Nebraskaland

48 Nebraskaland • August-September 2019 Coming Back to Shadow By Gerry Steinauer, Botanist, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission had a most interesting job shadow last summer: a young woman, whom I have known her whole life, traveled halfway around the world to get here. Aurora Bischof is the daughter of my dear friends Richard and Vilma. I fi rst met the Bischofs in 1998 when Richard worked as a wildlife biologist for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. In 2004, when Aurora was 5, the Bischofs moved to Guam and then in 2006 to Ås, Norway, where Richard is now a professor and Vilma a guidance counselor at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. The job shadow was Aurora's fi rst trip back to Nebraska. During her fi ve-week stay, Aurora traveled the state with me from the oak-wooded Missouri River bluff s to our western pine escarpments. She met biologists ranging from ornithologists to woodland ecologists to entomologists and saw how they worked to conserve nature. In the end, the job shadow proved useful, confi rming her desire to study ecology. The Job Shadow Begins Fresh from high school graduation, Aurora arrived at Omaha on a Saturday evening in mid-June travel-worn and tired. The following day would provide little rest as we rushed to prepare for a plant identifi cation course I was teaching starting the next day in Holdrege. Aurora would participate in this advanced course for biologists, which covered the diffi cult grass, sedge and rush families. It would be challenging, but what better way to test a young student's mettle than by learning plant taxonomy? For a week she listened to lectures, used a microscope to key out plants, and botanized with the class in nearby prairies and marshes. It was soon obvious she had an eye for detail and a knack for botany. To her embarrassment, she did so well keying out plants that to the class I sometimes referred to her as the "Norwegian sedge- keying champion." Norway, as you might know, is a sedge-rich land. Next up, we traveled to Scottsbluff for a one-day pollinator workshop for conservationists held at the Wildcat Hills Nature Center. In the morning there were discussions on prairie restoration methods, design of seed mixes and the habitat needs of pollinators. During the afternoon plant identifi cation hike, Aurora actively sought and photographed insects and wildfl owers, always asking me their names. Though present at an early age, it was evident to me that her passion for nature, a prerequisite of all good biologists, had advanced to a new level. Fun and Games For a well-deserved break, we traveled to our South Dakota farm for a long Fourth of July weekend. On the trip up, we pondered 12 million- I 48 Nebraskaland • August-September 2019 Aurora biologist rush fam way to plant ta For a to key prairie for det she d some keyin sedge Ne polli Wild disc of s Dur Au an Th th bi S w PHOTO BY RICHARD BISCHOF Exploring in the mountains of Norway, Aurora's interest in nature was evident from an early age.

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