This week Kathie and I are attending a meeting of the Grassland Research Network at the U.W. Madison Arboretum. Folks at this meeting are from various Midwest states plus a…

Yesterday Ted Cochrane (in the middle in the above photo) from the U.W. Herbarium led a very informative field trip to two sand prairies in Sauk County, Schluckebier and Gasser.…

This is the time when the hyssops are in full bloom. We have two species at Pleasant Valley Conservancy, giant yellow hyssop (Agastache nepetoides; photo to the left), which is…

In a recent post I described "trapping" three turkey poults while mowing a fire break. Today, I trapped a young pheasant in the same fire break with my Kawasaki Mule.…

The most recent USDA-NRCS plan for Wisconsin's WHIP program (WHIP = Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program) places oak savanna restoration at the top of the list and calls attention to a…

Yesterday I spent some time chasing down some turkey poults while mowing the Valley Prairie fire break. (The photo above is the best I could do with my pocket camera…

Cream gentian (Gentiana alba) is one of those great plants that we are now fortunate to have lots of at Pleasant Valley Conservancy. It is not common in Wisconsin and…

Kuhnia eupatorioides (false boneset) is a typical dry prairie species that is just starting to flower. We find it at Pleasant Valley Conservancy primarily on the south-facing slope where it…

Biennial gaura (Gaura biennis) is a prairie plant which in Wisconsin is found mainly in the southern counties. It does not appear often on prairie planting lists, but is an…

It is hard to believe that the Sandhill Crane Wet Prairie is only in its third growing season. We have had so many successes here, including the best Indian grass…