The importance of prescribed fire for maintaining oak woodlands and oak forests is now so widely accepted in the forestry/fire ecology literature that it is no longer controversial. Probably the…

Most prairie and savanna restorationists are aware that there are two classes of grasses, distinguished by a fundamental property of photosynthesis (abbreviated C3 and C4). Many prairie grasses have the…

Canada wild rye (Elymus canadensis) is often a substantial part of the seed mix for new prairie plantings, since it gets established quickly and acts as a native nurse plant…

I have made a number of earlier posts on sumac eradication (summarized in sumac biology and control,) but one area I have not discussed is allelopathy. The photo below shows part…

For the past dozen  years I have been writing narratives of each of our prescribed burns, with records of personnel, timing, procedures, etc. These narratives go in the Pleasant Valley…

Now that seed collecting is over, work turns to brush control. November is an ideal time, since all the living vegetation has senesced and the ground is still snowless. Our…

We are cooperating with the Tree-Ring, Earth, and Environmental Sciences Laboratory (TREES) of the University of Wisconsin-Platteville on their study on drought and climate change over the past 300 years…

Prairie dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis) is a highly desirable grass (C value of 10), that is often included in prairie plantings but can also be found in the native state. According…

Mullein (Verbascum thapsus) is a biennial invasive weed in the figwort family. The first year it is a low-growing rosette and the second year it sends up a tall, ugly,…

After a series of rainy days a high pressure came in, leading to a sunny and warm Sunday afternoon. Kathie, Emily, and I took the Mule to the top of…