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The Tulsa Beacon

 

Kelly Bostian

Oklahoma Ecology Project

Kelly Bostian is an independent writer working for The Conservation Coalition of Oklahoma Foundation, a 501c3 non-profit dedicated to education and outreach on conservation issues facing Oklahomans.

Stitt signs bill simplifying, increasing hunting, fishing license fees

Tulsa Beacon

Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a bill Tuesday raising the cost of most hunting and fishing licenses for the first time since 2003. Hunters and anglers lobbied for the bill despite the price increases. Senate Bill 941, by Sen. David Bullard, R-Durant, and Rep. Ty Burns, R-Watchorn, shot through the legislative process and bucked a five-year…

No wrong season for planting native wildflowers

Tulsa Beacon

Native seeds might be just the thing for those who are too busy to plant a garden on a schedule and don’t have a sprinkler system on a timer–or who didn’t have the money to buy dozens of potted plants this spring. Like anything that grows, they can be fussy, but plants designed by Nature…

Are you a good snake or a bad snake?

Tulsa Beacon

When Dorothy met Glinda in the Land of Oz the question was easy, “Are you a good witch, or a bad witch?” The inquiry is not so easy when Bubba meets a big snake along the creek bank Bubba might just scream like his little sister. Early summer months are snake time in Oklahoma and…

Boosting OK native plants

Tulsa Beacon

April showers or not, Oklahomans expect to have flowers in May, but it’s not petunias and pansies they want this spring. These days Okies want native flowers and plants, but supply is not keeping up with demand. “It’s been crazy,” said Marilyn Stewart owner of Wild Things Nursery. Based near Seminole, her operation packs up…

April is when hummingbirds arrive in Oklahoma

Tulsa Beacon

The hummers have arrived and, for the record, they made it without the help of geese. Favorites of every homeowner with a backyard of flowers or a porch with a red-accented sugar-water-filled feeder, ruby-throated and black-chinned hummingbirds are returning to Oklahoma. Likely, strong southerly winds have helped them along as numbers of first-sighting reports started…

Migration time for Endangered Monarchs

Tulsa Beacon

Some very hungry monarch caterpillars may be struggling to find a bite in Oklahoma these days. The big, iconic orange and black butterflies listed under the federal Endangered Species Act as “warranted but precluded at this time by higher priority listing actions” and recently listed as endangered on The International Union for Conservation of Nature’s…

The Great Backyard Bird Count begins this weekend

Tulsa Beacon

The top Oklahoma birder listed in last year’s Great Backyard Bird Count spotted 95 different species in a single weekend, and he achieved that rank without trying. “Wish I could help, but to be honest, I’m not even sure how the GBBC works,” Brian Marra responded to an email interview request. “Even if I could…

Two bills take aim at invasive cedars

Tulsa Beacon

Legislators who told the Oklahoma Governor’s Water Conference in December they would tackle invasive cedar trees as a serious water quality issue have introduced two bills. SB 454, by Sen. Casey Murdock, R-Felt, calls for all state land management agencies to tackle the invasive trees on lands that they own or manage within five years….

An Osage County tom struts on a wooded hilltop

Officials search for a cause of decline of wild turkeys

Tulsa Beacon

Predation, habitat loss, and bad weather all are suspects in the decline of Oklahoma’s wild turkeys, but the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation is looking inward as well—at turkey DNA. The state’s first late-start hunting season, with a reduced bag limit, ended May 16 with about 100 DNA samples among the harvest. They will go…

Oklahoma Game Warden Jeremy Brothers approaches the injured whooping crane that later died due to its injuries

The shooting of four whooping cranes­ is the 1st in OK

Tulsa Beacon

The recent shooting of four rare whooping cranes in Oklahoma is unprecedented and will come with consequences, officials say. “It’s unprecedented because it’s a first for Oklahoma and more cranes were killed in this shooting than in any other single incident,” said Elizabeth Smith, North America program director for the International Crane Foundation. The Crane…