There are only a few prairie species in our area with a Coefficient of Conservatism of 10. One of these is prairie dropseed, (Sporobolus heterolepis), an important grass species which…
The Floristic Quality Index (FQI) has become a widely used measurement of natural areas quality. This standardized tool was developed by Floyd Swink and Gerould Wilhelm at the Morton Arboretum,…
While cataloging my digital photographs from years gone by, I ran across this nice photo that demonstrates well the difference between a burned and an unburned prairie. This photo was…
There is a Pleasant Valley Road and a Pleasant Valley Conservancy, and according to the U.S.G.S. there is a Pleasant Valley, but there is no Pleasant Valley Creek in the…
I'm putting together a PowerPoint presentation on "Fire Management in Oak Savanna Restoration" for the Prairie Enthusiasts annual meeting next month and this has prompted me to delve deep into…
There is very little “on-the-ground” data on the character of southern Wisconsin prairies and oak savanna before restoration work began. By chance I discovered an early detailed report of the…
The term "wolf tree" is often used by foresters to indicate ancient open-grown "relic" oaks that have survived in degraded oak savannas. Open-grown oaks are "indicators" of former oak savannas…
There are three fire consortiums (funded by USFS) that offer educational programs (mainly webinars) of interest to Midwest restoration ecologists. The recentwebinar presented by Greg Nowacki dealing with oak ecosystems…
A recent blog post from Chicago about protecting hazel from fire and deer browse brings me to a further discussion of this widespread shrub. Hazel (Corylus americana) is one of…
We were blessed with unusually good weather and 12 people turned up for our December work party. We were delighted especially to have three UW Madison undergraduates who found us…