Experience the prairie close up!
From: Nancy Sather (npsUSFAMILY.NET)
Date: Thu, 21 Aug 2003 19:05:53 -0500
(Some folks not on the folk school listserve are also receiving blind
copies of this e-mail so if the style of the message baffles you, you
may be one of those folks. The Folk School usually has a retreat in SW
MN on Labor Day Weekend)

If you're feeling adrift and prairie-less because there's no Folk School
Retreat on Labor Day weekend, here's your opportunity to fill your
weekend with LABOR on the prairie.

The DNR rare plant monitoring program is looking for volunteers to  
monitor the federally threatened prairie bush clover at Kilen Woods  
State Park. (That means you can see with your own eyes a plant on the  
endangered species list).  Kilen Woods is about 30 miles from Shalom  
Hill Farm.  We start monitoring on Thursday at 9 AM and go right through  
Sunday, but volunteers may come any day for the full day. Volunteers who  
can contribute two full days in the field are eligible for reimbursement  
of their mileage and modest lodging costs (up to prevailing local motel  
rates in Windom or Jackson.) There is nice camping at the Park. State  
park camping fees apply, but while you are working in the prairie you  
don't have to pay for a park day permit.

So--what would you be doing?  Bending over a square meter plot, locating  
every big and little bush clover, counting their branches and seeds and  
measuring their height. Or--if the crew is large enough--assisting with  
a census that still keeps tract meter by meter, but is simply counting  
the number of bush clovers per meter. Eating your picnic lunch on the  
hill. Baking in the hot sun. Getting a back ache. Seeing lots of pretty  
prairie flowers. 

To learn about bush clovers go to:  
http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/natural_resources/invasives/PBclover.pdf
be patient, it takes forever to load. A faster site is:

To learn about the place we are monitoring go to:
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/snas/sna01036/index.html

To learn about the park go  
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/kilen_woods/index.html


To learn more about this project, to schedule a day or two to help, etc;  
please contact me directly either at my work e-mail  
nancy.sather [at] dnr.state.mn.us
or my home e-mail nps [at] usfamily.net

Spaces are limited--that is to say, we can probably only use about 8  
volunteers at a time. At the moment I can use up to four more people  
each day of the week. Bonus--I'm leading a prairie field trip at the  
park for campers & visitors on Saturday at 9:30 AM.  Please don't just  
turn up, you need to know what to bring and exactly where to meet.  
Please do come--it's one of the nicest prairies in SW MN.

Nancy Sather
Nancy Sather

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