Grasslands Steward Presentation

I was asked to give a small presentation last week to the community stewards that do volunteer work on the site.  They asked for an introduction to myself, as this was my first time with them, and a talk about upcoming goals.  I figured a 15 min. talk, with a 30 min Q & A would suffice.  It's always refreshing to see the passion these volunteers carry with them.

Prairie Chat:
Where does my interest in the prairie come from?

When you immerse yourself in a prairie you can feel so consumed, and yet so relaxed.  That's what I love about it.  There are absolutely tons of interactions going on.  I find so much peace with that.  It's like clockwork.

Within the soil we've got billions and billions of microbes doing unseen work that nourishes and stabilizes the soil structure.  Above ground we've got everything photosynthesizing, crawling, hopping, flying, slithering, (plants, animals, arthropods, birds, reptiles).  That bright thing in the sky is pretty important too.

All of these work in a lock and key sort of way.  And I view us in the same way.  We have to fit.  We have to fit perfectly.

If we do nothing (and not restore what we've already turned into an ag field...), invasives would continue to thrive and block out our native prairie plants that gave us the best soil in the world (roots/climate).
Putting it another way, all species that were here living freely before we showed up, were already adapted to our specific biome.  Then we came and shook things up quite a bit.  That change we've created was/is very fast according to a plant species that's been around for centuries.  They are not allowed enough time to adapt to us.  Therefore, we need to embrace that, and be good stewards to the earth.


The other side of the spectrum is doing too much.  If we don't keep the integrity of the land, we falter.  If we're not precise with our invasive control treatments, we may harm everything we're trying to let thrive.  Creating disturbance of any sort will result in favorable conditions for invasives.

If we have the knowledge, patience, identification skills, and passion, then I believe we fit perfectly.

Then I went into our Invasive schedule for the year, and an interesting Q&A session of which I'll detail both later on.

Birdsfoot trefoil and why this deserves its own post

Birdsfoot is a legume, and mostly planted as a forage crop for cattle.  Used widely due to the plants ability not to bloat the animal.  Happy cow!!  This is labeled as an invasive plant:

http://www.invasive.org/weedcd/species/5949.htm

This plant doesn't die.
Why:
Germinates twice: 
- Once in the early spring, and another early fall.  Twice!!  How stubborn and resilient can you be!
Adventitious root system:
- Deep tap root good for storing energy, spreads through rhizomes and stolons
- This plant creates a matted structure that makes it difficult for chemical coverage (finding the source).

http://www.anbg.gov.au/glossary/webpubl/glossss.htm

Chemically tolerant:
- It can withstand 2,4-D, which is one of more, if not the most common broadleaf herbicide.
- Clopyralid is a chemical that specifically targets legumes.  However this has been researched that roots do not uptake clopyralid as well as other chemicals will.  Therefore you'll get a top kill (the leaves) and yet the plant will remain alive and continue to produce, because the roots were not affected.
This is what we've been seeing on our site.  With the birdsfoot elaborate root system, you can understand why.
See:  http://www.larimer.org/weeds/herbicide.pdf

Hard to find:
- Small leaves and grows/spreads close to the ground

Shade tolerant:
Although this plant prefers a lot of sunlight, it will still thrive if taller plants block it from sunlight.

Most effective mode of action?
Apply a pre-emergent herbicide that will sit in the soil for at least a year, and then seed with your plants the following growing season (even this has been proven difficult).  If you have good plants in the soil already, you cannot add a pre-emergent.  In which case you can have fun scratching your head at this AMAZING invasive plant.

Ethiopian Watershed Trip

I picked up an edition of the Ecological Restoration publication from back in March 2010.  There was an article that caught my eye:  Yitbarek T.W., Satishkumar Belliethathan, and Masresha Fetene:  "A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Watershed Rehabilitation:  A Case Study in Farta Woreda, South Gondar, Ethiopia."

The article is based in the northern region of Ethiopia.  The study (as noted in the title) wanted to look for the benefits and costs of a watershed rehabilitation.  Surrounding the study was the idea of ripping out grasses and trees to make way for agriculture, leads to all sorts of ecological (economic) impacts.  Some of these are as follows:  Increased of siltation of downstream rivers, carbon sequestration, water/soil conservation, biodiversity, aesthetics, and ecotourism.  It's a great article showing interest in land that may often be overlooked.

I was fortunate enough to travel to Ethiopia while in school.  We traveled there to study the watershed of Ethiopia, and understand the importance of water.  We visited different NGOs in the capital Addis to learn how they dealt with sanitation and running clean water.  We then traveled outside Addis around the southern territories and stayed with different tribes.  When you travel outside of the capital, communication gets very tricky.  Even with people from Ethiopia, because of all of the different tribes/languages, communicating gets lost in translation.  There's also a lot of old standards tribes believe in whole heartedly.  A simple act as washing your hands to fight off germs is very foreign to them.  We visited a school that received a well for the first time, and they very much appreciated this.

On a personal note, I absolutely love kids.  When I was a kid, I remember how much fun recess was.  When I was younger, I moved away to a new school.  The first question that was asked during recess was how far could I throw a football.  I don't know why this is the way it is, but I had friends on the spot after I threw the football a good distance down the field.  
This time I was throwing a ball as high as I could straight up in the air.  The kids would run around in circles with their heads jerked to the sky, and their arms straight out fending off anyone around them trying to catch the ball.  They were having a blast!
After a while, my arm was going to fall off, so I crouched down to the ground.  That's when I noticed there were probably 50 kids surrounding me very close.  An idea popped in my head.  I decided (I don't know why) to become a monster!  While the kids waited eagerly for me to get back up and throw the ball, I stood up and made a giant roar sound.  Then I began chasing them all around while they were screaming and laughing.  Honest to God, it was one of the most fun times I've ever had in my life.  My group was taking lunch at the time.  I thought there is no way I'm just going to sit here while these kids are having recess, and I'm so thankful I went out in the field with them.  

The trip was an absolute wonderful experience.  What made me even think of writing on the blog was a a man I met.  I don't have my notes with me now, but I'll add his name and organization once I get to them.  His organization takes kids off the street, and puts them in school.  They pay for everything, including books, clothes, and food.  His organization also has a "soup kitchen" in which my group worked at 3 days out of the 7 while we were in Addis.  He carried himself as just a regular man, even though he was the head of this successful organization; he was very humble.  Below I have a picture with him, and I try to live by his demeanor every day.

Nachusa Grasslands Visit

This is a prairie restoration at its finest.

There are test plots all over their almost 5,000 acres of land.  From annual burn sites, to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd year seedings right next to each other!  You can literally see how long it takes native prairie plants to emerge.
*The first year you won't have that many natives coming up from your seeding.  In fact, you'll have aggressive weeds trying to make their way in.  No wonder you need patience when you plant a prairie!  Those prairie plants you haven't seen yet, have spent the last 2 years establishing their root systems.  Now in year 3, they'll be ready to flower!

It's a great place to have your many restoration questions answered:
Does a specific chemical work on a particular plant?
When is the correct time to treat this plant?
Should you seed the more conservative plants right away, or wait until the quicker sprouting plants establish the soil while you fight back the weeds with treatment control, and then do you interseed the conservatives?
When do you decide to burn?  Spring/late summer/fall??

These guys have been at it for 25 years.  A lot of the stewards have been with the site easily over a decade.  They contain a lot of knowledge on restorations.  Nachusa has grown slowly in acres throughout the years.  That's why it's great to see the 1st year seedings, all the way to the established prairies, and everything in-between.

If you'd ever like to feel consumed, yet strangely relaxed, and randomly think (or make up) a Ralph Waldo saying in your head, give them a visit!
Nachusa Grasslands

Pics:

Prickly Pear

Pussy Toes

Prairie Smoke

A nice oak savanna

Standing on a remnant with the green area in the background being burned last fall

Wood Betony

Silky Aster near the bottom

Swale Time

Here are some pics while working today through the Swale.  It's really a great area.  The swale meanders through the site.  It's in the middle of two hills where runoff can flow right into it.  Typically the spring rains will create heavy flowing.  It ponds up in the middle of the site in an area called Phlox Bottoms that contains a lot of great plants.  It flows east, ponds to the north, continues east, and then flows south along the eastern edge.

The difficulty working in the swale is keeping an eye out for the good plants while spraying herbicide.  It requires a good eye and patience.  You can tell by the pictures why we need to use herbicide.  Cattails and reed canary grass choke out the good plants and are very aggressive when they seed out.

Amber waves of Reed Canary!! (BAAAAD)

Cattails (Bad)

Great Bulrush (Good)

Polygonum and Carix (Both Good)

River Bulrush (Good)

When Invasives are susceptible

Let's think about how plants grow in general terms:

While in the soil, the roots store energy and keep the plant alive through winter.  Then it starts off slowly, coming up from the soil when it warms.  Then it grows at a steady pace, assuming conditions are not extreme (drought/excessive rain, temps not dramatically cold/hot).
Then the plant begins to produce flowers, and eventually goes on to produce seeds.  This part of the plants life is pretty dramatic.  It takes a lot of energy to complete this.  The root system for this plant is also very structured and strong.

Before I ask the inevitable question of when is the correct time to apply herbicide, let me tell you this:  If the plant is close to seeding out (full mature plant/seeds are almost viable) some plants have the ability to force their seeds out under pressure.  So most of the time, the best time to apply herbicide is when the plant is young and beginning to develop.

Here's an example of the other side of the spectrum:

Specific biennial plants produce a base the first year of roots, stems, and leaves.  The second year this plant flowers and seeds out.  

The mechanical treatment approach to this gets down to the nitty gritty.  In order for a successful kill, you wait until the plant is just about to seed out before you mow/brushcut/weed-whack it down.  You want to take advantage of the expending energy of the plant.  But the timing of this is very crucial.  

If you cut too early, the plant will reemerge smaller, and still produce seeds only a week after you cut it!  This is especially true with white sweet clover.  One mature white sweet clover can produce up to 350,000 seeds!!  So you can imagine what even a tiny plant could still produce.  

Below is an example...

Randy Quaid - Independence Day

Let me explain:

If Randy Quaid flies up to the laser a little too early before the ship gathers up all of its energy to deliver the blow, there wouldn't be much of an explosion, and the ship threat is still there (cut too early, and the plant will reemerge).  

Likewise, and a little more obvious, had he been a little bit late, the laser would have been sent off (350,000 seeds are dropped) and the movie doesn't end on a good note. 

Good thing the timing was perfect!!!!!

Burn Completed!

I couldn't have asked for better weather conditions to burn today.  At 5:30 this morning, the weather bounced back to what was forecasted back on Monday!!  Why noaa kept the same forecast for 3 days, changed it 12 hrs prior, only to change it back today, I don't know.

But we achieved our goals.  I'm sure we knocked back the cool season grasses and other exotics not accustomed to fire.  We burned 85% of the site last year, so this was the rest of the 15%.  As you can see from the pictures, there's quite a bit of green around.  Keep in mind, this is also a prairie in its 3rd year.  The south half was seeded 2.5 yrs ago, and the north half 1.5 yrs ago.  It would be somewhat early to burn after a 1.5 yr seeding, but we had some wetlands and remnants that lit nicely.  

I look forward to posting more posts as the Prairie year rolls on.  Follow my twitter and tumblr for some outside the prairie thoughts!

Clouds start to roll in

A nice rainfall after our burn (the dark spot way off in the distance/middle is where we burned)

And just how low the humidity got the other day, the humidity will be on the other side of the spectrum tomorrow....

The humidity has gone to where I hoped for the entire week they weren't going to go; Above 60%.

*If you think of this as a visual:  When you see clouds, there's obviously moisture in the air.  This can affect quite a few variables on a burn.  Your fuels won't combust as easily, and you'll have a slower fire (due to moisture).  This also will keep prevent the fire from gaining enough heat to push the smoke up.  The atmosphere also tends to somewhat trap the smoke by not allowing the smoke to rise.  Mixing heights are associated with this.  

All week long the forecast was calling for lower to mid 50% (which is still high).  Even earlier today it remained.  Now it has changed : (  I have a feeling this trend as well as cloud cover will continue to rise throughout the night into morning :((

I realize that needing an easterly wind usually is more than likely always associated with precip.  I just figured I'd be lucky enough to get the SE wind, and no precip.

...I hope to be posting pics of the burn tomorrow!!

Red Flag Day

Red Flags are posted in an area when there is a high danger for fire.  High winds and low humidities had everything to do with this.  Our prairie sits within a highly residential area. If we were out in the middle of nowhere, I think we'd be rocking and rolling.  With the winds and humidities burns would more than likely get out of control.  They move very fast, and the possibility of spot fires elsewhere on site are great.

Forecast:
Backing winds are forecasted to lift northward Wednesday night into Thursday morning for our region.  The south winds will turn to southeast.  This is the wind direction we need.  However with these backing winds could be followed by precip, as any low pressure system is associated with.  This isn't a conventional low pressure system though.  We have a window in the morning to get the burn done.  Rh looks to be in the 50s by 9am with the right wind direction, and still awaiting the mixing height/ventilation forecast tomorrow for thurs.

NOAA quote from today:
"UNREAL. THAT IS ABOUT THE ONLY (AFD FRIENDLY) WORD THAT COMES TO MIND WHEN TRYING TO WRAP MY MIND AROUND THE CURRENT WARM SPELL. IT IS REMARKABLE ENOUGH TO WATCH LONG STANDING ALL TIME RECORD TEMPS BE THREATENED...BUT THE TOTAL SCOPE (DURATION AND INTENSITY) OF THIS WARM SPELL ISSOMETHING THAT HAS HISTORIC AND UNLIKELY TO BE MATCHED IN OUR LIFE TIME."

Everyone knows how warm its been.  Chicago has broken every temp record for 11 days straight!  This also leads into another variable with the burn.  With everything greening up, this creates more of a smoke issue.  A burn shouldn't hurt the natives too much due to an established root system they carry.  Cool season grasses do not carry this trait, and they will suffer which is good.  It all depends on your burn objectives.

What does a Project Manager do on a Prairie??

When I tell people what I do for a living, I get a variety of reactions.  One question usually always leads to another.  Here's an example:

Me:  I work on a prairie restoration.
Q:  What is that?
Me:  Mass agriculture and development have diminished our native prairies greatly.  We are now trying to restore these plots of land with what was once originally there.
Q:  Why would you do that?

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Once they ask this, the person should:
A. Touch my left shoulder if you'd like to hear about Native Flora and Diversity
B. Touch my right shoulder if you'd like to hear about local/native Entymology (insects)/Fauna
C. Wiggle my right ear if you'd like to hear about Ornithology (birds)
D. Tap my forehead if you'd like to know how a prairie can bring communities together, get kids playing outside again(!!), and educate    
E. Spin around if you want to hear of Environmental advantages
F.  Give me a hug if you'd like to hear about the Aesthetic qualities of a prairie
G. Do a handstand (yep a handstand) if you'd like to know how it affects the aquifer we all get our drinking water below ground
H. Sit down if you'd like to hear about Below Ground Biomass/soil...cuz this is going to be long.

All of these together (with invasive plant control and fire management) would create a healthy landscape.  A very healthy landscape.  Imagine if we had healthy prairies all around us like we do crop fields.  Instead of deer getting in the road getting hit by cars, we'd have bison!!  So much diversity!!!!  A lot more fire as well.....!!
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 Me:  Well, take a walk through a prairie some time, and notice what's going on around you.  You'll never be in a place that has so much activity/interactions going on.  And it's all for the better.

Lobelia cardinalis & Lobelia siphilitica

Papilio glaucus