Over the past several days I attended the annual meeting of the Grasslands Research Network (GRN), a Midwestern group of land managers and restoration ecologists involved in prairie and oak…

Ron Seely's nice article in today's Wisconsin State Journal (Page 1; Sunday, October 2, 2010) provides a great overview of Wisconsin land trusts and their importance for conservation in the…

I recently found time to update the list I had prepared some years ago of plant species that were already present at Pleasant Valley Conservancy before we began restoration. Most…

We have recently been able to confirm that we have a number of specimens of Hill's oak (Quercus ellipsoidalis), also known as northern pin oak or jack oak, at Pleasant…

Sunday we had a nice visit from members of the Vassar Club of Wisconsin (Kathie is Vassar '60). This was an interesting group, since there was a wide distribution of…

Yesterday I spent an hour or so collecting woodland Joe Pye weed (Eupatorium purpureum). This species is relatively similar to the wetland Joe Pye weed (E. maculatum), but less colorful…

Lion's foot (Prenanthes alba) is a nice savanna species that pops up in unpredictable places. Other common names are white lettuce, or rattlesnake root. It is monocarpic, which means that…

It is a little late in the season, but any one doing restoration work will find useful the Weed Garden at the UW Experiment Station at Arlington, Wisconsin. I usually…

The spring burn that the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service carried out on the wetland in our area (only part of which is owned by Pleasant Valley Conservancy) had dramatic…

With kind support of Madison Audubon Society, we have set up 11 bluebird houses. Kathie has been monitoring them carefully and has just compiled her report for the year.Bluebirds occupied…