The Value of Sycamore
September 26, 2019 6:00 pm 7 CommentsThe sycamore is an interesting member of our sylva. Native to our floodplains, it is often found right on the... Read More →
Author Archives for Lon Drake
About Lon Drake
This old guy's favorite large-scale conservation projects include integrating soils, water, plants, and animals, especially native species. I still bike through my South Sycamore stormwater management system from 2001.
Was the Conservation Lottery a Marketing Failure?
September 19, 2019 6:00 pm 4 CommentsFor decades around here, there has been a pattern of city people purchasing a rural acreage, building a house, planting... Read More →
Stardust
September 12, 2019 6:00 pm 2 CommentsEarly this August there were some clear nights without moonlight and I went for some little midnight walks, especially to... Read More →
Snakes and Us
September 5, 2019 6:00 pm 3 CommentsA lot of people have an aversion to snakes. For some it is just a distaste, they would rather not... Read More →
Pleistocene Park: A Large-Scale Restoration, Part II
August 29, 2019 6:00 pm 2 CommentsLast week’s blog introduced Pleistocene Park and concluded with a hint that mammoth were an especially important component of the... Read More →
Pleistocene Park: A Large Scale Restoration, Part I
August 22, 2019 6:00 pm 3 CommentsMuch of the far north landscape of the world is covered with tundra. In some areas the main vegetation is... Read More →
Adventures in Deep Time: Cats and Horses
August 15, 2019 6:00 pm Leave your thoughtsWhen I was a graduate student at UCLA in 1965, my summer job involved being a mineral collector and a... Read More →
Building Wetlands Efficiently
August 8, 2019 6:00 pm Leave your thoughtsThe construction of a wetland is mainly an earthmoving exercise, reshaping the landscape so that water will be provided as... Read More →
The Quarryman’s Hammer
August 1, 2019 6:00 pm Leave your thoughtsIn 1968 I was scoping out an abandoned quarry north of Iowa City for a class field trip. While there... Read More →
Hummingbird Rescue: A Book Review
July 25, 2019 6:00 pm 1 CommentFastest Thing on Wings: Rescuing Hummingbirds in Hollywood, by Terry Masear, Mariner Books, 306 pages. This is an amazing story.... Read More →
