Celeste Prussia
State Coordinator for Missouri
BSFS Manager
Missouri State University
Springfield, MO
(314) 313-6694
celesteprussia@missouristate.edu
Celeste Prussia
Recent Posts for Celeste Prussia
Jun
4
Sidebar to “Sky Dance – Missouri Style!”
The following was a sidebar to this article published in Strides but absent from the posting on the Coordinators’ Corner. It may help the reader to know that all the names used in the article applied to the American Woodcock as noted below.
The American Woodcock (Scolopax minor) possibly holds a
record for the number of alternate common names given this chunky, large-eyed, long-beaked, well-camouflaged bird. The names given herein are offered to familiarize the reader with those names found in a 1936 Doubleday & Company, Inc. edition of Birds of America, originally published by The University Society, Inc. in 1917. Of the 17 names given, I believe I omitted only one to avoid confusion: Pewee. The tome contains 106 plates in full color by Louis Agassiz Fuertes which in itself made the book worth the 20 bucks I paid at a yard sale. Due
to its age, the book describes the Ivory-billed Woodpecker as being among those species we count as “nearly extinct.” Surprisingly, this bird shares one distinction with the Timber Doodle, which is the name, Woodcock.
Mar
12
Sky Dance – Missouri Style!
From the Spring 2010 Edition of Strides available for download at http://www.lep.org/strides/
Photo U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
“The drama of the sky dance is enacted nightly on hundreds of farms, the owners of which sigh for entertainment, but harbor the illusion that it is to be sought in theaters. They live on the land, but not by the land.” – Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac
By Celeste Prussia, Missouri LEP Coordinator
Finally. I’ve been listening for years. I even shot one 20 years ago from the daylight sky of an eastern Connecticut woodland when I knew very little about the “Timber Doodle” tumble. My self-imposed, lifetime bag limit for that species ended with that bird.
Read the rest of this entry »
Jul
13
NAAEE Action Alert – Lend your support for NCLI
Action Alert:
Help us reach our goal of 51 Senate Co-sponsors
We need your help to shore up support for the No Child Left Inside Act by securing as many Senate co-sponsors as possible before Congress takes its August recess.
The Senate version of the No Child Left Inside Act (S.866) was introduced by Senator Jack Reed on Earth Day, April 22, 2009. Already, this bill has 15 bi-partisan co-sponsors—a great start, but still a long way from our goal of 51 co-sponsors. Please help us to make progress towards this goal before August recess begins. Email your Senator today and urge him or her to become a co-sponsor (for a list of co-sponsors, click here). Visit your Senator’s website for their contact info; we have provided a model letter below.
As our leaders in Washington are focused on health care and climate change legislation, we have the opportunity to highlight the value of high quality environmental education in fostering good health and long-term stewardship of our planet. But, as the August recess approaches, time is short to meet the goal of 51 Senate co-sponsors. Your help is critical. Please take a moment to personalize an email letter to your Senator today.
A strong show of bipartisan support for programs that get children outside to learn and foster environmental literacy and stewardship will greatly aid our chances of swift passage of Senate bill 866, the No Child Left Inside Act.
Thank you for all you do!
Abby Ybarra and Lucas Johnson
Grassroots Coordinators
No Child Left Inside Coalition
Apr
21
Am not gonna reinvent the wheel…this time!
Greetings, Fellow LEP’ers:
I am taking the opportunity next week to go Caney Mountain Conservation Area in mid-southern Missouri to visit the cabin built in 1941 to be the home of resident biologist A. Starker Leopold (A as in Aldo). Knowing Aldo visited his first born there, I thought some photos and getting a historical perspective from the local staff at Caney Mtn. would make for a nice article to share within our community of land ethic conservationists. As I started to do some Internet research on Starker, I ran across two web sites that stopped me in my tracks. Both are on a new informational resource titled, “the encyclopedia of earth” and boasts content, credibility, community (sounds like what we strive for, eh?!). The first site, Aldo Leopold’s Children, gives a bio of all 5 offspring as authored by Cynthia Barakatt and edited by Craig Maier. These two collaborated to compile The Leopold Collection, , a series of links that give biographical, philosophical, chronological, and literature resources that should prove interesting to anyone who enjoys Leopoldia.
I hope you find these resources valuable to your work toward instilling a sense of land ethic in your world and that of others.
Mar
16
Send your letter supporting EE by Mar. 31
Folks:
There’s a “form” letter below that is being distributed via the NAAEE Environmental Education Action Network to help garner support for the $14.1 million appropriation to EPA for EE by organizations. Some of the larger entities at risk without this support include EETAP, NEETF, and other programs that receive funds passed through EPA for EE. I suspect it also includes the EE grant program funds. The letter can be easily amended to be sent by an individual instead of an organization.
Email to the people below the first letter to add your name to the group letter that appears just under this message.
Respectfully,
Celeste Prussia