I really do apologize to everyone! An incorrect email address for Jon
Kauffeld was mistakenly provided to me, and I used it in my posting. The
correct version of the entire posting, address and all, is below. Mea
culpa, extremely sorry!!
Cindy
***
UNION SLOUGH PRAIRIES NEED YOUR HELP
If you are willing to send a short email, ideally by 8 am on Monday February
10th, to provide badly-needed support for endangered Iowa prairie remnants
and a beleaguered prairie restoration project, this message is for you.
Very sorry for the short notice! Messages sent after 2/10 will also help
enormously -- please send them.
Whether or not it makes sense, the future of prairie restoration at Union
Slough National Wildlife Refuge is likely to be determined by how many
messages in favor of prairie restoration are received by the refuge in the
next several days. Please share this message with others, in or out of
Iowa, who may want to help. This wildlife refuge and its prairies belong to
all Americans.
Here's the short version: Email messages need to be sent to William Hartwig,
Regional Director, Region 3, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, at
[log in to unmask], and also to Nita Fuller, Chief of Refuges, U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service, at [log in to unmask]
The basic message needs to be: I strongly support the prairie restoration
work being done at Union Slough National Wildlife Refuge, including the
removal of the invading trees and brush that threaten the native prairies,
grassland birds, and grassland habitat on the refuge.
If you are willing to help further by sending emails to other important
contacts, especially elected officials, and/or by attending a public meeting
about the prairie restoration, and/or by having your conservation
organization sign a letter in support of the prairie restoration, information
is below.
Here's the background: Union Slough National Wildlife Refuge comprises 3334
acres, and is located near the town of Titonka in Kossuth County, near the
border of Minnesota. The refuge staff are now working on an underfunded but
valiant effort to remove trees that are invading prairies on the refuge. You
may have read that some local residents have mounted a vigorous
letter-writing campaign to stop the tree removal.
That campaign is unfortunately based mostly on misinformation and
misunderstanding, per below. Even more unfortunately, the campaign has the
potential to stop tree removal on the refuge, perhaps permanently.
The trees are invading native tallgrass prairie remnants, and tallgrass
prairie is a globally-endangered ecosystem. If the tree campaign forces an
end to the tree removal, that will mean disintegration for the prairies. It
will also set a very ominous precedent for tree removal projects on other
public prairies, and for science-based land management in Iowa.
Here are the assertions being made against the tree removal on the refuge,
followed by the facts.
ASSERTION: A large area of the refuge used to be oak savanna, so all the
trees in that large savanna area should be left alone.
FACT: A very small area of the refuge, about twenty acres, used to be oak
savanna. The oaks in that area will be left in place, except for some small
oaks in places where decades of fire suppression have caused them to grow so
thickly that thinning is needed to restore the savanna to ecological
health. Tree species that do not belong in oak savannas will also be
removed, as is standard in savanna restoration.
The refuge staff looked carefully at historical records to determine what ki
nds of plants covered the refuge before European settlement. All the
documents they examined indicated that the overwhelming majority of the
refuge's 3334 acres were treeless prairie and wetland. This makes
scientific sense, given the soil types and fire history of the area.
ASSERTION: The refuge is so large that there is plenty of room for both
trees and grassland.
FACT: From a prairie wildlife point of view, 3334 acres is not a large
area. And the refuge grassland is disappearing under a steady onslaught of
trees and shrubs. More than 600 acres of brush and trees are now spread
through the Refuge in patches and corridors. That fragments the grassland
and greatly reduces its value for wildlife.
Many of the trees are growing on or next to native prairie remnants with
conservative plant species. Such remnants are rare in Iowa. Trees shade
and kill prairie plants. Trees also provide habitat for crows, cowbirds,
raccoons, and skunks, which prey on or parasitize grassland birds.
Grassland birds are declining faster than any other group of birds in North
America. They desperately need sizeable areas of treeless grassland, which
are now rare in Iowa.
ASSERTION: The refuge is supposed to provide habitat for as many wildlife
species as possible, so the trees and brush should stay because they are good
habitat for some species.
FACT: The primary mission of the refuge is to provide habitat for migratory
birds. That includes upland grassland birds and waterfowl, all of which need
treeless grassland/wetland areas for successful breeding and migration.
Most of the animals that benefit from invasion stands of green ash, the most
common tree on the Refuge, are relatively common animals which have much more
habitat available in Iowa than grassland birds. And from an ecological and
historical point of view, invading trees and brush caused by decades of fire
suppression are no more "natural" than exploding deer populations in some
parts of the country that are caused by predator extermination.
Many grassland plants and animals cannot survive on land covered with a
mixture of grassland, trees, and brush. Many wildlife areas in Iowa are
covered with that mixture. Encouraging that mixture on all Iowa wildlife
land would doom many prairie species.
If Iowa's biodiversity is to survive, Iowa needs more of what used to cover
85% of our state. It needs large tracts of treeless grassland and
wetland. It is very difficult to find and restore such areas now, but Union
Slough offers that opportunity. The refuge used to be a prairie wetland
complex 200 years ago, and the plan to restore it is based on science,
research, the mission of the refuge, and professional expertise. The
prairie restoration work needs and deserves to continue.
For more information, please contact me or Inger Lamb, below. Thank you for
your help!
Cindy Hildebrand
[log in to unmask]
Inger Lamb
[log in to unmask]
515-963-7681
IMPORTANT PEOPLE TO CONTACT:
William Hartwig
[log in to unmask]
Regional Director - Region 3
U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Federal Building, 1 Federal Drive
Fort Snelling, Minnesota 55111-4056
Nita Fuller
[log in to unmask]
Chief of Refuges
U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Federal Building, 1 Federal Drive
Fort Snelling, Minnesota 55111-4056
Jon Kauffeld -
[log in to unmask]
Area II Refuge Supervisor
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Senator Chuck Grassley
[log in to unmask]
Senator Tom Harkin
[log in to unmask]
Representative Tom Latham
[log in to unmask]
PUBLIC MEETING:
A public meeting on the management of Union Slough National Wildlife Refuge i
s scheduled for Friday, February 21 in Algona, Iowa, at 7:00 pm. It will be
held at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 1501 East Walnut Street. The public is
invited, and attendees will include staff from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service Regional Office and George Maze, Project Leader for Union Slough.
Prairie supporters can help the refuge prairies by attending this meeting.
LETTER OF SUPPORT:
I am drafting a letter of support for the Union Slough prairie restoration
work for any Iowa conservation organizations that may want to sign onto it.
My hope is to have the letter ready by the time of the public meeting on Feb.
21. If your organization would like to sign such a letter, please contact
me. Thanks!
***
Cindy Hildebrand
[log in to unmask]
57439 250th St.
Ames, IA 50010
"These are the gardens of the Desert, these
The unshorn fields, boundless and beautiful,
For which the speech of England has no name --
The Prairies." (William Cullen Bryant)
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