- Look at us now, Prime time, baby.

- That's right, we're on Prime time.

We have some prime stories on "You Gotta See This."

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - Talk about things you're gonna wanna see.

We'll take you to some places in central Illinois that just turn gorgeous when the leaves start to change.

- Oh, it's my favorite time of year.

But we also wanna visit with people who are very interesting.

We'll visit a local man who builds musical instruments out of fishing gear and he plays them.

He plays them amazing.

We can't wait.

- I can't wait to see that.

We also have a couple of really interesting animal tales.

One involves a local professor, a new species of snake, the country of Peru and Indiana Jones.

It's quite a story.

- First, though, buffalo.

Ken Burns is doing a new documentary for PBS called "The American Buffalo" that starts this month, so naturally we headed out to Wildlife Prairie Park.

- To visit the bison?

- Mm-hmm.

- Did you ride the bison?

- Well, I guess you're gonna have to find out.

Check it out.

(wind blowing) For thousands of generations, bison have evolved alongside indigenous people, who revered and relied on them for food and shelter.

It's estimated that in the early 1800s, there were 30 million bison grazing across North America, until they were hunted to near extinction.

That's just part of the story that PBS documentarian Ken Burns is exploring in his two-part series, "The American Buffalo," on WTVP.

So we decided to head out to Wildlife Prairie Park to learn about buffalo up close and personal.

First thing's first, let's straighten this out.

Is it buffalo or is it bison?

The American settlers said buffalo.

- [Anna] They kind of looked like buffalo that were in other countries, and so they kind of called 'em buffalo and it kind of stuck, but the species are different.

So the American bison is only in North America and a big difference is in their horns, once again, is theirs are completely separate and come off the sides.

But like the African Cape Buffalo, they join on the top.

And that's just the thing is they're just different species, really.

But buffalo is a common term for them, because it just kind of stuck from when settlers came over.

- [Julie] You can visit these 53 majestic bison roaming the fields of Wildlife Prairie Park, and 19 of those hoofed creatures are babies.

Which brings us to our first fun fact.

Newborn bison have a nickname.

- [Anna] They have a nickname, red dogs sometimes because they're more of an orangeish color.

But they're born that color, and I believe it's because other predators out in the wild like wolves and stuff can't see that color as well when it's mixed in with the grass.

To us it's a really obvious color, it's bright orange, makes 'em easier to count.

But I think that's because wolves, they can't see it as well.

And they lose that color around four months of age, so we can kind of gauge how old they are based off of that.

- [Julie] And at the average weight of 35 pounds that's quite a delivery for mom and babies who form a tight bond right away.

- The babies will wander off and the moms will stand there and call 'em like, Get back over here!"

Or sometimes the babies, they seem like they're lost so they're calling out to the mom.

Sometimes you'll see a couple babies around one mom like she's babysitting for a little bit but they're all pretty good moms.

They nurse their babies all the time and take pretty good care of 'em.

Protect them when they need to.

- Yeah, sometimes they get pretty protective when we're out here too.

So we know if there's a pretty new baby out here a few days old or a week even the mom kind of stays a bit further away from the herd.

And so we know, "Ah, she'll come up for grain if she wants," but we try not to get too close because they can get protective.

And it's a little scary when they're like that.

They're big animals.

- [Julie] They are big animals and they can run very fast up to 35 miles per hour in short bursts.

But that's not the most surprising thing about bison.

Fun fact number two is that bison can jump up to six feet in the air.

- Yeah, it's not necessarily like, I'm gonna jump over this like tree branch or fence or anything.

It's when they start to get running, they kind of jump straight up and down and they get really excited.

- Yeah.

- They get pretty high when they do it.

- And it's really funny.

We've seen the big bulls jumping around on all four legs just hopping.

- They like boing, boing - And you wouldn't think, I think for other species of hoof sock, it's called sproking like for antelope and stuff where they just boing, boing.

It's not quite as graceful for these guys.

- It's pretty fun to watch.

- It's kind of amazing that something that weighs like 1500 pounds can just be bouncing around out there.

- [Julie] Last fun fact about North America's largest mammal they don't have antlers, they have horns.

Both males and females have these horns and if they fall off they're outta luck because they won't grow back.

- [Anna] You'll see some of our bison have like a shorter horn on one side and longer one on the other side.

That's because if you see a bison skull they have two kind of smaller protrusions but the horns actually grow out on top of that.

It's like a sheath on top of that bone.

If they knock it off, they can't regrow it and it is actually hollow on the inside.

So that's why a lot of settlers kinda use them to carry stuff.

- [Julies] You certainly can't see these creatures grazing in our neighborhoods these days.

That's why places like Wildlife Prairie Park are trying to preserve these beautiful animals.

And Ken Burns has created this remarkable documentary to share with us all.

- I think the film is really a kind of mirror to us about who we are.

Who do we wish to be?

Do we wish to be the savers or do we wish to be the destroyers?

I'm really thrilled to be able to tell as complex and as tragic, and I have to say as inspirational as this story is.

(soft music) (buffalo grunting) (strings whirring) - Gotta see this.

(strings whirring) Gotta see this.

(strings whirring) Only on PBS.

(strings whirring) - [Julie] This is the story of a Mackinac man, a few recycled household items and his music.

This is the story of Stumpy Joe.

- I travel around and play this.

It makes people smile.

It just takes 'em by such surprise and it just blows their mind how this thing sounds and plays.

Same with these things.

They're just, and instantly they're laughing and smiling.

And I thought if I got something that could make people laugh and smile then I should be all right.

So I'm not gonna worry about money I'm not gonna worry about that.

I'm just gonna focus on making people smile and laugh and man, what a change my life has taken.

- [Julie] Music has always been a part of his life.

But four years ago, Stumpy Joe, as his friends like to call him, quit his day job as an iron worker cashed in his pension and started following his passion.

(bright music) - And I'd like you to meet Farney.

Right here, my one string washtub base.

My best friend here, my best friend forever.

We've been traveling around for 18 years now.

- [Julie] But Farney, the washtub base is sometimes a little big to take everywhere.

So he got creative.

Stumpy Joe walked out into his workshop in bare feet, of course and took a 30 inch boat paddle and crafted it into a one string bass guitar.

Known now as the Stumpy bass.

(strings vibrating) A fellow guitar inventor encouraged him to take his musical creation and sell it at NAMM, the National Association of Music Merchants Trade Show in California.

It's one of the biggest shows in the music industry.

- This was the original one I took out the the NAMM Show.

I drew that on with the Sharpie.

It came up with a idea and threw that on there.

And I thought, "Man, I'm gonna get laughed out of this place.

This is the biggest trade show with the best guitars the most amazing cutting edge technology stuff in music."

And it turned out it wasn't like that at all.

People loved it.

Everybody who saw it laughed and smiled, and thought that was the coolest thing ever.

- [Julie] From there, he came back to his shop and started production and he also started his new company called "Five Pound Base" named after a Robert Earl King song, "Five pound Bass."

♪ Ready here I come you five pound bass ♪ From simple designs to complicated custom orders, Stumpy creates them all by hand.

- The custom ones, you know, I strip them down and start from scratch.

And it's more of a creative process and people always ask for different things on there.

It's hard to believe all the different things.

I can put a picture on it, any color.

Probably the most popular ones is the old ones.

Everybody wants one that looks old, even like I'll take the new one and make it look old.

This one I just made 'cause I was going to Florida and so I like to take a nautical theme down.

- [Julie] Not only do these handmade instruments look beautiful, they sound amazing too.

(string whirring) But it is a little different than your traditional guitar.

- Well, the biggest difference obviously, is it's only got one string on it, and that's what throws most four string players for a loop.

You're just playing patterns on a fret board.

And then with this, you actually have to know what note you're hitting.

- Okay.

- So this one I simplified it.

- You can see this one's got the, actually has the frets put right on there.

So you could play this yourself if you wanna play a G. (string vibrates) There's a G. (string whirring) - [Julie] It takes some getting used to but you don't have to be an expert to play.

- Just hold it.

Yeah, just hold the string down.

- Okay.

- Just like that.

- And then I?

(string whirring) (Joe chuckling) Well, maybe not everybody can play it but it is the music that keeps driving Stumpy to create.

(bright music) - And when I was out there at the NAMM show, it makes you realize how important music is to people.

You know how big that show is.

It really makes you think that music is so vital to human beings.

It's part of our DNA and it's just as important as air and water, really.

You have to have it.

We wouldn't survive without it.

- [Julie] Joe travels around the country with Farney the washtub base at his side and creates Stumpy bases to keep the smile on his customers' faces.

(string whirring) - You wanna sing along?

♪ Can't touch this (Julie laughing) (string whirring) If I can do that, if I can play music the rest of my life and break even, I'll be a rich man.

That makes me a very rich man.

(blues music) - [Mark] The Country Club of Peoria is nestled in one of the most beautiful areas of Illinois.

The 100 acre golf course and surrounding woods are home to many varieties of plants, animals, and insects.

When the club was founded in 1897, there probably weren't as many environmental concerns as there are today.

Some groups like Audubon International argue golf courses can destroy wildlife habitats, waste water and pollute water.

I talked with Country Club of Peoria superintendent Jeff Kerr about how his crew keeps the course in tiptop shape while still being environmental stewards.

When it comes to fertilizer he says they use as little as possible.

- You really don't want that grass to be growing that much, to be honest because it's harder to get a golf ball out of it.

It means we have to mow more.

That's a constant cycle as well which is where the trickle feeding of the the products that you need just a little at a time is a great way to not have it all go down the toilet.

The short grass areas we just trickle feed every couple of weeks and 'cause we spray it it's a minute amount of nitrogen and we are starting to use a lot more natural products as well.

There's kelp additives, things like that which are turning out to be really good.

- [Mark] Kerr says there's no benefit in being chemically aggressive including from a budget standpoint.

When it comes to pesticides or herbicides, those are used sparingly as well.

- And we do use a product that's coated with Asalaprin which controls grass grubs and not a whole lot else, to be honest.

Most other bugs are pretty beneficial in the soil, including worms which help aerate the soil.

Obviously we get a lot of cart traffic out here.

- [Mark] Not only do those pesky grubs chew on grassroots like you see here, raccoons and moles will dig into the greens and fairways to eat the grubs.

But other animals are welcome around the course.

- There's about four hawks that live out here.

They take care of the squirrels, which eat the nuts.

It's a nice little ecological system going on.

- [Mark] Coyotes, deer and other animals take advantage of the natural recycling area.

- We call it a dump but it's not really a dump, it's just organic waste.

So we do take care of the dead and dying trees on course ourselves.

So a lot of the firewood will go to members or members' families.

The deer hang out in the shade and then they have full access to and through to Grandview Drive and the river all the way through the golf course.

They can just cross the road and down the hill in there.

They're at the water's edge.

- [Mark] Water management is another important part of the process.

The country club uses 13 to 18 million gallons of water a year, which Kerr says is average for most courses except for those in the desert southwest that can each use a million gallons a day.

The country club relies on mother nature as much as possible but also has a computerized irrigation system that can water specific spots in order not to waste water.

- We collected a whole lot of water off all the houses around the area, so this will actually turn into a river and go right past our workshop, go through the whole golf course down to the creek.

During that time we're catching an awful lot of that either in the ground or we do have lots of drain systems in here.

- [Mark] Organizations like Autobahn are working with thousands of golf courses to help the environment in ways the country club of Peoria is already doing like planting native tall grass and milkweed that attract butterflies and hummingbirds.

- Any area that we can leave unmown and untouched is just a really good habitat for whatever critter wants to live in there.

(gentle music) (dramatic music) (chopper whirring) - [Phil] This is an unlikely tale of two college professors.

You might be familiar with this one, Dr. Henry Walton Jones Jr. Also known by his nickname Indiana Jones.

And there's Dr. Edgar Lehr who has no swashbuckling nickname.

Jones is a professor of archeology at the fictional Marshall College.

Lehr is a professor of biology at the very real Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington.

One like snakes, the other does not.

(snake hissing) - Snakes, why did it have to be snakes?

- [Phil] Yet the worlds of these two professors collided recently.

Dr. Lehr, a swashbuckler in his own right, went to South America and helped discover a new species of snake.

He named the species after Dr. Jones, or more accurately the actor who portrays Indiana Jones, Harrison Ford, an animal rights advocate.

- Indiana Jones hates snakes, but Harrison Ford, he's an advocate for conservation.

- [Phil] Lehr teaches biology and herpetology at Illinois Wesleyan, a private school with 1500 students in Bloomington.

In his native Germany, by age five, he'd already found his life's mission.

- I grew up being exposed to nature looking for animals, taking photos, collecting beetles.

So I was fascinated for discovering something and appreciating the colors, the beauty of nature.

And I knew when I was five years old I wanted to become a biologist.

- [Phil] In 1997, he started making regular trips to far flung areas of Peru.

The more remote, the better.

- And we identify areas where nobody has been.

So I want to go to places where nobody's been to explore them, to see what lives there.

What kind of amphibian species, what reptile species are there?

- [Phil] A favorite spot is Otishi National Park.

More than 10,000 feet above sea level and accessible only by helicopter.

(helicopter whooshing) In such a remote area, he always travels with an expedition team.

- Researchers have disappeared.

Yeah, as you want to make sure accidents can happen that are the nature's unpredictable.

So you want to have colleagues that are doing the same work like you do.

- [Phil] In Peru, over the years, Lehr has contributed to the discovery of more than 100 new amphibians and reptiles.

He attributes his finds to a keen eye and persistence.

- The size often it's the coloration of combination of both.

And when you are in an area that is so remote and so isolated then you can practically say everything is potentially new because it's not connected with other species.

- [Phil] On his most recent trip, Lehr was near a colleague looking through a swampy area.

- And then suddenly he jumped and waving his hands and he was holding a snake in his hands.

It was a positive surprise.

- [Phil] The slender snake measures 16 inches long.

It is pale, yellowish brown with scattered black blotches, a black belly and copper colored eye.

It eats lizards, frogs and other small animals, but not people.

- It's not dangerous for humans, it has rear fangs so it will kind of give some venom to lizards or frogs.

But for humans it's not dangerous, not aggressive at all.

- [Phil] Naming new animal species is important as part of the process of identifying and protecting them Lehr says.

In seeking a name for the snake Lehr thought of the famous snake scene by Indiana Jones in "Raiders of the Lost Ark."

- And I thought this would be a fun part to name the snake with the purpose, of course to honor Harrison Ford, but also to create awareness.

- [Phil] Lehr gave the snake the Latin name, Tachymenoides harrisonfordi which translates to Harrison Ford's slender snake.

What did the actor think?

Ford, who already had inspired the name of an at and a spider joked to the Hollywood Reporter about his snake honor.

He said, "These scientists keep naming critters after me but it's always the ones that terrify children.

I don't understand."

All kidding aside, the animal conservationist said, "In all seriousness, this discovery is humbling.

It's a reminder that there's still so much to learn about our wild world and that humans are only one small part of an impossibly vast biosphere."

Meantime in Bloomington, Dr. Lehr sounds ready for his next trip to the wilds of Peru and his next discovery.

- Then of course, when you go to areas where nobody has been before then you can find or find surprises.

(dramatic music continues) (bright music) - [Mary] Nothing's more refreshing on a hot summer day than a tall glass of my peachy peach iced tea, made with fresh peaches, black tea.

Super easy to make, and so delicious.

Let's prepare the peach infusion first.

I have three thinly sliced peaches, a cup and a half a water and a half a cup of honey.

If you prefer the taste of granulated sugar or agave nectar you can use those as substitutes.

We wanna bring this mixture up to a boil on high heat.

Once it starts boiling, we'll reduce the heat to simmer and we'll let it simmer for about 25 minutes.

Give it a good stir.

As the peaches begin to soften I'm gonna crush the peaches with the back of a spoon.

You'll do this several times while the mixture is simmering.

Then we'll turn off the heat and let it cool for about 15 minutes.

I'm using a high speed blender to puree the peach mixture until it's good and smooth.

(blender whirring) Oh it looks nice and smooth.

Now I'm gonna pass it through a mesh sieve.

This is gonna make one good tea.

I'm using the back of a spoon and I'm gonna press as much of the liquid through the sieve as possible.

Pour the peach infusion into a pitcher.

You can make this ahead of time.

Two days is good, just make sure to refrigerate it.

It's tea time!

I have six cups of water that I'm bringing to a boil and depending on how strong you like your tea you can use two or three tea bags.

Place them in the boiling water, take them off the heat and let 'em brew for about five minutes.

Then when you're done brewing, just discard the tea bags.

When the tea reached room temperature I put it in the refrigerator for about an hour.

Now I'm ready to serve.

Let's combine the peach infusion to the black tea.

Mix it up.

(spoon clacking) Now I'll pour the tea right into the serving glasses.

Let's make it extra special and add some fresh peach slices.

And don't forget to add some fresh mint.

I'm suddenly getting thirsty.

(bright music continues) Oh, it's pure delight, enjoy.

(bright music fades) - [Julie] Do you love to watch the fall colors explode across central Illinois as the leaves turn into beautiful fall foliage?

Well, grab your hot apple cider and your coziest sweater and check out the top five locations that are well worth the drive.

The Galena Area.

The Rolling Hills blend with 19th century architecture and the Galena River as a backdrop, make a perfect fall foliage destination.

Explore the scenic Galena River trail by bike or rent a kayak, and view the fall colors from the water.

Emiquon National Wildlife Refuge in Lewiston.

With a mix of forests, prairies, wetlands and riverviews, Emiquon's wetlands reflect the autumn leaves during sunset, making this refuge a must visit during peak foliage season.

Starved Rock and Matheson State Park, Oglesby.

Oglesby boasts two state parks within five miles that take the top positions on Illinois's list of best fall foliage places.

The parks are at their best when trails, canyons and waterfalls are surrounded by vivid red, yellow, and orange leaves.

Explore the beauty alone, join a guided hike, or hop on a fall colors trolley tour.

Fond Du Lac Drive outlook points in East Peoria.

along the Fond Lac Drive in East Peoria, there are various lookouts to stop and absorb the magnificent views of the Illinois River and the Peoria skyline.

This vantage point in autumn is ablazed with beautiful fall colors reflected in the water.

Bring your camera and caption the perfect photos for the colorful fall leaves along the river.

The Rock Island Trail, Dunlap.

This 26 mile path goes through towns of Dunlap, Peoria Heights, Princeville, Wyoming and terminates in Toulon.

The trail is an excellent bike, walk or jog and every aspect of the route is stunning with the views of seasonal foliage.

Enjoy your leaf peeping.

You know I'm kind of digging our new time slot.

It's kind of cool.

- Feeling steady, feeling good.

- I like it.

- Gonna come back next week?

- Well, I am.

I hope everybody out there is gonna do that.

- Get back here next week.

Same time, for?

"You Gotta See This."

- "You Gotta See This."

(upbeat music) (sine tone beeping) ♪ Pokey poke ♪ Ah ♪ Pokey poke ♪ One take wizards (hands clapping) (sine tone beeping) - He's a delicate flower, people.

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