≈ Comments Off on Kansas Reflector: Emotions run high in debate over solar permitting for Kansas wetlands
Cheyenne Bottoms is the largest inland marsh in the US, and together with its sister refuge at Quivira, is recognized internationally as a critical stopover site for migrating birds. Over the past year, a battle has been raging as Acciona Energy prepares to build a large-scale commercial solar farm on the boundary of the sacred space. Sustainable energy infrastructure is necessary as we move forward in this changing world, but planning for environmental impact of that infrastructure is crucial. We can’t sacrifice along the way the very things we are trying to protect.
I wrote about the issue in July of ’23. This column is an update as the county tries to find a balance that protects both wild lands and landowners’ rights.
≈ Comments Off on Kansas Reflector: Black-footed Ferrets Return
As an op-ed writer, I often find myself writing about something negative, trying to inform the public about a problem that needs fixing. But I wanted to start 2024 with a win, to find a story to be hopeful about in the coming year.
So I looked to a swath of privately owned ranchland in western Kansas, where this past November a cadre of volunteers including biologists, veterinarians, students, and zoo personnel headed into the dark of night looking for the “eye-shine” of one of North America’s most endangered mammals. You can find their story here.
≈ Comments Off on Kansas Reflector: Platte/Republican Diversion
The Platte/Republican water diversion will wreak havoc in ecosystems across two states. First, invasive and destructive Asian carp, which are present in Nebraska’s Platte River, would be ‘transferred’ to lakes in Kansas where they will compete with native species for food and habitat.
And each spring the Platte River Basin hosts the largest migration of sandhill cranes in the world. They are often joined there by endangered whooping cranes and other threatened migratory birds, the same species that stop at Quivira National Wildlife Refuge in Kansas each fall. The Platte River needs a continuing flow of water to sustain habitat for the much-beloved birds that rely on waterways in both states.
Instead of seeing an “us” and “them” scenario, state governments need to look at intact systems and work within them to protect not only wildlife and waterways, but ourselves. I’ve written about the long-contested issue twice. The most recent is here.
≈ Comments Off on Next Avenue: The Resilient Activist
Earlier this year, working a booth at the Birds, Bees and Blooms Festival in Arrow Rock, MO, I noticed that one booth in particular was often busy — not with festivalgoers, but with festival volunteers.
Sami Aaron, founder of The Resilient Activist (TRA) nonprofit based in Kansas City, MO, wasn’t giving away wildflower seeds or explaining the devastating loss of grassland birds. Instead, she was offering information on how conservation activists can find resiliency in the face of looming odds…. cont. reading
≈ Comments Off on Next Avenue: Conservation Destination: Baraboo
An impromptu trip to Baraboo, WI ended up being a complete immersion in conservation travel. From the International Crane Foundation, to the Leopold Shack–where the classic Sand County Almanac was written–to my fantastic stay at the vegetarian-friendly Ugly Biscuits Bed and Breakfast. Read my story here.
≈ Comments Off on Kansas Reflector: No Solar in Fragile Wetlands
I am not against renewable solar power. I support it in most cases. But the siting of these infrastructures is incredibly important, and they belong nowhere near protected wetlands, especially those of international importance such as Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area and Quivira National Wildlife Refuge, which is a staging ground for thousands of birds during migration. Read about the issue in my recent Kansas Reflector column.
It mystifies me that while I sleep, millions of birds are passing silently overhead on a migration flight that can — for some of them — amount to tens of thousands of miles.
I’m fascinated by the instinct that drives them and the adaptation processes that prepare their seemingly fragile bodies to survive their arduous journeys. But I am frustrated, too, that these finely tuned processes have been inadvertently circumvented by human invention, leading to one of the highest causes of mortality birds can face during migration….But it’s something we can change.
The Lights Out for Migration campaign is in full swing, and I did two stories–one for the Kansas Reflector and one for the Missouri Independent, hoping to cover both the Central and Mississippi Flyways.
≈ Comments Off on Kansas Reflector: The Grasslands Conservation Act
Amid the chaos of 2020, I reached a point when I needed to get away: from people’s anger and fear, the suffocating cluttered skyline, even the lush vegetation of where I live. Open space was what I craved, and to find it I secured a small place in the Flint Hills where for the next several days I walked the grassland trails reacquainting myself with an ecosystem I had long appreciated, but had woefully lost touch with. It is rare to find a Kansan who does not know the quieting whisper of prairie grass or the sweet, clear trill of a lark and find peace there. These grasslands and their creatures make us whole. Yet we also know this ecosystem is disappearing at a record pace. My Reflector column
Being an op-ed writer, I learned long ago not to read the comments following a story, but from time to time curiosity gets the best of me or I get comments in my mssg folder. Upon reading those related to my most recent op-ed on resilience, I found, as I had hoped, that hope is contagious. The essay resonated with many. I received ‘thank you’ notes, hearts, and requests for reprints. Those make a writer smile for sure. Then there were the haters…who are just contrary…even when it comes to hope. I’ve come to believe these are just angry people, so damaged that their hate has become their identity, and they will not relinquish it. I’ve come to understand this too: bitterness has no party line.
But here is the thing…THE thing.
The first comment on my first op-ed for the Kansas Reflector was scathing. I had written about land in northwest Kansas, and I had definitely struck a chord with this fellow. So much so that I checked his social media platform to see who he was and what his particular stake in the game might be. So I remembered him when he commented on hope…except this time he was in my corner putting a boot to the haters. Now that. That made me pause. One of the reasons I’m writing the stories that I am right now is to try to find common ground between two disparate factions. I keep thinking that if I can find a way to speak to both the angry greens and the angry landowners, I can help find a way forward in conservation efforts in my home state. And when I saw that comment from the gentleman who disliked my earlier work so much…. Well, that small glimmer outshined every heart I received.
Yesterday I took a walk along the creek. I had avoided it for a while because the finding of a bullet-ridden body in a section upstream gave me the heebie-jeebies. But yesterday I needed nature, so I bundled up and took out. It was a cold, crisp day with the wind whipping the trees, so I was well alone on the path. Not even small beasts skittered among the leaves. It was quiet. Then just past the bluffs, on a skinny bare branch hanging low over the trail, was the telltale silhouette of a raptor. She sat in her glory: majestic profile outlined against bright blue sky, wind whiffling the feathers at her neck. I stopped instantly, but she did not fly. I stepped to the far side of the trail and continued slowly until I was beneath her, yet so close I could have reached up my hand. She turned her sharp black eyes and looked down at me, just…watching. I waited a few moments, then moved quietly on listening for her to take flight, to hear wing beats on the air or the clattering of branches as she rose. But those sounds of her leaving never came.
≈ Comments Off on Kansas Reflector: Doom Addiction Curtailed by Hope
When my editor said he wanted to use my column for Thanksgiving, I was thrilled. When he said he’d decided to run it ahead of the holiday because he was afraid we’d lose eyes on the holiday proper…well, any writer wants to hear her editor say her piece needs to be seen. You can see it here.