We’ve started to do a lot of clearing work on this point. It’s close to the house, so it doesn’t take long to get there, and we go through it a lot on our regular walks. Every time we walk by we’re rewarded by the changes we’ve made.
[To see photos and stories of this prairie in other years, go to the links on the main Indian Grass Point page.]
2/5/2011 – too snowy to do any work yet.
5/8/2011 I’ve been clearing the west-facing slope by hand – climbing up on my knees, clipping brush and spraying the stumps with herbicide. It’s so steep that we can’t possibly mow it. This is the upper part of the slope – it’s newly cleared.
5/26/2011 I’ve been working on the lower part of the slope for a few years, so there are prairie plants coming back.
5/26/2011 Lots of Wild Columbine
10/21/2011 The upper part of the western slope, late in the year. These birches have all been girdled, and most are dead, but it takes them a while to fall. Thick brush still crowds out the prairie under the farther birches.
10/28/2011 View from the point, over Center Valley
10/31/2011 The prairie point, looking north
10/31/2011 More of the western slope – this was cleared in the spring.
11/21/2011 This is what the brush that I’m cutting looks like before it’s cut.
11/21/2011 After brush cutting
11/21/2011 After brush cutting
11/21/2011 View of the whole west-facing slope – all of this has been cleared by hand, and the prairie is starting to come back.
11/21/2011 The opposite side of the point – facing east. This is also prairie, and I’m slowly clearing the brush here too.
12/11/2011 Snow on the point
