We were fortunate that in 1995-1997, before any restoration work had begun at Pleasant Valley Conservancy, several plant species lists were prepared by competent botanists. Later, after Kathie became more…
The Southern Wisconsin Butterfly Association has had its June fieldtrip at PVC for the past seven years. One of the attractions has been the chance to see the Baltimore checkerspot,…
Although Pleasant Valley Conservancy State Natural Area was actually created when Governor Jim Doyle signed the official document in 2007, the dedication ceremony was not held until 2008. Today is…
How important is it to eradicate "all" the bad guys? I posted on this some years ago, but it deserves repeating. One important part of restoration work is planning brush…
What we call the South Slope is a classic Midwestern bluff prairie. A few years ago (2014) Peter Hartman and crew from the USDA-NRCS came and studied our South Slope…
We’ve been burning so much this spring under marginalweather conditions, that it was a surprise yesterday to have ideal weather for our burns. Not only did we complete our regularly…
Restoration of oak savannas and prairie remnants is usually a complicated and expensive process, but real data on costs are hard to find. From time to time during 20 years…
Sumac can often be a serious invader in prairies and savannas. Although it is regularly top-killed by fire, it reprouts immediately. In addition, sumac root suckers readily, so fire can…
This season we have been doing prescribed burns in fairly cold weather. The dew points have been quite low, so that there was no dew on the grass even when…
The Weather Bureau made no mention of it, but March 2-4 2018 provided unusually good weather for controlled burns, especially for oak savannas. This is quite a bit earlier than…