It's always nice to see the first flowers of the year. This gives one faith that spring will really come!Early buttercup is almost always the first plant we see in…

"The secret to all prescribed burning is to let the weather work for you. When all environmental factors are right the job is easy." (Wright and Bailey, Fire Ecology.)This statement…

We have been held back from our prescribed burning by the unseasonably cool weather this spring. We had one great burn in the middle of March, and then the weather…

Yesterday we planted a mix of savanna species on the bur oak savannas on the upper part of our south-facing slope. We had a great burn here two weeks ago…

Despite the unsettled weather, this is a great time of year, as there is always something new happening at Pleasant Valley Conservancy.Our kestrels are back and using the nest box…

For the past four years we have been raising savanna forbs in the greenhouse. These are species that are difficult to get established from seed. We started doing this because…

The day after our successful south slope burn, I walked the whole unit to determine the burn coverage. The map here (done in ArcGIS) shows the area burned. (Apologies for…

The weather really cooperated today. Fortunately, we had 13 people lined up to do burns and we were able to get a lot of burning done.We burned our south-facing slope,…

When we started restoration work a dozen years ago, we were advised to let all the birches in our savanna burn up. Since they are fire sensitive, we were told,…

Burn season is just about on us, and it is time to get ready. Among other things, we need to get our equipment ready, and to set our fire breaks.Important…