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2010 Summer season activities |
Good things:
- Purple prairie clover in full bloom
- Lead plant in full bloom
- Coreopsis in full bloom
- Yellow cone flower in full bloom
- Turk's cap lilies in full bloom (but fading)
- We have almost conquered the sweet clover (but we still are finding stragglers to pull!)
- The July 18 field trip was a success.
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U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service wetland burn of 27 April 2010 |
Just when we thought our burn season was over, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Serive surprised us by coming to burn our wetland. Our wetland is part of a larger wetland system along East Blue Mounds Creek involving five separate landowners. Each landowner had agreed to permit this burn, so all five properties were burned as a single unit. The map below shows the results. For a higher resolution PDF version, download here.
For some photos of the burn, see Tom's Blog. |
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| The boundaries of the Fish & Wildlife Service burn are shown in red. Five owners were involved, with 150 acres. |
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Spring 2010 burn season: final results |
Our spring burn season is now over. This was the most successful season we have ever had, although scheduling and lining up burn crew was a bit complicated. Thanks to all the folks, paid or volunteer, who participated.
The map below, prepared by ArcGIS, provides a summary of burns accomplished. See below for some photos. For more details on some of these burns, see Tom's Blog. |
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Oak woodland burns: April 12, 2010 |
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This photo shows the early stages of burning Unit 13, a small but fine white oak woodland. The oak leaves provide plenty of fuel. |
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Burning Unit 14, at the corner of County F and Pleasant Valley Road. This was the first burn of this bur oak woods for four years. A moderate east wind and the steep slope increased the efficiency of this burn. |
Savanna burn March 29, 2010 |
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Monday, March 29 was a great day for prescribed burns, and we had a fine crew available. We burned several prairies (such as the Pocket Prairie shown in the background here) and virtually all of our savannas (such as the White Oak Savanna shown in the background. We had two pumper units, one in the Kawasaki Mule (to left) and the other in the GMC truck. |
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The Pocket Prairie has already been burned and the fire is moving up into the savannas. The top of the savannas had already been blackened before the fire was allowed to move up. To speed up the burn, several drip torches were used. |
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One of the bur oak savannas (Unit 10) after the burn was complete. A survey the next day showed that the coverage in the savannas was over 90%.
See Tom's Blog for more on this burn. |
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Great burn March 23, 2010
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We burned the whole south-facing slope (Units 1 through 7 plus 9), followed by burns of all the planted prairies south of Pleasant Valley Road (Barn, Cabin, Crane, and Valley Prairies.
The photo shows the final stages of the Valley Prairie burn. In the background, part of the already-burned south-facing slope can be seen.
See Tom's Blog for more details. |
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Above. The south-facing slope loses its snow fast and is the first area to be burned. It is usually burned before the end of March. This bur oak grove on the upper slope was one time choked with buckthorn, but is now mostly clean. Photo taken 8 March 2010
Below. The same area being burned, 23 March 2010. The whole south slope is now black! |
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Peak fall color at Pleasant Valley Conservancy, with a view across the White Oak Savanna. Most of the trees are white oaks (Quercus alba). The shrub layer, also in color, is predominately hazelnut.
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| Knowledge of the land-use history of an area is very useful in planning and executing a restoration project. We have now been able to use GIS (Geographical Information Systems) to determine more precisely how the Conservancy land was used in the late 1930s. Details of this can be found at this link. |
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Recent Information on Buckthorn Control
We continue to improve our procedures for buckthorn control. This plant is often a scourge in oak savanna and prairie restoration.
Recent Information on Sumac Control
Although it is native, sumac is one of the scourges of prairie and savanna restoration, and must be managed intensely. A new page has been added which deals with the biology of sumac, its clonal growth, and the various control methods. Follow this link
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The forestry field day at Pleasant Valley Conservancy was very successful. For a brief report, check Tom's Blog.
The Amercian Forest Foundation, together with the Wisconsin DNR, the U.S. Forest Service, and the American Family Forest Foundation,offered a forestry field day at Pleasant Valley Conservancy on Saturday, October 10, 2009. Additional partners were the Aldo Leopold Foundation, The Prairie Enthusiasts, and Ben Meadows Inc. This field day was from 9 AM to 1:30 PM and included coffee and donuts and lunch.
Including the presenters, 76 people registered. Many southern Wisconsin landowners interested in managing their oak woodlands for wildlife, natural beauty, and recreation were present.
Download a brochure with registration information
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Follow this link for a summary of our 2009 burn season
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Prescribed burn in oak savanna and closed oak woods, Saturday, April 18, 2009.
A very successful burn in a difficult location. |
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