Category Archives: People and the Land

A Closer Look at Faville Grove Sanctuary

The land along Prairie Lane near the Crawfish River was a cornfield for as long as I could remember. In March, 1999, I joined a volunteer work crew to help begin the process of restoring wetland and prairie habitat at Faville Grove Sanctuary. It was my first experience with habitat restoration and it changed the course of my life. This article in Wisconsin Natural Resources Magazine explains a little bit about why Faville Grove is important to me: “Rooted in the Past, a Sanctuary Grows.”

Farmers, Conservationists Partner To Ensure Healthy Bird Migration in Nebraska Wetlands

Northern pintails take off at Johnson Waterfowl Production Area

One of the many benefits I received from my years as Communication Specialist for the Rainwater Basin Joint Venture was the opportunity to personally witness on-the-ground efforts to restore and maintain wetland and grassland habitat in a region that’s vitally important to migrating ducks, geese, shorebirds, and whooping cranes. Here’s an article I wrote about conservation organizations and agencies that cooperate with local farmers and other landowners to benefit both agriculture and wildlife: http://nebraskaruralliving.com/articles/rural-essays/rainwater-basin/

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The View from the Back of the Blind

A few days ago I drove west, as I do every spring, to join thousands of people who converge annually on the Platte River and the Rainwater Basin wetlands of south-central Nebraska. Nearly everybody who comes here comes to see some of the millions of migrating birds that congregate in this narrow stretch of the Central Flyway in March: sandhill cranes, ducks, geese, and more.

Some of us are also here to see people.

Continue reading →

Making Themselves at Home

Sandhills at NNWR (2)In his essay, “Marshland Elegy,” Aldo Leopold mourned the steady decline of sandhill cranes – and the wildness they represent – in the upper Midwest. All lost to a thing called progress.

Seven decades later, the trumpeting voices of thousands upon thousands of cranes ring out across the marshes and river valleys Continue reading →

History Museums: Some Discoveries Come in a Small Package

Aztalan Museum

Aztalan Museum

You’ve seen them: those little museums housed in old mansions or school buildings. A wooden sign out front bears the name of the local historical society and some infrequent hours of operation. It’s easy to look right past those signs. After all, the spotty hours can give the impression that little museums are usually closed.

The little museum in Aztalan, Wisconsin, on the west bank of the Crawfish River, comprises the village’s former church plus other historic buildings that have been relocated to the site. Continue reading →

Echoes of an Ancient People

Aztalan: The View from Outside the Wall

Aztalan: The View from Outside the Wall

A fortified city stood on the west bank of the Crawfish River nine centuries ago. Adobe-like walls – upright wood posts, plastered with clay – surrounded tiered platform mounds, a community plaza, and the dwellings of some four hundred people. The homes, like the fortifications, were built with what the river provided: woven willow branches sealed and bound together by the Crawfish River’s clay. Hardened clay also covered at least one of the great mound structures.

When the sun shone brightly, as it did when I visited the Crawfish River yesterday, how the city must have gleamed! Continue reading →