When restoration work was begun at Pleasant Valley Conservancy there were a few fine prairie remnants as well as some degraded savannas, woodlands, and wetlands. However, grazing and other agricultural activities had caused a marked loss in plant species.

In addition to removing a large number of invasive plants, we worked hard to increase the diversity of native plant species. This work has been quite successful. From an early estimate of about 250 native plant species, our list has grown to over 400 species.

The number 250 is derived from a merger of plant checklists made by botanists who visited Pleasant Valley Conservancy before any restoration work had been carried out. These lists, presented below, were edited to remove any duplicates. The total list, which includes some weeds and other invasive species, has 270 species. It is estimated that about 250 of these species are plants native to prairies, savannas, woodlands, and wetlands.

The early plant species check lists given below were done by different people at different times, and some of the Latin names used, even for the same species, may be different. Plant nomenclature is a complicated field, and different authorities use different names. Continuing research in plant taxonomy leads to altered nomenclatlures. Therefore, some of the names used in these check lists may no longer be valid.

Early Species List by Brian Pruka

The first detailed plant check list for the land that was to become Pleasant Valley Conservancy was carried out by plant ecologist Brian Pruka in 1995. Pruka had just finished his Master's thesis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison working on a nearby oak savanna, and was familiar with the area. His list was prepared for us as part of the early management plan that Pruka prepared for the property. Pruka's list contains 170 species,which included prairie, savanna, woodland, and wetland species.

Even considering the nomenclature problems mentioned above, and the fact that surveys were made only in the summer, there are some noteworthy species on the Pruka list, including a number with relatively high Coefficients of Conservatism.

Species List by Paul West

In 1997, we hired plant ecologist Paul West, then working only part-time at the Nature Conservancy, to further develop management objectives for the property. As part of this work, West prepared another plant check list. Although there was some overlap with Pruka's list, West's list, with 136 species, added some additional species.

Kathie Brock's Species List for goat prairie (Unit 1)

Our best prairie remnant, Unit 1, was probably never grazed. In 2002 Kathie Brock prepared a species list for this prairie. At that time, this unit had been burned six times. Noteworthy prairie species on Kathie's list of 37 species include sky-blue aster, side oats grama, purple prairie clover, showy and Illinois tick-trefoil, tall boneset, flowering spurge, false boneset, small yellow flax, fringed puccoon, violet wood sorrel, little bluestem, small skullcap, blue-eyed grass, gray goldenrod, Indian grass, prairie dropseed, spiderwort, and bird's foot violet.

Unintroduced Species Missing From the Above Lists

There are a number of species that were originally present at Pleasant Valley Conservancy that are not given in any of these early lists. We know these species were present because they are present now and we did not introduce them. Of these, the most interesting are: White wild indigo, glade mallow, Canada anemone, wood anemone, poke milkweed, silky aster, white wild indigo, Bromus kalmii, large yellow lady-slipper orchid, shooting star, wood betony, bottlebrush grass, silky rye, Virginia wild rye, upland boneset, sweet Indian plantain, prairie alum-root, great St. John's wort, yellow star grass, seneca snakeroot, lion's foot, rosinweed, cup plant, showy goldenrod, elm-leafed goldenrod, yellow pimpernel, Culver's root, purple meadow-rue, angelica, spiderwort, bellwort, prairie violet, golden Alexanders, and purple milkweed. Several of these species are endangered, threatened, or of special concern.

The presence of purple milkweed (Asclepias purpurascens), a State endangered species, is noteworthy. This beautful savanna species was first found flowering in Unit 12B after it had been cleared and burned. With further clearing and burning, additional sites developed. Seeds of this species were never brought in from elsewhere, although efforts have been made (partly successfully) to get it established in new sites on the Conservancy.

It turned out that a significant number of native species were present on our property along County Highway F. This north-facing slope had been periodically mowed by county highway crews, but this mowing had been infrequent enough that some important species were not eradicated. Species that were present in relatively large amounts included New Jersey tea, golden Alexanders, arrow-leafed aster, great St. John's wort, great blue lobelia, fringed loosestrife, and Culver's root.

Increasing Species Diversity

Originally, our goal was to collect seed from the remnants and transfer it to other sites on the property. This work went in tandem with removal of invasive shrubs and trees. The focus initially was on the south-facing slope where large amounts of red cedar, planted red pines, elms, buckthorn, honeysuckle, and other woody plants were removed. Removal of these trees opened up "holes", into which seeds collected elsewhere on the property were planted. This sort of activity is on-going throughout the Conservancy.

As much as possible, we have used seed that had been collected on our property. If no useful source was found there, we collected seeds from nearby town roads, or from other sites nearby. In only a few cases were seeds obtained from more distant sites, although always from southern Wisconsin sources.

In 1998, our first year of planting, we planted 20 species on the south slope that had been collected elsewhere on the property. Only the lower part of the slope, which lacked any significant savanna oaks, had been cleared. It was burned in early April and planted a few days later, with seeds that had been stored in the barn all winter. We had only limited amounts of grass species, so this seeding was primarily of forbs. As it turned out, burning had stimulated the growth of pre-existing grasses, and little bluestem and Indian grass flourished without planting.

Controlled burns played a major role in increasing diversity, and the south slope has been burned almost every year since restoration began. The photo here is from a burn in March 2003.

First Planted Prairie At the same time, we were planting completely new prairies on the various small agricultural fields present at the site. These small fields, amounting to a total of less than 15 acres, had been entered into the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) in 1987. When our 10-year contract came up for renewal in 1997, we opted to plant prairie on two of these fields, which gave us extra points in the evaluation of our CRP project. Instead of purchasing seeds, we decided, as much as possible, to collect our own seeds. Because our supply of seeds was limited, the first year we planted only a single field to prairie (Toby's Prairie). Although almost all the species planted came from elsewhere on the property, a few species that "should" have been in a tall grass prairie were completely missing. These were obtained by trade from the Madison Audubon Society prairie restorations at Goose Pond. What we traded was volunteer work for seeds. Species that we obtained from this source were: wild onion, Canada milk vetch, white prairie clover, pale purple coneflower, ox-eye sunflower, compass plant, and stiff goldenrod. All the rest of the 70 species planted came from our own sources.

Indian grass, Sorghastrum nutans, is an important species in a tallgrass prairie. It produces a good prairie sod, and it provides great fuel for a prairie burn. All of our Indian grass has come from our own property. Initially, it was present in signficant amounts only on a small prairie remnant high on the south slope (Unit 4), surrounded by cedars and buckthorn, This tiny prairie of less than 1/2 acre was first burned in April 1998 and as a result the Indian grass flourished. Seed was collected in the fall of 1998 and used as part of the prairie seed mix for Toby's Prairie, planted in November 1998. It has done exceedling well there and has been the source of Indian grass seed for all of our subsequent planted prairies, as well as for the open savanna areas.

2007: What Eleven Years Have Wrought Restoration work at Pleasant Valley Conservancy has proceeded at a steady pace. As degraded savannas have been cleared, they have been planted with seeds collected elsewhere on the site. The planted prairies have turned out to be excellent seed sources because of the large acreages of relatively level land where collecting is easy. Only minimal work has been done in the wetlands, which were initially in fairly good shape. Minimal work has also been done on the north-facing oak woods, which have plentiful spring ephemerals and, except for a few areas, only small amounts of invasive shrubs. As of the end of the 2007 season, over 400 native species are present at Pleasant Valley Conservancy. Even more significant, the floristic quality index (FQI) has a value of 91.3, which is an impressively high number. Most of the species used for the FQI calculation were not introduced but were already here, although perhaps present in small numbers. The most important work that we have done is to remove the invasives, both woody and herbaceous, thus providing habitat for pre-existing species to spread. Controlled burns also have played a major role. We have increased diversity in another way, by learning to identify the plants and by exploring the Conservancy in great detail. Often a rare species will be present in only one or a few sites, and will be missed in any casual walk-through. Further, restoration of an area will almost immediately result in the appearance of species that have not been seen in that site before. They might well have been present, but were suppressed by the great weight of invasives. As an example, shooting star, a very desirable prairie and savanna plant, is able to survive under the shade of exotic bush honeysuckle, but is not readily visible. Removal of the honeysuckles leads almost immediately, usually in the first subsequent growing season, to a great increase in the growth of shooting star, many of which will flower (see photo below). These were not planted, but burst in view after their habitat was restored.