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Colony Farm Orchard: A Time for Knowledge, Wisdom, Conscience
Large maples, Colony Farm Orchard, fall 2009. Photo by Richard Brewer The Kalamazoo Gazette for Sunday 14 February carried a Viewpoint I wrote which they titled WMU can keep orchard in natural state....
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Signs of Spring
Open water in March in a buttonbush swamp, Oshtemo Township. Photo by Richard Brewer. Spring began in southwest Michigan in the past few days. One sign has been the Sandhill Cranes overhead, giving...
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Kalamazoo County Spring 2010, Second Installment
I wrote the following last night. Today, temperatures jumped into the 70s–77 as I write this at 6 PM. The forecast is for highs in the 70s and 80s for the next three days. So much for stretching out...
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Field Trip to Big Island Woods (Cooper’s Island) Coming Up
Hackberry, a frequent canopy tree at Big Island Woods. Photograph by Richard Brewer. Saturday 24 April I’m leading a field trip to the Big Island Woods, also referred to as Cooper’s Island. It’s a...
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A Cleaner, Greener Land: What Kalamazoo Ought to Do. 2010, Part 1.
I made the following remarks at the 24 April 2004 Earth Day celebration at Kalamazoo Valley Community College and included them on the earlier version of my website as Conservation Letter 2 . Today, in...
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Asylum Lake Preserve: What Kalamazoo ought to do, part 2
My last post several days ago repeated and updated some remarks I’d made on Earth Day 2004. It ended with the following comment about the Asylum Lake Preserve situation at that time: Today’s Gazette...
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Why are Yellow-headed Blackbirds rare in Michigan?
Male Yellow-headed Blackbird singing, Wolf Lake Fish Hatchery. Photo 1 May 2010 by Tim Tesar. A Yellow-headed Blackbird, a rare bird in Michigan, was seen near the end of April at Wolf Lake Fish...
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Michigan League of Conservation Voters: Rep. Robert Jones-100, Colony Farm...
The League of Conservation Voters is a national environmental group that is best known for its Environmental Scorecard, where the league tallies the pro- and anti-environmental votes cast by our...
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The 2010 American Columbo Census
Last week I finished my annual American columbo census. Every year in June, I check up on a marked population of American columbo (Frasera caroliniensis) plants in the oak woods near where my wife and...
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Colony Farm Orchard: A Voter’s Guide
I sent the following to the Kalamazoo Gazette as a Letter to the Editor. The Gazette’s automated response told me that publication could take up to 2 months, which would be a month after the primary...
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Colony Farm Orchard: Get on the Visitors’ List ASAP
For 33 years, from 1977 to early 2010, the Colony Farm Orchard was protected by a restrictive covenant. By virtue of the terms of the gift to Western Michigan University by the state of Michigan, this...
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The Plenteous Summer
Prairie planting Oshtemo Township August 2010. Photo by Richard Brewer When I go outside this summer I’m impressed by the amount of greenery. I don’t have data, but it’s the greenest summer–the...
View ArticleRare Bird in Oshtemo
I became a birder the summer of my freshman year in high school, a bird-watcher a few years later, and an ornithologist a few years after that. I’d have to find my life list to tell you just when I...
View ArticleOur Little House in an Unpredictable Habitat
When I taught ecology to biology majors and minors I would occasionally include a question on the final exam something like this: Describe two ways in which the study of ecology could save your life....
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Christmas Bird Counts, Murphysboro to Kalamazoo
Buttonbush swamp in winter, Oshtemo Township. Photo by Richard Brewer Whatever else Christmas may mean to a birder, it definitely means the Audubon Christmas bird count. The National Audubon Society...
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New Attack on the Harvey N. Ott Preserve, Battle Creek, MI
Shrubby cinquefoil, a characteristic fen species. Photo at Vanderbilt Fen October 1988. Copyright Richard Brewer The Ott Preserve at the east edge of Battle Creek was the subject of an attack several...
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The Ott Preserve and Attacks on Perpetuity
Slash in Ott Preserve after timber cut in 1993-4. Photo March 1994 by Richard Brewer Preserved natural areas are vulnerable. I don’t mean they’re delicate. It’s true that some will need a particular...
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Trail through the Ott Preserve: Going out of its way to pave the esker
Main Esker Trail, Ott Preserve. Photo February 2011 by Richard Brewer Last Saturday, I took a walk with about twenty other people at the Harvey Ott Biological Preserve. This is where the Calhoun County...
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Wide Bike Trail Through the Preserve?: Speak Out to Save the Ott
Take Action on the Proposed Trail Through the Harvey Ott Biological Preserve Main esker trail, looking down toward bridge, Harvey Ott Biological Preserve. Photo February 2011 Richard Brewer The Calhoun...
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Bicycle Trail Through or To the Ott Biological Preserve: A Decision Near
Following is a slightly revised version of a letter that I sent to members of the Calhoun County Board of Commissioners on 29 April 2011. They will soon (Thursday, 7 April, 7 PM at the County...
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