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Good Timing!!

News from the Rum River Watershed

Volume #3 Issue #2Spring 2007

Contents:



This Issue:

Phenology

–

On the Timing of Things.

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May/June Issue:

Environmental Groups in Central and East Central Minnesota

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July/August Issue:

Friends of the Paraguay River/Friends of the Rum River partnership - Global Warming in the Subtropics

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September/October Issue:

Sportsmen’s

Clubs: Their Role in the Natural Environment

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November/December Issue:

Native American History along the Rum River

From the Editor:

“Phenology” –

a buzzword

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referring to the study of the timing of natural events. Totally fun! Towatch for the return of the first robin or red-winged black bird, to find the first bloodroot openingits delicate, waxy white flowers

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or my favorite (pictured below)

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the marsh marigolds, orcowslips, appearing first thing after winter in the natural spring by the lake below our house. Lifeseems so extra marvelous and wonderful during this time.How about introducing another word, also one of my favorite

s: “chronobiology.” Again, this

refers to the timing of events within the lives of living things. Not only seasonal, however, butsometimes within a smaller time frame, perhaps not related to day length

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it can refer to thesmall two-hour window of time during which a species of winged insects mate, exactly 4 feetabove the ground

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no higher, no lower. Another very similar species may mate at the sametime

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but 6 feet above the ground, which is why the two become distinct species. Or, maybethey just mate two hours later, same height above the ground, but for that reason become two

types of insects. “Windows of time”… that concept has always awed me since I first heard of it.Often stuff doesn’t have to be accomplished at an exact hour or on an exact day,

but within anopen time period. I now feel less constrained by deadlines.

Sometimes I marvel just at how things always seem to happen at the “perfect” time, even

among human relationships. Meeting a friend from home by chance on a different continent; or

coming up with an idea that compliments someone else’s that you meet at a restaurant –

so thatsuddenly two-and-two are added together and

–

Eureka! A light bulb goes off and we

understand something new…

Of course, sometimes it seems that everythingh

appens at the “wrong” time, and it seems that

your whole life is falling apart. But, not really, inthe end, if you hang in there, I believe you will

find out that it is all “perfect” timing.

Phenology, chronobiology

–

read on to pick up onsome great insights by two great observers ofnatural events, Dave Crawford, naturalist at WildRiver State Park in Chisago County, and JimGilbert, curator of the arboretum at GustavusAdolphus College in St. Peter. Enjoy!

News from the Rum River Watershed September/October 2006

Looking Back 20 Years…

January 6, 1986

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A foot of snow covers the ground in the Twin Cities where the low temperature was

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15 degrees Fahrenheit and the high reached

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2 under clear skies. This was the day that the blue jays began their

special “pump handle” spring song and they are also in their first noisy groups. Also, the first cardinal is heard

singing its

“what cheer, cheer, cheer” spring song.

February 7, 1987

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Warm day! International Falls 43, Duluth 50, St. Cloud and Rochester 52, the TwinCities 53 and Redwood Falls 59. Gray squirrels are busy chattering and chasing, red-tailed hawks are migrating insouthern Minnesota. Great day for a picnic!

March 4, 1985

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With 10 to 15 inches of new snow across all of central Minnesota, hundreds of schoolsare closed. Large numbers of Canada geese are moving into the southern part of the state.

March 5 & 6, 1987

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t’s mating season for red foxes. Killdeers call overhead and male red

-winged blackbirdsare singing on territories. First new green grass seen on south slopes.

April 1, 1987

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Wood frogs heard calling in the Cambridge area. Ice-out date for Lake Eleven inKanabec County.

April 1 & 2,

1986

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Quaking aspens are shedding pollen and sharp-lobed hepaticas can be seenblooming in forests. The first wood ticks are found on people. American elm and pasque flowers are in bloom. Maplesyrup producers are pulling taps.

May 2, 1986

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The first rose-breasted grosbeaks return; they winter from Mexico to northernSouth America.

May 3, 1987

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The University of Minnesota Arboretum lilac collection is at overall bloom peak.The Rum River at Princeton is 53 degrees. Statewide, 63% of the field corn is planted, compared to only 3% a yearago and the 5-year average of 11%.

June 2, 1986

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Far into the night those moving gold specks of life called lightening bugs or fireflies canbe seen on the wing.

June 6

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Lawn grasses are becoming tan-brown in color as they go into dormancy because oflack of precipitation.

June 9

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Statewide, the first cutting of alfalfa hay is 36% complete compared to the 5-yearaverage of 22 percent, and sweet corn for processing is 81% planted compared to the 5-year average of 78%.

July 4, 1985

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A few butternut tree leaflets are turning yellow; this is the first tree species to showautumn color each year and reminds us that one season slides into another. The surface water temperatures ofcentral and southern Minnesota lakes are in the mid-70s and good for swimming. Gardeners are digging newpotatoes.

July 5

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Shorebirds have begun to migrate through from the Artic; they could be adults that wereunsuccessful in nesting. This marks the beginning of the fall migration.

August 1, 1986

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Naturalist Orwin Rustad reports that about 500 white pelicans have gathered onGeneral Shields Lake near Faribault. The pelicans came back about a month early.

August 2

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The surfacetemperature of Mille Lacs Lake is 71 degrees Fahrenheit at Garrison where early goldenrods, monarda, black-eyedSusans, and bull thistles all are blooming nicely.

September 1, 1986

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The green prime is passing, the trees and shrubs proclaim the change. Monarchbutterfly caterpillars can still be found. Chokecherry trees show much red to orange foliage.

September 3

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Atthe University of MN Horticultural Research Center near Victoria, some of the apple varieties now being picked,sorted and sold include Goodland, Lakeland, Red Baron, Minjon, Wedge, Wealthy, Trail crab, Chestnut crab, andCranberry crab.

October 1, 1985

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Muskrats have been busy building dome-shaped winter houses in marshes and ponds.Moose in northern Minnesota are in their rutting season, which occurs from mid-September to mid-October.

October 4

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In the cool bogs of northern Minnesota the wild cranberry fruit is ripe.

October 12, 1985

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The yellow foliage on silver maples is beautiful. In south-central Minnesota there is no harvesting of mature corn andsoybeans going on; the fields are very wet and in some cases flooded.

November 9

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Now is the time when many people witness the miracle of migration in the form of Vs oftundra swans (formerly called whistling swans) overhead. We also have the chance to hear their muffled, musicalwhi

stles. Thee mature swans are all white with black bills and feet… Being 3 feet tall and having a 7

-footwingspread, they are easy to spot and identify. The tundra swans are coming from their summer range, which ismainly north of the Arctic Circle.

December 11, 1985

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White-tailed deer bucks have begun dropping their antlers. Pine martins arecommonly seen in the Isabella area. The frost line is down 3-1/2 feet in the Faribault area.

News from the Rum River Watershed September/October 2006

Cottonwoods

A tree native to the eastern half of the United States, and from southern Quebec to Manitoba inCanada, the eastern cottonwood (

Populus deltoides

) is the largest of the poplars growing to 100 feetwith diameters of 2 to 4 feet or more. Openly grown trees often develop massive trunks and verybroad, open crowns. In the forest, old trunks are long and clear and the crowns are much smaller.Cottonwoods stand on a shallow but very widely spread system of lateral roots. Trees planted in townsoften upheave sidewalks.The poplars are of ancient origin and the genus name Populus probably refers to an early Roman

expression arbor populi, the people’s tree. The species word for the

eastern cottonwood, deltoides,describes its triangular or delta-like leaves. These bright, glossy green leaves are thick and coarselyveined, have round teeth on the margins, and have flattened stems which are about as long as the leafblades. Each blade and stem together is 4 to 7 inches long. The flattened petioles (leaf stems) enablethe leaves to rustle easily in the wind. Just close your eyes, when a breeze is passing through nearbycottonwood leaves, and you will get an audio sensation of rain falling.Starting in late May and continuing into July, female eastern cottonwood trees have seed pods whichburst open sending the silky-haired seeds into the air. The seeds and their white parachutes remind usof thistle or milkweed down in the fall, so that our early summer landscape is touched with an autumn-

like quality. There are some of us to whom the clouds of “cotton” floating through the air are the final

touch of cottonwood attractiveness. These snowy, drifting puffs with their treasure seeds are anuisance when they blow against window screens, and the fallen catkins clutter up lawns and sidewalksunder trees. These are only minor and temporary conditions.The eastern cottonwood is valued for its rapid growth into an excellent shade tree. Growth may be 4feet in height almost every year for the first 25 years. These trees are planted as ornamentals or in

shelterbelts in the treeless plains and prairie areas…. It does suffer considerable branch breakagewhen growing in windy spots… but replaces such d

amage surprisingly fast.The shiny, brown buds are resinous and, like the crushed leaves, have a pleasant balsam-

like odor… The

wood is light, soft, and brownish, with nearly white sapwood. It warps badly in seasoning, but is usedfor boxes, core for veneers, paper pulp, poles, posts, and firewood.Many wildlife species depend on the cottonwood. Northern (Baltimore) orioles nest in its outerbranches, porcupines and beaver eat its bark, deer consume its foliage and young twigs, and songbirdsand grouse consume its buds. During its first few years, the young shoots are eagerly eaten by fieldmice and rabbits. Bees gather cottonwood pollen in the spring.*****

The above two excerpts were taken from the 1987 publication

“Through Minnesota’s Seasons with Jim

Gilbert.”

From: “Cottonwoods” pp. 36 –

37; and “A Minnesota Year” pp. 129 –

198.Used with permission from the author and the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum Press.Chanhassen MN: Andersen Horticultural Library, 1987.