New Skins added to GHF's Education Materials

Thanks to a generous donation from GHF member Michael Babbit of Oregon, GHF now has badger and beaver skins to add to our collection of education materials.

We are still looking for other tanned, native Kansas animal hides. If you have well-preserved mammal hides that you can donate to GHF, please email me! angie.babbit@gmail.com

Currently, if GHF needs animal skins for programs, we borrow them from the Museum of Natural History's education department. Their skins are fantastic, but it would be nice if we could acquire our own collection, since they usually need the skins back during the school year.

The summer reading program at the Lawrence Public Library was "Catch the Reading Bug," and we used that for our Rolling Prairie Learning Lab inspiration. This summer, the Museum loaned us many mounted insects for our programs. Pictured to the right are some Little Green Festival attendees taking a close look at the Museum's insects.

Alison Reber, program coordinator for the Learning Labs this summer, and her daughters caught many live insects for the children and their parents to look at.

The Regal Fritillary -- GHF's Posterchild

Some rights reserved by Bill Bouton

Saturday, May 17 was Lawrence's annual Art Tougeau parade. GHF volunteer Rex Powell and President Andrea Repinsky have been working with Schwegler and Woodlawn Elementary schools to create a regal fritillary entry in the parade. Students painted these butterflies on cardboard, then Rex and other volunteers wired the Regals onto the GHF trailer and his custom-painted Subaru. The result was fabulous!

Parade spectators were wowed and the generous parade judges gave us a great trophy, handmade by Free State High School art students.



Since November of 2007, the regal fritillary has become somewhat of a mascot for GHF. In November, we worked with conceptual artist Daniel Dancer and Central Junior High to create an "Art for the Sky" image of a 90-foot wide Regal on their playing fields. The students, parents, faculty and members of the community worked together to create a temporary work of art using their own bodies as paint. After photographing the butterfly from an 80-foot tall crane, Daniel created this video, which he played for the students at a final assembly. The kids made a lot of commotion when they saw their butterfly "in motion."


Events like the Art Tougeau parade and Art For the Sky are exciting opportunities for education. The students learn about the fragility of the prairie ecosystem while creating artwork representing one of its most fragile and breathtaking inhabitants--the regal fritillary. For more information about this butterfly, visit the Great Plains Nature Center's website, here.

KS History and Environment Fair -- Apr 24, 2008

The History and Environment Fair was held at the Kansas Museum of History in Topeka. Jeff Hansen and I set up a booth at the trail head to the restored prairie, which is on the Museum's grounds. Jeff led tours of the recently burned prairie. He explained how the prairie was shaped by three main factors: fire, grazers, and climate. The prairie was just beginning to sprout back to life after the fire. The lack of vegetation gave the students a good view of the prairie ant mounds.

There were literally hundreds of mounds scattered throughout the prairie. Both students and adults were impressed by the ant mounds and how the prairie grasses help support the mounds. Students also learned that a Kansas tallgrass prairie may have well over 500 species of plants.

I spent most of my time at the booth that was at the trail head. We displayed the bison hide, bison box, insect displays, and the prairie grass roots diagram. Here, you see some students learning that Native Americans used bison bladders as canteens.

These kids came all the way from Abilene, KS. They're tucked under GHF's bison hide to get a feel for how heavy and warm it is.

The GHF booth and tours were a big hit with students, teachers, and parents.

--Written by Angie Babbit and Jeff Hansen

GHF Board - Experts and Educators

The Grassland Heritage Foundation board of Directors welcomes you to our new Weblog. Our organization is made up of individuals who are passionate about saving prairie remnants. Our main focus is in the northeast region of Kansas, where the tall grass prairie once prevailed. Today, a mere 0.5% of the original high-quality prairie remains.

Pictured here, from left to right are:

(front) Angie Babbit, Steve Holcomb, Sue Holcomb, Rex Powell, Dr. Craig Freeman, (back) Jeff Hansen, Andrea Repinsky, Dr. Chip Taylor, Pete Cuppage, Gary Tegtmeier, and Doug Martin
Not pictured: Frank Norman, Tom Hammer, Amy Carlson