Naturalist Dirty Jobs ep. 2

Prairie Project - an Update from Laurel's Studio

Here's an update from my studio. If you enjoy entries like this you can sign up for them directly at laurelsundberg.com

Hi everyone, 

My studio has been on wheels lately. Traveling to Crow-Hassan prairie for a bumble bee survey resulted in a jolt of inspiration and a strong desire to paint more of this particular subject. So begins my Prairie Project. There aren't many of these landscapes left. Prairies form deep, rich soil.  Millions of acres of native prairie fell to cultivation during the pioneer days. It's what makes the midwest such an important agricultural area.  As a result only about 1% of Minnesota's original prairies remain. In fact the paintings in this post are from a restored prairie. 

Prairie restoration is a careful, multi-year undertaking. Imagine gardening, but over 3000 acres and dealing with all the "things beyond your control" on a scale I really can't imagine as a backyard gardener. Matching seed profiles with soil components, timing burns to maximize recharge of nutrients, knock out invasive plants, and minimize harm to organisms that call the prairie home. It's an overwhelming undertaking, BUT luckily one that is being tackled, or we'd have none of these once-common vistas left in this part of Minnesota.

This late summer and early fall I hope to get regular trips out to paint under the sweeping prairie skies. So stay tuned. Do you know someone who might be interested in following this project? Ask them to join my newsletter to get updates right to their inbox. (I don't ever share emails, I hate spam too.) 

Until next time, 

Laurel 

PS

My Solo Show in Bemidji is up for 2 more weeks! The show comes down on Labor Day. So if you're in the area be sure to check it out!

A Bee or Not a Bee episode 2

Glimpse a mid Summer visitor to the garden. 

A Bee Or Not A Bee

"I got stung by a bee!" Did you really? Most likely it was something else. Everything with stripes is a bee, right? Nope.

It's one of my naturalist pet-peeves. In this series I'll explore bees and their look-alike. Who stings, who doesn't, who really is a bee, and who is a look-alike?

Beer News and Upcoming Programs

Beer: (made you look)

Earlier this winter I painted the label art for Lowry's Sugar Maple Ale. (I'm hopelessly behind right now, so this is old news) This specialty brew was created by Excelsior Brewing and debuted in mid March and a portion of each sale goes toward our project to revamp our maple syruping evaporator setup at Lowry Nature Center. Is there any beer left? I have no idea, it was a small batch and selling quick. What I do know is we're still maple syruping at work, and it's a dog and pony show every time we pour from the evaporator. It's a labor of love. Haul sap, cook all day in evaporator, cook all day inside to finish and bottle. What's that smell?! Oh crap, it's boiling over! We will ALL look forward to having an evaporator that doesn't require 3-4 of us and the skill of a synchronized swimming team to pour off. It will still be a labor of love, but less chance of burning someone with boiling sap. We do have 2018 syrup for sale at Lowry Nature Center and proceeds from that will go toward Operation New Evaporator. 

Programs:

I'm primarily an oil painter, but I do occasionally paint in watercolor. It's growing on me. Watercolors are a lot easier to travel with than a giant easel full of oil paint. 

 Coming soon, I will lead a Wildflowers and Watercolors program on Mother's Day at Lowry Nature Center. I really had hoped to paint wildflowers before the program but mother nature is having none of it! We just got a record blizzard here. It'll be awhile before spring does anything, well, spring-like. But I will post updates as I get closer to the program for those who are interested in painting and a spring wildflower walk.

Time to get that in gear before leading a program. However, it's pretty hard to paint outside with watercolor until the weather starts acting a bit more spring-like. 

(Cape May warbler study in watercolor)

We'll be feeling sorry for ourselves for awhile here, with about 20 inches of snow. Huh? Spring? Hang in there. It'll happen. Until next time.

-Laurel

Musings on Maples on Climate Change

(Originally published in March 2013)

By Laurel Sundberg

Interpretive Naturalist
Lowry Nature Center

          Once upon a time in Minnesota an early sign of spring was a bucket hanging on the trunk of a massive old Sugar maple. These gnarled old giants were tapped and sap was collected and cooked into syrup or sugar. In fact, European settlers learned to collect and cook maple sap to sugar from American Indians.

          Fast forward to the present day; you will still see buckets hanging on Sugar maples in late winter, but the tradition is changing. Specifically the weather that creates our sugaring season is changing. The season we have to tap these trees, with nights below freezing and days in the 40’s, is shortening. And with climate conditions being less favorable for Sugar maple as a species, the forests in our area are filled with fewer giant old maples.

          Sugar maples are native to North America, ranging from the New England, north into Canada, and southwest to Missouri. Minnesota lies on the west edge of this range. Historically we were smack-dab in the middle of Sugar maple heaven; a region known as the Big Woods. But many of the woods have fallen to farming and development. The maples that remain are showing changes in reaction to our warmer winters. 

          Many of our current studies on maple sugaring come from New England, a region with strong economic ties to syrup production. In the past 100 years the average New England temperatures have warmed 2-4 degrees F. Similar changes are taking place in the Midwest. With warmer winters, timing the collection of sap becomes very tricky. Sometimes we completely lack weather conditions needed for sap flow. In 2012 sap collection became nearly impossible because we just never had the right combination of winter-into-spring weather. 

          Sap flow is complicated and not fully understood…but here’s a stab at it. Cold recharge (CR) is needed to get trees producing sap. This equates to weeks of below freezing temperatures before having a thaw. Historically this CR cycle would occur during December, January and February. During CR the sap in the limbs turns to ice and creates a low pressure area and pulls more sap into frozen zones from the roots. How does frozen stuff pull sap? Don’t ask; that’s where the math gets fuzzy and chemistry equations fly around. CR also gets the tree to convert starch into sugar to fuel spring bud break. When warm weather melts the frozen sap, it gets pushed in all directions and we can collect it.

The sap itself is changing. 60 years ago Sugar maple sap in the eastern US averaged between 2.5-3% sugar. That percentage is dropping. During the last decade, in the same region, sugar contents were measured at 2-2.5% on average. This represents a significant decline in the vigor of Sugar maple trees. Trees are more stressed by environmental factors and produce less sweet sap then 60 years ago.

          There is visual confirmation of this change using satellite photography. A pigment called anthocyanin is tied to starch production in maples. High starch content produces high anthocyanin; which we see visually as red pigment in the leaves. High anthocyanin produces brilliant orange-red fall colors. And satellite photography over the past decade shows that the brilliant orange-red is dimming.   

What does all of this mean? That’s the million dollar question; only time will tell. In the short term it gives us a reason to celebrate the cold weather this winter. Long term, you might want enjoy those Sugar maples while they still grow here in MN!

We’re all hoping for a better sugaring season than 2012. We would love to have you visit or volunteer during the season. Don’t forget to pick up some tapping supplies while you’re here. You could try your very own maple sugaring experiment this spring! 

 

Songbirds During a MN Winter

Minnesota Naturalist Association weekend...painting, exploring!

Time lapse painting: Green Darner dragonfly

I'm leading a painting workshop soon and needed to get some practice in with acrylic paints, a medium I haven't used since high school. Here's a clip showing my work. (Check for our rescue kitty, Gustav, photobombing the second half of the clip.)

Naturalist Artist Vlog: Duff (No, not Homer's favorite beer).

June and early July phenology

Here are some fun shots from the past several days. 

Spicebush or black swallowtail on Vervain in the rain garden. Just noticed the Vervain blooming this past week. 

Butterfly weed (left), a type of milkweed, looking showy and covered in native bees too small for me to get photos of. 

Speaking of milkweed, this Common milkweed is hosting a BIG Monarch caterpillar, almost ready to form a J and go into chrysalis. This guy has his own manure pile, loads of "frass" or caterpillar poop. 

Ebony jewelwing hanging out along Purgatory creek, near home. There were hundreds of these along the creek banks. Delicate lacy little things...hard to believe. I know they often emerge in masses but had never seen that until recently. 

Ok, have a great July 4th holiday. Thanks for reading. 

-Laurel