May 12th, 2026

I'm looking at The Prairie Enthusiasts website, theprairieenthusiasts.org and finding a wealth of stories, information, identification help, management tips and techniques, and have picked 2 to read, one about the timber rattlesnake by Brian Bielema, and the other about the carrot family host plants of the black swallowtailed butterfly, among that family is the problematic plant the wild parsnip. Should we worry when we try to get rid of the parsnip? We hear Dan Carter, the TPE Ecologist's,  response to this question.  From Bielema's article, "One surprising benefit rattlesnakes provide humans is that eating their main food species, white-footed mice, reduces Lyme disease. Up to 90% of white-footed mice carry the Lyme bacteria, and tick larvae and nymphs become infected by biting the mice. If the mouse is consumed, both the disease carrier and its tick load is eliminated. It’s estimated a single rattlesnake may consume more than 1,000 ticks annually, thus reducing Lyme disease in rattlesnake inhabited areas."