Just as he was passing by the. Byron Forest Preserve, he saw a large animal
crossing the road. “It looked odd from a distance,” Chef Lassard said of the
animal.
Fall 2011
aft
imes
Northern Illinois University Lorado Taft Field Campus
Oregon, IL
On the prowl On a cool evening this past September, Taft’s head chef, Kurt Lassard, drove east along the Rock River on his way home. Just as he was passing by the Byron Forest Preserve, he saw a large animal crossing the road. “It looked odd from a distance,” Chef Lassard said of the animal. “I couldn’t make out what it was at first.” Though he never saw the animal’s face, its impressive size and long and slender tail left no doubt in his mind about the animal’s character. “Oh my gosh,” Chef Lassard remembered thinking during our interview, “That’s a mountain lion!” Unfortunately, Chef Lassard didn’t have time to stop and take a quick snapshot as the predator slipped through the trees along the river’s shore. The mountain lion (Puma concolor) is the second heaviest preda‐ tory feline in the Western Hemisphere, weighing between 100‐145 lbs. It has the largest range of any wild terrestrial animal in the West, and it is able to adapt to every major American habitat. Because of its wide range, the mountain lion goes by more common names than any other animal, includ‐ ing cougar, puma, mountain screamer, pi‐twal, carcajou, and catamount. Mountain lions are more closely related to small cats than other big cats like lions and tigers. Like your pet cat, the mountain lion purrs and yowls rather than roars. It can climb trees and swim. The mountain lion is a predator, known for stalking and ambushing its prey. After creeping up be‐ hind its prey, the mountain lion will jump up on springy muscular legs and attack from behind. Though the mountain lion will eat just about anything, its favorite prey is deer. Officials believe that as mountain lion populations continue to grow and expand in the West, more juvenile males are moving east looking for their own territories and mates. Individual male mountain lions occupy very large territories and will fight to the death with an intruding individual. These young male lions are forced out of their native habitat and travel great distances to find new territories. In the spring of 2008, a 150‐pound male was killed on the north side of Chicago. It was believed that this lion made its way from the Black Hills region of South Dakota. Although an occasional sighting may occur, it is not believed that there are any breeding populations of mountain lions east of the Rocky Mountains (besides a very small sub‐species population in the swamps of southwestern Florida). Naturalists at the Byron Forest Preserve don’t deny the possibility of mountain lions in the area, but as of this writing, the animal remains elusive. Game wardens for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources remain hopeful about chance sightings and live footage of feline predators in the Rock River valley. Recently, the Byron Forest Preserve purchased five motion‐sensitive cam‐ eras for the purposes of photographing and documenting wildlife activity on their massive 700‐acre property. The cameras, which capture diurnal and nocturnal animal movement, are moved every two months to new and established animal tracks and paths at the Byron Forest Preserve. Though the cameras have photographed coyotes, badgers, and the occasional lone male wolf, predatory cats like the mountain lion have not been recorded. However, just because the presence of a mountain lion hasn’t been confirmed doesn’t mean its not around! Source: Shriver, Melissa. “Mountain Lions Moving into Midwest”. March 2011. http://www.connecttristates.com/news/story.aspx?id=590131.
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OUTDOOR
EDUCATION
Lorado Taft Field Campus Education Staff 2011-12
Starting top left going clockwise:
Andy Haka, Allison Palser, Allison Watson, Kyle Rauch, Joshua Hapner, Melanie Costello, Vicki Morrison, Heidi Vasel, Morgan Chidester
Allison P., Education Program Specialist, is almost from a little bit of everywhere. She earned her degree in Environmental Studies from Rocky Mountain College in Montana. Besides spotting a good fungus in the wild, she enjoys knitting, roller derby, setting the prairie on fire and chopping down trees. We’re lucky to have her here.
Andy, Education Program Specialist, comes from the northern woods of Wisconsin. He is a big fan of the Green Bay Packers. Andy earned his degree in Astrophysics from the University of WisconsinMadison. He really likes the Green Bay Packers. He enjoys teaching survival class. Did I mention he’s a Packers fan?
Morgan, Education Program Specialist, is from Bowling Green, OH. She earned her degree in Environmental Science at Bowling Green State University. Morgan likes to dabble in reading, sewing, volunteering, ballroom dancing, and gaming. Here at Taft, she enjoys teaching Geology and battling with raccoons over the suet feeders in the birding area.
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Heidi, Assistant Education Coordinator, is most recently from the Pacific Northwest where she earned her Master’s in Science Education from the University of Washington. Heidi enjoys the everyday antics and surprises that go along with working with children. In her free time, she enjoys making and listening to music and strolling through the forest.
Allison W., Education Program Specialist, joins us from the big city of Chicago, IL where she attended DePaul University earning her degree in Secondary Education-History. The chance to teach students in the outdoors brought Allison to Taft. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, birding, attending music concerts, and singing cheesy pop songs.
Kyle, Senior Education Program Specialist, is from the Appalachian mountains of North central Pennsylvania. He earned his degree in Geography from Bloomsburg University. He enjoys teaching survival class here at Taft. In his free time, Kyle enjoys chopping wood, building fires, and combing his beard.
Vicki, Education Program Specialist, comes to Taft from Canton, MI. She attended Central Michigan University where she earned her Bachelor’s in Recreation, Parks, and Leisure Services with a concentration in Outdoor and Environmental Education. Vicki enjoys teaching teambuilding and survival. In her free time, she enjoys kayaking, camping, and hiking.
Joshua, Assistant Education Coordinator, is originally from Fort Wayne, IN, but has been teaching outdoor education all around the country for a good many years. He earned his Master’s in Natural Resources and Environmental Management from Ball State University. Here at Taft, Joshua enjoys leading night hikes and campfires when his duties allot him the time. In his free time, he enjoys reading, gaming, and watching movies.
Melanie, Education Program Coordinator, is a native Northern Illinoisan, growing up in nearby Sycamore. She earned her Master’s degree in Outdoor Education from Northern Illinois University and undergraduate degree in Biology from Minnesota State University – Mankato. Melanie enjoys teaching Pioneer class here at Taft. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family, gardening, and native landscaping.
Summer has officially ended, and fall, with all of its warm colors, is showing itself all over the trees and fields at Taft campus. Another familiar face at Lorado Taft that accompanies fall is the Woolly Bear Caterpillar. This fuzzy brown and black insect can be found almost anywhere you look on campus: at the base of trees near the delta, in the tall prairie grass of south field, or even in the plants outside the dining hall that surround the Eagle’s Nest Tree. In the spring, the Woolly Bear Caterpillar will go through metamorphosis to become the Isabella Tiger Moth. However, it must endure winter before undergoing this transformation. There are some who believe that the Woolly Bear knows plenty of information about the upcoming winter season, those who believe the caterpillar has supernatural powers, those who say this little hairy insect can predict the future. These people are not crazy, well, not all of them. There have been scientists and Farmers’ Almanacs that have declared the same thing: Woolly Bear caterpillars can predict whether Photo by K. Rauch the upcoming winter weather will be mild or severe. Now, these fuzzy caterpillars have no crystal balls or Ouiga boards, and they do not speak; so how can they predict the future weather? The belief in their weather forecasting powers is simple; it has to do with their coloring. The Woolly Bear Caterpillar is covered in brown and black hairs, or setae. Supposedly, if the caterpillar has wider brown bands of setae than black, winter will be mild; if their brown bands are thin and black bands wide, the winter will be severe. Dr. Curran, a scientist, studied samples of Woolly Bears he collected between the years 1948-1956. He concluded that 80% of the time, the colored bands of the caterpillar correctly predicted the upcoming winter season. Although these findings seemed to show this caterpillar had some telepathic power, research has now discovered that the setae on the Woolly Bear do not really clue us in on the upcoming winter. Instead, the coloration has to do with the age of the insect. If the brown section is rather large, the caterpillar is fairly young, if it is small the caterpillar is older. When it comes to winter forecasts, we still need to heed the words of meteorologists; as the supernatural powers of this insect are, in fact, false. Even though the Woolly Bear Caterpillar does not predict the future winter forecast, we can still enjoy seeing these small fuzzy creatures travel around campus, searching for a safe place to pass the cold winter months.
EDUCATION
Fuzzy Wuzzy was a……...….Meteorologist?
OUTDOOR
Source: “Predicting Winter Weather: Woolly Bear Caterpillars,” The Old Farmers’ Almanac, Yankee Publishing Inc., n.d. Web, 5 Oct. 2011, www.almanac.com/ content/predicting-winter-weather-woolly-bear-caterpillars.
Taft Is On Fire!! This past September, while leading a group of students on a night hike, I stumbled across something that had always fascinated me, but I had never gotten the chance to see in the wild. It was a natural fungal phenomenon commonly known as fox fire, but also called fairy fire or cold fire. When I first noticed the blue-green glow on the ground, I thought it may be a firefly, but I knew it was way too late in the summer for fireflies to be lighting up. Luckily, we had a seasoned teacher along for the hike who had mentioned fox fire earlier and was quick to point out that this glowing organism was no bug. This was a bioluminescent fungus. The afternoon rain showers and warm evening temperatures made conditions just right on this particular night and the absence of the moon in the night sky made it very dark in the forest, allowing us to see the faint glow of the fox fire among decaying logs and in the leaf litter. When conditions are ideal, the metabolic rate of the fungus increases as it decomposes organic matter, thus creating a brighter glow. Bioluminescence is the reverse of photosynthesis, where instead of taking in sunlight and carbon dioxide to make sugar then releasing oxygen as in photosynthesis, the bioluminescent fungus is breaking down organic molecules using oxygen then releasing a tiny amount of light and carbon dioxide. Although scientists are not entirely sure why some fungi exhibit bioluminescence, most agree that they do it to attract insects that can help spread spores for reproduction. Others believe it may be an aposematic coloration (think poison dart frogs) to deter animals from eating it. There has been about 50 species of bioluminescent fungus recorded around the world, most of which occur in the tropics. Armillaria mellea is a common root rot fungus found across most of the North American continent and most likely the species that we encountered on our hike. Whatever the cause, meaning, or species of bioluminescent fungus, people have been captivated by it for centuries. Ancient Greeks and Romans wrote about it as being a sign from the gods. At the suggestion of Ben Franklin, it was used as the only light source in one of the earliest submarine vessels used in the Revolutionary War. In the novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer use fox fire as a light source when digging a tunnel to free their friend Jim. This fall, grab a friend and set out on a night hike, preferably on a warm, damp, and moonless night. Take your time and look carefully for the faint glowing light of fox fire on the ground, or within dead decaying logs and stumps. You never know what you may encounter when you venture into the outdoors. Source: Coder, Kim D. “Foxfire: Bioluminescence in the Forest”. August 1999. http://warnell.forestry.uga.edu/service/library/index.php3?docID=173.
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Meet the New OE Assistant Program Coordinators Heidi Vasel started her career in outdoor education at Greenkill Outdoor Education Center outside of New York City working as a naturalist and as the Program Director for Girls Quest Camp. Heidi then took her skills to Malawi, Africa where she volunteered three years with the Peace Corps working with the Forestry Extension Office there. After the Peace Corps, Heidi moved to the Pacific Northwest where she worked at various environmental education schools/centers in the Puget Sound and Eugene, OR; all the while earning her Master’s from the University of Washington. Heidi has brought her experiences and skills to Taft where she has the opportunity to work with visiting schools to plan the best possible experience for the students. She believes the outdoor classroom is the best place for students to learn the wonders of the natural world and to grow as individuals. We’re glad to have Heidi join us in the Rock River Valley.
Joshua Hapner started his career in outdoor education as a teenager, when he worked as an interpretive naturalist leading hikes in a park near his hometown of Ft. Wayne, IN. After earning his Bachelors degree from St. Francis College, Joshua went to work for the Missouri Dept. of Conservation where he did stream sampling - using electroshock gear and nets to catch and catalogue fish species in the region. After that Joshua spent many seasons working as an outdoor educator at YMCA and 4-H camps in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Georgia. While earning his Master’s degree from Ball State, Joshua worked a summer as an interpretive ranger in North Cascades National Park in Washington state. Joshua is excited about the opportunity to pass on his knowledge and experiences as an educator to his fellow staff here at Taft, as well as getting back into the field with student groups. We’re happy to have Joshua join us here on the Eagle’s Nest Bluff.
Every Fall, the forests here at Taft and on the bluffs surrounding the river valley go through a splendid and colorful transformation. Education Specialist, Andy Haka has been photographing the leaves changing color during the entire Fall season here on Taft property. Check out Andy’s photography at his website: http://andrewhaka.com/tafttrees
CONGRATULATIONS!! to Becky Paulson, former OE assistant coordinator, and her husband, Jeff, on the birth of their son, Easton Curtis this past September.
ZERO ORT Congratulations to the following schools for having ZERO ORT during a meal at Taft!! Thomas School (gamma) St. Francis de Sales Goudy School Capron School St. Thomas of Villanova Benjamin M.S. St. Michaels Highland M.S. (maroon and gold) Chicago City Day School
Lorado Taft Field Campus 1414 North River Road P.O. Box 299 Oregon, IL 61061 Phone: (815) 732-2111 Fax: (815) 732-4242
PAGE 4| FALL 2011
Taft Times Contributors:
Allison Palser, “On the Prowl “ article Allison Watson, “Fuzzy Wuzzy was a…...Meteorologist?” article Kyle Rauch, “Taft is on Fire!!” article; newsletter editor Andy Haka, “Taft Trees” website
