First timer? In this (hopefully) once-a-day blog, I have my computer select a random latitude and longitude that puts me somewhere in the continental United States (the lower 48). I call this “landing.” I keep track of the watersheds I land in, as well as the town I land near. I do some internet research to hopefully find something of interest about my landing location. To find out more about A Landing A Day (like who “Dan” is and what the various numbers and abbreviations mean), please see “About Landing,” (and “Abbreviations” and “Cryptic Numbers”) above.

Dan -  After a brief burst of USers (2 in a row), I’ve settled back into OS-land, with three in a row –  the latest being . . . KS; 52/49; 2/10 (2/13); 21; 155.4.  Here’s my landing map, showing my proximity to Rattlesnake Creek, as well as a bunch of really small towns:

I picked Iuka for the post title solely because I liked the name (more about the name later).  Anyway, Rattlesnake Creek flows into the Arkansas R (98^th hit); to the MM (716^th hit).

Here’s a somewhat closer landing view:

Note the regular pattern of roads (on the one mile township-and-range grid).  Also note that the pattern breaks down east and southeast of my landing (the Pratt Sandhills Wildlife Area – more about that later).   Here’s my broader view:

Here’s my GE shot, showing that I landed on the western edge of a large farm field (maybe a pasture, considering the lack of obvious crop rows):

Here’s a broader GE shot, showing clearly the Pratt Sandhills Wildlife Area:

This reminds me of my recent Swanton OH post, where I landed adjacent to a sandy area that is heralded as a wildlife refuge.  It makes one think:  if you visit the park in Ohio, or the wildlife area here in Kansas, you come away with the feeling that this is a very special habitat.

OK, it is a very special habitat, but what’s missing is this:  the entire country was a very special habitat!  The only reason these remain as special habitats is that they weren’t suitable for agriculture!  It’s easy not to think about the fact that before the farmers arrived, the farm country was itself a special habitat.  Because of richer more fertile soils, the miles of farm country surrounding these sandy areas was itself likely a habitat richer than the sandy areas.

Moving right along.  I’m disappointed with the Pratt Wildlife Area, in that the only picture I can find of the whole place is just the welcoming sign!!  Oh, well, here ‘tis:

The write-up from the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks also disappoints me.  The entire write-up is aimed towards hunters.  Now, don’t get me wrong – I’m not one of those anti-hunters types.  I’m not a hunter myself, but I totally respect and support the idea of hunting and then eating your prey.  It’s way further up on the eating-consciousness scale than going to the supermarket . . .

That said, I feel as though a write-up on a wildlife area should feature the wildlife for its own sake, and I guess I’m a little surprised that the state makes this area essentially a hunters’ game preserve.  Maybe that’s why there are no pictures:  wildlife photographers don’t bother . . .

Anyway, here’s the write-up:

Most of the Pratt Sandhills Wildlife area is sandhill prairie with moderate to steep dune topography. There are also several miles of multi-row shelterbelts throughout the area, as well as windmills, solar wells, and hydrants that provide water for wildlife.

Enough about nature, now about hunting . . .

Upland game birds are the most commonly hunted species here. In addition to quail and pheasant, the area is a popular destination for dove, deer, and turkey hunters. Rabbits and coyotes can also be found in huntable numbers. Hunting pressure on the opening weekend of quail and pheasant and during firearms deer season may be heavy, but after the first several weekends, the crowds decrease. In January, it is possible for a hunter to spend all day walking the sandhills and never encounter another person.

Township roads in the area are loose sand, so good judgment must be used to avoid getting stuck. Vehicle traffic is prohibited within the wildlife area, so a walk of up to two miles may be necessary to reach some of the more remote spots.

How about the little towns, you may be wondering.  Well, I’ve Googled every one of them, looking for interesting tidbits and/or photos.  You know what I found?  Nada!!  So, I’ll have to go a little further a field, so here’s a slightly expanded landing map:

You’ll see that I landed northeast of the town of Greensburg (about 20 miles away).  Sound familiar?  That’s the town that was totally wiped out by a monster tornado in 2007.  From Wiki:

At 9:45 p.m. CDT on May 4, 2007, Greensburg was hit by an EF5 tornado. The tornado was estimated to be 1.7 miles in width and traveled for nearly 22 miles. Ninety-five percent of the city was confirmed to be destroyed, with the other five percent being severely damaged. The National Weather Service estimated winds of the tornado to reach 205 mph.

This was the first tornado to be rated EF5 since the update of the Fujita scale.  Tornado sirens sounded in the city twenty minutes before the tornado struck, and a tornado emergency was issued, which undoubtedly saved many lives (although 11 were killed).

Here are a couple of pictures:

I found some more pictures, and was in the process of copying a few of them, when I saw this notice at the bottom of the website:

All Tornado Damage stock photos are copyrighted and protected under United States and International copyright laws. These video stills may not be reproduced in any form, downloaded, stored, or manipulated   without prior permission from © Ultimate Chase, Inc.

I don’t get it.  You put your photos on the internet, where anyone can download them, and then you get all weird and put in nasty language like this.  What damage would be done if I downloaded a few to share (especially considering that I’d reference the website, and, of course, I get zero financial gains from doing this).  Just for cheap spite, I don’t recommend that you go to Ultimate Chase website . . .

Moving right along – perhaps you’ve heard that Greensburg is “going green.”  Ironic, isn’t it that a town named Greensburg has the chance to start from scratch as a “green” burg?   From Wiki:

After the tornado, the city council passed a resolution stating that all city building would be built to LEED – platinum standards, making it the first city in the nation to do so. Greensburg is rebuilding as a “green” town, with the help of Greensburg GreenTown, a non-profit organization created to help the residents learn about and implement the green living initiative. As part of going green, the city’s power will be supplied by ten 1.25 MW wind-turbines.

What is LEED, you may ask.  From Wiki:

The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System, developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), provides a suite of standards for environmentally sustainable construction. Since its inception in 1998, LEED has grown to encompass more than 14,000 projects in the United States and 30 countries.

For those of you who are just dying to know how Iuka got it’s name:  all I could find out is that there’s an Iuka MS named after a Chickasaw Indian chief.  So, my best guess is that someone from Iuka MS wandered west and founded Iuka KS.  Anyway, I’ll close with this shot of a grain elevator in Iuka:

That’ll do it.

KS

Greg

© 2009 A Landing A Day

Last night, I “discovered” Planet Green, a channel on cable that is put together by Discovery.  I’m pretty impressed.  It has been up and running since June of last year.  I watched a program on the Solar Decathalon from 2007 – universities building green homes in a competition every other year in Washington, D.C.  There were some really cool designs – I wish they would have spread this one out a bit more or would follow up examining some of the technologies/plans the schools presented.

Then I watched a program on Greensburg, KS, the town that was literally wiped off the face of the Earth in May, 2007.  I was hoping for more about the green features the town is planning (i.e. Platinum LEED for every city building), and at the end I figured out why the show seemed to be moving too slowly to do so in an hour: it’s part of a series, which isn’t a bad idea.  The bad news is, I’ll have to spend some time trying to figure out when the next episode is going to air.

This morning, as I was getting ready for work, the channel had a program on about green roofs in Chicago, IL.  They did a very good job presenting the advantages of green roofs: lower energy costs, lower building temperatures, improved water handling in an urban setting, etc.  So far, I enjoy the programming on this station.  It’s too bad it’s on the higher reaches of cable (200’s of my programming) – more people would really benefit from its lineup.

In May of 2007 the town of Greensburg, Ks. was virtually wiped out when a tornado destroyed 95% of the town and killed eleven people.  The next morning the people of Greensburg realized their town would have to be almost totally rebuilt.

Faced with this daunting task, it would have been easy for the people of this town (pop. 1,574 at the 2000 census) to have taken the path of getting as many homes and businesses rebuilt as quickly as possible.  Instead, they saw a way to turn tragedy into opportunity and made the courageous decision to rebuild the town as a “green” town.  Not only would everything have to be rebuilt, but they would have to learn new construction methods, new architecture, new building materials… this was much more daunting than just rebuilding with regular construction methods.  It would take more time and, in some cases, more money upfront.  Further, a resolution was passed that all city buildings would be built to LEED Platinum standards (LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, and Platinum is their highest rating).

If you would like to follow the progress of Greensburg in these efforts, find the Planet Green channel on your cable system (mine was called DHOME, yours may be called something else) and look for the show simply called Greensburg.  The actor and environmental activist Leonardo DiCaprio is the executive producer.

http://planetgreen.discovery.com/tv/greensburg/

If an entire town in Tornado Alley has the courage to rebuild itself in an environmentally sustainable way after such a tragedy, there should be no excuse for the rest of us not to do what we can to be green in our own homes.

Larry Schwarm