the height & shape of the prairie mounds and the inter-moundal
playas.

JOSEPH C. NEAL in Fayetteville, Arkansas.