Download Tom Brock’s books accounting for the full history of the restoration of Pleasant Valley Conservancy from the beginning to when it became a State Natural Area in 2008.

Volume I: The Early Years Download link (44 MB)

Volume II: The Middle Years Download link (22.8 MB)

Restoration History

Early steps Restoration first began in a tiny way in 1995, under the guidance of ecologist Brian Pruka. Pruka also wrote a suggested management plan which pointed out those areas of highest priority for work. Among these was the goat prairie (Kathie’s Prairie or Unit 1), which had to a certain extent remained uninvaded by cedars and exotic shrubs that had made major inroads on the rest of the south slope. This unit was cleared of scattered cedars and in 1997 a controlled burn was run. The prairie responded dramatically to this burn, and lead plant and prairie dropseed flowered well and produced copious amounts of seed. The seed was collected as the first step in what would eventually become a major seed collecting initiative.

We had also known that native prairie grasses were present on the south slope, in small patches among the invasive shrubs. Easy to identify were little blue stem and side oats grama grasses.

In 1997 ecologist Paul West was hired on a part-time basis to devise a more detailed management plan and to help with the identification of native plant species. In 1998 an outside contractor was hired to remove all of the invasive trees from around the goat prairie. The contractor also began using the basal bark technique with triclopyr (Garlon 4) to eradicate honeysuckle, buckthorn, and other exotic and invasive shrubs. Some students from the University of Wisconsin were also hired on a part-time basis. By the end of the winter of 1998 most of Units 1, 2, and 3 had been cleared.

In April 1998 the Prairie Enthusiasts conducted a controlled burn on the whole south slope. Very little of the slope burned well, except for the original goat prairie (Unit 1). Several days later, the whole south slope was “stripped” with a drip torch to burn further areas. Between this burn and shrub removal, the prairie grasses began to thrive and spread.

Encouraging Results The before-and-after contrast on the south slope is shown in the photos below.

A series of on-the-ground photos showing before and after views is given below.

Panorama view of the south-facing slope, October 2007. Most of the oaks visible on the upper slope are open-grown bur oaks. Several small remnant prairies are also visible at the top part of the hill farther to the right.

As the photo-sequence above shows, we made considerable progress in the ten years after we started clearing the south-facing slope.

In 2000 we had just finished clearing this part of the south-facing slope. Brush piles are visible, and cut stems of buckthorn and honeysuckle are present. There is a small prairie remnant just under the rocks (mainly big bluestem), but the rest of the slope is mostly weeds, except for a small patch of little bluestem in the lower middle. Several sumac clones are visible, reminding me that in those days we had not worried about this clonal invasive species yet.

The vegetation in the field below Pleasant Valley Road was primarily smooth brome since we did not plant in that area until the fall of 2002.

Along Pleasant Valley Road there was a long row of slippery elms, which were not removed until 2002.

The south-facing slope itself has been burned every year and these burns have had dramatic effects. Also, the south slope has been planted several times with a dry-prairie seed mix. The species list today shows a quite diverse flora.

Big bur oak as restoration was just beginning in 1997. The trees and brush in the front are in the process of being removed. The dense brush and trees in the rear will be removed the following year. See photo below for final result.

Same bur oak in 2014, after 15 years of annual burns.