The Middle Boo

Prescribed Burn at Woolsey Wet Prairie

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Scaboo) — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 22:45:00 +0000

A prescribed burn was held today at Woolsey Wet Prairie in Fayetteville, AR. The burn was conducted by Environmental Consulting Operations, Inc. and Wildland Inc. in order to remove invasive grasses and dead plant matter. This enables native plants to have access to sunlight in the spring. The burn will also trigger native seeds to germinate in the spring, which may not have germinated without being subjected to an intense fire. Management practices such as this ensures the stability of the ecosystem over time, and helps fight against pressure from invasive plants. To learn more about the Woolsey Wet Prairie, click here (.pdf).

Here's a short video of the fire

Click on the pictures below for a larger image.

Bruce Shackleford, president of Environmental Consulting Operations, Inc., had this to say about the days events:

Today, we completed the prescribed burn at Woolsey Wet Prairie. Prior to the burn, I notified the City of Fayetteville Fire Department about our plans and received Burn Permit # 6038. Out of courtesy to the City of Farmington, I also notified their fire department since their city limits are nearby.

With the wind out of the north, our burn contractor Bill McKinney (Wildland, Inc.) had his crew start a back fire at the south end of the property that burned northward into the wind. After a few moments, they set a head fire at the north end that was carried by the wind toward the back fire. They also crossed standing water to reach the prairie mounds to ignite them with hand-held drip torches.

We had numerous spectators, including Lynn Hyke City of Fayetteville Construction Mgr., Lane Crider McGoodwin, Williams & Yates VP of Special Projects, Thom Dodd of OMI, Joe and Alex Woolbright of OERI, Frou Gallagher videographer for the City Channel, J.T. Wampler photojournalist for The Morning News, local birders Andy Scaboo and Brandon Schmidt, and several others. I had also invited developer Tracy Hoskins to observe the burn. That is another story described below.

As the site burned, we observed the mass exodus of hispid cotton rats, as hawks soared overhead looking for an easy meal. At one point when flames approached a marsh, we saw an American Bittern fly out of the tall grasses and land near a small pond of water. This is a really cool bird!

By this afternoon, J.T. Wampler had already posted his photos on The Morning News website. You can view them at:

http://nwabehindthelens.com/2009/02/19/wetland-burning/

Frou Gallagher shot a video that will be aired on the City Channel in the near future. If you want to see the burn in action, check the City Channel scheduling at:

http://www.accessfayetteville.org/government/cable/public_access_television/index.cfm

I will be posting additional fire photos in the near future on the Woolsey Wet Prairie website at:

http://ecoarkansas.com/WoolseyMain.html

Once the burn was completed, the snipes returned to their shallows to feed, the frogs resumed their chorus, and many of the songbirds simply moved to the adjacent fields. Within weeks, we will see the spring green up begin and another increase in plant species diversity is anticipated as Woolsey Wet Prairie Sanctuary continues to be remodeled.

After the burn, I notified the Fayetteville Fire Department that our burn was completed. Bill McKinney and his crew departed with the Woolbrights to do an afternoon burn at Chesney Prairie. His dozer contractor headed to the Park West property on Hwy 112 to cut a fire line. I had discussed ecological restoration with Hoskins and put him in touch with McKinney. I wanted Hoskins to see what we are doing at Woolsey, so I invited him to the burn. Wildland, Inc. will burn Hoskins' 140 acre prairie remnant Park West property tomorrow, weather permitting. As with Woolsey Wet Prairie, an increase in native plant species should be observed after the burn. Educating developers about ecological restoration is an integral part of Green Infrastructure Planning and watershed protection.

The highlight of the burn came when an American Bittern flew out of the smoke and fire, landing about thirty yards in front of us in a small pond. The photos below are courtesy of Bruce Shackelford, who was able to take a few pictures before the bird found better cover.

Ice Storm 2009 - Fayetteville, AR

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Scaboo) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 04:19:00 +0000

On Tuesday January 27th, Northwest Arkansas received more than 1.25" of ice in 24 hours. Karen and I were without power for more than seven days, and there were a reported 210,000 customers without power during the peak outage. As of today, there are still more than 20,000 customers without power in NWA. We managed to stay warm and keep our spirits high by staying with friends. A big thank you goes to Brandon for letting us stay at his house, to Rachel for cooking everyone dinner, and to all of our friends and family who contacted us.

The most memorable moments of the storm for me were on Tuesday evening. As I stood on my front porch I watched the fluorescent blue and green flashes of blown transformers and toppled power lines filling the sky, much like a lightning storm, accompanied by the horrific gunshot sounds of snapping trees and falling branches.

The pictures below were mostly taken on Wednesday, the day after.

It seems like quite some time before there will be Blackberries on this branch.

Unbelievably, this tree is standing erect as ever today, and much stronger for it.

A single blade of grass with over an inch of accumulated ice.

Power. I had none.

This was a half mile from my house, and the main reason we had no power for so long, I guess.

The University of Arkansas - Old Main

Bermuda, Beans, Birds, and The Buffalo

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Scaboo) — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 01:01:00 +0000

August was a good month for Karen and I. It started of with a cruise to Bermuda in honor of my parents 40th wedding anniversary. Congratulations Mom and Dad, you're an inspiration to us all. We spent six days and five nights sailing the Atlantic Ocean, enjoying time with my family, and exploring Bermuda. Highlights included relaxing by the pool with Karen, gazing out into the deep blue ocean, intriguing conversations with my brothers and nephews, exploring Spittal Pond Nature Reserve and an empty coastline, swimming at Horseshoe Bay and the nap that followed, leaving the casino up, and eating a family dinner with my parents almost every night.

The California Scaboo's

The entire family at dinner

Downtown Bermuda

My brother and I entering Spittal Pond Nature Reserve.

This little lizard just stared at us while we admired him and his neighborhood.

My soybeans look great this year. We have had an extremely wet growing season this year in Arkansas. We usually have to irrigate our fields heavily during August and September because the plants are filling the pods (producing seeds) and use a tremendous amount of water (up to 0.5 cm per day), but not this year. We received enough rain from Gustav and Ike to last us through harvest.

I have three experiments this year at three different locations in Arkansas including Fayetteville, Stuttgart, and Keiser. Here are a few pictures of my fields during a mid summer irrigation in Stuttgart.

Searching for and counting stink bugs.

I added three new birds to my Arkansas year list in September including Snowy Egret, Black-throated Green Warbler, and Greater White-fronted Goose. That puts me at 169 for the year. I am becoming evermore doubtful that I will accomplish my goal of 200, but it certainly won't be from a lack of effort. I think, like anything else it just takes time and practice to become reliable at bird identification, but that is also what makes it fun.

We also visited the Buffalo National River a few times in the past weeks. A group of us canoed from Ponca bridge to Kyles Landing (14 miles) a few days after Gustav came through, which left an abundant amount of water in the river and allowed for a rare trip down the river during the late summer.

We also hiked to a great swimming hole about a week before we went canoeing.

As far as the near future looks - In two weeks I'll be traveling to Houston, TX and presenting a paper at the American Society of Agronomy International Annual Meetings. I'll also be on a serious hunt for positions opening up in the next year or so. I hope everything goes well. I'm taking one class entitled 'Scientific Writing' this semester. It's the last class of my collegiate career and I can't wait to finish. It has been a long run, as most of you know. I'm also writing another book chapter, finishing a chapter for my dissertation, and harvesting my experiments before Christmas, so I'll be busy.

Walking Dogs and Killing Weeds

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Scaboo) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 02:39:00 +0000

This weekend Karen enjoyed her weekly visit to the Fayetteville Animal Shelter. She takes the dogs that stay in cages all day for a walk and some good play time on Fridays. She enjoys the time spent with the dogs, and I'm sure the dogs love the attention and freedom. Here are a few pictures of the dogs she walks and would love to see adopted by a good family.

Saturday I helped Bruce Shackleford (Fayetteville's environmental consultant and president of Environmental Consulting Operations) and the Fayetteville Natural Heritage Association clean up a wetland prairie mitigation and restoration area called Woolsey Wet Prairie.

I spent most of my day killing invasive non-native plants and learning a lot about wetland restoration and management. This type of wetland habitat is unique in Northwestern Arkansas and in sharp decline all across the United States. The wetland prairies provide a vital ecosystem for insects, plants, and animals which are threatened due to loss of habitat. Botanists recorded 47 native plant species when the restoration project was started in 2001, and as of Saturday that list has risen to over 300 unique native plant species, some of which haven't been recorded in this area for over 100 years. This is largely due to the abandonment of grazing cattle, initiation of prescribed burns, and the addition of berms to hold water throughout the year. Woolsey Wet Prairie is truly a testament to the implementation and direct application of years of scientific research in biology, ecology, and environmental sciences. My time spent at the wetland prairie reinforced my understanding of ecology and the importance of biological diversity in the rhythm and landscape of the natural world.

Here are the three non-native plants we hunted down and killed - Queen Anne's Lace, Goat's Beard, and another.

Before weeding:After weeding:And a few pictures of the native plants that were flowering

The Northwest Arkansas Times had a small article about the clean up event in the Sunday paper, and the Fayetteville Natural Heritage Association had this to say about the day on their website:

July 19, 2008, Woolsey Wetland Prairie (new wastewater treatment facility) Clean-up. Invasive species removal/trash pick-up.
Follow-up: What an amazing area! For those who slathered on the bug repellent and helped pull up some of the invasive species, thanks for your help. For those unable to be there, you missed quite a treat. Worth noting --- the many killdeer flying about, a good representation of dragonflys and butterflys, several scissortail flycatchers, a flock of ducks, the somewhat elusive grasshopper sparrows, and some really gorgeous wildflowers and other nifty plants. Thanks, Julie McQuade for organizing the work party and Bruce Shackelford for the enthusiastic and educational crash course on Woolsey's wealth of plants and wildlife! We are so fortunate to have this reclaimed area as part of our enduring green network. This natural area restoration success story will most certainly be a huge draw to Fayetteville.

Three New Birds This Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Scaboo) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:25:00 +0000

Saturday I went bird watching with a local group from Erbie, AR. We hiked around the Erbie campground (located on the Buffalo National River) and saw a lot of good birds (44 total). Two were new for me for the year, including the Field Sparrow (# 164) and the Prairie Warbler (# 165).

During our hiking we also came across this small Copperhead Snake.

Sunday Brandon and I found a Grasshopper Sparrow at Woolsey Wet Prairie, that makes 166 species for the year. Only 34 more to go!

Soon we'll be off to Bermuda!

The Mission: 200 Arkansas Birds for 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Scaboo) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 17:13:00 +0000

Sometime in late February I (and a friend of mine, Brandon) set a goal to try and see a total of 200 unique bird species, within the state of Arkansas. It has lead us all over western Arkansas, exploring diverse habitats and finding all sorts of interesting birds, plants, and animals. Some of our favorite locations include many spots along The Buffalo National River (the nation's first national river), Devils Den State Park, Chesney Prairie Natural Area, King's River Falls Natural area, Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park, Lake Fayetteville, Lincoln Lake, Lake Sequoyah, Lake Bob Kidd , and Lake Wilson. Here is my list as of today (163 total). Click on the bird name to see pictues and read all about that particular species.

Arkansas Year List

Bird Species - Location - Date
1 Yellow-breasted Chat Lake Sequoyah 08 Jul 2008
2 Cliff Swallow Lincoln Lake 25 Jun 2008
3 Caspian Tern Bob Kidd Lake 22 Jun 2008
4 Horned Lark Keiser, AR 17 Jun 2008
5 Little Blue Heron Woolsey Wet Prairie 15 Jun 2008
6 Cerulean Warbler Upper Buffalo Wilderness Area 08 Jun 2008
7 Dunlin Fish Hatchery (Centerton) 24 May 2008
8 Black Tern Fish Hatchery (Centerton) 24 May 2008
9 Willow Flycatcher Crystal Lake 24 May 2008
10 Swainson's Hawk Chesney Prairie Natural Area 24 May 2008
11 Bank Swallow Chesney Prairie Natural Area 24 May 2008
12 Great-tailed Grackle Chesney Prairie Natural Area 24 May 2008
13 Dickcissel Chesney Prairie Natural Area 24 May 2008
14 Acadian Flycatcher Chesney Prairie Natural Area 24 May 2008
15 Yellow-billed Cuckoo Chesney Prairie Natural Area 24 May 2008
16 Canada Warbler Lake Fayetteville 23 May 2008
17 Wild Turkey Lower Buffalo Wildnerness Area 18 May 2008
18 Whip-poor-will Buffalo City, AR 17 May 2008
19 Blackburnian Warbler Lake Wedington 12 May 2008
20 Gray Catbird Lake Sequoyah 10 May 2008
21 Magnolia Warbler Lake Sequoyah 10 May 2008
22 Kentucky Warbler Lake Sequoyah 10 May 2008
23 Mourning Warbler Lake Sequoyah 10 May 2008
24 Wilson's Warbler Farmington, AR (2) 08 May 2008
25 Least Flycatcher Prairie Grove Battlefield SP 05 May 2008
26 Wood Thrush Prairie Grove Battlefield SP 05 May 2008
27 Great Egret (Flint Creek Power Plant) 04 May 2008
28 Lincoln's Sparrow (Flint Creek Power Plant) 04 May 2008
29 Solitary Sandpiper (Flint Creek Power Plant) 04 May 2008
30 Red-headed Woodpecker Chesney Prairie Natural Area 04 May 2008
31 Common Yellowthroat Chesney Prairie Natural Area 04 May 2008
32 Yellow Warbler Chesney Prairie Natural Area 04 May 2008
33 Cooper's Hawk Devil's Den SP 03 May 2008
34 Painted Bunting Devil's Den SP 03 May 2008
35 Fish Crow Devil's Den SP 03 May 2008
36 Philadelphia Vireo Devil's Den SP 03 May 2008
37 Swainson's Thrush Lake Fayetteville 02 May 2008
38 American Redstart Lake Fayetteville 02 May 2008
39 Prothonotary Warbler Lake Fayetteville 02 May 2008
40 Chestnut-sided Warbler Lake Fayetteville 02 May 2008
41 Eastern Wood-Pewee Lake Wilson 29 Apr 2008
42 American Bittern Woolsey Wet Prairie 28 Apr 2008
43 Chimney Swift Woolsey Wet Prairie 28 Apr 2008
44 Long-billed Dowitcher Woolsey Wet Prairie 28 Apr 2008
45 Spotted Sandpiper Bob Kidd Lake 28 Apr 2008
46 Palm Warbler Bob Kidd Lake 28 Apr 2008
47 Common Nighthawk Lake Wilson 27 Apr 2008
48 White-eyed Vireo Devil's Den SP 27 Apr 2008
49 Blue Grosbeak Devil's Den SP 27 Apr 2008
50 Warbling Vireo Devil's Den SP 27 Apr 2008
51 Broad-winged Hawk Cartwright Mountain Rd. 26 Apr 2008
52 Rose-breasted Grosbeak Cartwright Mountain Rd. 26 Apr 2008
53 Scarlet Tanager Cartwright Mountain Rd. 26 Apr 2008
54 Worm-eating Warbler Cartwright Mountain Rd. 26 Apr 2008
55 Red-eyed Vireo Cartwright Mountain Rd. 26 Apr 2008
56 Yellow-throated Vireo Cartwright Mountain Rd. 26 Apr 2008
57 Eastern Kingbird Prairie Grove Battlefield SP 25 Apr 2008
58 Green Heron Creek Side Park (Farmington) 24 Apr 2008
59 Red-breasted Nuthatch Prairie Grove Battlefield SP 22 Apr 2008
60 Indigo Bunting Farmington, AR (1) 22 Apr 2008
61 Great Crested Flycatcher Prairie Grove Battlefield SP 21 Apr 2008
62 Cedar Waxwing Prairie Grove Battlefield SP 21 Apr 2008
63 Baltimore Oriole Prairie Grove Battlefield SP 21 Apr 2008
64 Orchard Oriole Prairie Grove Battlefield SP 21 Apr 2008
65 Summer Tanager Prairie Grove Battlefield SP 21 Apr 2008
66 Hooded Warbler Kings River Falls 20 Apr 2008
67 Red-shouldered Hawk U of A Experimental Farm 15 Apr 2008
68 Barred Owl Hemmed in Hollow (Compton Trail) 13 Apr 2008
69 Ruby-throated Hummingbird Devil's Den SP 12 Apr 2008
70 Louisiana Waterthrush Devil's Den SP 12 Apr 2008
71 Yellow-throated Warbler Devil's Den SP 12 Apr 2008
72 Tree Swallow Bob Kidd Lake 12 Apr 2008
73 American Golden-Plover Chesney Prairie Natural Area 11 Apr 2008
74 Brown Thrasher Chesney Prairie Natural Area 11 Apr 2008
75 Greater Yellowlegs Chesney Prairie Natural Area 11 Apr 2008
76 Eastern Towhee Chesney Prairie Natural Area 11 Apr 2008
77 Lesser Yellowlegs Chesney Prairie Natural Area 11 Apr 2008
78 Osprey Bob Kidd Lake 09 Apr 2008
79 Sora Bob Kidd Lake 09 Apr 2008
80 Purple Martin U of A Experimental Farm 09 Apr 2008
81 Brown-headed Cowbird U of A Experimental Farm 08 Apr 2008
82 Green-winged Teal U of A Experimental Farm 07 Apr 2008
83 Northern Parula Devil's Den SP 05 Apr 2008
84 Pine Warbler Devil's Den SP 05 Apr 2008
85 Scissor-tailed Flycatcher U of A Experimental Farm 03 Apr 2008
86 Rock Pigeon U of A Experimental Farm 02 Apr 2008
87 Chipping Sparrow U of A Experimental Farm 02 Apr 2008
88 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Devil's Den SP 01 Apr 2008
89 Ovenbird Devil's Den SP 01 Apr 2008
90 Hairy Woodpecker Winfrey Valley Rd. 29 Mar 2008
91 Black-and-white Warbler Winfrey Valley Rd. 29 Mar 2008
92 Northern Rough-winged Swallow Devil's Den SP 21 Mar 2008
93 Blue-winged Teal Bob Kidd Lake 20 Mar 2008
94 Great Horned Owl Lake Sequoyah 16 Mar 2008
95 Ruby-crowned Kinglet Lake Sequoyah 16 Mar 2008
96 Barn Swallow Chesney Prairie Natural Area 16 Mar 2008
97 Blue Jay (Flint Creek Power Plant) 16 Mar 2008
98 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Devil's Den SP 15 Mar 2008
99 Pileated Woodpecker Devil's Den SP 15 Mar 2008
100 Carolina Wren Devil's Den SP 15 Mar 2008
101 Black Vulture Farmington, AR (2) 14 Mar 2008
102 Double-crested Cormorant (Flint Creek Power Plant) 13 Mar 2008
103 Northern Bobwhite Chesney Prairie Natural Area 13 Mar 2008
104 Belted Kingfisher Chesney Prairie Natural Area 13 Mar 2008
105 Fox Sparrow Chesney Prairie Natural Area 13 Mar 2008
106 Brown Creeper Bob Kidd Lake 12 Mar 2008
107 Loggerhead Shrike Chesney Prairie Natural Area 11 Mar 2008
108 Wood Duck Holla Bend NWR 09 Mar 2008
109 Northern Harrier Holla Bend NWR 09 Mar 2008
110 Golden-crowned Kinglet Holla Bend NWR 09 Mar 2008
111 Savannah Sparrow Holla Bend NWR 09 Mar 2008
112 Purple Finch Holla Bend NWR 09 Mar 2008
113 Yellow-rumped Warbler Holla Bend NWR 09 Mar 2008
114 American Kestrel Holla Bend NWR 09 Mar 2008
115 Anhinga Bob Kidd Lake 08 Mar 2008
116 Harris's Sparrow Farmington, AR (1) 06 Mar 2008
117 House Finch Farmington, AR (1) 06 Mar 2008
118 Common Grackle Farmington, AR (1) 06 Mar 2008
119 House Sparrow Farmington, AR (1) 06 Mar 2008
120 Pied-billed Grebe Lake Fayetteville 05 Mar 2008
121 Red-bellied Woodpecker Lake Fayetteville 05 Mar 2008
122 Eastern Phoebe Lake Fayetteville 05 Mar 2008
123 White-breasted Nuthatch Lake Fayetteville 05 Mar 2008
124 Dark-eyed Junco Lake Fayetteville 05 Mar 2008
125 White-throated Sparrow Lake Fayetteville 05 Mar 2008
126 Tufted Titmouse Lake Fayetteville 05 Mar 2008
127 American Coot Lake Fayetteville 05 Mar 2008
128 Snow Goose Fish Hatchery (Centerton) 02 Mar 2008
129 Gadwall Fish Hatchery (Centerton) 02 Mar 2008
130 Brewer's Blackbird Fish Hatchery (Centerton) 02 Mar 2008
131 Rusty Blackbird Fish Hatchery (Centerton) 02 Mar 2008
132 Eastern Meadowlark Fish Hatchery (Centerton) 02 Mar 2008
133 Red-winged Blackbird Fish Hatchery (Centerton) 02 Mar 2008
134 White-crowned Sparrow Fish Hatchery (Centerton) 02 Mar 2008
135 Song Sparrow Fish Hatchery (Centerton) 02 Mar 2008
136 Northern Mockingbird Fish Hatchery (Centerton) 02 Mar 2008
137 American Robin Fish Hatchery (Centerton) 02 Mar 2008
138 Eurasian Collared-Dove Fish Hatchery (Centerton) 02 Mar 2008
139 Wilson's Snipe Fish Hatchery (Centerton) 02 Mar 2008
140 Least Sandpiper Fish Hatchery (Centerton) 02 Mar 2008
141 Killdeer Fish Hatchery (Centerton) 02 Mar 2008
142 Ring-necked Duck Fish Hatchery (Centerton) 02 Mar 2008
143 Bufflehead Fish Hatchery (Centerton) 02 Mar 2008
144 Lesser Scaup Fish Hatchery (Centerton) 02 Mar 2008
145 Redhead Fish Hatchery (Centerton) 02 Mar 2008
146 Downy Woodpecker Fish Hatchery (Centerton) 02 Mar 2008
147 Northern Shoveler Fish Hatchery (Centerton) 02 Mar 2008
148 Mallard Fish Hatchery (Centerton) 02 Mar 2008
149 Canada Goose Fish Hatchery (Centerton) 02 Mar 2008
150 Great Blue Heron Ouachita NF 01 Mar 2008
151 Red-cockaded Woodpecker Ouachita NF 01 Mar 2008
152 American Crow Ouachita NF 01 Mar 2008
153 Eastern Bluebird Ouachita NF 01 Mar 2008
154 American Goldfinch Ouachita NF 01 Mar 2008
155 Northern Cardinal Ouachita NF 01 Mar 2008
156 European Starling Ouachita NF 01 Mar 2008
157 Carolina Chickadee Ouachita NF 01 Mar 2008
158 Northern Flicker Ouachita NF 01 Mar 2008
159 Greater Roadrunner Ouachita NF 01 Mar 2008
160 Mourning Dove Ouachita NF 01 Mar 2008
161 Red-tailed Hawk Ouachita NF 01 Mar 2008
162 Bald Eagle Ouachita NF 01 Mar 2008
163 Turkey Vulture Ouachita NF 01 Mar 2008

Thanks Dgold

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Scaboo) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 20:42:00 +0000

My friend Dgold helped me redesign my blog today. Here is a picture of my blog on the first day, now look around at the new aesthetics and functionality of the site. Enjoy!

My First Post

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Scaboo) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 19:22:00 +0000

Well, it's a rainy and boring day here in Fayetteville, AR so I decided to start this blog. My name is Andrew Scaboo. Below is my wife Karen and our dog Abby just after sunrise at Mount Magazine State Park. Greetings everyone.