[To see photos and stories of this prairie in other years, go to the links on the main Hidden Oaks Point page.]
This fall we finally tackled the line of trees and brush dividing Hidden Oaks Meadow from the Narrows Prairie. Hidden Oaks Meadow is a small mesic remnant. We’ve been mowing the edges to enlarge it, and working on connecting it to the larger savanna and prairie remnant of Hidden Oaks Point. The Narrows Prairie is the narrow planted prairie along its northern edge. So most of these photos are ‘before’ pictures. We started cutting brush in October and finished just as the snow arrived in early November.
4/25/14 – looking north into Hidden Oaks Meadow; the Narrows Prairie is beyond the meadow – past the line of scrubby trees
4/25/2014 looking the other way – south through Hidden Oaks savanna
5/14/2014 This is the bottom of Hidden Oaks Point, looking up. We’ve done some clearing and mowing in this area, and girdled most of the birches.
5/29/2014 looking south through the former aspen grove, to Hidden Oaks savanna
7/6/2014 the view looking out from Hidden Oaks Point
7/23/2014 Hidden Oaks Point
7/23/2014 Hidden Oaks Point – I’ve girdled the birches, and cleared a lot of the brush and small trees on this slope.
7/23/2104 Another view of the same slope
7/23/2014 Looking north into Hidden Oaks Meadow
8/1/2014 the path through Hidden Oaks Savanna, to Hidden Oaks Point
8/20/2014 Hidden Oaks Meadow
8/20/2014 Hidden Oaks Point
8/23/2014 Hidden Oaks Point on a misty day
9/9/2014 This is at the bottom of Hidden Oaks Point – an area which had never been plowed, and we’d mowed a few times. This year it was full of asters and Round-headed Bush Clover.
9/9/2014 Showy Goldenrod on the point
9/20/2014 Showy Goldenrod and asters in Hidden Oaks Meadow
9/26/2014 Hidden Oaks Meadow with asters, Showy Goldenrod, and the yellow leaves of Indian Hemp (Apocynum cannabinum).
9/26/2014 Hidden Oaks Point
9/26/2014 Hidden Oaks Point
10/16/2014 the path through Hidden Oaks Savanna
10/16/2014 Hidden Oaks Savanna
9/21/2014 Hidden Oaks Savanna
9/21/2014 Hidden Oaks Savanna
10/21/2014 Hidden Oaks Savanna
10/22/2014 This is Hidden Oaks Meadow just before we started clearing the far edge.
10/22/2014 Looking through the brush into Hidden Oaks Meadow from the north – from the Narrows Prairie
10/22/2014 This is after we’d cut most of the brush and made it into piles.
10/22/2014 Looking from the other direction – from Hidden Oaks Meadow toward the Narrows Prairie. The big apple trees have been cut, and the line of brush between the two areas is mostly gone.
11/9/2014 Looking across Hidden Oaks Meadow after all the clearing was done, and the piles moved away. Now we can see across into the Narrows Prairie. 
11/9/2014 And from the other direction we can see almost all the way to the point.
11/9/2014 This is the sandy area at the bottom of Hidden Oaks Point. I did some clearing this fall – enough to make a wide path through the brush.
11/9/2014 The aster/bush clover area at the bottom of the point.
11/12/2014 Our clearing project ended abruptly.
11/12/2014 Looking north through Hidden Oaks Meadow
11/12/2014 Hidden Oaks Point
