Tom's Blog

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For the past two weeks we have been carrying out a big push to control brambles in our savannas. The successful burns we had about a month ago top-killed most of the bramble canes and they are now resprouting from the base. A perfect time to spray, because they are relatively small, which means we don't need to use much herbicide. Also, we can avoid most of the "good" plants nearby.

We are dealing here with two major bramble species, black raspberry and red raspberry. The latter is the most difficult, because it forms dense clones of short, closely growing stems. Black raspberry, on the other hand, has long arching stems which tip-root, making a traverse of the area difficult. We also have the occasional blackberry and dewberry patch, but these are easier to deal with.

We have been spraying every day for the past two weeks, with personnel varying from day to day. Tuesday May 20 we had six people, four paid and two volunteers.

I have found it very advisable to wear thick, bramble-proof pants for this work. You have to wade right into the middle of these patches to get every plant.

The weather has been great for spraying, although we really need some rain.

This is a great year for wood betony (Pedicularis canadensis). At Pleasant Valley Conservancy we have seen more this year than we ever have. Most of it was planted, but we also have it in a couple of remnants.

However, where wood betony is really displaying is Black Earth Rettenmund Prairie, another State Natural Area that Kathie and I manage. The hillside is almost solid color; more than we have ever seen.

Wood betony is an interesting plant because it grows semiparasitically on grasses. It has tiny specialized rootlets that are able to penetrate the roots of other plants and get part of their nutrition that way. If you see large patches of wood betony, there are often grass-free zones around them. This can be seen nicely now at Black Earth Rettenmund, especially in the small planted prairie at the entrance to the preserve. The large patches there seem to live in their own special spheres, with very few plants around.

At present, Black Earth Rettenmund is worth a visit, even a special trip. You won't see a better prairie right now!

Today Kathie and I attended an event at the Nature Conservancy's Spring Green Preserve, to recognize our contribution to a new acquisition and to see the preserve in its early spring glory.

Our donation to the Prairie Enthusiasts of land and a conservation easement from Pleasant Valley Conservancy helped to trigger a complicated land acquisition procedure involving the State Stewardship Fund, which made it possible for TNC to purchase a critical parcel at its Spring Green Preserve. Our recognition was part of a brief ceremony before a morning field trip to the preserve.

Spring Green Preserve is an extensive sand prairie north of the Wisconsin River. The steep south-facing ridge turns into a veritable desert in mid-summer, creating a unique habitat. It has in profusion a number of plant and animal species that are seen rarely at other places. The Nature Conservancy now owns over 1000 acres here, and has done great work to preserve and restore it. The new parcel acquired partly as a result of our donation was a critical piece that brought the preserve land all the way to Wisconsin Highway 23, thus providing excellent access for management activities on the west end of the preserve.

The blue haze we saw across the preserve was due to thousands of bird's foot violet plants in full bloom. The 0.2 acre patch of this species we have at Pleasant Valley is only a tiny speck alongside the Spring Green profusions. The trail we walked on went right through the middle of the violets. Quite a show!


Bird's foot violet (Viola pedata) is one of two "prairie" violets that are found in Wisconsin dry mesic prairies. The other is prairie violet (Viola pedatifida). Spring Green has both, but pedata predominates. Superficially, they are alike, but pedata is the one that is generally found in large patches.








Another species in bloom at Spring Green was dwarf false dandelion, Krigia virginiana. This is also a plant of dry sand prairies, and is locally abundant in southwestern Wisconsin. The cactus shown in the photo is another species, also characteristic of sand prairies.

This is the time of year to see and enjoy birds.

Recently, I flushed a pair of sandhill cranes who were foraging on Toby's Prairie, our dry mesic planted prairie that is fairly remote from the wetland the cranes usually inhabit. When they spotted me they took off with their lumbering flight and soared about 30 feet over my head. A fine sight!

The next day I flushed a turkey hen from the White Oak Savanna. I didn't see a sign of a nest, but the day before Heisley had flushed one off the nest in Unit 11D. Plenty of eggs in that nest!

"Our" red-headed woodpeckers are quite active these days. We see or hear them almost every day. Yesterday Kathie and I saw a pair who were probably nesting in a clump birch among the bur oaks on the savanna. While I was watching the putative nest I saw a scarlet tanager drop into a small oak nearby. Colorful!

This week we are spraying bramble resprouts with Garlon. The brambles are those that were top-killed in our prescribed burns of April. They are now growing, but remain small, so that we can confine the spray to just the bramble rosettes. Susan, Heisley, Kathie, and I have all been involved here, and next week we hope to have a couple of people from our contractor, Michler & Brown.

This is a time consuming job, but gives us a chance to see all of our savannas at an early stage of growth. Lots of good things coming! Although our shoulders are sore, we are enjoying the traverses through the Conservancy.

More later.

Red raspberries are a real menace in savanna restorations. Once the habitat is opened up, they flourish in the increased sunlight. I did a literature review and discovered that red raspberry seeds will survive many years in the soil. The longest with hard data was 100 years, which, as far as we are concerned, is infinite.

Although blackberries and black raspberries can be mostly eradicated by cutting and herbicide treatment of the cut stems, this does not work with red raspberries. They are fiercely clonal, and make dense stands. Cutting and treating is useless.

Last year I developed a new procedure. After all the stems were top-killed by a burn, they resprout at the base. At each stem there is a rosette of new growth. As soon as these rosettes are large enough, they were sprayed with Garlon 3A (foliar concentration). The rosettes were rapidly killed. However, not all the stems resprout at the same time, so it is necessary to return and spray the new rosettes two weeks later. And finally, a third spraying to get all the stragglers.

In marked patches, I found that this procedure eradicated the clone without too much negative effect on the "good" species.

Time consuming and expensive, but hopefully worth it.