Steve Pollick

Something’s awry in the prairie patch in my area of Ohio — Froggy Bottom — and a lot of other prairies this summer, and it’s not the plants. Butterflies are missing in action and that is a wildlife concern.
Prairies are in full flower now – it’s high season. But in many areas, butterflies have been showing up to “nectar” on choice plantings only sparsely, this when prairies should be alive with all manner of them.

Gov. Mike DeWine quickly is approaching fish-or-cut-bait time for his well-known signature conservation program, H2Ohio.
Term-limited, he faces a veto-proof supermajority of unenthused fellow Republicans in the state legislature, who last time around slashed the two-year budget for H2Ohio by 39%, from $270 million to just $165 million. Lawmakers apparently thought H2Ohio was not spending its money quickly enough so they diverted $105 million to other projects.