I spoke with my dad yesterday and layed out a prairie and savanna restoration plan for this spring at the farm. I'll be ordering seed soon for a 1 acre prairie planting in an existing agricultural field (bean field pictured above) and Bur Oak saplings to extend the existing oak savanna.
4 comments:
pNeat idea. Will you have to burn every year, like they do at Greenwing?
From the research I have done it will take up to 3 years from the time of planting for the plants to grow big enough to carry a fire. Even then, I've read it's recommended to burn every other year, and only 1/3 of the total area in a given year to allow the critters living in it a chance to escape to safe habitat. This is the procedure that they have adopted at Fermilab and it has proven to be successful.
I'm expecting the prairie planting to be a HUGE test in patience. Plant, wait, wait, wait, and wait some more.
It's great to see others who are interested in natural community restoration as a hobby! I have been restoring about 20 acres of mesic prairie and oak openings in southeastern Michigan for the last 3 years. It has been a fun and educational experience too!
Something that I have found to be really important as I learn more about the process is the idea of collecting as much local seed for your restoration as possible. This is to preserve the local plant genotypes in your area thereby making the restoration more authentic. If you buy seed from someone, try to get seed that was derived from native Illinois plants.
Good Luck!!
savannagain,
Thanks for your inspiring comments! I'm glad you found my site.
I have been doing a lot of research on obtaining local seed varieties. There is a seed supplier in Minnesota called Prairie Moon that sells a seed mix specifically designed for the Chicagoland area. I plan to buy seed from them to plant in the existing agricultural field, and then enhance the mix with seeds I've obtained from local prairie remnants. Unfortunately, it's difficult to harvest large quantities of local seed, mainly due to time.
Our savanna is fortunate to have avoided the plow (although we believe it was grazed by cattle for many years) so it still contains some native flowers. We have identified Prairie Trilliums, Trout Lilies, and Mayapples so far. We are working to restore the savanna through burning and invasive plant removal, then using the interseeding technique to introduce native plants without destroying the existing flora.
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