TERRE HAUTE —
I can stand on my soap box for a long time when it comes to debating habitat.
Just think of the horror when a person comes home and a tornado has destroyed their home and your food source is totally gone. Yes, you have to move with a lot of perils in the way.
A tree gets cut down that provided food and shelter, so what does a squirrel do, it may have to cross roads, get across bodies of water and be exposed to other predators. What if a bird didn’t even have a tree to build a nest or even some place to perch.
Of course, we all know every thing is motivated by the dollar. Timber folks say a woods have to be cut so the smaller trees can get sun to mature.
I figure God put everything here for a reason because every plant and animal on this earth has a purpose, not to call trees so the trees worth the most money can grow.
If it wasn’t for the sportsmen putting money back into their own sport, many species could already be extinct.
It is a never ending cycle and animals are losing. Think of the thousands of acres each year taken because of the building of new homes and roads. The human population will outgrow nature and itself. What will humans do when all of the oil, coal and trees are gone?
There is more and more deer licenses issued each year, for they say the herd is growing too big. Not in my book. The rumor goes that insurance companies lobby for more license to cut back on deer auto claims, and why do they think there is so many more deer? Because they are crowded into what little habitat they have left.
I hunt as much as anybody else, but put yourself in an animal’s place with very little woods to hide with people that have guns that can shoot hundreds of yards.
I hope I haven’t bored you to tears by now for we have a very important message to get out.
I met a very determined gentleman with a life mission he will not give up on. Phil Cox and a large group of other wonderful people are fighting a battle to get some government ground turned back into natural habitat at Newport.
The habitat is a black-soil prairie or a tallgrass prairie. According to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, “at one time 14 percent of Indiana was covered with prairie grasses. Today, in the 21st century, prairies and and the grassland animals dependent upon them are considered globally threatened.”
Cox said the Newport acreage, which is 336 acres, is the largest such area in the state. Cox described this in the Wabash Valley Audubon Society’s December 2010/January 2011 newsletter: “NECD [Newport Chemical Depot] is located in Vermillion County between two natural regions of west-central Indiana — the Grand Prairie and the Central Till Plain,” Cox wrote. “The Grand Prairie is characterized by its dark and fertile soils, and the Central Till Plain is known for its nearly flat to gently rolling land.”
According to a report published in the Bloomington Alternative, the prairie “provides year-round habitat for dozens of grassland wildlife species, including the following state endangered species: peregrine falcon, northern harrier, Henslow’s sparrow, sedge wren and Virginia Rail.”
Cox has loads of info on their progress along with the many battles they are fighting. I could write for days on this situation, so let’s get down to the grass roots. If anyone would like to become a part of restoring natural grasslands back to nature, send Phil an email and get ready to go to work.
Contact him at philwcox@gmail.com
If you are into nature, please help Phil and his group in their quest!
Kenny Bayless email kwbayless@aol.com.
Sports Columns
REDNECK QUAKER: Newport prairie an area worth saving
- Sports Columns
-
-
FROM THE PRESS BOX: ISU baseball has pluses, minuses for tourney bid
Last Thursday, when Indiana State’s baseball jumped around in a celebratory dogpile after clinching the Missouri Valley Conference regular season championship at Bob Warn Field, no one thought that a little over a week later, the dreaded NCAA Tournament bubble would fly over Terre Haute. -
HUGHES, NEWS & VIEWS: Questions abound for Indy 500, Manning, baseball sectional
Phones are ringing less frequently in the Tribune-Star sports department this week.
-
TRACKSIDE: Sprint car event could generate close racing
One of the hottest and most competitive weekends of the 2012 motorsports season gets under way tonight at the Terre Haute Action Track with the scheduled running of the Tony Hulman Sprint Car Classic.
-
RAMBLIN' RECK: Castroneves a safe bet at Indy 500
The field is full for the Indianapolis 500 and the race should be another good one.
-
FROM THE PRESS BOX: Subtle switch has fostered MVC baseball parity
When Indiana State was crowned as the regular season baseball champion of the Missouri Valley Conference last Thursday, it marked the fifth different regular season champion the league has had since 2005.
-
REDNECK QUAKER: Charter trip on Lake Michigan a chance to catch some big ones
If you want to fish the big water for salmon and walleye, Greg Allen is the man to talk to or better yet, to go with.
We had two Dad and Lad teams on this beautiful day in the first week of August. Lake Michigan had a nice chop with the sun coming up over the horizon of the water. -
Lord Byron Nelson: Golf's true gentleman
This weekend at the HP Byron Nelson Championship in Dallas, they are commemorating the 100 years since the birth of their tournament’s namesake. “Lord Byron”, as he was known to the world, was the first professional golfer to have a tournament named for him, when the Dallas Open Invitational was renamed the Byron Nelson Classic in 1968, and there was good reason for that. Not only was he a very accomplished golfer, he was a great ambassador for the game because he was such a great gentleman.
-
FROM THE PRESS BOX: ISU has done enough to be in NCAAs
When you get older, you’re supposed to get wiser. I don’t know if I qualify, but I’m trying.
-
TRACKSIDE: Mulling over the biggest weekend in motorsports
We’re approaching what has traditionally become one of the busiest and most prestigious weekends in all of motorsports.
-
RAMBLIN’ RECK: A good week to be a Sycamore
This week is a big one for sports fans and is off to a good start, particularly for Indiana State fans.
-
Hughes, News & Views: Hutson getting ready for final stretch toward Olympic Trials
If Kylie Hutson were a cross-country runner, she’d be approaching the final stretch of her biggest race in about three weeks.
-
TRACKSIDE: Spiker has begun to revive racing in Putnamville
Since his recent arrival on the Wabash Valley motorsports scene, Lincoln Park Speedway promoter Joe Spiker has certainly made his presence felt in Indiana sprint car circles.
-
RAMBLIN’ RECK: Clauson, 22, to make rare jump from USAC to Indy 500
Bryan Clauson will be a busy young man this month.
-
ON AND OFF THE COURSE: With some tricky rules, golf is not a walk in the park
Golf is not a casual sport, even though it has a term called “casual water.”
-
REDNECK QUAKER: Ten-year-old harvests first bird
Ten-year-old Ethan Kelsheimer from Shepardsville is an outstanding young man.
-
TILL IT'S OVER: Super Bowl champ Weatherford enjoying humanitarian role
Last month, Weatherford traveled to Ghana to help lay down the foundation for a school.
Then last weekend, he was the leading man of the inaugural Rush the Punter 5K. The event benefits the United Way program Success by Six, which helps young children to get a head start on reading and other skills. -
FROM THE PRESS BOX: TH’s Murans back in the Derby … this time with favorite
When Terre Haute native Paul Murans experienced his first Triple Crown horse racing run as part-owner of Mucho Macho Man in 2011, the experience was — to borrow a phrase from one-time Marquette coach Al McGuire — seashells and balloons.
-
TRACKSIDE: Helfrich: Short-track racing has good future
When questions arise regarding the current state of sprint car racing, whether they be at the local or national level, one doesn’t have to search much further for the answer than veteran promoter Tom Helfrich.
-
RAMBLIN’ RECK: May means it’s time for some thoroughbred horse racing
It’s May, it’s May, the wonderful month of May as the words sort of go in a famous musical.
-
RUB OF THE GREEN: Sometimes this can be a confounding game
To be sure, the great Sam Snead certainly knew what he was talking about when he delivered his favorite axiom, “The sun don’t shine on the same dog every day.”
-
COLLEGE REPORT: Roberts takes coaching position at UNC-Greensboro
Terre Haute native Mike Roberts is continuing his climb up the college basketball coaching ladder, recently departing Rice for a spot as the associate head coach at North Carolina-Greensboro.
-
REDNECK QUAKER: Hoosiers try their hunting skills down under
How would you practice with a bow and arrow to harvest a kangaroo? Jump up and down while shooting or mount a set of springs to your shoes?
-
RAMBLIN’ RECK: Following the changing Illinois coaching scene
Catching up on some coaching changes and some other business:
-
On and off the course: Sycamores seeded sixth heading into MVC golf tourney
It wasn’t too long ago that Indiana State University didn’t even have a women’s golf team.
-
FROM TERRE HAUTE TO THE MAJOR LEAGUES
Two former Wabash Valley players are hot as a firecracker, two more have joined new teams, and a fifth played a bit part in major league baseball history.
-
REDNECK QUAKER: Cinda Kueber a quality turkey hunter
During the third week in March, a group of Hoosiers ventured to Florida for an Osceola turkey hunt. Cinda and Stacy Kueber, Scott Schoffstall, Frank Contreras and Travis Goodwin all were harvesting nice gobblers.
This is Cinda’s story. I like to hear about a lady outdoing a guy any day! -
TODD GOLDEN: IHSAA debate interrupts more pressing issues
State Senator Mike Delph has sowed a 15-year-old wind and put the emotional class basketball debate back on the public’s mind.
-
RAMBLIN' RECK: Golf battle at Rea Park
The high school sports schedules are busy again this week, with local boys golf teams playing two matches at Rea Park.
-
TODD GOLDEN: ISU eyes prize one game at a time
Most baseball fans know that the baseball season — even a college baseball season — is a marathon, not a sprint.
-
AMEY TAKES AIM: Huntsville’s Stars, Havoc take back seat to GGS
The second-best thing about the Amey family’s spring-break trip to Huntsville, Ala., is that we left a lot of things on the table to do the next time we’re down there.
- More Sports Columns Headlines
-
FROM THE PRESS BOX: ISU baseball has pluses, minuses for tourney bid
NJ Man Charged With Murder in Death of Patz
50 Years Later, Underground Fire Still Burning
Dragon Arrives at Space Station in Historic 1st
Astronauts Enter World's 1st Private Supply Ship
Passenger Restrained on Flight to Miami Arrested
Police: Gunman Has Hostages in Realty Office
Support, Fun for Kids of Fallen Soldiers at Camp
Fugitive Penguin Caught, Returned to Aquarium
Raw Video: Unruly Passenger Restrained in Miami
Light Show Transforms Sydney Opera House
Beer Here!: An Historic Exhibit
Raw Video: Robber Uses Drive-thru Window
Raw Video: Dragon Arrives at Space Station
Calif.'s Coronado Named Nation's Best Beach
Texan Ranchers Remain Wary of Drought
Sudden Storm Topples Wisconsin Trees
Raw Video: Fight Erupts in Ukrainian Parliament
CEO Salaries Become Sore Issue in Labor Disputes
FAMU Bandmates: Victim Volunteered to Be Hazed
Vegas Grocer Deported to Face War Crimes Charges
Colorado College Student Shot While Trespassing
Will Smith & Josh Brolin on "Men in Black 3"
80-Year-Old Skydiver's Nightmare Jump
JWoww Sizzles in a Black Bikini
Sliders on the Grill
Cruise ship crunch
Backstage With Beyonce
Ultimate Creamy Potato Salad
Pope's Personal Butler Under Arrest
Jenny McCarthy's New Man
Tyler's Classic Coleslaw
Britney Spears Under X Factor Fire
Flesh-Eating Bacteria Victim Hits Milestone
Hurricanes and Heat Waves Across America
Kristen Stewart Is Red Hot
Shark Attacks Australian Fishing Boat
Bradley out for playoffs
Kayaker Survives Trip Over Washington Waterfall
Alison Brie Likes To Jog Naked
