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Protecting Prairies & Promoting Native Plants

Every Scrap of Biodiversity

Dr. E. O. Wilson—the late, great champion of biodiversity—once stated, "I will argue that every scrap of biological diversity is priceless, to be learned and cherished, and never to be surrendered without a struggle."


Dr. Wilson's words are MPF's mantra. There are countless reasons why every species on earth, including on prairies, should be protected—among them to safeguard our own survival, which depends on ecological diversity. This means protecting not just flashy animals and plants, but all life forms, including obscure insects we don't know much about—like many moths.


Next week is National Moth Week (NMW), which celebrates the beauty, life cycles, and habitats of moths. “Moth-ers” of all ages and abilities are encouraged to learn about, observe, and document moths in their backyards, parks, and neighborhoods. You can also document moths (and many other plants and animals) you discover on MPF prairies through MPF's iNaturalist Citizen Science Biodiversity Project.


NMW is being recognized not just across the country, but worldwide during the last full week of July. NMW offers everyone, everywhere a unique opportunity to become a citizen scientist and contribute scientific data about moths. Through partnerships with major online biological data depositories, NMW participants can help map moth distribution and provide important information on other life history aspects around the globe.


In Missouri, there are approximately 3,000 species of moths, with about 160 species dependent on prairie for their survival. Learn more about moths in and around grasslands during our MPF Master Class with Betsy Betros on July 19 and in this Missouri Prairie Journal article by Phil Koenig. Learn about moths that depend on woody plants in this Grow Native! article in the Missouri Prairie Journal by Linda Williams and Mary Nemecek. You can also take steps to establish habitat on land under your control to benefit moths and many other creatures with our new transitional shade garden plan, below.


And . . .scroll down to Prairie Postcard for news about a moth new to Missouri, discovered on a Missouri prairie.


We invite you to register for one or more upcoming MPF/Grow Native! events, and we hope you enjoy our additional news items, below.


New Grow Native! Transitional Shade Garden Landscape Plan

–July 19: MPF Master Class: Moths in and around grasslands with Betsy Betros

–July 22: Bumble Bee Atlas Training at Drovers' Prairie

–August 2: Grow Native! Master Class: Native Grasses & Sedges with Shannon Currey

–August 5: Free Native Forage Pasture Tour

–August 19: MPF Annual Dinner

–August 23: Volunteer Opportunity: Seed Collection

–Save the dates: MPF Native Plant Sales in September

–Interested in becoming an MPF board member? Submit an application!

–Prairie Postcard: Moth New to State Found on a Missouri Prairie


Our best to you,

The MPF Team


The golden stowaway moth (Cirrhophanus triangulifer), occurs on prairies and other habitats. Photo above by Betsy Betros

NEW Grow Native! Transitional Shade Garden Landscape Plan

Common in residential neighborhoods are expansive lawns, sometimes with a single canopy tree. While native oaks and other large native trees do provide important food—in the form of leaves—for many insects, all of that lawn does not support insects throughout their life cycles. 


Those canopy trees also provide structure and shelter for nesting birds, but without ample insects to feed their young, songbird brood-rearing is not always successful.


You can improve habitat in your yard for the entire life cycle of many beneficial insects simply by adding a diversity of shade-loving native plants under your canopy trees. All life stages of moths, butterflies, bumble bees, lightning bugs, and beetles will benefit from the food sources these plants provide and from leaf litter and plant debris allowed to accumulate in the planting. 


The new Grow Native! transitional shade native garden design above provides a template for replacing turf with "tree islands"—trees and other layers of vegetation to benefit native insects (including moths) through their life cycles, songbirds, and more, creating "soft landings" for them.


Read the accompanying article to this plan in the summer 2023 issue of the Missouri Prairie Journal here. Download the plan and learn more about its featured plants here.

July 19: MPF Master Class: Moths in and around Grasslands

Much conservation and public attention has been given to butterflies. Moths, however, outnumber butterflies by ten to one in number of species. Being primarily nocturnal and frequently very small, moths are mostly unseen creatures, yet moths of both grasslands and eastern deciduous forests play important ecological roles. Join entomologist Betsy Betros as she presents about the complex world of moths—far beyond the little brown moths that fly around your porch light—in the Kansas City region (and about a few butterflies!). Much remains to be researched as to the life cycles of moths, abundance, and species diversity, providing countless opportunities for citizen-science contributions! 


Betsy Betros’ lifelong love of insects began in childhood, and she went on to earn a degree in entomology from Colorado State University, focusing mostly on aquatic insects. She worked for 35 years for the Environmental Department of Johnson County, Kansas, and earned a Master’s degree from Kansas University in environmental health. She taught environmental science part-time for 15 years at Johnson County Community College and found time to write a book on the butterflies of the Kansas City region, which was published in 2008. In her retirement, Betros studies and photographs invertebrates on her five acres of land. So far, she has submitted more than 4,000 of her invertebrate images, including of several rare species, to Bugguide.net.


Join Betsy for this 50-minute presentation introducing participants to this important group of insects, followed by a question/answer period. Register here.


For those who are part of the Grow Native! Professional Certification Program (GNPCP), this master class counts as one CEU. To register for the class, use the registration link above and see details about earning GNPCP CEUs here. If you have questions about registration, contact outreach@moprairie.org.


Cost: Free to all MPF dues-paying members and Grow Native! professional members, or $15 for non-members. Visit our MPF membership page to become a member and attend all master classes at no cost!

July 22: Bumble Bee Atlas In-the-Field Training

The Missouri Bumble Bee Atlas is a statewide citizen science project aimed at tracking and conserving Missouri’s native bumble bees.


Join MPF board member Doug Helmers on July 22 to tour Drovers' Prairie near Sedalia, Missouri, to receive training on the Missouri Bumble Bee Atlas. No ID experience is needed!


Bring plenty of drinking water and pack a sack lunch to enjoy on the prairie, dress for a day in the field, and be prepared to pack your trash out with you. Children are welcome to attend with parents or guardians.


Doug Helmers retired in 2018 from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USWFS) as the Iowa private lands state coordinator. As project leader for the Partners for Fish & Wildlife program, Doug worked with private landowners to improve fish and wildlife habitat on their lands. Prior to working for USFWS, he was a wetland-emphasis team leader with the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Missouri. In addition, he spent three years working for the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network in Massachusetts.


Space is limited. Free. Register here.


Photo of a bumble bee on pale purple coneflower (Echinacea pallida) by Bruce Schuette

August 2: Grow Native! Master Class: Native Grasses & Sedges for Native Landscape Design

Native grasses and sedges offer a host of ecosystem benefits and smart solutions to common landscape challenges. Join us for a look at these extraordinary plants and discover where they do their best work.


Shannon Currey is a horticultural educator with Grow Native! Professional Member Izel Native Plants. She has worked in the nursery trade since 2006 and has established herself as an expert on grasses and sedges, with a focus on native species. She has shared her knowledge in nationally published articles and traveled the country speaking to professional organizations, community groups, and at public gardens. She currently serves on the North Carolina Plant Conservation Program Scientific Committee and the Perennial Plant Association’s Board of Directors. Shannon is based in Durham, North Carolina.


Join Shannon as she shares information about these important groups of plants during her 50-minute presentation, followed by a question/answer period. Register here.


For those who are part of the Grow Native! Professional Certification Program (GNPCP), this master class counts as one CEU. To register for the class, use the registration link above and see details about earning GNPCP CEUs here. If you have questions about registration, contact outreach@moprairie.org.


Cost: Free to all MPF dues-paying members and Grow Native! professional members, or $15 for non-members. Visit our MPF membership page to become a member and attend all master classes at no cost!

August 5: Free Native Pasture Tour Highlights Productive Prairie Forage

Humans thrive with a diversity of foods in their diet, and the same is true for livestock. Establishing and maintaining pastures of prairie grasses, forbs, and legumes not only provides diverse, nutritious forage for cattle, but this practice also provides many other benefits to cattle producers, water quality, and wildlife alike.


While cool-season tall fescue is often infected with an endophyte fungus that can have negative effects on cattle, a diversity of native grasses, forbs, and legumes do not carry the fungus and are highly nutritious and beneficial to cattle. In addition, native pasture, unlike fescue, is drought-tolerant, providing nutritious, palatable forage even in hot, dry, weather.


“Even in very dry conditions, my native pastures provide quality forage, and my cattle gain weight faster than on fescue,” said Steve Clubine, retired grassland biologist and cattle producer, who, through his “Native Warm-Season Grass News” published regularly in the Missouri Prairie Foundation’s Missouri Prairie Journal, shares his expertise on native grazing systems. In addition, the deep roots of prairie plants help protect waterways by absorbing large quantities of rainwater. Clump-forming big and little bluestem and other native grasses create the kind of structure that favors ground-nesting birds like quail, and flowers of legumes and other plants support pollinating insects.


Clubine is opening up his farm near Clinton, Missouri on Saturday, August 5 at 10:00 a.m., for a Missouri Prairie Foundation tour to help others see first-hand the benefits of establishing and maintaining a native forage grazing system. This walking tour is limited to 25 people. Free. Register here. Directions will be sent to registrants prior to the tour.


Photo courtesy the Missouri Department of Conservation

August 19: Registration Open Now for MPF Annual Dinner. RSVP by August 10

MPF invites you to a celebration of prairies on Saturday, August 19 in Columbia, Missouri at the Stoney Creek Hotel. Our keynote speaker will be Dr. Lisa Schulte Moore, a 2021 MacArthur Fellow, landscape ecologist, and professor at Iowa State University.


The evening will begin at 5:00 p.m. with a silent auction, drinks, and social hour, followed by dinner at 6:00 p.m., and subsequent presentation of awards and Dr. Schulte Moore presenting “Cultivating Connections through Prairie Strips.”


Tickets are $75 each for MPF and Grow Native! Professional members, $85 for the general public, and free for MPF lifetime members. Tables for six may be purchased for $450 by MPF or Grow Native! members, and $400 for MPF lifetime members by August 10. MPF members will receive personal invitations in the postal mail. Tickets and tables may be purchased here. To donate a silent auction item, please and complete this silent auction form.

August 23: Seed Collection Volunteer Opportunity

Seed collection is a vital component of MPF's prairie reconstruction projects.


We use carefully collected seed from remnant prairies to establish prairie plantings, which increase habitat for grassland birds and many pollinating insects, improve watershed health, increase carbon storage in soil, and buffer prairie remnants.


Please consider joining us for an upcoming volunteer seed collection opportunity on MPF prairies August 23, where you can contribute firsthand to the expansion of prairie plantings in Pettis County. The seed collection event will be from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. MPF will treat for ice cream! Ten volunteers are needed, and once registered, volunteers will receive directions and instructions for the workdays. Register below. Questions? Email outreach@moprairie.org.

Register for Seed Collection 

Open Invitation to Submit an MPF Board Member Application

MPF's board members are passionate about prairie, hard work, and having fun! They bring diverse backgrounds and expertise to guide all operations of the organization. While there are no vacancies on the MPF Board of Directors at this time, we always welcome individuals interested in serving on the board to submit an application at any time for consideration when vacancies occur. Read the MPF Board Member job description here. Download the application here. Get to know MPF's current board members here.


MPF board members Doug Helmers and Jane Haslag teaching FFA students about the importance of prairie in April 2023. Photo by Carol Davit

Save the Dates: MPF Native Plant Sales in September

Moth Species New to Missouri Found on Prairie

specimen photo of brown moth collected at MPF prairie with collection info

On June 1, 2019, MPF held its annual Prairie BioBlitz on the 400-acre original prairie in Benton County owned by Dr. Wayne Morton, a former MPF board president. In the evening, lepidopterist Phil Koenig led a nocturnal insect session, using a blacklight to attract nocturnal insects. 


Among the specimens collected was a moth that was not known from Missouri. It belongs to the genus Sympistis, but it could not be identified to species because two species in that genus are morphologically identical. The specimen either had to be dissected or DNA sequenced.

 

Dr. David Wagner at the University of Connecticut, an expert on caterpillars, kindly included a leg of the specimen with a batch of his specimens to be sequenced by BOLD Systems (Barcode of Life Data System) in Ontario. He received the results on June 24, 2023. The new species for Missouri is Sympistis dinalda. This species is represented on iNaturalist with five or six records from Missouri, but any associated photographs cannot be identified with certainty.


While Sympistis dinalda is not a prairie specialist, it definitely uses prairies, and its discovery underscores the importance of natural history educational events like MPF's annual Prairie BioBlitz.



Photo of Sympistis dinalda collected at MPF's Benton County Prairie by Phil Koenig.

The Missouri Prairie Foundation respectfully acknowledges that the land we work to protect was the homeland of a diversity of Native American nations prior to European-American settlement. The land in our care continues to have cultural significance for the Ni-U-Ko’n-Ska (Osage), Nyut/\achi (Missouria), Asakiwaki and Meskwaki (Sac and Fox), Báxoje (Ioway), Kaw, and other Native American nations. We are mindful that these nations had a significant role in shaping the landscape and that they continue a sacred relationship with the lands we protect. We recognize and appreciate their contributions to the cultural heritage of this region and to the history of North America. We honor them as we protect the ecological integrity of the lands in our care.
Quote: Nature is an open book for those who care to read. Each grass-covered hillside is a page on which is written the history of the past, conditions of the present and predictions of the future. Some see without understanding; but let us look closely an
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