For the past several weeks, whenever we can scare up some time from other tasks (such as seed collecting), we have been working on buckthorn control. This is a good…

The weather finally cooperated and we were able to do the large burn of the north woods. Fall burns are tricky, because the days are short, the temperatures are lower,…

We had a nice day at Black Earth Rettenmund Prairie killing sumac. Five volunteers spent three hours. Now that most of the clones have been knocked back, we are relying…

I was at the top of our ridge Tuesday and got a good look at what the beavers are doing to our wetland. Their two dams along Pleasant Valley Creek…

The production by plants of chemicals that inhibit growth of other plants is called allelopathy, and is surprisingly common. Among species that exhibit this phenomenon are those of the genus…

We are planning to burn the north woods sometime in the next few weeks (depending on weather), and yesterday our crew (Amanda, Marci, and Susan) spent most of the day…

When we began restoration, ecologist Paul West advised us to take photo points at periodic intervals. This sounded like a good idea so I started doing this in the year…

Black Earth Rettenmund Prairie is one of the best prairie remnants in southern Wisconsin yet it still has lots of areas with troublesome shrubs. Sumac, aspen seedlings, gray dogwood, grapevine,…

Thursday we had a visit from Andrew Hipp of the Morton Arboretum. This was part of a research project he is doing on oak evolution. As part of this project,…

Despite biennial burns, sumac has remained a significant problem at Black Earth Rettenmund Prairie. We now know how to get rid of it (basal bark with triclopyr). But we need…