President Elect Tim Tholen, called the meeting to order and led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Rick Beyer provided us with a prayerful Invocation. Charlie Huffman led us in singing, Happy Birthday, to our April Birthday Rotarian Club members.
MOMENT OF SILENCE was observed for long time KC Rotary Club 13 member, Overton Durrett, who passed on this last Monday. It was noted that his obituary is scheduled to run in Sunday’s (4/7/2024) Kansas City Star and the early indications are that Overton’s Celebration of Life will be on Saturday April 20th, 2024. The obituary may also reference that contributions in Overton’s honor can be made to the Kansas City Rotary Club 13 Youth Camp Foundation.
Club Anniversaries : Lanie Wilbur – 9 yrs April 1st, Charlie Huffman - 22 yrs April 4th, Perry Atha – 23 yrs April 5th, George Gordon – 18 yrs April 6th
SICK BAY: Joe Privitera is home recovering from back surgery. Joe was “zooming” today’s meeting. The assembled Rotarians exclaimed to Joe, “Get Well Soon ! ”
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
This week’s Greeters were the April Birthday Rotarians
Tony Andresen noted that we have a CAMP WORK DAY coming up on Saturday May 11th (8AM to Noon). In May we will celebrate the Camp’s 100th anniversary in a Centennial Day Celebration at the Camp.
The Bed Build Event is coming up on Saturday April 13th, (9 AM to 1 PM) (31711 Colbern Road, Oak Grove, MO 64075) There a job for everyone ! (no special skills required)
The Program Committee will meet on April 11th – please get your speaker suggestions to Steve Burger.
Reminder - there will be a Celebration of Life for CARL BOLTE on Saturday, April 13th from 3:00 to 6:00 pm at the Carriage Club.
OPEN COMMITTEE CHAIRS: There are two Committee Chairs opening up, Membership Committee (Jared Campbell is gearing for his new responsibilities as the next President Elect after Tim Tholen) and Programing (Steve Burger is stepping down after 40-ish years of service). If you have any interest or suggestions, please contact Tim Tholen.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
April 13th – Sleep in Heavenly Peace Bed Build, 9 am – 1 pm
April 16th -- New theatre event: Elvis: Aloha from Vegas
April 19th/20th - Rotary District FUNvention at Margaritaville (Lake of the Ozarks)
May 10th -- Native Plant Sale at Rotary Youth Camp
May 11th – Work Day at the Rotary Youth Camp.
PRESENTATION:
Nick Pryor, of the Ecology Committee, introduced our speaker, Carol Davit, Executive Director of the Missouri Prairie Foundation. Carol oversees the operations of the Missouri Prairie Foundation is a 58 year old prairie conservation organization and nationally accredited land trust. The MPF protects original, unplowed prairie remnants; creates prairie plantings; runs the 24-year old Grow Native!, a native plant marketing and education program. Carol has worked for 26 years in conservation and environmental communications, development, administration and leadership for private and nonprofit conservation groups and municipal & state governments. Carol writes articles and is the chair of the Missouri Invasive Plant Council. (i.e a busy & committed person).
The PURPOSE of Carol’s presentation was to show the importance of habitat protection, and how to draw inspiration from Missouri’s prairies and other natural communities to create vibrant and beautiful landscapes with native plants that support nature’s web of life.
So what is the “Prairie” to be protected? [above the ground] It is a complex, native grassland ecosystem dominated by perennial warm-season grasses, wildflowers, legumes, sedge, some shrubs, with less than 10% tree cover. There are as many as 800 different kinds of plants documented to be in the prairie remnants. As to web of life, Prairie also provides an ecosystem containing thousands of arthropods (bugs & spiders etc) and other invertebrates etc upon which birds depend.
As to below the ground, the “Prairie” is comprised of complex root systems, over thousands of years old, and has created some of the richest soil in the world. Prairie roots store large amounts of atmospheric carbon, and slow & filter storm water. The prairie grasses and wildflowers, with their much deeper and stronger roots, can better survive the varying weather conditions and store more water and carbon. As to what “prairies” look like – it varies. There are generally 13 different “prairie” landscapes in just Missouri alone, as depicted by each’s flowers and grasses. Nationally, about a quarter of the USA was Prairie, generally from Illinois to mid Colorado and from Montana to the northern panhandle region of Texas. There are other regional Grassland Regions, particularly in southeast portion of the USA.
Back in the early 1800’s, Missouri contained 15 million acres of prairie grass. The remnants, now total 45,000 acres of unplowed prairie acres. We have converted the prairie grass acreage to row crops. We also have seen the intrusion of invasive trees. The combination has contributed to reduction in biodiversity available. The Missouri Prairie Foundation’s mission is to preserve prairie acreage, by acquiring prairie acreage and conserving it in its natural state. MPT supports nature’s interrelated web of life: plants provide food for insects & insects become food for birds. Nature evolves slowly and particular insects & birds have adapted (or evolved) gradually over time for feeding upon specific plants & insects. (i.e. Monarch butterflies feed on only milkweed.) Some trees and plants are better for biodiversity, such as oak trees are great and pear trees (an invasive species) are poor in providing for local insects etc. There is a book “Bringing Nature Home” (or How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants) by Douglas W. Tallamy, that is informative.
Separately Native Plants & Flower, with their deeper & stronger root systems, are much better for WATER conservation. Instead of water just running off of hard surfaces (roofs, parking lots, streets etc), ditches with native plants & flowers will absorb a portion of that water, slowing down the runoff to the streams & rivers. Additionally native plants and flowers are becoming increasingly popular for landscaping. There was much more to Carol’s presentation.
Today’s Quote: "There’s no place you can go on the prairie that you don’t hear the white noise of the wind, steady and rough as surf curling along a nonexistent shore." Diane Ackerman
Tim Tholen wrapped up the meeting with the Four Way Test
JOHN GILLIS
[as an ongoing scrivener’s note: our local Club 13 Rotary organization is comprised of at least three interrelated groups (like a three-legged stool), each with its own separate board, officers & primary focus. KCRClub 13 comprised of various committees and weekly luncheon meetings with speakers; KCRCFoundation (primarily to financially support the Club 13’s Rotary Youth Camp); and the Rotary Youth Camp*, near Lake Jocomo, in Lee’s Summit, MO] (* Rotary’s oldest continuous ongoing project in the world.)
The Rotary Youth Camp is excited to host a native plant sale on Friday, May 10 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m! The camp is located at 22310 NE Colbern Rd, Lee's Summit, MO 64086.
We have spotted 3 little heads! Check out Facebook page on Wednesdays for updates on the eagles.
@rotaryclub13
@rotary13
@rotaryclub13
