Pipestone National Monument Week 14

"I'm not short, I'm fun-size!"
-a 9-year-old girl

Summer is officially over. The temperature got down to 38 early Sunday morning and the asters have begun blooming. A staccato of walnuts and acorns bouncing on the ground has begun to replace the sound of chirping birds. The birds are still here, they are just not so obvious. The rose hips are beginning to redden. Monarch butterflies are grouping up and beginning their journey south. Streaks of yellow sunflowers and goldenrod still color the prairie, thought it's hard to enjoy them through tear-filled eyes.

Ragweed, the most foul, useless, and insidious plant in North America has made its annual appearance, sending its zillions of grains of pollen directly into my nose and eyeballs, causing endless itchiness, drippiness, sneezing, puffiness, and suffering. Allergy meds don't do much for the feeling, but they do keep me from sneezing and my nose from running like a faucet constantly.


Ragweed is a native plant. Some of it in front of the visitor center at Pipestone is as high as my chest and grows bush-like. However, if it became an endangered species, I would go and stomp on it to finish it off. Learn more about ragweed in Minnesota.

So with ragweed making the outdoors miserable, why not stay inside? This week, Pipestone National Monument premiered its new film, Pipestone: An Unbroken Legacy. The 20-minute film is a vast improvement over the old 8-minute slide show, and demonstrates the quarrying and explains the importance of the tradition in the quarriers' own words.

My dad came to visit and I think he had a good time checking things out at Pipestone and in Luverne. He said he probably didn't appreciate the site as much in 1982 as he did on this visit. He was inspired enough to buy a pipe. Will he try it out?

Pipestone National Monument Week 13

I made a scientific discovery this week when I noticed a flower called maiden pink, or dianthus deltoides, along the trail. After polling the resource management office, we discovered that the flower had never been officially observed in the park!

Dianthus deltoides, maiden pink

The flowers have continued to put on a show, though they have been tough to catch on camera because the weather has been gray and rainy or else very windy.

Sunflowers

Blazing star

Monarch caterpillar

Just as visitation begins to slow down slightly as summer nears its end, the activity in the quarries is picking up. More perennial quarriers are beginning to arrive and work in their pits in addition to the many local quarriers who are here more frequently.

Quarriers like Lee Taylor are some of the local, frequent quarriers. Lee is a wellspring of information about quarrying today and yesterday. He is quick to describe "the old way," or a traditional method that has fallen by the wayside. For quarrying the rock, by heating it with fire and throwing cold water on it. For making pipe stems, hollowing it out by using motivated carpenter ants.

Lee Taylor in his quarry pit

Lee was hard at work when I stopped to talk to him in his pit on Thursday. He was wearing tall rubber boots to deal with several inches of water in the bottom of the pit, the result of some exciting thunderstorms we've recently had. Lee has a very vertical pit, but the loose quartzite he has removed has been stacked carefully to prevent a rockslide that could crush him. I asked him if he ever considered reshaping the rubble pile to make it less steep, but he said he got lazy at some point and just started stacking it and not to worry because it wasn't going anywhere.

Just down the quarry line, I talked to Mark Pederson, who also quarries for pipestone regularly. He has a much more open and broad quarry pit that looks neater because much of the quartzite has been meticulously wheelbarrowed away from the pit. His issue today is that there is a big hunk of quartzite, far too big to lift, that is looming at the edge of the top of his pit. He is currently trying to remove the quartzite and pipestone below it, believe it or not, because he does not want to damage the pipestone when he rolls the big rock into the pit. It sounds scarier than it is; the quarry really goes down in a couple steps from the troublesome boulder to where he is actively working. Learn more about the process of quarrying pipestone.

Pederson's pit and the rock that will roll onto him and crush him like the Wicked Witch of the West. Note the wheelbarrow for scale.

Previously, I have neglected to show one of the culturally significant features of Pipestone. The Three Maidens, giant boulders of granite dropped here by glaciers in the last ice age. One of the legends related to the place says that three women entered into a fiery pit and became the red pipestone, and the boulders represent them. Traditionally, quarriers leave an offering of food or tobacco at the Three Maidens before coming to the quarry. Today, the entrance road passes by the Three Maidens and most people drive by without noticing them, despite the big sign.

The Three Maidens

This week, I became able to administrate the Pipestone website. It was just fine to begin with, but I have begun adding some of the highlight buttons and cleaned up a little information here and there. The big addition, though, was adding a Photo Gallery. View the Pipestone Photo Gallery. Regular blog readers will recognize a few of the photos.

Pipestone: Bat Bites Man, Tests Negative for Rabies

By Debra Fitzgerald (August 19, 2009) (See original article in Pipestone County Star)

A bat that bit a Pipestone man tested negative for rabies, according to the Pipestone County Sheriff, Dan Delaney. The Sheriff’s Office learned of the bite after Jeremy Weddell reported, Wednesday, Aug. 12, having shortness of breath after being bitten by a bat.

“The bat was inside his residence, which is not uncommon,” Delaney said. Weddell was taken by ambulance to the Pipestone County Medical Center where he was treated and released the same day.

Meanwhile, the bat was recovered from Weddell’s home and taken to the Pipestone Veterinary Clinic, where it was forwarded to Brookings for rabies analysis.The Sheriff’s Office learned Monday, Aug. 17, that the bat tested negative for rabies.

Pipestone National Monument Week 12

A bumblebee works on blazing star flowers

Last week's bat was rabies-free. It only cost $70 to learn something I already was pretty sure about, but I guess you can call it insurance. When I talked to the vet on the phone and told her I was the guy that dropped off the live bat, she said she had been somewhat surprised to find a live bat in her refrigerator when she came in to work. I'm fairly sure now that Wilbur was a little brown bat and I was exaggerating about its size last week.

After he gave up trying to find a way out of the bottle, Wilbur took a nap, took a bath, and yawned.

I kept my head down this week preparing a special presentation about Theodore Roosevelt National Park for one of our special events at Pipestone. The presentation is on Tuesday night at 7:30 at the Pipestone National Monument Visitor Center (see press release). It should be epic.



Amber and a bunch of our friends were camping at Split Rock Creek State Park this weekend. They all came up to the park to see me working, so I arranged for an impromptu guided walk through the park and invited everyone in the building to come along - 20 in all! It was raining a bit, but not quite enough to get totally wet. Later that night, it dumped 1.85 inches of rain in Pipestone and made a general mess of things. The lightning was terrific, as was the wind between midnight and 2 AM. A cold front blew in later in the day and brought in cool, dry air, a terrific refreshment after several humid days.

Sunflowers have burst forth across the prairie

Once I got out of the office when the weather got nice, I found loads of sunflowers blooming, saw the pair of white-tail fawns that still have their spots, and watched a great blue heron fishing in the lake. It caught a minnow. I paused to enjoy the small waterfall at the foot of the lake (it happens to be a small dam a foot high). I noticed a spotted sandpiper nearby and got some pictures. It does not have spots because it is in its non-breeding plumage.

Spotted sandpiper

Theodore Roosevelt National Park Identifies Preferred Alternative for Elk Management Plan

I had meant to announce that I will be returning to Theodore Roosevelt National Park over the winter, but now I have additional information on a long-running topic. Theodore Roosevelt National Park released its preferred alternative for its Elk Management Plan.

Here is an excerpt from the press release:

MEDORA, NORTH DAKOTA – The National Park Service (NPS) has released a preferred alternative addressing elk management at Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The proposal calls for reducing the elk herd in the park from the current level of about 900 animals to a sustainable level between 100 and 400 animals using qualified NPS staff to lead teams that include skilled volunteers.

Skilled volunteers which may include North Dakota sportsmen – who must demonstrate proficiency with firearms and meet other requirements established by the park – will be used to assist park staff in the removal process. In addition, to the extent practicable, animals will be tested for Chronic Wasting Disease. If the animals test negative, the meat will be donated in accordance with federal regulations and National Park Service policy.

The program will be evaluated after two years to determine if direct reduction is effective; if it is not then other methods will be considered to supplement the efforts of the skilled volunteers.

If you read the full newsletter, which explains all the details (and sports my picture of elk I nearly died of exposure to get), you discover that, when faced with all the alternatives in the draft elk management plan, the correct answer was "all of the above."

Although this was not my preference, it is a plan that will cost the least and will involve local people in the park. That way, it's not always a case of "us versus them." The plan that I favored, however, was identified as the "environmentally preferred option," so there is some satisfaction in that.

I think this is a good plan and I support it. I do worry about impacts on visitors who would be using the park recreationally being affected by people shooting in the park. Some of the details will be addressed as the park hammers out the details of the final plan.

The public is able to comment on the plan until September 9. You may do so online through the NPS PEPC website for the Theodore Roosevelt National Park Elk Management Plan / EIS by following the directions on that page.

Pipestone National Monument Week 11

With the Sun Dance underway most of this week, the sounds of drums and singing can be heard from time to time, adding a timeless ambience to a visit to Pipestone. Tipis sprang up, the cottonwood tree was cut down outside the park and walked to its place at the center of the Sun Dance area, adorned with prayer cloths that flicked red and blue in the afternoon breeze. I have kept my distance from the ceremony, content to let them do their thing and not to impose. They are not averse to visitors, but they did provide us with a pamphlet outlining the "protocols" to be observed, and it is a long list. Women must wear skirts. No cameras or recording equipment. No shoes.

Purple Prairie Clover

In the natural world, the birds have quieted down now that the breeding season is basically over. They are still out there, just not as obvious. I watched a great blue heron feeding in Lake Hiawatha, which was probably the bird highlight of the week. I saw four green herons flying on the other side of town Wednesday or Thursday evening.

Great-blue Heron and Eastern Kingbird in Lake Hiawatha

We had a wild storm Saturday afternoon, but we only caught the edge of it. The wind blew this way, then that. The temperature dropped twenty degrees in a matter of minutes. Dime-sized hail fell briefly. I think that's a preview of next summer for me.

Black-eyed Susan

Thirteen-lined Ground Squirrel

Amber, her parents, and her grandparents were in Pipestone over the weekend for a visit. I think they exhausted all the recreational opportunities and made their way through the short list of dining adventures available. Too bad that the weather was hot and humid!

Culver's Root

The most excitement this week was early Sunday morning, just before 5:00. Tossing and turning on my uncomfortable air mattress, I rolled over and heard an unusual sound. It sounded like someone slowly shuffling a deck of cards. I pried open my eye and saw a bat flying laps around the bedroom. Amber ducked under the covers and I went to use the bathroom before dealing with the situation. Meanwhile, Amber said from under the covers, "It's on my head!"

The bat flew out of the bedroom while I was in the bathroom, thus allowing me to seal off two rooms. I detached the kitchen window screen and used it to play goal-keeper and herd the bat toward the open window. The funny thing is, based on all my experience herding bats (they called me Bat Master at Glacier), the bat never finds the open window. After it flew back and forth a few times in the kitchen, I had it within feet of the window, and actually got it to climb onto the window screen I was holding. I carried it over to the window and tried to get it to go out, flicking the opposite side of the screen, but all it did was climb around to the inside of the screen. I changed tactics and got it to fly into one of the attic "Kiddie Fortress" storage areas in the corner of the kitchen, closing the door behind it. I sealed off the bottom of the doorway with newspaper so it couldn't crawl back under. It's still there, where it will either escape or die. I don't know how it got in. The other night, a bat set off the alarm at the Pipestone National Monument visitor center.

The bat was a larger one than I've ever dealt with before, leading me to believe it was a big brown bat.

I think it's smiling!

Pipestone National Monument Week 10

It's been a busy week in Pipestone. With the rendezvous over, the AIM sun dancers started moving in to the sun dance grounds within the national monument. They've had some reconstruction to do to their structures, but scaffolding, tarps, and tipis appeared over the course of the week. They also took down last year's tree, to which the sun dancers are bound by the flesh for four days. The sun dance begins on August 5th with Tree Day, during which they erect this year's tree, a cottonwood brought in to the site and put up.

In other human events, Pipestone's "Miss Poopsie" contest occurred this week. I don't really understand what its history is or why it is done, but it is, first and foremost, men cross-dressing. Not having attended the event (though I drove by it), I can't say exactly what the judges were looking for. The contest seems to be more tongue-in-cheek than it is a full-blown drag queen fiesta, as indicated by the unshaved legs and stubbly chins. I don't know if it's more degrading to the men partaking in the contest or to the drag queens who actually try hard to pull that off.

A funny conversation I overheard this week was a mother talking to her roughly 8-year-old son. As they were at the front door getting ready to depart, she said to him, "Didn't you say you had to use the restroom?" He said, "Oh yeah, I forgot!"

The flowers have been phenomenal through the week. The variety of flowers continues to be impressive and the big bluestem grass is shooting up, now shoulder high on me. The following are some pictures I got of the flowers using the park cameras.

Yellow prairie coneflowers and leadplant

There are vast fields of blooming leadplant

Yellow coneflowers are spread around, but there is one particularly big patch

The sedge wrens have appeared and have begun singing from the prairie. I haven't gotten a close look at one. On Friday, I saw a mink run across the road and disappear into the grass.

In other wildlife news, on Friday, a steer escaped from D&T's meat market, which is two short blocks from my Pipestone apartment. I wasn't aware of the incident as it occurred, but it sure explained why traffic was annoyingly more congested than usual when I went to work at noon. The story, which ran in the Pipestone County Free Star, said that the steer, which had been delivered to be slaughtered at the meat market, escaped and "led police, meat market employees and others on a half hour chase before finally being brought down on Second Street SW."

Photo by Pipestone County Star

Speaking of strange animal behavior, visitors late in the day Saturday reported a woodchuck that was acting strangely, stumbling, staggering, not running away. They thought it might be rabid. Luckily for me, my shift was ending. The prevailing theory at the moment is that the woodchuck was drunk or otherwise intoxicated by honeysuckle berries.

How to Tie a Ranger Hat Band

For the benefit of new NPS park rangers (and veterans replacing their hat) who lost or did not receive hat band tying instructions, follow these directions.

Getting Ready
1.  First of all, it's illegal to wear a US Park Ranger hat with the hat band unless you are uniformed employee of the National Park Service.  If you are, congratulations!  You're off to fun and adventure (and seasonal unemployment)!

2.  Keep in mind that the ranger hats, especially the straw, summer-weight hats, are fragile and will crack if mishandled.  They are impossible to repair, and expensive to replace, so be mindful of how you are handling it while you do this procedure.

3.  If you are also putting on the optional head strap, put it on first; it will go underneath the hat band at the rear of the hat.  Thread the hat band from underneath through one slit, around the back of the hat, then down the other slit, then buckle it anywhere for now (you can adjust it to your head later).  A brand new head strap will have to be broken in before it bends to the back on its own; its tendency for now will be to be rigid and therefore fall to the forehead part of the hat, but when you start wearing it, it will break in and conform to bend to the back of your head.  Maybe it looks dorky, but it helps keep your hat on if a sudden gust of wind comes up, and it has saved my hat many times.

4.  Locate the tag inside the brim of the hat; this is the back, obviously.  The hat band should read "USNPS" right-side up, with the "N" centered in the front of the hat.  Therefore, the knot you are about to tie will be on the wearer's left.  Wrap the band around the hat in this configuration to get started.  You will tighten it up as you start the knot.

The following diagram shows the knot you will tie. 

For some reason, some hat bands may have the tie the other way around, with the strap originating on the right side; in this case, just do the mirror image of the diagram above.

Tying the Knot
The following instructions correspond to the diagram above, with "Ring A" being the loop where the tie strap is attached (left on the above diagram) and "Ring B" being the open loop (right on the above diagram). 
 
5.  Pull the strap through the underside of Ring B, then back through over the top of Ring A so that it emerges to the brim side of the underside of Ring A.  Pull it as tight as you can and don't let go!  You need to keep tension on the tie strap through the entire procedure or else it will come apart.
 
6.  While keeping the strap as tight as you can at Ring A, loop the strap around what you did in step 1; keep the loops parallel to each other (like a spring) and somewhat loose because you will need to thread the end of the strap back through them.  Depending on the size of your hat, you will have a varying number of coils.  Make sure the coils completely cover the horizontal passes of the strap from step 1.
 
7.  The last coil needs to pass through the underside of Ring B and then - here's the tricky part - you must pass the free end of the strap through the coils.  Once you've got it through, keep tension on the free end of the strap and twist the coils to tighten them.  If you have done the knot properly at this point, the hat band should be snug around the hat.
 
8.  The free end of the strap may be trimmed, but it is not my preference to trim it.  Instead, I shove the tail end of the tie strap behind the hat band at the front of the hat.  This helps keep the band from slipping.
 
Looking good, ranger!  Now, can you point me to the bathroom?