Saturday afternoon, June 7, 2008, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) and the Prairie Enthusiasts (TPE) participated in the dedication of Pleasant Valley Conservancy State Natural Area. Despite the…

I re-read some of the posts I made last January and discovered that one of my predictions was wrong.At that time our contractor was clearing the East Basin of all…

The photo shows a prairie dock plant making its way up through a pile of gravel.Last November we regraded our service road, and it took quite a few loads of…

Ever since we began restoration of our oak savannas we have been plagued with the spread of woodland sunflower (Helianthus divaricatus and several other species). It took us a while…

Wild lupine (Lupinus perennis) is a delightful early prairie plant. It grows best on drier, sandier sites. About eight years we were given five bags of lupine chaff remaining from…

I have described in other posts our work raising prairie and savanna plants in the greenhouse. On Thursday and Friday three of us planted about 170 of these plants at…

Our five interns began work yesterday. The intern program, administered by Madison Audubon Society, is an important part of our summer restoration work. This is the sixth year Pleasant Valley…

The East Basin, a small (4.2 acres) isolated valley on the far eastern end of Pleasant Valley Conservancy, is the last area being restored. Because of its location, it did…

Garlic mustard is by now famous in southern Wisconsin as our worst invasive plant. People everywhere are working to eradicate it. Roadsides are major eradication targets because this is the…

Woodland sunflowers (Helianthus spp.) are showy plants but highly invasive. Although they are found mainly along wood edges, they often remain after woods are cleared of invasive shrubs and trees.…