KU NEWS SERVICE

LAWRENCE – Sunflower. Meadowlark. Ad astra per aspera. Most Kansans are familiar with the state’s official symbols and motto. But as the summer road trip season kicks into high gear, a new resource from the Kansas Geological Survey invites travelers to dig deeper.

The mobile-friendly “Highways & Byways to Kansas Geology” website leads users on a geological tour of the state’s roadways with a scrolling format known as a story map. It explores what natural features like rock formations, wetlands and colorfully layered roadcuts reveal about the evolution of the ground beneath our feet and the cultural history of the people who settled and passed through the state.

“We were looking for a visual way to showcase the state’s wide-ranging geology and natural resources,” said Cathy Evans, KGS communications coordinator. “By creating a story map, we were able to roll colorful images, maps and narrative text into one dynamic presentation that has the added bonus of being free to anyone with computer access.”

Many travelers have only experienced Kansas as a 75-mph blur while zipping down Interstate 70. What they might not realize is that as they cross the 424-mile route from the state’s eastern to western border, they are traveling forward in time. Rocks that contain 300 million-year-old marine fossils steadily give way to younger layers, ending near a high plains archaeological site where fossils of 13,000-year-old mammoths, camels and bison have been discovered near the surface.

“In between are the limestone and shale layers in the Flint Hills that developed from sediment deposited in intermittent seas about 250 million years ago,” Evans said, “and sandstone in the Smoky Hills formed from sand dumped by rivers draining into a later sea about 66 million years ago.”

Highways & Byways provides images, illustrations and mile marker references to help travelers identify these features.

For those who venture beyond I-70, more unusual sights await – like the Red Hills that flank U.S. Highway 160 in south-central Kansas. The region’s distinctive, rust-colored mesas, buttes and canyons are more commonly seen in the American Southwest.

Fort Larned National Historic Site on Kansas Highway 156 in west-central Kansas and Point of Rocks – accessible by an unpaved road off Highway 27 in extreme southwest Kansas – are 180 miles apart but linked together by Santa Fe Trail history.

“All the buildings at the fort – which served as an outpost on the Santa Fe Trail – are built from local sandstone, and the view of the surrounding plains is still unobstructed,” Evans said. “Point of Rocks – now appreciated for the expansive view it provides – was once a life-saving landmark towering over the Cimarron River and nearby springs. It signaled the first water source that trail travelers would encounter in more than 100 miles on their 15-mile-per-day journey.”

Undergirding the Highways & Byways website is the geospatial data collection, mapping and visualization expertise of specialists in KGS’s Geographic Information Systems (GIS) section. GIS staff host the Kansas Data Access and Support Center, the state’s official clearinghouse for geospatial data ranging from geologic to environmental to demographic.

Funneling that technical expertise into authoritative maps and infographics and combining those with text, images and video for presentations like Highways & Byways is just one way that KGS fulfills its state-mandated mission to foster a better understanding of the geology and natural resources of Kansas.

“Although collection and dissemination methods have changed drastically since the KGS was established in 1889, we continue to produce a wide variety of publications and maps – both technical and educational – for the scientific community, natural resource decision-makers, businesses and the public,” said Rolfe Mandel, director of the KGS. “Story maps are an innovative means of bringing attention to the state’s sights and natural resources.”

Highways & Byways complements two other KGS online resources designed for exploration and education:

• GeoKansas, a website that provides more detailed information about the places featured in Highways & Byways and additional locations.
• The KGS Photo Library, an image collection that users can search by county and keyword to see what they can expect to find while exploring the state.

Evans hopes Highways & Byways will spark curiosity and inspire travelers to experience Kansas in new ways.

“I always find scenic surprises driving backroads or even just by pulling off the interstate,” she said. “Photos I took at the Deep Creek exit on I-70 gave me a whole new perspective of a roadcut I’d driven by hundreds of times – and I actually saw the creek, not just its name on a sign.”

The Kansas Geological Survey is a research and service division of the University of Kansas. Its main headquarters is in Lawrence, and its Wichita office houses the KGS Well Sample Library.

KU NEWS SERVICE

LAWRENCE – Growing up on a farm and carrying on a family tradition is one thing. Taking on the trials of farming from scratch? That’s quite another.

The environmental and societal concerns that drive some 21st-century farm families away from cities and even divide them from their conventional-farming neighbors are the focus of the new book “New Farmers 2014/2018” (P&T Committee, 2019) created by a cross-disciplinary team of University of Kansas scholars.

The project had its genesis when Paul Stock, associate professor in the Department of Sociology and the Environmental Studies Program, met Bryon Darby, former KU assistant professor of photo media and now a lecturer in photography at Utah State University, a couple of years ago at a teaching seminar organized by KU’s Center for Sustainability.

Along the way, they were joined by Tim Hossler, associate professor of design, as designer.

Stock had just come to KU after spending years in New Zealand, studying how that South Pacific nation “went from being primarily a sheep-farming country to becoming the world’s largest dairy exporter.”

“I was working on a global scale, and I wanted to do something a little different, having just moved to Kansas and back to the Midwest,” Stock said. “I was interested in studying people that were getting into farming. Farming is hard. It’s hard to stay in; it’s hard to make money. Everything about it is hard. So what is going on with these people that are actively trying to get into it?”

Stock recalled Darby saying, “I’m really interested in photographing these new farmers, people who are at the farmers’ market. And I thought: That’s what I want to do.”

They launched the project that resulted first in gallery exhibitions and ultimately in “New Farmers 2014/2018.”

Darby and Stock set out first to interview and photograph Amy Saunders of Amy’s Meats north of Lawrence.

Stock credits Darby’s method of working for helping the subjects to open up about their feelings.

“Bryon set most of these up, and he’s like, ‘Can I come photograph you? And Paul’s going to come along, and we’re going to have a talk.’ He’s using this old-style view camera, with the cloth hood over his head and the whole deal. But the real gift of it to doing research is that it takes time. People have to stay real still … which lends itself really well to interviewing. With this way of shooting, they had to relax and be vulnerable.”

Stock and Darby branched out from there to other farmers’ market purveyors and beyond across eastern Kansas.

“It wasn’t just young farmers, and it wasn’t just brand new, because some of the people that were depicted in the book started farming 30 years ago, but they’re still mentoring people,” Stock said. “We asked them about their story of becoming a farmer. What was it that brought about that change in their identity?”

More than one farm family, Stock said, had come to agriculture from teaching.

“It’s not that radical a shift when you hear them talk about it, because it’s all about care and giving,” Stock said.

“New Farmers” is sort of a misnomer, Stock said, in that these farmers, even if not all are certified organic, are at least engaged in less technologically intense methods of raising food than a typical Midwestern row-crop farm with thousands of acres.

“They’re doing stuff that people around the world have been doing for thousands upon thousands of years,” Stock said. “The people we’ve spoken to are asking, ‘How do I live a good life? How do I live my best life with my family, with friends involved, with the community I care about?’ It’s hard. And we’re not going to make much money. But we’re going to be pretty happy and fulfilled.”

The “New Farmers” are not out trying to convert the world to their ways of thinking, living or agriculture, Stock writes in the book. They just want to be left alone to do things their own way. In this age of disputes over carcinogenic pesticides and right-to-repair-equipment laws, that may be harder than it seems at first blush.

Hossler said the combination of text and images he chose for the book “reflects a design history most notable from the Great Depression era, including photographers Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans, who worked closely with their writing collaborators. They are key examples of the book’s inspiration because of the specific combinations of text and imagery as well as the portrayal of farmers. The look of the book reflects those interests and the collaborative spirit of the project.”

Stock and Hossler said The Commons, a partnership among KU’s Biodiversity Institute, Hall Center for the Humanities and Spencer Museum of Art, and its director, Emily Ryan, played important roles in the evolution of the “New Farmers” project, including early research funding, gallery space and support for the book.

Hossler said many of the design choices reflected in the book were made when “New Farmers” started as a gallery exhibition. It returns to its exhibition form July 9-Aug. 11 for a display at the Lenexa City Hall Art Gallery.

“New Farmers 2014/2018” was recently named among the 50 best books and 50 best book covers of the year by Design Observer and AIGA, the professional association for design.

 

KDWPT

PRATT – Kansas Wildlife, Parks and Tourism (KWPT) Commissioners met on June 13 at the Rolling Hills Zoo in Salina to conduct their 5th public meeting of the year. There, Commissioners voted on and approved deer season dates for select military installations, and the statewide antelope season.

Passing 7-0, Commissioners approved deer season dates for the following military installations:

Fort Riley

• Youth and hunters with disabilities – Oct. 12-14, 2019
• Firearm ­­– Nov. 29-Dec. 1, 2019 and Dec. 14-22, 2019
• Archery ­– Sept. 1-15, 2019 and Jan. 4-31, 2020

Fort Leavenworth

• Firearm ­– Nov. 16-17, 2019; Nov. 21-24, 2019; Nov. 30-Dec. 1, 2019; Dec. 7-8, 2019; and Dec. 14-15, 2019.
• Extended Firearm – Jan. 1-12, 2020
• Extended Archery – Jan. 13-31, 2020

Smokey Hill Air National Guard Subunit

• Firearm – Nov. 26-Dec. 7, 2019

Commissioners also approved 2019 statewide antelope seasons as follows:

• Archery – Sept. 21-29, 2019 and Oct. 12-31, 2019
• Firearm – Oct. 4-7, 2019
• Muzzleloader-only – Sept. 30-Oct. 7, 2019

The next KWPT Commission meeting is scheduled for Thursday, August 15, 2019 at the University of Kansas Edwards Campus – Best Conference Center, 12600 Quivira Road in Overland Park.

For more information about the Commission, visit ksoutdoors.com/KDWPT-Info/Commission.

KDA

MANHATTAN — Farmers who planted cover crops on prevented plant acres will be permitted to hay, graze or chop those fields earlier than November this year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced June 20.

USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) adjusted the 2019 final haying and grazing date from November 1 to September 1 to help farmers who were prevented from planting because of flooding and excess rainfall this spring.

“I thank USDA for recognizing the impact the flooding and excess rainfall have had on farmers this spring,” said Kansas Secretary of Agriculture Mike Beam. “This adjustment will provide a new opportunity for some producers who are seeking alternatives in response to prevented planting because of excess moisture.”

RMA has also determined that silage, haylage and baleage should be treated in the same manner as haying and grazing this year. Producers can hay, graze or cut cover crops for silage, haylage or baleage on prevented plant acres on or after September 1 and still maintain eligibility for their full 2019 prevented planting indemnity.

“We made this one-year adjustment to help farmers with the tough decisions they are facing this year,” said Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation Bill Northey. “This change will make good stewardship of the land easier to accomplish while also providing an opportunity to ensure quality forage is available for livestock this fall.”

Other USDA Programs
Other USDA agencies are also assisting producers with delayed or prevented planting. USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) is extending the deadline to report prevented plant acres in select counties, and USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is holding special sign-ups for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program in certain states to help with planting cover crops on impacted lands. Contact your local FSA and NRCS offices to learn more.

Resources
USDA Risk Management Agency: www.rma.usda.gov
USDA Farm Service Agency: www.fsa.usda.gov
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service: www.nrcs.usda.gov