For almost two full weeks, this little tree frog and I have been battling over possession of my mailbox. I have left the mailbox open several times but he always returns. Once, when I was trying to remove the mail carefully so as not to disturb him, he jumped out of the mailbox. I was not sure where he landed so I carefully and very slowly backed up the car, causing him to jump into the grass where I knew he was safe. The next day, he was back.
It was incredibly hot the first time I opened the mailbox and received a minor shot of adrenaline from the unexpected pair of eyes calmly looking at me. I left the mailbox open. I even went up there about 4 am in the rain to see if he had left. The box was empty then, but he returned. He has returned almost every day, no matter what, so as far as I am concerned, he's welcome to poop on my mail. Almost all of it is junk mail anyway.
The strip mining has progressed to directly across the road. I am sorry that the prairie is being ruined like this but honestly, this area is no longer real prairie. If the owners are not strip mining it for limestone, they are spraying it to kill everything but grass. The time of the true tall grass prairie is gone forever. All that remains is a tiny, tiny percentage that white people are just now beginning to value because it is vanishing and rare. Too late.
2 comments:
I was just reading an article about efforts made by ....... some official governmental agency ..... to get farmers to plant long strips of native prairie plants amongst their acres. Besides the 'no duh' element of plowing wrecked everything from the beginning there is now enough evidence that returning even a small percentage of a given piece of land to native plants reduces soil erosion, soaks up excess nitrates and reduces water pollution, etc etc etc. If the gummit is pushing it, there must be a TON of evidence, as this goes against everything Big Ag has been telling us for 100+ years. Sadly, it is a tough sell to the Midwest farmers. But maybe, just maybe, there is a teensy weensy bit of hope?
You would be surprised, I think, at how many KS farmers are embracing conservation efforts. They plant waterways back to native, they are leaving, or replanting, tree corridors between fields and creeks and rivers to help keep nitrates and other undesirables out of the water. They are making efforts, in varying degrees, to leave cover and nesting/denning sites for wild animals. Not all of them of course, but there is a sort of silent, middle of the road effort by many. What is so unfortunate is the hot button issues that attract radical nutcases at both end of the spectrum that get in the way of real progress. But oh my.... SOOOOoooooo much more could be done!!! GMO's HAVE to go and so do most of the herbicides and pesticides. Most refuse to give those up. And I can't even believe that anyone thinks it's okay to dig up the prairie for limestone. LOTS of money in it, though.
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