By Laura Hunt, SGI Volunteer
“Save The Planet!!!”
Ever hear someone say that? Ever feel that way?
Blue marble photo by NASA
Somebody needs to do something. Everybody together needs to do something. And everybody knows that. But how?
How do I fight for the preservation of the rain forests and the indigenous tribes that call them home? How do I stand in front of a bulldozer in SE Asia in defense of an Orangutan’s last tree? How do I make a dent in the marine plastic pollution to which our Tennessee River contributes so much? How do I contribute to a solution when I’m locked into a life of time clock punches, daily commutes (or zoom meetings), and mobile banking notifications? Where does one start?
I pursued my degree in Environmental and Sustainability Science because I felt it would empower me in my quest toward biodiversity conservation on our planet. But a degree (and accompanying debt) is NOT necessary to help in a conservation initiative that promises to make an impact on our Southeast region and the world!
Starting in your own backyard
Turning my passion into action, I found a starting place right here in my own backyard. The Southeastern Grasslands Initiative (SGI) facilitates all of our global aspirations. A conservation group, right here amongst us in the Southeast, fighting hard at this late hour to save our disappearing native grasslands one seed at a time, one volunteer at a time, one prairie at a time.
If you don’t know the mission by now, it’s “To conserve, restore, and promote native grasslands of all types throughout the Southeast.” But how can you and I help?
My (lack of) skills don’t allow me to discover and name new prairie species, predict survivorship of threatened wildlife populations, or manage entire natural areas.
Yet, every good conservation group worth their salt needs support: from funders, decision makers, and the public. Perhaps the most precious form of support comes from volunteers. It’s the invisible majority that provides sustenance for many conservation movements to succeed. Self-starting volunteers make SGI possible. While I enjoy participation in social activities at the community scale, I find rejuvenating peace and solitude when I can show up when I’m needed, with no constraints on the day’s events but the whims I choose to follow.
Acting locally while thinking globally
When I discovered an SGI volunteer format that allows me the joy of nature exploration on my own time while contributing to a scientific database, then I was all in! Rubbernecking for Roadsides https://www.segrasslands.org/rubbernecking serves to help botanists map out communities of plants, hopefully prairie remnant species, that are struggling for survival along our Tennessee highways using the iNaturalist app. I knew that SGI stretches over a 23-state region, and when I found Rubbernecking on iNaturalist to which I could contribute in my free time, I was thrilled. Here was a way that I could act locally while thinking globally! Conservation starts at home. SGI is a bottom-up grassroots organization.
Following the simple guidelines of the well designed project led by Cooper Breeden, I began my summer pastime: uploading observations of hundreds of species of plants growing along our Tennessee highways. I discovered the joy of watching my data being catalogued alongside the data of many other like-minded volunteers, as well as trained botanists and ecologists. Here was a format where I could contribute my time and layman’s vague familiarity with the subject alongside trained professionals who were genuinely appreciative of my submissions. “This”, I thought to myself, “is where I can get some traction!”
Curing my own plant blindness
My simple photos were id’d by botanists and forever mapped onto the GPS linked maps accessible to anyone using the app. For example, I had no idea what one particular flowering stalk could possibly be, and I found it quite unusual. By sharing that photo on the app I learned why the pretty and strange plant was so sticky to the touch and the air so pungent in its vicinity . . . American Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum)! (Obviously, I am a transplant to this region of our country!) Check it out: http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/29280189
This cultivated agricultural crop isn’t a great find of a rare and endangered species, but my mapped photo helps to paint a bigger picture of what’s going on along our roadsides. And, I enjoyed the thrill of discovery in my own elementary way. By submitting countless pictures of representative plants on roadsides I became familiar with the individuals. More importantly, I became familiar with those plants that were uncommon. Then I began to get a sense of what healthy levels of biodiversity look like. I was curing my own “plant blindness!” Welcome to the prairie world!
Rubbernecking for Roadsides is not the only iNaturalist project that SGI sponsors. You can find a list of over 100 on iNaturalist. Plant species surveys are also not the only type of volunteer activity. I’ve also participated in workdays where I’ve helped to bring back grasslands by planting, clearing invasive species, and gathering native seeds.
Our lack of collaboration with nature
There were three instances that I heard Bobwhite quail calling when I was in the vicinity of undisturbed fence rows. It would seem that the vast stretches of agricultural fields and artistically landscaped housing developments maintain plenty of acreage in which this particular avian friend could make a living and co-exist with us. But, what the new human residents in these developments do not know is that this ground-nesting bird is part of the prairie structure itself, dependent on the scaffolding provided by native grasses as much as their seeds and insects. As native grasses have been replaced by non-natives, Bobwhites have declined.
The loss of habitat as a result of human activities has caused the populations of many species to decline to levels where their future existence is threatened. Our successful conservation of these species depends on an understanding of their unique requirements - grasses, forbs, quail alike. Our lack of collaboration with nature has endangered this bird’s very existence. Imagine the other prairie grassland species that have these same requirements! Industrial parks have a bad habit of paving nature out. So, saving grasslands translates to saving quail!
Another example: I struggle for smooth progress when trudging through the tangling mass of ground-level invasive smartweed (Polygonum pensylvanicum). I am almost defeated in my attempts to free my boots from the strangling mess, so I can just imagine how an Eastern Box Turtle feels! How on Earth is it that we are so blind to its co-evolution with the prairie grasses that we have allowed the arched natural passages once provided by these grasslands to succumb to this invasive, monoculture tangle? The turtles don’t complain; they can’t. They just die.
“Saving the planet” begins at home
Certainly quail, turtles, rare plants and many others are experiencing the same dilemma: habitat loss through destruction and degradation. But wildlife and plants are voiceless and unable to do anything about the human-caused degradation of our planet Earth. The despair of the Orangutans at the loss of their home, their livelihood, and their heritage, is emblematic of the despair experienced by all wildlife.
If my volunteer participation with the projects of SGI serves to assist any one of our familiar Tennessee species, is it not somehow equivalent to saving the rainforests? One fencerow, one prairie, one savanna at a time? C'mon and join me, us, as we march toward a healthier tomorrow for all!