Aubrey James Shepherd's Web log

Short takes on Cox 218 and AT&T channel 99 something for today through the weekend

2012-01-15T23:33:00.001-08:00

Park board hears comments on value of preserving soil and native plants on proposed construction site on Rochier Hill west of Pinnacle Prairie and World Peace Wetland Prairie

2012-01-07T11:12:00.001-08:00

Joe Mosby inducted into Hall of Fame

2011-10-13T20:25:00.000-07:00

Outdoor writer Joe Mosby receives Lifetime Achievement Award

Posted: August 13, 2011 - 9:01pm

By Becky Harris

Travel around our part of Central Arkansas, and you might see piles of brush, the remnants of old trees, limbs and other woody debris perhaps left from windstorms.
Farmers who leave such brush piles in their fields likely aren’t lazy but smart. They also might be good sportsmen, interested in keeping habitats for the wildlife on their farms.
So says Joe Mosby, Arkansas’s best-known outdoor writer, who was honored Saturday night at the Arkansas Sportscasters and Sports Writers Hall of Fame banquet with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Mosby, 80, is the retired news editor of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission who continues to write a weekly column and several stories on the outdoors distributed by the Arkansas News Bureau and published in several state newspapers, including the Log Cabin Democrat.
Mosby has been encouraging people — not just hunters and fishermen — to get outdoors, “under nature’s canopy,” for decades.
He was inducted into the Arkansas Outdoor Hall of Fame in 2002.
He’s the best friend of the sportsman, knowing — and telling — where the fish are biting, when deer seasons open, why the ducks aren’t — or are — as plentiful as before.
Through his writings, he shares experiences as if you were right there with him, sitting around the campfire, cleaning a mess of fish for the next morning’s breakfast.
And he writes about the treasures of Arkansas with the passion of a man who has heard the elks bugling in Boxley Valley, felt the tug of a trout on his line in the White River and made memories on Petit Jean Mountain.
As sure as the rabbits live in the brush pile, he seems to say, this Arkansas is our habitat. Get outdoors. Watch, listen, touch, enjoy.
Others receiving recognition at the Arkansas Sports Club banquet were:
• Former University of Arkansas Athletic Director Frank Broyles, who served several years as an ABC analyst for college football, Sportscaster of the Year.
• Former Arkansas Gazette reporter Wadie Moore, Sportswriter of the Year.
• The family of the late Arch Jones received a service award.
• Don Nixon was honored as Member of the Year for the Arkansas Sports Club.

Video of Ward Four meeting at 7 p.m. September 26 includes explanation of importance of renewing sales tax by vote on Oct. 11, 2011. See detail below

2011-09-28T07:44:00.001-07:00

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Monday, September 26, 2011

Ward 4 Meeting

City Clerk

Time: 7:00 PM

Location: Room 111

Town Branch Neighborhood Association meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday, August 30, 2011, welcomes everyone who chooses to attend

2011-08-25T12:52:00.001-07:00

to discuss plan for apartment complex adjacent to National Cemetery, streamside-protection ordinance, neighborhood watch, urban wildlife-habitat certification of private property, natural-yard option approved by City Council and anything of importance in our neighborhood and city

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Greg Howe has resigned to take a job in a wonderful place to the northwest. His final meeting of Fayetteville's Tree and Landscape Committee, now known as the Urban Forestry Board

2011-08-23T15:11:00.001-07:00

Blake Pennington elected chairman of the Telecommunication Board on August 18, 2011

2011-08-23T05:22:00.000-07:00

Traditional landscapes suck Energy, Water and Money, says Neil Diboll at The Native Plants in the Landscape Conference

2011-08-20T19:00:00.001-07:00

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« Welcome to The Native Plants in the Landscape Conference

The Future of Gardening by Neil Diboll

The Future of Gardening: Why Going Native is the Answer

Presented at the 20^th Millersville Native Plant Conference
Millersville, PA
June 4, 2010

by Neil Diboll
Prairie Nursery, Inc.
P.O. Box 306
Westfield, WI 53964
www.prairienursery.com
800-476-9453 (800-GRO-WILD)
Traditional landscapes suck. They suck Energy, Water, and Money. These three “Future Factors” will determine to a large degree the shape and structure of our landscapes in the coming years.
The old whipping boy, the lawn, indeed deserves a good whipping. It is emblematic of an expensive, unsustainable, energy and chemical hungry landscape that supports few forms of life and consumes valuable resources that could be better invested elsewhere.
Size of the American Lawn
There are over 50 million acres of lawn in the United States, twice the size of the state of Pennsylvania.
The total American corn crop for 2009 was 86 million acres.
The total American soybean crop for 2009 was 77 million acres.
The total American wheat crop for 2009 was 65 million acres.
Lawn is the fourth largest crop grown in America today.
Water Use by the American Lawn
Thirty percent of the water consumed on the East Coast of the US goes to watering lawns. Sixty percent of the water used on the West Coast is dedicated to maintaining green lawns, in a region that is facing looming water shortages.
A 1000 square foot lawn requires an average of 10,000 gallons of water per year to maintain in good condition.
One acre of irrigated lawn requires nearly half a million gallons (435,000) of water every year!
Chemical Fertilizers and Pesticides Applied to the American Lawn
The average lawn receives 10 times as much chemical fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides as the typical farm field, according to a Yale University graduate study.
Over 80 millions pounds of chemical pesticides are applied to American lawns each year according to the USEPA.
More than 70 million tons of chemical fertilizers are applied to American lawns per year.
The USEPA estimates that 40 to 60 percent of the Nitrogen fertilizer applied to lawns ends up in our surface water and groundwater.
Forty four percent of the Nitrogen and 28 percent of the Phosphorus applied in the Mississippi River watershed ends up in the Gulf of Mexico, greatly exacerbating the anoxic “dead zone” that preceded the BP oil spill of 2010.
Solid Waste Created by Lawns
The EPA also estimates that grass clippings and yard debris account for 20 to 40 percent of the landfill space consumed in America.
Energy Consumption by Lawns
The amount of energy required to mow and maintain manicured lawns is surprisingly large, and is used in every phase of lawn care:
Mowing: Gasoline or diesel fuel to is required to power riding mowers and most push type rotary mowers. Electricity that powers electric lawn mowers is produced primarily by fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas, and by nuclear power plants.
Pesticides: Most herbicides and insecticides are derived from or combined with petroleum-based compounds. Of the 80 million pounds of pesticides applied to lawns in American every year, most are synthesized from oil.
Fertilizers: Fertilizers are applied to lawns in staggering quantities. The energy required to mine and transport the 70 million tons of chemical fertilizers that are dumped on lawns every year is significant. Most Nitrogen fertilizers are produced using the Haber Process, in which Nitrogen in the air is converted into a solid or liquid form that can be readily handled and applied. The Haber Process is extremely energy intensive, and vast quantities of natural gas are consumed to produce nitrogen fertilizer for lawns.
Irrigation: Even watering the lawn consumes energy. Electricity is used to purify water at treatment plants, and to pump water to homes and businesses. The underground plastic pipes that are used in lawn irrigations systems are produced from petrochemicals derived from crude oil.
Carbon Footprint of Lawns
As an energy-dependent landscape, the carbon annual footprint consumption of lawns is high compared to prairies and other natural landscapes that require only occasional mowing, no fertilizers, no irrigation, and few if any pesticides. Prairies release carbon into the atmosphere when burned, and when dead organic matter such as leaves and stems decompose through microbial action. However, these releases are offset by new plant growth which absorbs carbon dioxide from the air and incorporates it into new leave, roots, and stems.
The incredibly rich prairie soils of the American Midwest are a result of the accumulation of organic matter in the soil over hundreds and thousands of years. Unlike most forest ecosystems, in which organic matter is sequestered in the upper 12- 18 inches of soil, prairie soils typically exhibit high organic matter content from three to six feet in depth. They also have significantly higher total organic matter content than forest soils. This would indicate that over time, prairies are one of the most efficient plant communities at removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and providing long term carbon sequestration in the soil.
Economic Costs of Lawn
Americans spend over $25 billion per year on lawn care (USEPA).
Americans spend over $2 billion per year on lawn and garden chemicals.
A 4000 square foot lawn (1/10 acre) produces an average of 1200 pounds of grass clippings per year. The City of Philadelphia Streets Department reported in 2005 that it costs $75 per year to dispose of this material.
Wildlife and Lawns
The US EPA estimates that between 60 and 70 millions birds are poisoned annually due to the application of lawn pesticides.
On lawns that receive regular applications of pesticides, 60 to 90 percent of the earthworms in the soil are killed.
Air and Noise Pollution
In summer months, 5 percent of air pollution is attributable to gas powered lawn and garden equipment (National Vehicle and Fuel Assessment Lab, Ann Arbor, MI)
Per hour of operation, a typical lawnmower emits 10-12 times as much hydrocarbons as an automobile.
Health and Safety
Of the most commonly used lawn pesticides, 13 are known to cause cancer, 14 can cause birth defects, 11 can interfere with reproduction, and 21 can cause damage to the nervous system. (US EPA)
111,000 Americans are sickened every year due to exposure to pesticides. (US EPA)
Over 230,000 people are treated in the Emergency Room every year for accident related to lawn equipment. (US EPA)
Time
The average homeowner spends 40 hours a year mowing his or her lawn – the equivalent of a week’s vacation!
HOW DID WE ARRIVE AT OUR LAWN-DOMINATED LANDSCAPE MODEL?
AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
The New World of North America once appeared to be a seemingly inexhaustible resource that held immense promise for the early colonists and settlers. True to their culture, the northern Europeans that swarmed into the vast hinterlands of America created a landscape in the image of their forebears: cut, grazed, plowed, and fenced into submission. The newly broken land yielded great bounty for a growing nation. As the country expanded, the towns and villages took on the names and character of our former homes across the Atlantic: Amsterdam, Birmingham, Gloucester, Berlin, Warsaw, and Rome, to name but a few.
Our goal as a nation and a culture was to tame the wilderness and make it safe for civilization. In so doing, we re-created the Old Country in the New World. As we brought the wilderness under our heel, we took little time to appreciate its unique character and beauty. Most settlers sought bounty, not beauty. In the rush to convert forests and meadows into farms and fields, the flowers mostly went unnoticed. Unplowed, unproductive wild land was a sign of sloth, savagery, and the devil’s work. Indeed, our mandate was to subdue the earth. And subdue it we did.
When our work was finally done, we sat back to take stock of our immense labors, and it appeared that it was good. Mostly. What we had not considered were the terrible losses associated with our great gain. We had gained ascendancy over our young country. In the process, we lost the character of a continent.
Yea, even unto our gardens, we banished the wildflowers and wild things to the far reaches of the countryside and to the corners of our consciousness. And nothing suffered the utter demise and near-total destruction such as that which was visited upon the American Prairie.
The American Prairie: the once-vast kingdom of flowers, grasses, bison and butterflies. This unbelievably rich, unique ecosystem blanketed millions of acres of America’s heartland. These were the flower gardens of North America. Hidden deep underground, among the intertwined roots of a universe of prairie plants, lay the black gold that was to become the currency of the prairie farmer. Here was the inheritance of a million sunny days, hoarded away in the bank account of the prairie soil.
Agricultural, the Industrial Revolution, and the Rise of the American Middle Class
The farmers that tapped into this prairie trust fund found the dividends to be prodigious. No fertilizers were needed to grow bumper crops. The immense yields increased agricultural productivity to levels previously unheard-of, revolutionizing the farmer’s relationship with the land. Now one family could produce food for dozens of others. The day of the subsistence farm was over. Human labor was set free to tend the factory instead of the field. The dawn of the American Industrial Revolution was reflected in the glow of the forge that John Deere used to construct the first sod-busting steel plow in 1836. With the industrial dawn came the sunset of the American Prairie.
The Eastern Tallgrass Prairie of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska was all but obliterated in the span of a few short decades at the close of the nineteenth century. That which was not plowed under was closed in with fences and grazed to the ground by millions of cattle. What were once wide open spaces became food factories and feedlots. Still, we knew not what we had done.
A full century later, we are just beginning to grasp the scope of the loss. The Eastern Tallgrass Prairie is now one of the rarest plant communities in the entire world. Rainforests are commonplace by comparison. Less than 1/10th of 1% of the Tallgrass Prairie remains today. The small refuges where it can be found occur only in small tattered fragments, ripped from the original cloth. Only those pieces that could not be drained, plowed, grazed, or otherwise turned to the service of mankind remain. There was simply no place for wildness in this new American landscape.
The conversion of the New World into the Old Country was complete. All that remained now was to tend the fields and the gardens of plants brought over from Europe, and to make sure that the lawns that replaced that prairie were kept mown and in order.
Order. The watchword of a Puritanical culture that sought to carve structure from the chaos of wilderness. Everything in control. Nothing out of place. Even our gardens reflect this directive. Designs are precise, with each plant in its pre-ordained place, ensconced in a thick bed of bark mulch. The vegetable world must supplicate itself to our omnipotence. Those plants that fail to stay in their assigned seats are branded as weeds, and banished from the garden. And if they should grow wild in nature, how could such peasant plants of common breeding be sufficiently refined to have a place in our gardens?
If the garden is truly the place where people and nature meet, it is almost always the gardener who determines the terms of the meeting. Will the gardeners of the earth choose to work with Nature to create beauty in the landscape? Or will we attempt to overpower her with an arsenal of chemicals, machines, and “maintenance programs?”
We are finally coming to realize that the practice of paying homage to a uniform, idealized landscape of seamlessly interconnected lawns is an illusion. This becomes eminently clear when one realizes that the centerpoint of this landscape is a nearly lifeless, two dimensional expanse of turf, to which we slavishly devote much of our increasingly rare and precious free time. We pour on the chemicals, mow the grass to within an inch of its life, and kill any and all bugs that have the temerity to share the landscape with us. Perhaps most annoying, this national pastime called Lawn Care is really quite expensive.
For many, their lawns are like an addiction. They will pay almost any price to satisfy the cravings. The price is paid in money, time, environmental degradation, and in some cases, one’s health. We have so completely divorced ourselves from Nature that the only connection to the natural world is by watering and mowing their green carpets!
It is indeed a costly divorce from Nature. Enforcement of our unnatural landscapes consumes billions of dollars every year. Lawns, ornamental plantings, and even perennial gardens require constant attention if the desired order is to be maintained. Without intervention by the human hand on a regular basis, these landscapes soon fall victim to the invading hordes of weeds, trees, brambles and vines. Left unguarded, the walls of the domestic garden are stormed by the Vandals and Visigoths of the Vegetable Kingdom. Without the indulgences of their human benefactors, the meeker and fairer plants of the garden are quickly pillaged and displaced by the roving thugs of the plant world.
History of the American Lawn
The modern lawn has it origin in the country estates of landed gentry in England in the 16^th and 17^th centuries. It was a status symbol of the wealthy, for the working classes typically possessed no land, and could ill afford a lawn eve if they did. With our Anglo-American heritage, we looked to the mother country for our social cues in the 18^th century as the American middle class emerged during the industrial revolution. The newly wealthy purchased homes and estates and installed lawns as one of their symbols of having “made it.” Lawns quickly became one of the status symbols associated with the new middle and upper classes.
The great American landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmstead, referred to the lawn in the late 18^th century as “The Great Democratizer” of a newly ascendant nation. Rather than installing fences and barriers between neighboring properties as was common in Europe, Americans had a seamless carpet of green grass unifying their properties, all sharing in the new ethos of a mutual affluence.
The lawn quickly became a socio-economic symbol, denoting order and devotion to a non-economic crop that only those with expendable income could afford. As the middle class in America grew after World War II, the occupants of newly-built suburbs embraced the lawn as one of their icons of success and comfortable living.
The lawn was now cemented into American culture. Woe be unto he who violated the unspoken contract of “keeping up appearances” and allowing one’s turf to “go native” and grow beyond the socially acceptable four inches in height. An un-mowed, unkempt lawn was a sign of slovenliness and anti-social tendencies. Social breakdown and chaos could not be far behind.
This is why the lawn is so ardently defended by so many. It is a symbol of an entire social class and lifestyle. It is far more than a near-lifeless green expanse that requires an inordinate amount of time, money and chemicals to maintain. It embodies the hopes and dreams of average Americans, and symbolizes the triumph or order over entropy. It is a shared middle class bond that transcends politics, religion, and ethnicity. In many communities you are judged by your lawn first, and your character as a human being second. And do not for one minute believe that the first does not influence the second.
Why do we Persist with Our Addiction to Lawns? What About Wildlife?
1)    It’s simple and easy! We know how to do it: Fertilize it, spray it, and mow it!
2)    You don’t really have to know anything about plants or gardening to grow and manage a lawn – just follow the directions provided by the purveyors of fertilizers, herbicides, fungicides, and insecticides provide you!
3)    Lawn is a cheap fix. Although less costly to install than native landscapes, lawn has a high life cycle cost over a period of many years. Native landscapes typically have low long-term maintenance costs, with lower life cycle costs.
4)    Lawns don’t attract bugs or wildlife (except for geese), so you know you and your family will be safe from snakes, vermin, and those annoying insects! So what if insects are the foundation of the food chain, and support a myriad of birds and other desirable creatures. We’ve been brainwashed that bugs are bad, so we have to make sure they don’t inhabit our outdoor living spaces.
5)    NO BUGS, NO BIRDS!
6)    Everybody says they love Nature, but nobody ever invites her over to their yard.
7)    I knew my prairie was a success when I saw Meadow Jumping Mice (Zapus hudsonianus) and Hog Nosed Snakes (Heterodon platirhinos) in it. These creatures provided evidence that I now had a functioning ecosystem, not just a garden. If you like hawks and owls, you better be able to feed them: rodents and reptiles are some of their preferred foods.
WE ARE NOT A NATION OF GARDENERS:
WE ARE A NATION OF MOWERS!
WHY DO WE CARE WHAT WE PLANT IN OUR GARDENS
AND LANDSCAPES?
Many of us care deeply about the state of our planet and the loss of biodiversity that is occurring on a global scale. Although we all think globally, most of us can only act locally. Together, we can have an impact in our own gardens and landscapes, as well as those of our friends and neighbors. For those of us in the landscape design business, we can promote sustainable landscapes composed of native plants that require little or no fertilizers, pesticides, watering, or mowing (just burning!). This alone, when compounded over time as more people opt for sustainable landscapes, can have an impact.
The looming question for us today is the on-going loss of biodiversity. Restoring native ecosystems is one way we can help support not just native plants, but also invertebrates such as rare butterflies and moths, bees, wasps, and all manner of the generally unloved lower castes of bugs and creepy crawly things. Yet they are all important, and each has an important place in the web of life.
Homo sapiens, is presently presiding over what is believed to be the Sixth Great Extinction. Although we have yet to reach the catastrophic levels of past extinction events, we are well on our way and showing only a few signs of abatement in our drive to subdue and conquer the earth, as we serve our ever-expanding need for food, fuel, water, and living space.
But does it really matter what we do as individuals? A society is composed of all its individuals, and their actions determine the face of that society. Most of us are working to restore the integrity of native ecosystems because we believe it is the “right” and good thing to do, and that we are “doing it for the planet.” But does it really matter? Does the planet really respect our actions? Or is it all irrelevant?
The Earth has been subjected to massive extinctions in the past, some fairly recent in geological history. The planet has always recovered, with the development of new species and a wealth of new life forms. Nature does indeed abhor a vacuum, and she apparently fills it rapidly. All of the work I am doing on my property to control invasive species and restore native plants will someday be negated by the next advance of the glacier, as unlikely as that may seem at this point in geological and meteorolical history. Of course, my landscape will probably be invaded by garlic muster, buckthorn, honeysuckle and other non-native thugs soon after my demise, unless some equally deranged and determined individual picks up where I leave off.
SO WHY RESTORE THE PLANET? DOES IT REALLY MATTER?
If one takes a long-term geological perspective, it doesn’t really matter what we do. Even if we nuke the joint, something will survive and a whole new set of life forms will evolve. Maybe the next sentient beings will be smarter than us, and actually take care of the planet.
We Restore the Earth Because It Is Good for Us!
We need a quality of life that includes clean air, clean water, trees, flowers, ferns, birds, and all the wonderful life forms with which we share the planet. We aren’t just preserving habitat and restoring native plant communities out of the goodness of our hearts – Our very economic and psychic survival depend upon it!
We have yet to fully value the economics of a healthy environment. But as the planet is further degraded, the value of high quality living spaces only increases.
THE BOTTOM LINE: Ultimately, our future landscapes will be in large part determined more by economics than ecology. This is an unfortunate consequence of the human condition. As a quality living space becomes more valuable, more value will be placed upon it. We will protect it more diligently. It will sell for a higher price. People will begin to view the natural environment more as an asset, rather than as a resource to be exploited.
All of this will most likely be precipitated by shortages of water, rather than a shortage of oil or other energy source. You can live without oil, but you cannot live without water. As the price of water increases, the incentive to conserve it will increase. We will need landscapes that do not require huge inputs of water and chemicals to sustain them. We will need to overcome our cultural taboos of “messy” natural landscapes and move beyond viewing lawns as status symbols and a rite of passage into the middle and upper classes.
Someday pride of place will belong to those with the least lawn, lowest water bill, and no chemicals in their garages. Society will value those who work to preserve our environment, rather than those who can make the most money by despoiling it. I personally cannot wait much longer for that day to come.
AT A GLANCE:
TODAY: LAWN, an ecological and economic disaster

TOMORROW: SUSTAINA LE ECOSYSTEMS, composed of native plant
communities that require little or no fertilizers, pesticides, or irrigation, o
TODAY: MONOCULTURES of mowed lawns

TOMORROW: DIVERSE ECOSYSTEMS that support a wide variety of life
TODAY: FEAR and mistrust of the natural world and its attendant organisms (bugs,
mice, snakes, etc)

TOMORROW: RE-INTEGRATION of people into nature and an understanding that
everything is connected and interdependent
WE MUST ENTER INTO A JOINT VENTURE WITH NATURE TO PRESERVE OUR PLANET AND THE SYSTEMS UPON WHICH ALL LIFE DEPENDS.

ONLY THEN WILL WE LIVE IN HARMONY WITH OUR FELLOW CREATURES ON THIS PLANET.

OUR QUALITY LIFE AND LONG-TERM SURVIVAL DEPENDS UPON THE SURVIVAL OF THE SYSTEMS AND ORGANISMS THAT SUPPORT US.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 26th, 2011 at 3:39 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

University of Vermont Extension
Department of Plant and Soil Science

Summer News Article
FUEL-EFFICIENT LAWNS AND LANDSCAPES
Dr. Leonard Perry, Extension Professor
University of Vermont
With the price of gasoline and natural gas on the rise, most are looking for ways to cut their costs and save energy. If you have a lawn or garden, you may not realize just how much fossil fuels you are using. By knowing where these are used, you can look for ways to reduce consumption. This will reduce your costs, and help the environment.
In a recent PPPro online newsletter Paul Tukey, editor of People, Places and Plants magazine, provides some sobering facts and helpful suggestions. Each year, a family with a one-third acre lawn will on average:
*consume five gallons of gas for mowing and trimming;
*apply the equivalent of seven gallons for fertilizing;
*burn up to five gallons for watering; and
*consume an additional gallon for cleanup.
That’s 18 gallons of fuel per household. With 120 million U.S. households, that’s the equivalent of almost 2.2 billion gallons of fuel used just for lawn care each year. This does not count other landscaping activities. So just how do we use so much?
Yale University has estimated that the United States uses more than 600 million gallons of gas to mow and trim lawns each year — about two gallons of gas for every man, woman and child, or five gallons per household. Mowers also consume engine oil in their crankcases, and two-stroke mowers consume oil in their fuel.
In addition to fuel consumption, mowers and outdoor power equipment contribute heavily to air pollution. Operating a typical (4 HP) gasoline-powered lawnmower for one hour produces as much smog-forming hydrocarbons as driving an average car between 100 and 200 miles under average conditions. Gasoline-powered string trimmers are actually more polluting than many lawn mowers. One estimate (mindfully.org) states that “the 20,000,000 small engines sold in the U.S. each year contribute about one tenth of the total U.S. mobile source hydrocarbon emissions, and are the largest single contributor to these non-road emissions.” These include power blowers, rakes, and brooms.
Creating synthetic nitrogen for fertilizers requires the heating of natural gas to combine atmospheric nitrogen and hydrogen into ammonia. The amount of natural gas required to make approximately 200 bags of lawn fertilizer would heat your home for a year. Each 40-pound bag contains the fossil-fuel equivalent of approximately 2.5 gallons of gasoline. Transporting these bags of fertilizer from the factory and to your home requires additional fuel.
According to a California study, in many areas — especially in the West, where water must be moved great distances from reservoirs — the amount of fuel needed to pump the water is at least equal to the fuel used in mowing.

So what can you do? Here are ten tips to have a “fuel-efficient” landscape.
*Use an electric or non-powered push mower. An electric mower maintaining one-third of an acre for a season consumes only $3 of electricity on average. Electric mowers are 75 percent quieter than gas mowers. Push mowers, of course, consume no fuel and make little noise.
*Similarly, use traditional hand rakes and brooms instead of power ones and blowers to save fuel, and at the same time reduce air and noise pollution. If you employ a landscape maintenance firm, encourage their use of these too. Minimize the need for string trimmers. Mulch along walks and around structures such as lamp posts to avoid having to trim weeds in these areas.
*If you have an old mower, consider replacing it. Newer small engines run much cleaner. EPA emission standards for such engines, to be in effect by 2007, are expected to reduce ground-level ozone emissions by 70 percent or 350,000 tons each year.
*Reduce the area mowed through use of groundcovers. This is especially true in areas with water shortages. Allow parts of large areas to grow, only mowing once or twice a season, creating a natural meadow. You can still mow areas near drives and homes to maintain the more formal manicured effects in such highly visible and high traffic areas.
*Save rainwater and gray water. Gray water is that water from home use, except from toilets, and can make up from 50 to 80 percent of home waste water. It comes from sinks, showers, and laundry and can be used for irrigating landscapes and lawns.
*Water deeply once per week on average, rather than frequently. Drip irrigation and mulches also conserve water. Using less water saves on energy use, whether you’re buying water that has to be pumped, or are paying an electric bill to pump your own.
*Use natural, organic fertilizers not derived from fossil fuels.
*Recycle grass clippings, mow higher and mix 5 percent clover into your lawn seed. All these help recycle nutrients back into the soil. Mulching-type mowers allow you to leave grass clippings on the lawn. If you don’t have such a mower, and remove the clippings, add them to compost or use them to mulch gardens.
*Compost all yard wastes, except for diseased plants and plant parts. They can go into compost piles, saving gasoline hauling such to landfills and recycle centers. If your landscape generates many twigs and other brush, consider buying or renting a home-size brush chipper.
*Finally, consider landscaping to reduce up to 25 percent of home energy consumption. Foundation plantings can lessen heat loss from buildings. Evergreen windbreaks can reduce heating costs in winter in windy areas. Deciduous shade trees can reduce energy needs for cooling in summer. According to the Department of Energy, only three properly placed trees may

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"You can't learn much from a lawn,
but a garden has a whole world of wonders."

history

Lawns started out as grazing areas around the manors of the landed gentry. Having a nice lawn around the house was a sign of power as you owned sufficient land to raise sheep and cow.
As the industrial revolution took hold and animals were less a sign of wealth, the lawn itself became the status symbol. You could indulge yourself in sparing land and time to recreational grounds.
As people moved to the cities so did the grass, on ever smaller plots. First lawns were cut by hand and later with the mechanical lawnmower, (an automated, resource depleting, pointless cow.)
The 20th Century saw an explosion of lawn making as commercial interests produced endless grass seed, fertiliser, pesticides, mowers, spreaders and irrigation equipment whilst developers discovered they could pass off cheap ‘gardens’ by spreading 3 inches of soil over hard subsoil and laying turf on top.
Nowerdays, many lawns are rarely used and some are so covered with chemicals children have been permanently injured after walking barefoot on them.[1]

the modern lawn - a waste of resources

The modern pure grass lawn is artificial... you need effort and chemicals to maintain a monoculture.

Misuse and the inherent toxicity of standard pesticides cause short and long term poisoning, cancer and disease in people and wildlife. [a]

Extensive use and overuse of fertilisers (due to lack of restrictions) causes water pollution problems and wastes resources. [b]

Endless summer irrigation to keep lawns green wastes massive amounts of water and depletes water tables. [c]

Lawnmowers, strimmers and other lawn machinery unregulated for environmental emissions, use vast amounts of petrol and are a significant factor in urban air and noise pollution. [d]

The lawn is the worlds third agriculture. It is probable that westerners spend more person hours, energy and resources on their lawns than any agricultural resource of the third world.[8]

In the early 1990’s in the United States…

$ 25 billion a year was spent on lawn care products.
Of this,
$ 5,250 million was spent on fossil fuel-derived fertilisers and...
$ 700 million was spent on 28 million kgs of poisonous synthetic pesticides.

Meanwhile 20 million acres were planted in residential lawns
and the average city sprayed its lawns with 30 to 60 % of its fresh water supply.[2]

The lawn is a green desert. Adoption of a monoculture for a garden drastically reduces the habitats available for wildlife. Birds, bees, butterflies and other animals all begin to disappear. Often leaving an unstable ecosystem where common ‘pest’ species seem to flourish.

alternatives

Aside from keeping animals or ripping up the turf to plant trees and bushes, build vegetable beds, a pond or a greenhouse there are many things you can do to keep the same purpose of a lawn whilst adding diversity and removing chemical and mechanical dependence. (Unless the area you have is subject to heavy traffic and abuse, where turf is probably the most suitable thing to use.) If you just want somewhere to sit, try making a bench a focal point of your garden.
Lawns can be made more edible, medicinal, beautiful and nice smelling by adding low growing aromatic herbs and flowers. The plants below have been specially selected because they will tolerate at least infrequent mowings. For best results don’t cut as often or as short as a normal lawn and try to lay off for at least 3 weeks in the summer to let the taller plants flower and set seed. You could try sowing them into small gaps in the grass or better still plant them out. For low maintenance choose plants that will like your local conditions.

	lively lawns Apart from the obvious dandelions (Taraxacum officinale), daisy (Bellis perennis) and plantains (Plantago major, plantago media) which are all excellent in lawns, freely self seed, add variety and can also be eaten once you get past seeing them just as ‘weeds,’ try… White Clover, Trifolium repens: 10cm H, spreads, adds nitrogen to the soil, attracts bees and butterflies. You can eat the flowers and leaves, (bit fiddly though) Camomile, Chamaemelum nobile: 15cm H 30cm W, Plants for a future[9] recommend for smell but not for medicine, (no flowers), a cultivar called ‘Treneague’ which is low growing, spreads and will succeed if the grass is cut low and often, however you'll have to find a cutting, there are no seeds. Wild thyme, Thymus serpyllum: 10cm H 30cm W Forms spreading clumps, pink flowers attract bees in summer, drought tolerant, needs sun. High in antioxidants and an essential kitchen herb. Lemon thyme, Thymus x citiodorus: 10cm H 30cm W. Likes light well drained soil and full sun, can be planted by division. Coltsfoot, Tussilago farfara: 25cm H, spreads invasively. Tolerates shade, does well in all soils, flowers edible mar-apr, leaves appear afterwards, used for treatment of respiratory problems. Rough Hawkbit, Leontodon hispidus: 40cm H 30cm W. Similar to dandelion, prefers chalky soil, flowers all summer, attracts bees & butterflies, edible leaves most of the year.
	Salad burnet, Sanguisorba minor: 55cm H 30cm W. Prefers chalky soil and slightly longer grass, flowers May-Aug and provides edible young leaves all year round. Self Heal, Prunella vulgaris: 15cm H spreading to form clumps 30cm W. Prefers moist soil, tolerates low cutting and shade, flowers mid to late summer, attracts bees & butterflies, eaten in salads and an healing herb for cuts and wounds. Yarrow, Achillea millefolium: upto 60cm H spreads, hardy, drought resistant, good in poor soils, and a very useful medicinal herb. beautiful bulbs By lengthening the time between mowings you can also grow taller plants such as bulbs. Planted surreptitiously they are a nice surprise. All below are edible and most spread naturally. It is advisable to plant bulbs of similar flowering times together to make any lawn maintenance more straightforward. Field & Crow garlic, Allium oleraceum & A. vineale: 60cm H, 5cm W. Both almost invasive in grass if left to form bulbils in jul-aug, tolerant of mowing, leaves edible autumn to following summer. If cows eat them, their milk is tainted. Quamash, Camassia quamash: 50cm H 10cm W. Does well in short grass and under trees, flowers late spring, very edible bulbs when cooked.
	Dog's Tooth Violet, Erythronium den-canis: 15cm H 10cm W. appears in spring for a few months each year. bulbs edible raw or cooked, also try E. revoltum 'pagoda' for a bigger, version. Tassel Hyacinth, Muscari botryoides: 40cm H clumps 20cm W. Easy to grow, does well in short grass, almost invasive, 3.5cm bulbs edible, but a little bitter. Or for beauty, there are many other bulbs, such as daffodils, bluebells, crocus etc that can be planted into the lawn. wonderful wildflowers Perhaps you could turn some of your lawn into a ‘wildflower meadow’. This will attract butterflies and insects as well as bringing nature a bit closer to home. Choose a sunny position on poor soil to get the most flowers. Mow only after the seeds have set (around August) and remove the clippings to keep fertility low. Sow a mix of wild flowers into bare earth, or if grass is already established, grow in pots and plant out in Autumn or Spring, this is more work but gets better results. Most of the above taller lawn plants will do well as these edible ones below... Meadowsweet, Filipendula ulmaria: 120cm H. Likes moist rich soil non acid soils, a useful medicinal and culinary herb. Sheep sorrel, Rumex acetosella: 30cm H. prefers suny and moist spot, sharp edible salad leaves all year round. Red clover, Trifolium pratense: 60cm H. attracts butterflies, moths and bees, put round apple trees for better fruit, edible leaves, fixes nitrogen. Alternatively you could purchase a conservation wildflower mix from a local supplier, you won't be able to eat them though. For some more lawn fun see the guerrilla gardening pages. Notes [a] Many pesticides have never been adequately tested for toxicity to humans or wildlife. According to the National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides, 13 of the most commonly used lawn care pesticides can cause cancer, 14 can cause birth defects, 21 can damage the nervous system, 15 can injure the liver or kidney, and 30 are sensitizers or irritants. [3] The pesticide MCPA, used as an ingredient is some lawn pesticides, has been found to damage the blood brain barrier which protects against neurological illness.[4] Organophosphate pesticides have been shown to cause memory loss and short attention spans.[5] Other studies have linked long term pesticide use with prostate[6], brain and lung cancer.[7] It is estimated that each year in the US, 67 million birds are poisoned by legally used pesticides.[3] Pesticides are often misused especially by homeowners, increasing the risks. [b] Fertiliser is often over applied, causing runoff problems in nearby watercourses, as well as the obvious waste of fossil fuels in its manufacture and transport. [c] It is estimated that 44% of domestic water consumption in California is used for lawns[8] In many areas ground water tables are being depleted. [d] The manufacture of garden machinery uses energy, depletes resources and creates pollution as do the engine fumes or the power plants producing the electricity they run on. In the early 90’s it was estimated that 580,000,000 gallons of petrol were used to run lawnmowers in the US every year.[2] References [1] The Pesticide Scandal, Sayan, Kathyrne, Family Circle 2 April 1991. [2] Redesigning the American Lawn, F. Herbert Bormann, Diana Balmori, Gordon T. Geballe, Yale University Press, 1993 [3] Spring, 1997 edition of The Arlington Environment, Volume Four, Number Four [4] Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology, 65:23, 1982 [5] Annual Reviews in Public Health, 7:461, 1986 [6] Occupational Environmental Medicine, 56(1):14-21, 1999 [7] Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 71(1), July 1983 [8] Permaculture a designers manual, Bill Mollison, Tagari publications, 1988. [9] Plants for a future- edible and useful plants for a healthier world, Ken Fern, Permanent publications, 1997.

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		What to do with a Lawn

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"You can't learn much from a lawn,
but a garden has a whole world of wonders."

history

the modern lawn - a waste of resources

The modern pure grass lawn is artificial... you need effort and chemicals to maintain a monoculture.

Misuse and the inherent toxicity of standard pesticides cause short and long term poisoning, cancer and disease in people and wildlife. [a]

Extensive use and overuse of fertilisers (due to lack of restrictions) causes water pollution problems and wastes resources. [b]

Endless summer irrigation to keep lawns green wastes massive amounts of water and depletes water tables. [c]

Lawnmowers, strimmers and other lawn machinery unregulated for environmental emissions, use vast amounts of petrol and are a significant factor in urban air and noise pollution. [d]

The lawn is the worlds third agriculture. It is probable that westerners spend more person hours, energy and resources on their lawns than any agricultural resource of the third world.[8]

alternatives

	lively lawns Apart from the obvious dandelions (Taraxacum officinale), daisy (Bellis perennis) and plantains (Plantago major, plantago media) which are all excellent in lawns, freely self seed, add variety and can also be eaten once you get past seeing them just as ‘weeds,’ try… White Clover, Trifolium repens: 10cm H, spreads, adds nitrogen to the soil, attracts bees and butterflies. You can eat the flowers and leaves, (bit fiddly though) Camomile, Chamaemelum nobile: 15cm H 30cm W, Plants for a future[9] recommend for smell but not for medicine, (no flowers), a cultivar called ‘Treneague’ which is low growing, spreads and will succeed if the grass is cut low and often, however you'll have to find a cutting, there are no seeds. Wild thyme, Thymus serpyllum: 10cm H 30cm W Forms spreading clumps, pink flowers attract bees in summer, drought tolerant, needs sun. High in antioxidants and an essential kitchen herb. Lemon thyme, Thymus x citiodorus: 10cm H 30cm W. Likes light well drained soil and full sun, can be planted by division. Coltsfoot, Tussilago farfara: 25cm H, spreads invasively. Tolerates shade, does well in all soils, flowers edible mar-apr, leaves appear afterwards, used for treatment of respiratory problems. Rough Hawkbit, Leontodon hispidus: 40cm H 30cm W. Similar to dandelion, prefers chalky soil, flowers all summer, attracts bees & butterflies, edible leaves most of the year.
	Salad burnet, Sanguisorba minor: 55cm H 30cm W. Prefers chalky soil and slightly longer grass, flowers May-Aug and provides edible young leaves all year round. Self Heal, Prunella vulgaris: 15cm H spreading to form clumps 30cm W. Prefers moist soil, tolerates low cutting and shade, flowers mid to late summer, attracts bees & butterflies, eaten in salads and an healing herb for cuts and wounds. Yarrow, Achillea millefolium: upto 60cm H spreads, hardy, drought resistant, good in poor soils, and a very useful medicinal herb. beautiful bulbs By lengthening the time between mowings you can also grow taller plants such as bulbs. Planted surreptitiously they are a nice surprise. All below are edible and most spread naturally. It is advisable to plant bulbs of similar flowering times together to make any lawn maintenance more straightforward. Field & Crow garlic, Allium oleraceum & A. vineale: 60cm H, 5cm W. Both almost invasive in grass if left to form bulbils in jul-aug, tolerant of mowing, leaves edible autumn to following summer. If cows eat them, their milk is tainted. Quamash, Camassia quamash: 50cm H 10cm W. Does well in short grass and under trees, flowers late spring, very edible bulbs when cooked.
	Dog's Tooth Violet, Erythronium den-canis: 15cm H 10cm W. appears in spring for a few months each year. bulbs edible raw or cooked, also try E. revoltum 'pagoda' for a bigger, version. Tassel Hyacinth, Muscari botryoides: 40cm H clumps 20cm W. Easy to grow, does well in short grass, almost invasive, 3.5cm bulbs edible, but a little bitter. Or for beauty, there are many other bulbs, such as daffodils, bluebells, crocus etc that can be planted into the lawn. wonderful wildflowers Perhaps you could turn some of your lawn into a ‘wildflower meadow’. This will attract butterflies and insects as well as bringing nature a bit closer to home. Choose a sunny position on poor soil to get the most flowers. Mow only after the seeds have set (around August) and remove the clippings to keep fertility low. Sow a mix of wild flowers into bare earth, or if grass is already established, grow in pots and plant out in Autumn or Spring, this is more work but gets better results. Most of the above taller lawn plants will do well as these edible ones below... Meadowsweet, Filipendula ulmaria: 120cm H. Likes moist rich soil non acid soils, a useful medicinal and culinary herb. Sheep sorrel, Rumex acetosella: 30cm H. prefers suny and moist spot, sharp edible salad leaves all year round. Red clover, Trifolium pratense: 60cm H. attracts butterflies, moths and bees, put round apple trees for better fruit, edible leaves, fixes nitrogen. Alternatively you could purchase a conservation wildflower mix from a local supplier, you won't be able to eat them though. For some more lawn fun see the guerrilla gardening pages. Notes [a] Many pesticides have never been adequately tested for toxicity to humans or wildlife. According to the National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides, 13 of the most commonly used lawn care pesticides can cause cancer, 14 can cause birth defects, 21 can damage the nervous system, 15 can injure the liver or kidney, and 30 are sensitizers or irritants. [3] The pesticide MCPA, used as an ingredient is some lawn pesticides, has been found to damage the blood brain barrier which protects against neurological illness.[4] Organophosphate pesticides have been shown to cause memory loss and short attention spans.[5] Other studies have linked long term pesticide use with prostate[6], brain and lung cancer.[7] It is estimated that each year in the US, 67 million birds are poisoned by legally used pesticides.[3] Pesticides are often misused especially by homeowners, increasing the risks. [b] Fertiliser is often over applied, causing runoff problems in nearby watercourses, as well as the obvious waste of fossil fuels in its manufacture and transport. [c] It is estimated that 44% of domestic water consumption in California is used for lawns[8] In many areas ground water tables are being depleted. [d] The manufacture of garden machinery uses energy, depletes resources and creates pollution as do the engine fumes or the power plants producing the electricity they run on. In the early 90’s it was estimated that 580,000,000 gallons of petrol were used to run lawnmowers in the US every year.[2] References [1] The Pesticide Scandal, Sayan, Kathyrne, Family Circle 2 April 1991. [2] Redesigning the American Lawn, F. Herbert Bormann, Diana Balmori, Gordon T. Geballe, Yale University Press, 1993 [3] Spring, 1997 edition of The Arlington Environment, Volume Four, Number Four [4] Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology, 65:23, 1982 [5] Annual Reviews in Public Health, 7:461, 1986 [6] Occupational Environmental Medicine, 56(1):14-21, 1999 [7] Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 71(1), July 1983 [8] Permaculture a designers manual, Bill Mollison, Tagari publications, 1988. [9] Plants for a future- edible and useful plants for a healthier world, Ken Fern, Permanent publications, 1997.

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Next week's shortakes on public-access television previewed on You Tube: See link below

2011-08-12T19:33:00.001-07:00

Mayor Lioneld Jordan of Fayetteville cites wet-prairie protection by Pinnacle Foods Inc. of Fayetteville as an example of protecting Beaver Lake water-quality in the most natural way possible

2011-08-10T09:52:00.000-07:00

Please click on image to ENLARGE.

For thousands more photos from Pinnacle Wet Prairie, including some from this event at the bottom, please click Flickr link.
For more than 800 photos made July 4, 2011, at Pinnacle wet prairie, please see Flick set.
For direct links to You Tube videos from Aug. 5, 2011, at Pinnacle Foods, please click on You Tube link.

Please click on individual images to ENLARGE. Click on enlargement for even closer view.

Doug Bryson and Lioneld Jordan

Recognition of Pinnacle Foods Inc's. significance to Fayetteville

Two five-minute nature videos recorded on 28 July 2011 to be run on Fayetteville Public Television from Monday, August 1, 2011, through Friday, August 5, 2011

2011-07-30T19:16:00.000-07:00

Planning Commission passes the sale-barn rezoning to the City Council at June 27 meeting despite comments of neighbors and veterans

2011-07-08T10:08:00.001-07:00

Video of slide show to run June 27-July 1, 2011, on Fayetteville Public Television

2011-06-24T18:44:00.001-07:00

Shortakes recorded Monday, June 13, 2011, to run June 20-24, 2011, on Public Access Television at 218 on Cox Cable and U-verse 99 on AT&T as well as simulcast on the Your Media Web site

2011-06-17T15:45:00.001-07:00

June 2, 2011, shortakes on public television in Fayetteville

2011-06-04T13:14:00.001-07:00

Doug Tallamy tells us about 'Bringing Nature Home' to provide habitat for wildlife

2011-05-05T12:00:00.000-07:00

Please click on individual images to ENLARGE for easy reading.

Education Channel agreement between Fayetteville public-school system and Fayetteville city government moving toward final form

2011-04-23T03:51:00.001-07:00

Invitation to attend Earth Day 2011 at World Peace Wetland Prairie and share your information on environmental and natural-resource conservation

2011-04-15T21:32:00.001-07:00

Please click on image to ENLARGE view of Donna Stjerna and Kelly Mullholan's poster for Earth Day 2011 at World Peace Wetland Prairie.

World Peace Wetland Prairie EARTH DAY 2010 VIDEO
Flickr collection of sets of photos from World Peace Wetland Prairie
World Peace Wetland Prairie blog
World Peace Wetland Prairie.com
Aubrey's photos at flickr.com

2000-2005 archive of stories and photos related to creation of WPWP: www.aubunique.com

Please use link below the map to see larger view of the WPWP area, which also allows a person to travel the world by 'Google AIR' by simply using the cursor to move in any direction or search for other addresses.

View World Peace Wetland Prairie in a larger map

Shortakes to run April 11-15, 2011, on Fayetteville public-access televion, channel 218 on Cox Cable

2011-04-10T13:41:00.001-07:00

V

2011-04-04T22:09:00.001-07:00

March 14, 2011, video recorded at Community Access Television with Aubrey Shepherd's photos from Bruce Walker Memorial at George's on March 13, 2011: To run next week on Cox 218 on your big-screen TV

2011-03-18T19:42:00.001-07:00

Night before Streamside Ordinance was passed by City Council, it was discussed during Ward 4 meeting

2011-03-05T09:23:00.000-08:00

March 30 to April 13, 2007 video of water & sewer work on South Duncan Avenue and other outdoor activities in Fayetteville, Arkansas

2011-01-20T13:47:00.001-08:00

Audubon's Wilson Spring wetland nature area on Jan. 19, 2011: 185 photos from a 2-mile walk with Mike Mhlodnow

2011-01-20T09:31:00.001-08:00

Wilson Spring nature area: Tagging along with one of Northwest Arkansas' most dedicated and talented birders.

Please click on image to ENLARGE and use link above to view more photos of Mike and the scenes along the way.

2007 Springfest and Earth Day video by Aubrey James Shepherd

2011-01-15T12:36:00.001-08:00

September 18, 2006, video of eroded fill dirt washing off the Aspen Ridge (now Hill Place) construction site at 11th Street and South Duncan Avenue

2011-01-14T17:42:00.001-08:00

Please speak up now: Full disclosure of chemicals used in fracking is open for comment to the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission

2011-01-07T14:15:00.001-08:00

To those interested in the natural gas development in Arkansas:

Pittsburgh stands first in the country to have banned the fracking process from their city. Attending the rally before the vote was Josh Fox giving a spirited speech. I thought you would be interested to hear the passion he displays even after the long involvement he has had with this project.

Update on Arkansas activity:

Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission -

Jan. 10th is the cutoff date to make comment requesting full disclosure of all fracking chemicals by CAS identification. While there have been improvements made to the Oil & Gas Commissions rule on disclosure, it is incomplete by failing to incorporate the Federal standards for proprietary secrecy. A simple request that they finish to the job of disclosing chemicals for public safety and land owner consideration is in order. Request that all comments be extended to the commissioners as well. Use the following information to make comment:

EMAIL: Larry.Bengal@aogc.state.ar.us

Copy to: Commissioners - Chad White, Chairman, W. Frank Morledge, Charles Wohlford, Bill Poynter, Mike Davis, Kenneth Williams, William L. Dawkins, Jr., Jerry Langley, and Chris Weiser

Mr. Lawrence C. Bengal, Director

Production and Conservation

Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission

301 Natural Resources Drive, Suite 102

Little Rock, Arkansas 72205

Subject: Full disclosure of chemical constituents used in natural gas fracking

Issue: The current B-19 ruling is incomplete in providing limited claims for proprietary formulas. The best approach would be full disclosure of every constituent by CAS identification, but at minimum the Federal guidelines for trade secrets should be included in the rule in their entirety. The current wording is incomplete and does not provide how secrecy would be granted or what percentage would be allowed.

Thank you for assisting with this important comment, if you are able to help. Pass the word.

June 2009 meeting of Town Branch Neighborhood Association with developers planning student apartment complex adjacent to Fayetteville National Cemetery

2010-12-29T08:01:00.001-08:00

Jim Bemis speaks at Telecom Board meeting on December 16, 2010

2010-12-18T19:45:00.003-08:00

GOVERNMENT CHANNEL SCHEDULE published Friday, December 17, 2010, the day following Telecom Board meeting, does not include Telecom Board meeting video to be run during week of 12/17/2010 through 12/12/2010. Bemis' comments, therefore, will not be shown on Cox Cable or AT&T U-verse until long after the Fayetteville City Council meeting at which the CAT contract will be voted on Tuesday, December 21, 2010.
Please click on individual pages to ENLARGE for easy reading.

World Peace Wetland Prairie was once approved to be an apartment complex but Town Branch Neighborhood gathered friends to make it a city nature park

2010-12-11T22:08:00.001-08:00

World Peace Wetland Prairie's Earth Day 2010 celebration video

2010-12-11T08:46:00.001-08:00

Deirdre Shepherd sings on video featuring Tommy Grace discussing his efforts to help homeless young people in Fayetteville in the 1990s

2010-12-10T13:25:00.001-08:00

Buy a federal duck stamp to provide habitat for waterfowl and many other species all over the continent

2010-12-05T09:23:00.001-08:00

Please click on image to ENLARGE.

Hunting season dates in Arkansas

December meeting of Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.

Cox Cable changes of interest to viewers of Fayetteville's public channels

2010-11-21T18:14:00.001-08:00

aubunique: Fayetteville, Arkansas, and Charleston, South Caro...

2010-11-10T07:09:00.000-08:00

aubunique: Fayetteville, Arkansas, and Charleston, South Caro...: "The Home Depot Foundation Tackles Cities’ Sustainability Challenges with Innovative Program Two Cities Selected for $1 Million Invest..."

aubunique: Please fill out online survey of opinion of perfor...

2010-11-09T18:45:00.000-08:00

aubunique: Please fill out online survey of opinion of perfor...: "Greetings Everyone! CAT Performance Survey 2010 As we reach the end of 2010, Community Access Television (CAT) requests the favor of yo..."

Cox Cable pulls surprise on city of Fayetteville, Arkansas, with plan to move public-access, government channel and educational channel to EXPENSIVE digital tier of channels: So much for open government when thousands of people will not be able to afford access to the public channels

2010-11-08T19:10:00.001-08:00

Please click on image to ENLARGE view of Cox Cable advertisement in recent issue of The Northwest Arkansas Times.

For several years I have been able to turn away phone and online salesmen wanting me to take the satellite systems and later the Uverse TV system of AT&T.
But now Cox has set up a situation that will require me to drop their service and take the Uverse, which will automatically cut my cost because I have AT&T phone service already.
Cox has one thing the others don't have: The local public stations at minimal cost.
This is the time for the city administration to begin negotiating with COX. This is a draconian measure that will hurt COX in the long run.

aubunique: A few more words from David Whitaker on election e...

2010-11-02T06:31:00.000-07:00

aubunique: A few more words from David Whitaker on election e...

Highway Commission vote could end mowing and dredging practices that cause erosion, loss of wildlife habitat and decrease beauty of roadsides in Arkansas

2010-10-17T08:59:00.000-07:00

Please click on image to ENLARGE. Two hours after this photo was made on October 12, 2010, this area had been brushogged into oblivion. Sure, the swamp milkweed will sprout from its roots next summer. But these plants not only held pods offering hundreds of milkweed seeds but also were feeding milkweed caterpillars that could have made chrysalises and become final 2010 generation monarchs traveling to Mexico and with a chance to return in spring and find fresh milkweed on which a new generation of monarchs could have been raised to keep the cycle of life intact for this seriously threatened species of migrating butterfly. If you want to talk to your Northwest Arkansas representative on the Highway Commission, he is Dick Trammel.

Monarch caterpillars were still eating the foliage of these swamp milkweeds and the seed pods were almost mature when the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department Mowers came down the road and crushed and cut them off near the ground. Amazing hypocrisy for a state agency that touts its wildflower program. And possibly worse hypocrisy is touting its stormwater-protection work and then mowing and dredging ditches repeatedly every year.

Please click on individual images to ENLARGE view.

To learn more about the Arkansas Highway Commission, please see AHC link.

aubunique: Insect Festival coming up

2010-10-06T18:22:00.000-07:00

aubunique: Insect Festival coming up: "Please use live links on site to navigate and read more detail. Bumpers College Home Entomology Home O..."

aubunique: Tree and Landscape Committee sets annual city tree...

2010-10-06T09:12:00.000-07:00

aubunique: Tree and Landscape Committee sets annual city tree...: "12th Annual Celebration of TreesSaturday October 9, 2010 7:00 am Town Center entrance on the Fayetteville SquareEvery year the Tree and Lan..."

Northwest Arkansas Ducks Unlimited banquet on September 24, 2010, at Washington County Fairground

2010-09-10T20:51:00.000-07:00

Start the celebration early for the Alabama game by attending the Northwest Arkansas Ducks Unlimited membership banquet at the Washington County Fairgrounds. Lots of great food, unique auction items and plenty of prizes.
Individual, couple, Sponsor and Corporate tables for eight are available. To purchase your tickets online please click the Buy Tickets link below.

If you're interested in becoming a volunteer on the committee, or would like more information on the banquet, please contact me at the email address shown. Be sure to forward this email to friends and fellow duck hunters who would also like to attend the banquet.
Please click on image to ENLARGE view of Illinois River waterfowl on January 6, 2010.

Roy Orbison "Try to Remember"

2010-08-30T22:00:00.000-07:00

Aug9 aubrey.asf

2010-08-27T07:52:00.000-07:00

Two such wetland plants growing together are a strong indicator of wetland

2010-08-15T19:02:00.001-07:00

Please click on image to ENLARGE and widen view of Asclepias incarnata (swamp milkweed) and Verbena hastata (swamp vervain) growing together on south Fayetteville wetland.

Wolverine_Title_04_01.asf

2010-08-06T15:35:00.000-07:00

Sample of 300 photos made Sunday morning on World Peace Wetland Prairie

2010-08-01T11:45:00.001-07:00

Please click on images to ENLARGE and widen view of 12-foot-tall cup plant, close up of cup plant flower with tiger swallowtail, native thistles with tiger swallowtails and bumblebees and skipper moths.

Springs beneath Bates School may be dug into to create underground storage of stormwater after Bates is demolished to make space for new high-school buildings

2010-07-23T17:16:00.001-07:00

Diana fritillary on butterfly milkweed on June 21, 2010 CATRO_Title_03_0...

2010-07-22T17:31:00.000-07:00

DSCN7073Clasping leaf milkweed SEED.AVI

2010-07-18T12:40:00.000-07:00

NCAT announces that Arkansas among 3 states chosen to launch National Energy Corps program

2010-07-13T11:11:00.001-07:00

Arkansas Chosen as One of 3 States to Launch National Energy Corps Program

The National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) is pleased to announce that it has been awarded funding from the Corporation for National and Community Service to launch the National Energy Corps AmeriCorps program.

By forming collaborations with local non-profit organizations, community action agencies, local governments and energy service organizations, the National Energy Corps initiative will foster community sustainability by addressing the core challenges of clean energy:

* Hands-on Energy Assistance
* Energy Education and Outreach
* Community Energy Planning and Organizing
* Green Jobs Training and Skills Development

The National Energy Corps program is an AmeriCorps initiative of the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) in cooperation with The Corporation for National and Community Service that was created to address unmet community energy needs by promoting sustainable energy consumption and
education, fostering community sustainability and helping to mitigate the effects of global climate change.

The National Energy Corps initiative builds on the success of the Montana Energy Corps pilot, a program funded by the Montana Governor’s Office of Community Service. Since October of 2009, Energy Corps members in Montana have been busy assisting with weatherization services for low-incomes areas,
developing clean energy awareness campaigns for communities and performing community building energy audits on reservations.

“We see a need for sustainable energy services across the country,” says Energy Corps Program Director Holly Hill. “The Energy Corps program has been a great success in Montana and we hope we can replicate that success on a larger scale.”

As a product of the successful Montana Energy Corps program, the National Energy Corps initiative will launch this fall in three additional states, Pennsylvania, Iowa and Arkansas. The Arkansas Energy Corps program will be managed by the NCAT Southeast Regional Office, located in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
NCAT Southeast Regional Office Director Margo Hale says, “The Southeast Regional office is thrilled to be one of three states to launch the National Energy Corps initiative. This is a great opportunity for our region and our state.”

Arkansas will have approximately 15 National Energy Corps positions available, beginning in September 2010. Energy Corps members will serve an 11 month term of service and receive the same benefits as an AmeriCorps member, which include a monthly living stipend, an education award, health insurance
and a experience of a lifetime providing direct services to their community. National Energy Corps members will be placed with host organizations in communities throughout the state of Arkansas to implement solutions for sustainable energy.

NCAT is currently accepting applications from non-profit organizations interested in hosting an Energy Corps member. Host organizations will be required to provide a detailed description of how an Energy Corps member working for their program will facilitate clean energy-related services.

Applications for host organizations must be submitted by the close of business by July 20, 2010. More detailed information regarding this partnership opportunity is available by reviewing the full application instructions attached or by contacting Holly Hill at 406-494-8652/hollyh@ncat.org or Melissa Terry at 479.575.1382/melissat@ncat.org.

###

The National Center for Appropriate Technology is a nonprofit organization founded in 1976. NCAT’s innovative and diverse projects in the fields of
sustainable energy, sustainable agriculture and rural community development are supported by foundations, government/private sector grants and contracts, as well as through individual contributions and memberships.

--
AR Energy Corps Coordinator
National Center for Appropriate Technology
SE Field Office
207 W. Center
Fayetteville, AR 72701
www.ncat.org
479.575.1385

This buckeye butterfly was on nonnative butterfly bush in the peace-circle portion of the World Peace Wetland Prairie on June 11, 2010. You may be able to see it and many other pollinators Saturday June 12, 2010, at some of the 8 private gardens on the OMNI Tour of Peace Gardens

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Please click on image to ENLARGE view of Buddleia with
Precis coenea nectaring on it on June 11, 2010, at World Peace Wetland Prairie in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
For interactive map and information about 2010 OMNI Peace Garden Tour, please see OMNI Peace Gardens blog.

Bill Halter choice of Democratic voters in Washington County

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Please click on individual images to ENLARGE view of Bill Halter and fans on Fayetteville square on May 17, 2010.

'New report shows aquatic life declines at early stages of urban development'

2010-06-03T09:42:00.000-07:00

'New report shows aquatic life declines at early stages of urban development'

Lioneld Jordan video from Fayetteville National Cemetery's 2010 Memorial Day ceremony

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Lioneld talks to vets at VA Hospital who fought many places

Aubrey james | MySpace Video
Lioneld Jordan ends speech at National Cemetery with great words

Aubrey james | MySpace Video

Denver tolerates no fireworks, so why should Fayetteville weaken its rules?

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The only argument that might make me hesitate to think for even a moment before condemning the current discussion by Fayetteville city government about softening the firework ordinance would be that shooting off fireworks on fourth of July is patriotic.

Visit with a Vietnam or middle-east vet living in the hillside woodlands and stream riparizn zones in south Fayetteville and ask about their reactions to the sounds of fireworks. Some may be afraid to talk to you. Others will explain exactly what their generation experienced that led to the replacement of the WWI classification of shell-shocked with "victims of post-dramatic trauma."

If you don't care about the human victims of the intrusive noise of fireworks, how about the thousands of pets that disappear in the vain attempt to escape the pain of firework noise.

Whatever one calls it, a person who has been helpless under heavy fire in battle usually doesn't enjoy fireworks. Especially if he lives as quietly as possible in a Fayetteville forested area and is awakened in his bed on the ground by assorted expensive fireworks lighting the sky above him.

Denver's zero tolerance firework policy outlined

By Howard Pankratz
The Denver Post

POSTED: 06/30/2009 12:53:58 PM MDT

UPDATED: 06/30/2009 07:20:35 PM MDT

Fireworks that are illegal in Denver were displayed at the press conference on June 30, 2009. (THE DENVER POST | RJ SANGOSTI)

Denver has zero tolerance for fireworks.

That means fireworks can't be stored, used, manufactured or sold in Denver.

Today, Denver police and paramedics gathered outside the emergency room at Denver Health Medical Center and used graphic pictures to illustrate why the city has the policy.

Mangled fingers. Mutilated arms. Badly burned hands and faces.

"The only things that are legal are non-ignitable items such as paper-wrapped, small poppers," said Denver Police Technician Dean Christopherson. "We allow nothing that ignites or explodes."

The prohibition includes sparklers.

"The problem with sparklers are that they burn at over a thousand degrees," he said. "They are very flammable. Anything that you have around

PROFESSIONAL FIREWORKS

them could set a lot of fires."

Christopherson said another consideration is the hope that the "quality of life" can be preserved in Denver.

He said the vast majority of fireworks calls are in the evening as people try to sleep and pets are "trying to get some peace."

Setting off the fireworks wakes some and upsets the pets, he said.

Lt. Scott Homlar, a lieutenant with Denver Paramedic Division, said that annually in the United States between 8,000 and 10,000 emergency room visits are caused by fireworks injuries.

The vast majority of the blast and burn victims are kids 15 years and younger and most injuries occur in the months around July 4th, Homlar said.

"You have to understand that these are little explosives," said Homlar. "Most of the injuries are either to the head or to the extremities — to the hands, eyes, ears and facial injuries."

Christopherson said that so far this year, there have been about 350 complaints about fireworks in Denver, which is half the number of the calls at this time last year.

He said it could be the result of a down economy, a lack of available fireworks or people obeying the law.

He noted that the maximum penalty for setting off fireworks in Denver is a

Paramedic Scott Homlar of Denver Health Medical Center speaks during a press conference to outline the laws and dangers of fireworks on June 30, 2009. (THE DENVER POST | RJ SANGOSTI)

fine up to $999 and one year in jail.

Homlar said he has personally treated people injured by fireworks. "Fortunately, it is not a common occurrence," he said. "I think it is reflective of the law in Denver which makes it illegal for people to even possess the items."

Still, Homlar doesn't want to be a holiday killjoy. "We want you to have a good time, we want you to have an enjoyable 4th of July but we want you to be legal," he said.

To report the use of illegal fireworks in Denver, call police either at 311 or 720-913-2000.

Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com

West Fork Cleanup and Watershed Celebration from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, June 5, 2010

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Please click on image to enlarge view and see whole poster

Slide show of photos of elderberry flowers on May 27, 2010

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Find more photos like this on elderberries.com

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Aubrey James Shepherd's Web log

Short takes on Cox 218 and AT&T channel 99 something for today through the weekend

Park board hears comments on value of preserving soil and native plants on proposed construction site on Rochier Hill west of Pinnacle Prairie and World Peace Wetland Prairie

Joe Mosby inducted into Hall of Fame

Outdoor writer Joe Mosby receives Lifetime Achievement Award

Video of Ward Four meeting at 7 p.m. September 26 includes explanation of importance of renewing sales tax by vote on Oct. 11, 2011. See detail below

Please click on image below to ENLARGE for reading. Click on the enlargement for even easier reading.Monday, September 26, 2011

Town Branch Neighborhood Association meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday, August 30, 2011, welcomes everyone who chooses to attend

to discuss plan for apartment complex adjacent to National Cemetery, streamside-protection ordinance, neighborhood watch, urban wildlife-habitat certification of private property, natural-yard option approved by City Council and anything of importance in our neighborhood and city

Greg Howe has resigned to take a job in a wonderful place to the northwest. His final meeting of Fayetteville's Tree and Landscape Committee, now known as the Urban Forestry Board

Blake Pennington elected chairman of the Telecommunication Board on August 18, 2011

Traditional landscapes suck Energy, Water and Money, says Neil Diboll at The Native Plants in the Landscape Conference

« Welcome to The Native Plants in the Landscape Conference

The Future of Gardening by Neil Diboll

University of Vermont ExtensionDepartment of Plant and Soil Science

Next week's shortakes on public-access television previewed on You Tube: See link below

Mayor Lioneld Jordan of Fayetteville cites wet-prairie protection by Pinnacle Foods Inc. of Fayetteville as an example of protecting Beaver Lake water-quality in the most natural way possible

Two five-minute nature videos recorded on 28 July 2011 to be run on Fayetteville Public Television from Monday, August 1, 2011, through Friday, August 5, 2011

Planning Commission passes the sale-barn rezoning to the City Council at June 27 meeting despite comments of neighbors and veterans

Video of slide show to run June 27-July 1, 2011, on Fayetteville Public Television

Shortakes recorded Monday, June 13, 2011, to run June 20-24, 2011, on Public Access Television at 218 on Cox Cable and U-verse 99 on AT&T as well as simulcast on the Your Media Web site

June 2, 2011, shortakes on public television in Fayetteville

Doug Tallamy tells us about 'Bringing Nature Home' to provide habitat for wildlife

Education Channel agreement between Fayetteville public-school system and Fayetteville city government moving toward final form

Invitation to attend Earth Day 2011 at World Peace Wetland Prairie and share your information on environmental and natural-resource conservation

Shortakes to run April 11-15, 2011, on Fayetteville public-access televion, channel 218 on Cox Cable

V

March 14, 2011, video recorded at Community Access Television with Aubrey Shepherd's photos from Bruce Walker Memorial at George's on March 13, 2011: To run next week on Cox 218 on your big-screen TV

Night before Streamside Ordinance was passed by City Council, it was discussed during Ward 4 meeting

March 30 to April 13, 2007 video of water & sewer work on South Duncan Avenue and other outdoor activities in Fayetteville, Arkansas

Audubon's Wilson Spring wetland nature area on Jan. 19, 2011: 185 photos from a 2-mile walk with Mike Mhlodnow

2007 Springfest and Earth Day video by Aubrey James Shepherd

September 18, 2006, video of eroded fill dirt washing off the Aspen Ridge (now Hill Place) construction site at 11th Street and South Duncan Avenue

Please speak up now: Full disclosure of chemicals used in fracking is open for comment to the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission

June 2009 meeting of Town Branch Neighborhood Association with developers planning student apartment complex adjacent to Fayetteville National Cemetery

Jim Bemis speaks at Telecom Board meeting on December 16, 2010

World Peace Wetland Prairie was once approved to be an apartment complex but Town Branch Neighborhood gathered friends to make it a city nature park

World Peace Wetland Prairie's Earth Day 2010 celebration video

Deirdre Shepherd sings on video featuring Tommy Grace discussing his efforts to help homeless young people in Fayetteville in the 1990s

Buy a federal duck stamp to provide habitat for waterfowl and many other species all over the continent

Cox Cable changes of interest to viewers of Fayetteville's public channels

aubunique: Fayetteville, Arkansas, and Charleston, South Caro...

aubunique: Please fill out online survey of opinion of perfor...

Cox Cable pulls surprise on city of Fayetteville, Arkansas, with plan to move public-access, government channel and educational channel to EXPENSIVE digital tier of channels: So much for open government when thousands of people will not be able to afford access to the public channels

aubunique: A few more words from David Whitaker on election e...

Highway Commission vote could end mowing and dredging practices that cause erosion, loss of wildlife habitat and decrease beauty of roadsides in Arkansas

aubunique: Insect Festival coming up

aubunique: Tree and Landscape Committee sets annual city tree...

Northwest Arkansas Ducks Unlimited banquet on September 24, 2010, at Washington County Fairground

Roy Orbison "Try to Remember"

Aug9 aubrey.asf

Two such wetland plants growing together are a strong indicator of wetland

Wolverine_Title_04_01.asf

Sample of 300 photos made Sunday morning on World Peace Wetland Prairie

Springs beneath Bates School may be dug into to create underground storage of stormwater after Bates is demolished to make space for new high-school buildings

Diana fritillary on butterfly milkweed on June 21, 2010 CATRO_Title_03_0...

DSCN7073Clasping leaf milkweed SEED.AVI

NCAT announces that Arkansas among 3 states chosen to launch National Energy Corps program

This buckeye butterfly was on nonnative butterfly bush in the peace-circle portion of the World Peace Wetland Prairie on June 11, 2010. You may be able to see it and many other pollinators Saturday June 12, 2010, at some of the 8 private gardens on the OMNI Tour of Peace Gardens

Bill Halter choice of Democratic voters in Washington County

'New report shows aquatic life declines at early stages of urban development'

Lioneld Jordan video from Fayetteville National Cemetery's 2010 Memorial Day ceremony

Denver tolerates no fireworks, so why should Fayetteville weaken its rules?

Denver's zero tolerance firework policy outlined

PROFESSIONAL FIREWORKS

West Fork Cleanup and Watershed Celebration from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, June 5, 2010

Slide show of photos of elderberry flowers on May 27, 2010

Please click on image below to ENLARGE for reading. Click on the enlargement for even easier reading.

Monday, September 26, 2011

University of Vermont Extension
Department of Plant and Soil Science