Hello, friend of the KU Field Station!

April brought spring showers, wildflowers, fresh growth, and plenty of time spent outdoors learning and exploring with people of all ages. Researchers are busy preparing field experiments for the growing season, and university classes are making their final visits to the Field Station's prairies, woodlands, and reservoirs before the semester wraps up.

We are busy getting ready for some exciting upcoming programs, including a field trip for 140 7th graders, a full-day visit by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections during their annual meeting, and the three-day Ecosystems of Kansas Summer Institute for science teachers. We're in for an action-packed end to spring!

Best,
Wendy

Saturday, May 10 | 8 a.m. – 2 p.m. | 2021 Constant Avenue, Lawrence, KS 66047

Join us at Monarch Watch’s annual Spring Open House & Plant Fundraiser! We’ll be there with a wildlife-themed table, ready to chat and answer your questions about supporting native species and creating habitat in your own backyard.

This year’s event is extra special because it celebrates 20 years of Monarch Waystations! It’s a perfect time to visit Monarch Waystation #1 and learn how to create your own pollinator-friendly garden. There will be lots of native plants for sale, perfect for adding habitat for butterflies, bees, and other wildlife to your yard. Monarch Watch will also offer a special opportunity to register your butterfly garden as an official Monarch Waystation during the event.

The event will be primarily outdoors and full of activities, including garden tours, games, live monarchs and caterpillars, and a food truck. We’d love to see you there!

Full event details: monarchwatch.org/openhouse

Sunday, May 18 | 2:00 p.m. | Armitage Education Center, KU Field Station

May Topic: Gomphotheres and Silkville: Stories about the Woody Plants around Us

Did you know nearly 2,300 species of flowering plants, cone-bearing plants, and ferns grow wild in Kansas? While woody plants make up only a small part of this diversity, their impact on the state’s ecology, history, culture, and economy is enormous. Trees, shrubs, and woody vines shape habitats, stabilize soil, shade streams, and provide food, shelter, and other essential resources for both wildlife and people.

Join Craig Freeman, senior scientist at the Kansas Biological Survey & Center for Ecological Research and curator of botany at the KU Biodiversity Institute, as he shares the stories and significance of woody plants in our landscapes, lives, and legacy. If you are curious about how Gomphotheres, the elephant-like mammals that once roamed Kansas, and Silkville, a ghost town in Franklin County, are connected to each other and to the woody plants around us, don’t miss this talk!

Where: KU Field Station, Armitage Education Center, 350 Wild Horse Road, Lawrence, Kansas 66044

What to bring: A mug for tea/coffee to help us reduce waste.

Please RSVP to Wendy (wendyholman@ku.edu) as space is limited. It also helps us plan for seating and snacks!

Science Sundays is a monthly series of talks covering a variety of science topics, including research happening at the KU Field Station. These free talks are open to everyone but may not interest younger audiences. You don't have to be a scientist to attend, just curious about the natural world!

Friday, May 23 | 9:0 - 10:30 P.M. | Armitage Education Center

Join the Astronomy Associates of Lawrence for an evening of stargazing! With no moon visible, other celestial wonders will take center stage in the sky. Mars and Jupiter will be shining brightly, and we will observe star clusters and distant galaxies. We may even spot a few meteors from smaller meteor showers! Telescopes will be set up on the lawn behind the Armitage Education Center, offering clear views of the night sky beyond the glow of city lights.

Bring a chair or blanket and settle in under the stars to enjoy the wide open sky, surrounded by the chorus of spring night sounds, like frogs calling, coyotes singing, and owls hooting. Whether you stay for the entire event or just stop by for a quick look, we’d love to have you join us!

Where: KU Field Station, Armitage Education Center, 350 Wild Horse Road, Lawrence, Kansas 66044

What to bring: Cozy clothes, a chair or blanket, a mug for tea/coffee

To RSVP, please email Wendy (wendyholman@ku.edu).

This program is weather permitting and requires clear skies, so please make sure to RSVP to receive updates from Wendy in case of changes due to the forecast.

We got lucky with perfect conditions for this year’s Baldwin Woods Spring Tour! The weather was beautiful, and the spring ephemeral wildflowers were in full bloom: trout lilies, rue anemone, spring beauties, Dutchman’s breeches, cutleaf toothwort, and more.

It was a lovely morning to wander the woods in good company, slowing down to notice the small spring wonders unfolding around us. People brought great questions for our knowledgeable group leaders and had sharp eyes, spotting not only flowers but budding trees, early insects, frogs, and a black ratsnake. Mornings like this remind us how much life is waking up in the woods each spring and how special it is to explore it with others in shared, quiet curiosity.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this spring tradition. We can't wait for next spring!

We were happy to return to the Anita B. Gorman Discovery Center this spring to explore the tiny world of mosses with Green Works in Kansas City’s ECOS Nature Club. Zane Walker, a doctoral aspirant in KU’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, joined us to share his deep knowledge of mosses, past and present.

It didn’t take long for students to catch Zane’s contagious love of mosses and crown him the “Moss Boss.” They made careful observations, asked thoughtful questions, and created tiny rainstorms to reawaken moss samples that had been dried for over a year. Watching their curiosity spark as the mosses rehydrated, with leaves unfurling, colors brightening, and the earthy scent of a forest returning, was a great way to spend a Saturday morning.

The KU Field Station serves as an outdoor classroom for many of KU's classes, offering a valuable extension to traditional classroom learning. We always enjoy working with students, and it's especially fun when the same students visit more than once.

In Care Practices: Ecology, Community, and Self, taught by Megan Kaminski, students explore local ecologies through hands-on field study and community-engaged learning. Last month, they visited the Field Station twice: first to the Baldwin Woods Forest Preserve, and then to our core research area, just a short drive from KU’s main campus.

At Baldwin Woods, surrounded by spring ephemeral wildflowers and the fresh growth of young leaves, students were invited to slow down, observe with intention, and deepen their connection to the land. Their second visit took a more hands-on approach, as they contributed to the restoration of a post-agricultural field by planting seeds from over 15 native prairie species. Getting hands into fresh soil can increase serotonin levels, so this simple act of sowing seeds was not only a way to care for the land, but also an opportunity for students to care for themselves at the end of a busy semester.

Last month’s Science Sundays was an engaging talk by Alex Hey, an incoming PhD student in KU’s Mammalogy Division. A full room gathered to learn about the secret lives of woodrats and to see woodrat specimens up close. As always, a couple of our Science Sundays regulars recorded their learning through beautifully detailed handwritten notes, complete with colorful drawings.

We have really enjoyed watching the community that is growing around this series and love how warm, curious, and supportive the audience is. After this talk, we received several kind messages from attendees, including one who shared that Science Sundays is a highlight of their month.

Thank you to Alex for bringing woodrats into the spotlight and helping us appreciate their wonderfully quirky lives, and to everyone who joins us to make every Science Sundays so enjoyable!

Not on social media? No problem.

Here are a few of our favorites from the past month. 

🌿✨ Community Spotlight: Meet a Creature! ✨🌿

The shy little Western Wormsnake (𝘊𝘢𝘳𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘴) is one of the most secretive creatures at the KU Field Station. You’re unlikely to spot them slithering across a trail, but they’re quietly at work underground, gently aerating the soil as they hunt for earthworms. 🪱

These harmless snakes grow to about 7.5–11 inches long, roughly the size of a pencil. With small, pointed heads and tiny eyes, they’re perfectly adapted for life beneath the surface. Their smooth, shiny dark backs sharply contrast with bright pink or salmon-colored bellies, adding a surprising pop of color.

Western Wormsnakes prefer loose, damp soils beneath rocks, logs, and leaf litter on wooded or partly wooded hillsides and along woodland edges. They’re active from March through early October, with the best chance of spotting one in April. As summer heats up and soils dry, they retreat deeper underground, making sightings rare.

By aerating the soil and managing underground invertebrate populations, these tiny snakes help improve soil health and support a balanced food web. The Western Wormsnake reminds us that creatures don’t need to be big or flashy to matter. Even the smallest, most hidden ones play important roles in maintaining healthy ecosystems.

🌍🌱

✨ Jack-in-the-pulpit, adding a little extra spring flair to the woodland floor. ✨

Early spring in an oak savanna remnant. 🌿💜

You might expect to find Pussytoes, Blazing Stars, and Bird’s-foot Violets in the open prairie, yet here they are, growing among mosses beneath oak trees. Oak savannas like this are transition zones between tallgrass prairie and forest, with scattered oaks above and a prairie-like ground layer below.

This unique, fire-adapted habitat supports incredible biodiversity. Once widespread across the Midwest, including eastern Kansas, oak savannas are now one of the rarest ecosystems in North America.

Swipe through to see the prairie beneath the oaks. 🌾🌳

Featuring:
Field Pussytoes (𝘈𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘢 𝘯𝘦𝘨𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘢)
Blazing Star sp. (likely 𝘓𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘢 var. 𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘶𝘵𝘢)
Bird’s-foot Violet (𝘝𝘪𝘰𝘭𝘢 𝘱𝘦𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘢)

This woodrat midden was occupied... just not by who we expected! 👀🐍👀

The woodrat had moved out, and a timber rattlesnake moved in! Hidden within the midden, she could rest undisturbed. 💓

This is the monthly newsletter for the University of Kansas Field Station community. Each month, we share details about upcoming public programs, volunteer opportunities, and highlights from the month before. 

To read previous issues, please visit our newsletter archives.

If you have questions, please feel free to reach out to Wendy at wendyholman@ku.edu.

University of Kansas Field Station Mission: 

   To foster scholarly research, environmental education and science-based stewardship of natural resources.

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