Chilling With Our Special Agent

My father was a full-fledged bigot.  It wasn’t a malicious act on his part.  He wasn’t the kind of bigot you would find under a hood at a Ku Klux Klan rally, or was he one you would find running for the US Congress as a Republican from Tennessee.  To be honest, he was a Democrat.  He grew up on a small farm in the southwest corner of Barron County, Wisconsin, and had no contact with black people until the Second World War.  During that war, the Army thought my father’s talents would be best used guarding German prisoners of war and he was stationed at Camp Polk (now Fort Polk) near Alexandria, Louisiana.  Through interaction with practicing bigots from the southern United States also stationed at Camp Polk, my father developed a fine-tuned level of bigotry.

As a child I often remember him watching television referring to black people as “niggers”, or “jigaboo” or a “jungle bunny.”  Once when I was about 10 years old, we rode with a friend to the Twin Cities to watch a Minnesota Twins baseball game.  In downtown Minneapolis as we passed the famous Leamington Hotel, we saw a black doorman standing next to the curb.  My father, seated in the right front passenger seat, casually rolled down his window and yelled at this man “Hey Rastas, how you doing?”  Not knowing any better since he was the model I grew up with, I laughed as hard as my father and his friend as the man turned and walked away.

I carried my father’s level of bigotry with me as I grew older.  My senior year in high school we had a black girl from South Africa as an exchange student.  She was probably the only black person in all of Barron County and maybe everywhere north of Eau Claire.  We instantly ostracized her not because of anything she had done or said, but simply because she was black.  The collective heritage of many of us demanded that she be treated like a pariah, and we went out of our way to make her feel unwelcomed. Sadly, we succeeded.

The first black person I ever talked to was actually four black guys sitting in a dorm room of Johnson Hall the first week of college as a freshman.  Freshly arrived and wide-eyed, I became friends with a kid from Tomah named Chris.  I thought he was in room 214 and when I went to his room to talk with him, I entered without knocking and found four black men sitting on the two beds and the two chairs having a normal conversation.  Chris was in room 216.  Seeing them, I instantly stopped in my tracks and felt my eyes widen like saucers.  I was fearful that they would attack me because, after all, they were niggers and all my life my father told me that’s what niggers do.

Gary Gray, a sociology major, sensed my fear and said “Hi, come on in. We won’t hurt you.” I had no reason to believe him but I followed his advice, entered the room, and stood there.  If it was necessary, I could bolt for the door and save myself in an emergency.  I wasn’t taking any chances.  Gary very politely introduced me to the three other guys.  I now forget the name of two of them but the third guy was A.J. Wilson.  “Just call me Apple Juice,” he said.

Gary asked where I was from and I told him Rice Lake, Wisconsin.

“Rice Lake?  We beat your ass in the state championship finals in ’61,” Gary gloated.

He was right.  Rice Lake lost the state high school basketball championship in 1961 to Milwaukee Lincoln High School.  Lincoln was then the perennial number one power house high school basketball team in Wisconsin.  We lost to them in overtime. Milwaukee Lincoln ended the season with a 25-1 record; Rice Lake ended theirs 24-1.  They were undefeated going into the finals.  The “1” for Rice Lake was at the hands of Milwaukee Lincoln.  All four guys sitting with me knew that, and for the next hour reminded me over and over again that Lincoln won and Rice Lake lost but I was still a nice person despite where I went to school.

The banter quickly caused the considerable tension in the room to erode and after an hour of it I found myself not talking to four black guys, but to four high school basketball fans from Milwaukee.  It was one of many epiphanies I experienced in college.  It was one of the best I ever experienced.

Cleveland Vaughn grew up in a little town in central Arkansas.  His experience as a child was considerably different than mine.  Where I looked at black people as “niggers”, Cleveland was called one nearly every day.  Where I was watching black people being treated like chattel on news broadcasts from far away in Alabama, Cleveland was one of those black people.  In school we were told about segregation and studied it a bit in social studies classes.  For Cleveland, he lived with “Whites Only” bathrooms, “Whites Only” drinking fountains, and wasn’t allowed to enter restaurants because of the color of his skin.  Once in an story about him in the Omaha World-Herald, Cleveland lamented the fact that “everything was segregated” where he grew up.   If anyone I knew had a right to be angry it was Cleveland Vaughn, the US Fish and Wildlife Service Special Agent assigned to Nebraska.  He was anything but angry; quite the opposite.

Cleveland Vaughn. My best friend in Nebraska who loved the Platte River almost as much as I do

I met him when he arrived in our office when he traveled to Grand Island to keep an eye on a whooping crane that had stopped on the Platte River.  This was the first one where we changed the policy and let the media know about the bird before we let law enforcement.  Explaining my background to him, I mentioned that when I was with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, I took a 320-hour law enforcement training course that qualified me to carry game warden arrest authority in the Cheesehead State.  I mentioned helping Jerry Cegelski, a mountain of a man who was the Special Agent in Wisconsin, identify ducks harvested by hunters along the Mississippi River.  Also in my repertoire was the famous canvasback duck case that earned Gene McCarthy a Special Achievement Award and a cash bonus.

“You’re the guy who got that award for Gene?” Cleveland asked.

“That was me.  I was in graduate school.  I took the duck away from the hunter, called Gene, who cited him over the phone. I sat on the witness stand in District Court in St. Paul and then met Bob Hodgins afterward.  Bob helped me get my first job with the Service.”

“You were picking in tall cotton,” Cleveland said with a toothy grin, “if you were hanging out with Bob Hodgins.”

My major professor in graduate school received his PhD from Oklahoma State University where he studied red-winged blackbird concentrations on several National Wildlife Refuges in the Sooner State.  There he met several Special Agents who were called “Game Management Agents” at the time.  Later he was a researcher at a field station of the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center where he had more exposure to Special Agents.  Once in a wildlife biology class he told the students, “You don’t ever want to mess with a Game Management Agent.  Those people will arrest their own mother if she breaks the law.”

I quickly learned that Cleveland would also and we bonded almost instantly.

He admitted that he was not the most proficient person when it came to identifying birds and asked if I would be interested in riding with hm on investigations to help him.  A few years earlier he lost a case in Federal Court when he wrote on the citation that the hunter had illegally harvested a “Redheaded Duck.”  It was true the hunter had illegally shot the bird but its correct name was “Redhead.”  Cleveland botched the citation, the hunter’s attorney used the American Ornithologists Union Checklist of North American Birds to prove to the court there was no such species as a Redheaded Duck so it was impossible for his client to have shot one, illegally or otherwise.  The case was thrown out and Cleveland had considerable egg on his face.  He asked for my assistance so that would not happen again. 

My first summer in Nebraska we had an issue on the Platte River with endangered least terns and piping plovers nesting on sandbars in the channel and operators of ATV’s running up and down the channel potentially harming the birds or destroying their nests.  John Sidle and I marked the boundaries of every nesting location in the central Platte River, marked off the edge of the area with bailing wire, and posted signs informing ATV users of the presence of the endangered birds and that it was illegal to harm them.  Cleveland and I spent nearly every weekend that summer patrolling the river channel protecting the birds from humans.  

Our friendship grew as the summer progressed. It grew to the point where we felt comfortable chiding each other about our race.  Those kinds of comments would have instantly resulted in someone being charged with racial discrimination but between friends it was acceptable.   One Saturday when we approached the river near Kearney, the sun was particularly bright and I lathered on sun tan lotion.  As I did, a quizzical look crossed Cleveland’s face.

“You know what I don’t understand about white people?”

“What’s that?”

“You give me shit about being black, and then spend all summer trying to get as black as I am.”

Another time, driving on South Locust Avenue in Grand Island in the late summer we saw a large wagon filled with watermelons along the side of the road.  Immediately preying on the stereotype, I asked Cleveland, “Do you get an erection when you see that many watermelon’s in a single place?”

He responded, “Do you want me to arrest you right now?”

We had that kind of friendship.

The Migratory Bird Treaty Act is a strict liability law wherein it is not necessary to prove intent to have a violation.  If a bird flies into a power line and kills itself, the company operating the power line is liable under the Act for “taking” a protected species.  In Nebraska we had an increasing problem with hawks being electrocuted on small power lines in the western part of the state and other birds colliding with power lines and dying from impact trauma.  Each time a hawk fried itself or a sandhill crane broke its neck flying into a power line, Cleveland could, under the law, cite the CEO of the company operating those power lines. 

Nebraska was lucky in those days to not only have a high energy Special Agent but also have a United States Attorney who loved birds and who was passionate about sandhill cranes.  Ron Lahners, a George H.W. Bush appointee, was the United States Attorney for Nebraska and he took particular interest in the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and especially people who were killing “his” sandhill cranes.

To resolve the power line issue, Cleveland and I organized a seminar for power companies in Nebraska to explain to them their legal responsibility under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.  We also gave them some alternatives to follow to reduce or eliminate bird mortality.   The seminar was held at the Midtown Holiday Inn in Grand Island, and a representative of every Nebraska power company no matter how large or small, sat in the audience. So, too, did Ron Lahners.

I began the seminar with an overview of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and recited several pieces of case law that were the precedents for the power companies being liable whenever a bird died at their power line.   Cleveland followed me by introducing himself and went straight for the jugular.

“Good morning.  I am Cleveland Vaugh, the US Fish and Wildlife Service Special Agent for Nebraska.  I arrest people.  I don’t like doing it but when I have to I do it.  If I find you or your company in violation of our laws about taking birds, I will arrest you.”

Every CEO in the room sat in silence.

Cleveland then added while pointing at Ron Lahners, “When I arrest you, your next stop will be in Court sitting in front of the United States Attorney Ron Lahners who loves to prosecute people who I arrest.”  Finishing his presentation, he said, “Our next speaker is Ron Lahners, the US Attorney for Nebraska.”

Ron stepped to the podium, cleared his throat, and said matter of factly that birds and especially sandhill cranes were a precious natural resource that he took a personal interest in protecting.

“How many of you have been in the Louvre Museum in Paris?”

Several people raised their hand.

“And how many of you saw the Mona Lisa when you were there?”

The same people raised their hand.

“The Mona Lisa is an irreplaceable public resource to be protected at all costs.”

Ron then added, “To me every bird in this state is the Mona Lisa and I will prosecute you for harming them just like I would if you harmed the Mona Lisa.”

Yes, their techniques were a little direct but no they were not bluffing.  After the meeting we were overwhelmed with requests for assistance from the power companies at the seminar. A small company in the Nebraska Panhandle wanted to revamp its entire distribution system including making each power pole safe for hawks to land on and not be electrocuted.  They sent us the blueprints for the entire system and but didn’t ask for our advice on the design.  They asked our permission to proceed with the project.  That happened because of Cleveland Vaughn.

The Nebraska Department of Roads applied for a permit from the US Army Corps of Engineers to replace a large bridge over the Middle Loup River during the peak of the bird nesting season.  The bridge was known to support more than 200 nests of cliff swallow and barn swallow. Destruction of each nest on that bridge would be a violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act as would destruction of each egg. With an average clutch size of five eggs, there was a potential for more than 1,000 violations of the Act from lost eggs and 200 more from lost nests. Through the consultation process, we informed the Department of Roads that they would be in violation of the Act if they destroyed the nests or eggs.  As an alternative we asked them to put off replacement until August after the birds finished nesting.  The Department of Roads was adamant that the bridge must be replaced now and they set a date of June 10 to begin construction.

Sunrise on June 10 found Cleveland Vaughn and me sitting in his car waiting for someone to arrive.  Not long after the sun peeked over the horizon, a pick up truck from the contractor chosen to replace the bridge arrived and with him there were soon more three more trucks.  Next was a large semi with a backhoe on it and another with a bulldozer.  They were ready to get to work.

Waiting until most of the people he expected to arrive were on the scene, Cleveland opened his car door, exited, and walked up to the man whom he assumed was the project foreman.  He flashed his gold badge in the man’s face, identified himself, and then asked what he was doing.  The foreman explained the project and Cleveland explained the facts about the birds.

“The first member of your crew to touch a nest will be arrested.  I will continue to arrest people until everyone of you is under arrest.  I will then arrest the owner of your company, and if that is not enough then I will go to Lincoln and arrest the Director of the Department of Roads.” 

For added emphasis, he asked the now visibly shaken foreman, “Do I make myself clear?”

Rather than respond, the foreman activated the CB radio in his car, contacted his boss and explained what was about to happen.  The boss called the Department of Roads in Lincoln and the next time his crew was seen at the bridge was on August 1 after all the birds had left their nests.

Waterfowl hunters referred to Cleveland as “the Black Lab”.  We referred to him as “the Black Death.”  He always gave waterfowl hunters the benefit of the doubt unless they failed “the Attitude Test.”  If a violator showed an attitude that was the end of any hope for leniency.  Consider a hunter we found parked illegally on a Waterfowl Production Area in the Rainwater Basins.  It was legal for the hunter to be there but not for him to take down the fence, drive onto the Federal land, and park.   We found the hunter’s truck, parked beside it, and waited.  Soon the hunter returned and Cleveland motioned him to come to our car.

While sitting in the car with his window down, Cleveland asked for the man’s hunting license as he explained the violation he had made.  While Cleveland held the license writing down information from it, the hunter reached in, yanked the license from Cleveland’s hand and announced “that’s mine.”

In a flash, Cleveland had his car door open, and his left hand on the hunter’s throat.  He lifted the hunter off the ground and with the index finger of his right hand wagging in the hunters face exclaimed, “don’t you EVER take a license out of my hand again. EVER!!  Have I made myself perfectly clear?”

“Yes, sir.  Yes sir. Yes sir.”

Three low life’s living in a trailer near the lower Platte River went out on their ATV one day and drove through a colony of least terns nesting on a river sandbar.  The least tern is protected by the Endangered Species Act and on the advice of the US Attorney we marked the boundary of the nesting sandbar with very obvious signs announcing the presence of the birds.  That did not stop these knuckleheads who purposefully drove from nest to nest smashing the three eggs in each nest.  Cleveland investigated and found out who had committed the crime.  He called and asked if I wanted to come along when he took them down.

The three culprits each had a police record, two had a prison record and one was known to illegally carry a concealed weapon.  Although I did not have law enforcement authority, I went along with my .357 magnum side arm and as backup we were accompanied by two heavily armed FBI agents from Omaha.  As we drove up to the trailer Cleveland laid out the plan.

“When we go in, you go in first,” he said to me.

“I go in first? Why in hell do I go in first?”

“Because if they shoot, I want them to shoot your white ass before they shoot my black ass.”

No shots were fired as Cleveland took each of them into custody.  Ron Lahners later prosecuted them and each was sentenced to a fine and a jail term.  They were also sentenced to community service which required them for the next three summers to stand by boat ramps on the lower Platte River handing out information about least terns to anyone on an ATV.

Cleveland had many successes during his career but there was one major screw up that made him famous.  Black-billed magpies are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and it is a violation of the Act to possess one unless you have a permit.  A couple in Red Cloud, Nebraska had owned a magpie named Joe for 16 years and a local newspaper did a story about their pet magpie.  Locals saw the story and called Cleveland who now was faced with a huge dilemma.  The owners were clearly in violation of the Act but they had possessed the bird for 16 years.  It was obvious there was no malice involved but there was the public perception.  Plus, Cleveland had to do something or face pressure from the public for having two standards for law enforcement.  Cleveland drove to Red Cloud, seized Joe the Magpie, and cited his owners under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

The local paper in Red Cloud covered the story first, followed by the Omaha World-Herald.  Soon every newspaper in the state and most of the television stations were covering this drama that eventually made national news.  The less than reputable National Enquirer sensationalized the story portraying Cleveland like he was one of Hitler’s right-hand men.  The Enquirer story caused one of its readers to write to Cleveland saying, “I was in Vietnam and you are worse than Charlie, motherfucker.”  “Charlie” was the Viet Cong.

Eventually both US Senators from Nebraska became involved and Joe the Magpie was returned to Red Cloud, Nebraska where he lived out his days.  Afterward whenever you wanted to pester Cleveland all you had to do was say “Hey, Joe.”

Cleveland ended his law enforcement career as the United States Marshal for Nebraska.  When Bill Clinton was elected, Cleveland said he wanted to be the Marshal.  It involved writing an essay and he asked me to write it for him.  In it I made Cleveland sound like he walked on water. His application was evaluated against twenty other applicants then the new Clinton Administration made him “Marshal Vaughn.”  When he received word, he called our office in Grand Island to inform us.  Nancy Nichols took the call while we were in a staff meeting.  Almost doubled over with laughter when she returned, she said “The Black Death is now the US Marshal for Nebraska!”  I told her, “The next time I see him, I’m going to start limping like Chester on “Gunsmoke” and call him “Marshal Vaughn, Marshal Vaughn.”

I moved from Nebraska to California a month later and never again saw Cleveland.  In 2016 at the age of 72 years old he developed stomach cancer and was dead four months later.  When I learned of his death I was overwhelmed with sadness and melancholy.  Now, living in Florida, I think of Cleveland every time I put on sun tan lotion as I try to become as black as he was.

When Audubon Fired Rich Madson

The Garrison Diversion Project, once heralded as the savior of North Dakota, is a multi-billion dollar water development boondoggle that the National Audubon Society once claimed it would go to no ends to kill. Eventually they saved the project in Congress and walked away with egg on their face

A large, hideous, highway sign blotted out the view from Interstate 94 just a mile or so past the exit to Cleveland, North Dakota.  It faced east toward the rising sun and even the least aware among us could not avoid seeing it.  On the sign was painted a babbling brook best suited for a mountain scene in Montana where Norman McLean and his family could have fished for trout in the iconic tale A River Runs Through It.   Above the painting of the babbling brook, in black letters were the words “GARRISON DIVERSION”.  Below the babbling brook, in slightly smaller font, were the words “The Lifeline to Our Future.”  Uninformed passersby were probably left with the feeling that Garrison Diversion, whatever it was, likely carried the weight of the entire future of North Dakota on its shoulders.   Nothing could be farther from the truth.

The sign’s mere presence caused me heartburn each time I had to drive by it.  Not only were the words on the sign, and the picture of the babbling brook, bald-faced lies, the sign’s message sent the public the uninformed impression that Garrison Diversion was a good thing.  Over several years, fellow staff members of the Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, and members of local conservation groups, hatched plan after plan after plan for how the Garrison sign could be removed from the landscape. 

Following several years of “I think we should….” conversations someone finally did. 

Driving west past the Cleveland exit I approached the shelterbelt that was to the east of the sign and as I had done so many times before, prepared myself to be insulted by the sign.  This time, however, all I saw at the west end of the shelterbelt was an unobstructed view of a wheat field.  The sign, with its horrific message, was gone!  Three wooden posts that held up the sign were there but the sign was missing.  Immediately stopping my car, I raced to the side of the road to investigate.  As I suspected from the highway, the support posts had each been decapitated.  It was apparent that someone with a chain saw had cut through the posts at the same angle and felled the sign.

The sign itself was lying face first in the ditch with its misleading message seen only by the grasses laying squashed under its weight.  Investigating farther, I saw fresh tire tracks in the trail leading from a township road to where the sign had been and from the tire tracks, I saw the footprints of one human obviously on a mission to walk from a vehicle to the sign.  Little piles of sawdust lay at the foot of each beheaded support post but there were no other clues about the identity of the patriot who finally took out that sign.  It was one of the happiest days of the year for me knowing that god-awful sign was gone.

The sign’s demise was the topic of discussion over coffee at the research center the next day.  None of my colleagues accepted responsibility however one person, who I still suspect, participated at a very low-key level in the bantering about what happened to the sign and who had bragging rights for its demise.  Most of us hoped that the destruction of the sign was a metaphor for the destruction of the project.  Unfortunately for us and for North Dakota’s natural resources it was anything but the end of it.

On December 22, 1944, Congress authorized the Flood Control Act, later named the Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program. The primary purpose was for flood control, navigation, irrigation and hydropower, which would be facilitated by the construction of six main stem dams on the Missouri River at Fort Peck, Garrison, Oahe, Big Bend, Fort Randall and Gavin’s Point.

North Dakota was promised over a million acres of irrigation as compensation for the 300,000 acres of farmland lost to the permanent flood created as a result of the dams and the lost economic benefit that farmland generated. The state was originally to receive this irrigation from water diverted from Fort Peck Dam in eastern Montana. Initially known as the “Missouri-Souris Project,” it included 1,275,000 acres.

Between 1944 and 1965, soil surveys and studies were performed to assess the feasibility of irrigating the 1.2 million acres originally planned for North Dakota. The studies indicated that the soil in northwestern North Dakota was not suitable for irrigation according to federal irrigation standards. Drainage problems caused by the unusually high density of glacial subsoil were a primary factor. As a result, the Bureau of Reclamation revised the diversion plan proposing instead to take water from the Garrison Dam and reservoir to irrigate other lands to the east. With the new name “Garrison Diversion,” the Bureau of Reclamation 1957 feasibility study on the redesigned project recommended irrigation of 1,007,000 acres and other water development in central and eastern North Dakota.

Because of changes to the original plan and the language in the 1964 appropriations act requiring specific reauthorization for all units of the Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program, the Bureau of Reclamation returned to Congress for reauthorization. During the process of reauthorization, supporters of the project pointed to the many benefits for North Dakota and the need to compensate the state for land inundated by the construction of the Garrison Dam and reservoir. On August 5, 1965, Congress addressed concerns of the project—the high cost, conflict with federal farm policies and the small amount of money to be repaid by water users—by enacting legislation for the Garrison Diversion Unit. The primary focus of the plan was to include municipal and industrial water, fish and wildlife development, recreation and flood control along with irrigation of 250,000 acres. Soon after, August 5 was declared “Liberation Day” in North Dakota and almost became a state holiday.   It was liberation day because from that day forward the Garrison Diversion Project would be constructed and agriculture in the state would be able to flourish.  As now envisioned, Garrison would provide irrigation waters to 6/10^th of one percent of the agricultural acreage of the state.  That’s hardly enough to “flourish” and if you put enough lipstick on a pig it’s still a pig.

To make North Dakota flourish was going to come at a horrific environmental cost including the construction of several dams, damage or destruction to nearly 20 National Wildlife Refuges, drainage of thousands of acres of wetlands, and the conversion of more native prairie to produce wheat that would be flourished by the irrigation waters. Promoted heavily by Senator Milton R. Young, it soon became his baby and no politician in the state stood a chance of surviving any election unless they ate, slept, and shat Garrison Diversion.

The environmental damage to be brought on by Garrison was mindboggling and the US Fish and Wildlife Service went to war with its sister agency the US Bureau of Reclamation that had Federal responsibility for the project’s construction.  There was a very good reason our nickname for the Bureau of Reclamation was “the Bureau of Wreck-the-Nation.”  They weren’t wrecking the entire nation with Garrison, only North Dakota, 

Gary Pearson a veterinarian at the Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center became a vocal opponent of the project.  Gary was and remains steadfastly meticulous in everything he says and does.  He kept notes of meetings and every newspaper clipping about every aspect of the project. His knowledge of project features plus his photographic memory of everything everyone said eventually became his downfall.   Fed up with Gary’s factual statements at public hearings and elsewhere, eventually Senator Milton R. Young whom we referred to simply as “Senator Wheat” arranged for Gary to be removed from Federal service.

Senator Wheat was the consummate politician who complained about the budget unless it was money earmarked for his state. Then budgets didn’t matter.  Consider the US Coast Guard navigation tower constructed in LaMoure, North Dakota, a mere 300 miles from the nearest Coast Guard cutter in the waters of Lake Superior in Duluth, Minnesota, it was constructed in the Senator’s home town.  Who could ever forget his multi-billion-dollar anti-ballistic missile site constructed near Nakoma in northeastern North Dakota?  Costing nearly $2 billion to construct, and after an elaborate gala ribbon cutting ceremony in which the assembled masses were assured that this monstrosity would keep them safe from any incoming Russian missiles, the Mikkelsen site at Nakoma was decommissioned after a month and it never operated.  It was decommissioned because no funds were authorized to operate it. Senator Wheat didn’t care.  He brought $2 billion into North Dakota for construction of this wasted project.  Now forty years later it sits collecting mold surrounded by endless sugar beet fields and never once did it protect us from anything!  Senator Wheat wanted it and Senator Wheat got it and that is all that mattered.

Garrison had become the cause celebre for the National Audubon Society.  Page after page of the Audubon magazine were devoted to stories about Garrison and pep talk descriptions about how Audubon was never going to the let the project be built.  Sitting in their ivory tower at 950 Third Avenue in New York City, Audubon was effective lobbying Congress but needed to be on the ground in North Dakota to bring change.  Ed Brigham, a quiet gentleman who was the Regional Vice-President in Minneapolis first tackled the project but I think it overwhelmed him.  In his place, Audubon hired Richard Madson as the new Regional Vice-President and they placed him at ground zero in Jamestown, North Dakota. 

Rich had a razor-sharp wit and a memory almost as photographic as Gary Pearson.  A wildlife biology student at South Dakota State University, Rich never received his degree because of a conflict of conscious.  During a final exam for a course that would determine his graduation, Rich caught a fellow classmate cheating.  Aware of the cheating he pointed it out to the professor and said it was not fair to Rich or any of the other students that their grade would be determined by a curve that included the cheater’s grade.  The professor refused to take any action and let the cheating student continue with his exam.  Incensed, Rich quit the class just four credits from a degree in wildlife biology.  His ethics wouldn’t let him play the game and he didn’t want his name associated with a degree or a school that would allow his ethics to be compromised.

Rich Madson spent a great deal of time lobbying members of Congress to develop opposition to Garrison.  He was instrumental in getting a Garrison opponent, a farmer from Ypsilanti, North Dakota named Darwin Fisher, elected to the Board of Directors of the Garrison Diversion Conservancy District.  He was also instrumental in getting Wade Williams, a young farmer from rural Jamestown and a vocal Garrison opponent, elected to the North Dakota state legislature.  Both were positions nobody ever imagined would be filled with opponents but Rich made it happen.

Once at a public meeting about Garrison held in the community room of a local power distribution company, an avid supporter of the project denigrated Rich for his stance opposing the project.  The project proponent, who today would likely be a huge fan of Donald tRump, dug deep to come up with something to hold over Rich and his integrity and finally settled on his age.  Claiming that Madson was “too young” to understand the importance of Garrison Diversion, Rich stood up and said, “I’m sorry you think I am too young.  All I can do is take that up with my parents.  However, sir, I want to assure you that I am getting old as fast as I can.”   The project proponent, finally realizing his infantile attack had just been thrown back in his face, took his seat and remained silent for the remainder of the meeting.

In September 1981, the National Audubon Society Board of Directors had their quarterly board meeting in Jamestown.  Some very big names in conservation were on the board, people like Nathaniel P. Reed, the former Assistant Secretary of the Department of the Interior.  Nat is best remembered for his testimony before Congress in which he said that Garrison was “a net loser” for wildlife. Durward L. Allen, a wildlife biology professor from Purdue University was on the board, and there were some big-time money people including Wallace Dayton of the Dayton Department stores in the Twin Cities.  They all came together for a kumbaya meeting in Jamestown, and Rich did not disappoint them.  His keynote address at the Saturday night banquet brought the assembled mass of more than 200 board members, Audubon staff, and invited guests to our feet.  It was one of the best speeches ever.

After Rich’s remarks, Russell Peterson, the thin-skinned former Governor of Delaware and current President of the National Audubon Society rose and gave a few words.  With tears in his eyes, Russ restated Audubon’s deeply entrenched commitment to never quit until Garrison Diversion was deauthorized by Congress.  Not long before his speech, the House of Representatives voted 314 in favor and 67 against deauthorizing the project.  We were that close to killing it.  Every Audubon staffer and every local guest left the banquet room of the Jamestown Holiday Inn that night convinced that Russell Peterson would never give up the fight to kill this horrific resource destroying project.

Russ Peterson’s speech was in late September.  Sometime in early January, Rich Madson had a discussion with Russ Peterson regarding Audubon’s intention to move the Regional Office from Jamestown, the center of the battle over Garrison, to Minneapolis, nearly seven hours by car from the action.  I don’t know it for a fact and can only speculate, but my suspicion is that Audubon wanted to move Rich to Minneapolis to have him closer to the watchful eye of Board member Wallace Dayton.  Madson saw numerous logistical issues with the proposed move and made a counter proposal to Peterson who objected strenuously to Rich’s objection.  The following day the National Audubon Society fired Rich Madson.

The man who almost single-handedly gave Audubon its greatest victory – the deauthorization of Garrison Diversion – was fired by the man who four months earlier promised that Audubon would do nothing to stand in the way of deauthorizing Garrison.  It was, as we used to say in North Dakota, “rectal reasoning.”

North Dakota’s conservation community came unglued when news of Rich’s departure was released.  I spent several days on the phone talking to Russell Peterson, his principal Vice-President Rupert Cutler, Board member Nathaniel Reed, and Board member Wallace Dayton.  We all begged Audubon to reconsider but they couldn’t lose face and they certainly didn’t want to piss off the money that Wallace Dayton could possibly contribute to Audubon over the long term.  Each person except Reed assured me that despite this personnel change, Audubon was still committed to killing Garrison Diversion.

Fast forward a year.  The state of North Dakota had hamstrung the ability of the US Fish and Wildlife Service to purchase waterfowl production areas from willing sellers across the state.  Seeing an opportunity, the North Dakota Chapter of The Wildlife Society worked out an agreement between North Dakota and the Audubon Society where the state would drop its opposition to wetland acquisition if Audubon would drop its opposition to the Garrison Diversion Project.

The deal was struck.  Hands were shaken. Audubon went before Congress and on the record dropped its opposition to the Garrison Diversion Project.  With Garrison now “saved” by the Audubon Society, the state of North Dakota said in essence, “no, we really didn’t mean it.  You still can’t buy wetlands, but thanks for saving Garrison for us just the same.”

I instantly cancelled my membership in the National Audubon Society.  I didn’t waste my breath making phone calls because Audubon didn’t want to hear an opposing viewpoint.

Several years later, at an Audubon Society meeting called The River Conference in Kearney, Nebraska, the group’s new President Peter A.A. Berle, stood before the assembled mass of Audubon faithful and recounted all of the wonderful things Audubon was doing to protect stream flows in the Platte River.  Other than a small sanctuary near Kearney, Audubon did nothing to protect instream flows in the Platte.  They sent their sanctuary manager to the Biology and Hydrology Workgroups of the Platte River Management Joint Study where he whined about everything and provided no viable alternatives but that didn’t stop Audubon from taking credit.  What Audubon was taking credit for was all of the work being done by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, the Platte River Whooping Crane Critical Habitat Maintenance Trust and even the Nebraska Public Power District.  They were the organizations on the ground, sweating it out, making things happen and slowly bringing all the disparate groups together to form consensus on how the river should be managed for sandhill cranes in the future.  Audubon wrote slick stories in their slick magazine and led everyone to believe they did the work of the other agencies.

There were other incidents later in my career of Audubon taking credit for what others have done, and once without reading all the particulars and asking questions first, Audubon stabbed my program in Washington DC in the back accusing us of selling out to the George W. Bush administration on wetland protection.  My disgust with the National Audubon Society remains at a fever pitch even today. So much so that I refuse to be a member of a local Audubon Chapter with no direct relationship to the National Society.  I won’t even step foot on their sanctuaries.

If Audubon wants to do something to protect nature, keep doing their marginally useful Christmas Bird Counts, and keep soliciting funds in their slick magazine.  Leave conservation to agencies and individuals who won’t stand in front of a group of people telling them one thing then four months later killing the goose that laid their golden egg.

Holiday Greetings from Beneath a Florida Palm Tree

With everyone’s reliance on Facebook its difficult to provide any tidbit of news that hasn’t already been posted, reposted, and commented on a thousand times already.  However, it never hurts to summarize those Facebook posts and add some levity to a few of them each holiday season.

When we were kids, we were all in such a rush to grow up but 2019, like too many other recent years, proved that we thought growing up wouldn’t happen so quickly.  Unlike 2018 with its heart attack and a brain MRI, with one exception 2019 was sanguine in the health department.  The only major issue we had to deal with was the ever-present fact that aches and pains pop up in all sorts of places we never thought before we had a place. 

For Cathy 2019 was spent with her ever-watchful eye glued on her grandson Channing who seems to be growing like a weed.  At nearly 3 years old he seems to get smarter and quicker with each passing week.  If not his body then certainly his vocabulary.  He spends about 4 nights a week with us as his mother Charlotte completes a degree program and works in a job I covet – beer manager in a restaurant.  When not in heavy Grandma Cathy mode, she is busily pumping out knitted clothing at almost warp speed. Her sights are set on retirement as everyone’s should be once they reach 40 years old.  Hers is now within a few years of arriving.

Craig’s passion for teaching SCUBA diving came to a crashing end in early August when a student refused to follow instructions underwater and blasted for the surface at an unsafe rate.  As a result, Craig wound up in the emergency room with blood drawn to test for an air embolism (an air bubble in the blood that lodges in your brain) and was sent home from the ER on a 24-hour stroke watch!  Quickly accepting that his life was worth more than some idiot student who wouldn’t follow instructions, Craig hung up his SCUBA teaching fins and now only dives recreationally. 

Like most years since we met, this one was filled with travel.  Together we returned to Cathy’s favorite island Roatan off the coast of Honduras in February for her birthday SCUBA diving trip.  In July we traveled to the Pacific coast of Costa Rica for a week of diving and were met there by Craig’s childhood friend David Hennekens.  In late October for Craig’s birthday we spent a week on Barbados where the highlight was discovering that skipping out on a traffic ticket 28 years after the fact isn’t something the authorities keep in any database. Whew.

When not traveling with Cathy this year Craig made a solo trip to the Dominican Republic in January where once again, he failed to add Double-striped Thick-knee to his West Indies bird list. April took him to Alaska to pester his grandson Garrett for a few days and to add a few more craft breweries to the list of Alaska craft breweries where he and son-in-law Ryan have quaffed a brew.  June saw a return to Alaska to take Garrett to Barrow, the northernmost town in America on the Arctic Ocean on an unsuccessful search for Polar Bears. Maybe we will find one in 2021.   

In late June there was a trip to Minnesota to pester grand daughters and count prairie birds followed by another trip in September to the land of that purple football team to hang out with granddaughters again. Meanwhile in August, Cathy escaped to South Carolina with her kids to attend a niece's wedding and reconnect with her Carolina family.

With 2020 fast approaching we already have plans for Dana, her husband, and the 3 grand daughters to escape Minnesota winter in early February and spend some time with us in the sun.  In late February, Cathy and I will spend a week on Grand Cayman island diving with one of Cathy’s colleagues and her husband.  April will find Craig in Fairbanks working on visiting more Alaska State Parks, and back in Barrow Alaska in June to count birds.  Before that trip there will be a return to Minnesota to camp “up north” with Dana, David, 3 grand daughters and 1 grandson.  Then in July we fly to Venice Italy for a 10-day cruise of the Adriatic and Aegean Seas aboard Norwegian Cruise Line.

There should be a trip or two to South Carolina to see Cathy’s family somewhere in 2020.  With luck we will be diving the Red Sea off the coast of Egypt in October, and who knows what else may pop up to fill the year.

Whether you are Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Atheist, Hindu, Buddhist, or a follower of Isadora Duncan, we hope the 2019 Holiday Season finds you happy and healthy and looking toward the future.  With luck I will be writing a similar letter a year from now and with more luck you’ll be here to read it!

We hope you enjoy these season’s greetings sent from beneath a Florida palm tree. Actually, from beneath three of them.

Cathy and Craig

Birds Observed During Nesting Season at Jeffers Petroglyphs Historic Site, Cottonwood County, Minnesota

Bird Species Observed on Two Prairie Transects

Jeffers Petroglyphs Historic Site

Cottonwood County, Minnesota

June 22, 2019

Indicated singing (territorial) males of apparent nesting species were recorded on two transects/routes at the Jeffers Petroglyphs State Historic Site, Cottonwood County, Minnesota, on June 22, 2019.  Incidental observations were also made there on June 21, 2019.  Birds were recorded while walking slowly along the Prairie Trail loops of both the North and South loops at the site.  Jeffers consists of about 160 acres of prairie and inferences could be made about the density of singing males per 100 acres (or hectares) from these numbers.  There aren’t enough replications of the routes to provide valid data on densities.  Instead, this information should be used as an indicator of relative abundance or frequency on both prairie trails and for the entire site.  Collection of more valid information on densities would require a more intense technique like the Williamson Spot-Mapping method or some similar effort.  These data can be used as a benchmark to compare future relative frequency if a competent observer walks the trails and records the number of singing males encountered.

I wish I could have seen this area before it was subdued by European settlers

Methods

I recorded all singing males heard or seen from any distance along the two routes followed but attempted to record birds that I was certain were inside the boundaries of the property.  I also recorded birds flying over the property that obviously were not nesting there (Turkey Vulture, Great Blue Heron, Rock Dove, and both species of Swallow).  They were recorded to add to the species list for the site but should not be considered nesting on the property.  Before arriving at Jeffers, I stopped at a small stream crossing just south of the Sioux Quartzite quarry about 0.5 miles from the site.  There I heard and saw two other species, Black-headed Grosbeak (Pheucticus melanocephalus) and Great Crested Flycatcher (Myiarchus crinitus) that are riparian-dependent in this part of Minnesota.  There is no suitable habitat for them on the Jeffers site; they are included here simply for anecdotal purposes because they are near the site.

Results

Twenty-six (26) bird species were recorded on or from the prairie study area on June 22, 2019.  Observations were conducted from 0930 h to 1212 h under cloudy skies with a light wind.  The temperature ranged from 63 to 68 degrees.  The north transect was covered in a clockwise pattern beginning at the main trail to the petroglyphs then proceeding northwest, east along the north boundary then south and southwest to the starting point.  I deviated from the transect route at one point to check some shrubs near a rock outcrop where an obvious small amphitheater was built.  The south transect was covered in a counterclockwise pattern beginning near the display of Native American lodges, then south and southeast along the south boundary.  From there I traveled northeast to near the east boundary, then continued west to the starting point. 

Native prairie evolved under a regime of fire and the prairie at Jeffers is managed with fire.  Smooth brome (shown here) is one of very few invasive plants occurring in the native prairie, indicative of the success of the fire management program at the site.  With luck there will be a small herd of American Bison roaming this prairie in a few years - I hope I live long enough to see them back where they are supposed to live.

Discussion

Despite the small size of the site there are two prairies present.  The “North Prairie” is made up of robust native grasses that have long been established. The plant community consists mainly of native prairie species that are common to remnant prairies of southwestern Minnesota.  The “South Prairie” is a restored prairie populated with grasses and forbs that originated from seeds obtained in Nebraska.  Forbs are not nearly as obvious (at least at this time of year) in the South Prairie as they are in the North Prairie.  This might be an artifact of the origin of those plant species in a drier less forb-rich environment in Nebraska.

Portions of the North Prairie benefitted from a controlled burn in April 2019 and the robustness of the regenerating grasses was obvious in the burned area.  Conditions were not conducive for burning the South Prairie in the spring of 2019 and at present there is an abundance of fuel present.  Given the proper wind direction, heat, and humidity, a fire on the entire south 80 acres of the site would likely produce a robust growth of regenerating grasses.

I was pleasantly surprised to witness so few invasive plant species present on both prairies.  One obvious invasive, Smooth Brome (Bromus inermis) is present throughout the site but especially along the trails leading through the prairie.  Intense fires in spring and again in fall along this trail might be beneficial in helping to control distribution and abundance of Bromus on this site.

It is my intention to return to this prairie at least annually to record the relative abundance of nesting species on this site.  As time and funds allow, I might return at other times of the year to record migrants.   Ideally it would be useful to re-activate my Master Bander permit and establish a mist netting station in the grassland especially in fall migration to obtain a better understanding of the abundance and diversity of migrant species, especially sparrows.

And mom has done a very good job of landscaping here

Management Suggestions:

Nothing can be written by an alumnus of the Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center without some recommendations on managing study areas, and Jeffers Petroglyphs is no different.

1)  I highly recommend that visitors be required to immerse the soles of their foot ware in some type of antiseptic that will 1) remove the seeds of potential invasive plant species or 2) kill those seeds before they can be brought onto the prairie by unsuspecting yet well-intentioned visitors.  The near-absence of invasive species (with the obvious exception of Bromus inermis) suggests that managers at the site are ahead of the game on keeping Jeffers relatively free of invasive species.  Sterilizing foot ware will help enormously in this area.  

2) To help educate the public, if a foot ware sterilization effort is implemented it should be accompanied by an informational diorama or something similar to explain why visitors are being asked to cleanse their feet.  This may be beneficial in assisting visitors to think about what they might be carrying on their feet in other areas.

3)  The south boundary of the site is adjacent to an active agricultural field.  During my visit there I noticed several large hay bales on the neighbor’s land indicating that the land was actively used for producing agricultural crops.  It would be useful to establish a fire break along that south boundary to impede the natural movement of grasses growing in the agricultural field onto the restored prairie at the south end of Jeffers. Maintaining a similar fire break along the east boundary of the property would help to reduce the movement of invasive species from the adjacent agricultural pasture on that side of the property.   Lacking the necessary equipment to establish firebreaks on those two sides of the property, I would suggest contacting the US Fish and Wildlife Service Wetland Management District office in Windom, Minnesota, to work out a cooperative agreement where the Service could loan its equipment to help with the effort.  The Service manages several Waterfowl Production Areas in nearby areas of Cottonwood County, so equipment should be readily available.

"Native" Prairie on this map shows the general location of the "North Transect".  The area called "Restored Prairie" is the "South Transect"   Image by Dan Bauer

4)  Burn the prairie every second or third year at a minimum.  Prairie evolved under a regime of fire and my guess is that when Native Americans were visiting the Petroglyphs more than 1000 years ago there were regular fires on this prairie.  Perhaps the best strategy would be to burn the south 80 acres one year and the north 80 the next, then let the prairie lie idle for two years before burning again..  Ideally, to enhance diversity of prairie plants I would burn one 80 acres in the spring and the other in the fall on an alternating schedule.

5) Contract with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources or a similar entity to establish plant diversity and abundance transects on both the north and south 80-acre parcels of the Jeffers property. These data will prove invaluable over time as an aid to assessing habitat changes and grassland management efficacy especially under a fire management scenario.  These data could also be coupled with future bird population census work to assess how grassland management is affecting bird diversity and abundance.

6) Consider re-establishing Greater Prairie-Chickens on this site.   No doubt before European settlers harnessed and subdued the prairie Greater Prairie-Chickens were the dominant Phasianid here.  Now that role is occupied by the introduced and invasive Ring-necked Pheasant.  There are several very obvious areas on the north and south prairies where I could imagine Greater Prairie-Chickens establishing booming grounds in the spring.  There is an abundance of agricultural land in the area that could provide a food source for Prairie-Chickens.  There is also an abundance of agricultural land that has been set aside in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) that can provide additional habitat for Prairie-Chickens.  I suggest that management of Jeffers Petroglyphs develop a partnership with The Nature Conservancy (which owns a number of preserves in the region) and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (which has several state wildlife management areas in the region) to cooperatively release and hopefully re-establish Prairie-Chickens on the site.

Bobolink spends its summer in North America and our winter in the Patagonia region of Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil.  During nesting season they are a conspicuous and vociferous component of the grassland bird community.   This Bobolink was photographed by Dan Bauer at Jeffers on June 21, 2019

Relative Abundance of Singing Male Birds on Two Transects

Jeffers Petroglyphs, Cottonwood County Minnesota

(Birds present but presumed not to be nesting on the site are highlighted in the “Notes” section)

Species	Number of Males on North Prairie Transect	Number of Males on South Prairie Transect	Notes
Ring-necked Pheasant	4	3
Rock Dove		3	Fly over
Mourning Dove		1
Killdeer		1
Great Blue Heron		1	Fly over
Turkey Vulture			Flyover on June 21
Eastern Kingbird		1
Bank Swallow	1	1	Flyover
Barn Swallow	6		Flyover
House Wren		1
Eastern Bluebird	1
American Robin		1
Brown Thrasher	2
American Goldfinch	4	1
Grasshopper Sparrow	6	9
Clay-colored Sparrow	1	3
Field Sparrow	1
LeConte’s Sparrow	3	4
Henslow’s Sparrow	1	1
Bobolink	3	6
Western Meadowlark	3	2
Brown-headed Cowbird	3	3
Common Yellowthroat	3	5
Yellow Warbler	1
Indigo Bunting	1
Dickcissel	25	26

  

Species Accounts

Ring-necked Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) Seven crowing males were heard on the site of which two were flushed.  No females were observed suggesting they were incubating eggs or brooding hatched chicks. Although an invasive species, Ring-necked Pheasant is a popular game bird for hunters and will never be eliminated from the landscape as long as hunting licenses can be sold.  In prairie regions this species generally spends the winter in wetland vegetation.  There being no wetlands on the property I would be interested in learning where this species spends the winter.

Rock Dove (Columba livia) Three birds flew over me as a I walked the south transect.  Several nearby farmsteads were the likely roosting and nesting areas for this invasive species.

Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) One singing male was heard and seen on the fence along the southeast boundary of the property.  Mourning dove is known to nest on the ground in areas where trees and shrubs are lacking.  In all likelihood this bird nested in a nearby wooded area on an adjacent property and was occupying Jeffers as part of its territory.

Killdeer (Charadrius vociferous) A single, vociferous, Killdeer was flushed from prairie grasses along the south transect.  Another Killdeer, likely the same bird, was seen later that day on the exposed rocks of the petroglyphs.

Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) Single birds (the same bird?) were seen flying over Jeffers on June 21 and again on June 22.  Both were flying in a northerly direction. There being absolutely no suitable nesting or foraging habitat for this species on the property these were incidental observation and should not be used to suggest this is a regular part of the avifauna of the site.

Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) See comment above for Great Blue Heron.

[Great Crested Flycatcher (Myiarchus crinitus) This species was NOT on the Jeffers property but instead in a riparian area along a stream about 0.5 miles south of the site.  I include it here simply for anecdotal purposes because of its proximity to the site.  It should not be considered a component of the Jeffers avifauna.]

Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus) One highly-agitated male Eastern Kingbird was heard and seen along the eastern boundary fence of the property.  The presence of several shrubby trees there likely provided a platform for nests but I did not take the time to investigate.

Bank Swallow (Riparia riparia) Single Bank Swallows were observed foraging with Barn Swallows as both species flew over the north transect and a single Bank Swallow was observed foraging over the south transect.  Road cuts exist in the area that could provide nesting habitat for this species but not so on the Jeffers property.  Instead this species and Barn Swallow use Jeffers as foraging habitat and should therefore be counted as part of the avifauna.

Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) Six Barn Swallows were observed foraging over the north transect.  Suitable nesting habitat platforms exist in the area including the visitor center building for the Jeffers Petroglyphs. 

House Wren (Troglodytes aedon) One singing male was heard in the woody vegetation along the boundary fence on the east side edge of the property.

Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis) One male was heard and then seen singing from the roof of a bluebird house established near the north transect trail.  Given the time of year and the presence of territorial singing I assumed there was a female with eggs or young in the nest box but did not open it to investigate.

American Robin (Turdus migratorius) An agitated male was heard doing its “clucking” call note from the fence line at the east edge of the property. Most likely this species was nesting in a wooded draw east of the boundary fence and used the fence for a song perch at the boundary of its territory.

Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma rufum) Two adults were observed along the north transect; one was flushed from the prairie vegetation and the other flew in to be with it.  This species commonly nests in brushy areas and as growths of Western Snowberry (Symphoricarpus occidentalis) become established on the prairie it is more likely that Brown Thrasher will be found nesting on the Jeffers property. 

American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) Four males were recorded along the north transect and a single male on the south transect.  American Goldfinch is primarily associated with woody vegetation for nesting habitat so I doubt they were nesting on the Jeffers property.  They are well known for feeding the seeds of thistles to their newly hatched young, so more likely they were using the property as foraging habitat to feed young in nests in nearby woody vegetation. 

Grasshopper Sparrow (Ammodramus savanarum) An indicator of lightly grazed or moderately grazed native prairie, Grasshopper Sparrow occurred in numbers expected for the vegetation present.  Fifteen (15) singing males on 160 acres of prairie averaged about 9.3 pairs per hundred acres (a formerly common way of expressing density). 

Clay-colored Sparrow (Spizella pallida) An obligate prairie species, Clay-colored Sparrow is found most commonly in and near growths of Symphoricarpus occidentalis.  In North Dakota they occur as a nesting species in very large numbers in Western Snowberry-dominated prairie. I recorded one singing male on the north transect where Symphoricarpus is scarce.  Three singing males (including one that was highly responsive to a playback of its voice) were found on the south transect where Symphoricarpus is more common.  Symphoricarpus is not easily controlled by regular burning and can expand in area if burned too frequently.  About the only way of controlling it is to develop extremely hot fires.  Care should be taken during controlled burns of the Jeffers property to avoid burning Symphoricarpus to reduce the likelihood of its expansion across the grassland.  Allowing it to expand will help the Clay-colored Sparrow numbers but could also lead to a reduction in the variety of native plant species present.

Field Sparrow (Spizella pusilla) This is a species of retired fields that have been invaded by moderate growths of woody vegetation. The single bird I heard singing was near a growth of chokecherry (I think) near the northwest corner of the Jeffers property.  This was adequate habitat for Field Sparrow nesting although I did not find a nest.

LeConte’s Sparrow (Ammospiza leconteii) This is one of the most characteristic species of wet “swales” in native grasslands. They are highly secretive and their voice is among the most difficult to hear of any North American bird.  It sounds like its saying “Chick – eeeeeezee” and rarely sings from an exposed perch making them difficult to detect.  Their song is in the range of 10,000 cycles per minute and most humans hear in the 8,000 or 9,000 cycle range. I heard or saw three singing males on the north transect and four singing males on the south transect.  This is an exceptional number of LeConte’s Sparrows for an upland prairie (more are likely to be found in sedge-dominated palustrine emergent wetlands and other “low” prairie).  Each singing male I observed at Jeffers was found in low wet prairie vegetation.  Although well within the migration route of this species, the singing males at Jeffers are at the southern limit of their usual nesting range.  Surveys should be conducted to determine if LeConte’s Sparrow is present in similar habitats in adjacent areas.  They are well-known for having occupied Conservation Reserve Program lands that were protected from agriculture in North Dakota and South Dakota.  Given the abundance of CRP land in Cottonwood and adjacent counties of Minnesota, there might be an outlier nesting population of LeConte’s Sparrow that had not been discovered previously.  The presence or absence of this unique species should be considered an indicator of habitat quality at Jeffers.

Henslow’s Sparrow (Centronyx henslowii) A characteristic species of rank growths of ungrazed or lightly grazed prairie, the presence of Henslow’s Sparrow at Jeffers indicates a species near the northern limit of its nesting range.  Single singing males were found on both the north and the south transects.  Given the difficulty of detecting this species coupled with even mild wind, there likely were more Henslow’s Sparrows present than the two I encountered. 

Like LeConte’s Sparrow, this species has an extremely high-frequency voice and is quite difficult to hear.  Its voice sounds like its saying “sllllick” and is usually produced from inside grassland vegetation rather than from an exposed perch.  Curiously I have found them much more commonly in winter in places like wire grass openings in pine forests in the Panhandle of Florida than I have throughout their nesting range. This is another species that should be considered an indicator of habitat quality at Jeffers.

Bobolink (Dolichonyz oryzivorus) A species obligate to grasslands and hay fields, Bobolink has been historically difficult to accurately map using conventional nesting species mapping methods.  The three males recorded on the north transect and six on the south transect should be considered minimums.  Also, because June 22 is near the end of the nesting cycle for this species there may be some males that have already ceased to display or defend a territory.  Rarely have I found a singing male Bobolink in any of the prairie states after July 1 and never have I found them singing after July 5.  There were twice as many singing males on the south transect as on the north which may be a reflection of the species diversity of prairie plants on the south transect where there were more low “swale” areas than on the drier upland of the north transect.  Data on plant species abundance on the two transects would be useful in understanding differences in the apparent abundance of Bobolinks at Jeffers.

Western Meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta) Three singing males were heard and seen on the north transect and two on the south transect.  This formerly abundant grassland species, indicative of the western prairie, has suffered sharp population declines in the last twenty-five years.  I think much of the change in population can be related to the extensive conversion of native grassland and idle fields to corn and soybean production as the nation has strived to increase its biofuel capacity.  During three days of traveling in southwestern Minnesota, I saw or heard five Western Meadowlarks. All five of them were on Jeffers Petroglyphs – I did not see another Western Meadowlark anywhere else.   It’s a sad commentary on the status of the human environment when a species as common as Western Meadowlark once was, is now the exception rather than the rule.

Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) Three males of this well-known nest parasite were found on the north transect and three more on the south transect.

Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas) A characteristic species of wet swales in native prairie I recorded three males on the north transect and five on the south transect.  This distribution seems to mirror the habitats with more wet prairie areas on the south transect and fewer on the drier north side.

Yellow Warbler (Setophaga petechia) A single singing male on the north transect was rather surprising because of the paucity of suitable Yellow Warbler habitat.  I would have expected this species more commonly in the wetter prairie of the south transect but found none there.  Perhaps this was an artifact of the nesting cycle of this species (near the end of it) rather than indicative of low numbers.

Indigo Bunting (Passerina cyanea) A singing male was heard and seen on the barbed wire fence along the north border of the property.  Other than the chokecherry growth in the northwest corner of the property or the woody vegetation along the eastern border there really is no suitable nesting habitat for this species at Jeffers.   It’s a part of the avifauna of the site but should not be considered a nesting species at this time.

[Black-headed Grosbeak (Pheucticus melanocephalus) As I approached the Jeffers site on June 22, 2019, I heard a Black-headed Grosbeak singing from riparian forest along a small stream about 0.5 miles south of the Jeffers entrance.  I stopped my vehicle on the bridge and listened to and watched this bird for about 10 minutes before continuing on to the site.   Its presence in this list should not be construed as indicating that Black-headed Grosbeak is a part of the Jeffers avifauna.  It is not. This species is included here because of its presence near the site and because it is generally rare in any part of western Minnesota.]

Dickcissel is by far the most numerous nesting species at Jeffers.  My major professor once described their voice as saying "Dick-sis-cha-cha-cha."   There are other variations but Steve's interpretation is the most accurate.  This vociferous Dickcissesl was photographed at Jeffers by Dan Bauer on June 21, 2019

Dickcissel (Spiza americana) Fifty-one (51) singing males were heard and seen on the two transects; 25 on the north transect and 26 on the south.  Far and away this makes Dickcissel the most abundant breeding bird at the Jeffers Petroglyphs Historic Site.  I found this species in other areas near Jeffers but not nearly in the abundance I found them on the site.  Most likely that was an indication of habitat presence, abundance and quality at Jeffers compared to remnant patches of grassland elsewhere.  For future management of habitats at Jeffers, Dickcissel should be considered the “Keystone” species against which changes should be compared.  Its numbers should be monitored closely to detect changes in how the species responds to management practices because it occupies all types of prairie vegetation on the site; upland and lowland prairie, dry and wet prairie, prairie with Western Snowberry and other shrubs and prairie without it.  The number of indicated breeding males here is on par with or perhaps slightly higher than densities I recorded in the early 1980s along the Platte River in Nebraska near the epicenter of the species nesting range in the prairie biome.