Indian Grass Point 2014

It’s been fun this year to see what happened to the savanna areas we cleared last fall.     I also worked more on clearing the steep prairie sides of the prairie point, and, in late fall, we did more savanna work – enlarging the remnant savanna even more.

[To see photos and stories of this prairie in other years, go to the links on the main Indian Grass Point page.]

Here are some photos from this year.

1/14/2014  east slope of the point that I cleared last year.

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2/13/14  view south from the point

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3/13/2014  looking up at the tip of the point

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3/13/2014  another slope of the prairie point, with fallen birches

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3/20/2014

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4/2/2014   I cleared out a few more tangles of vines and raspberries from the point.

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4/5/2014  Savanna remnant in the snow

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4/7/2014

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4/15/2014  One of the remnant openings that’s been growing up in raspberries, prickly ash, and honeysuckles.  I especially wanted to cut and treat the honeysuckle stumps so they wouldn’t grow back.

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4/20/2014  View of the point from Western Valley

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5/11/2014   Savanna turning green

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5/23/2014  This is part of the west-facing slope of the point that I cleared last fall.  Pussytoes, Hoary Puccoon and other prairie flowers are blooming here already.

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5/23/2014  Blue-eyed Grass

5-23-14 2 Blue eyed grass

 

5/23/2014  Bastard Toadflax

5-23-14 3 bastard toadflax

 

5/23/2014   Sand Cress

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5/23/2014  More of the cleared prairie – with more work to do beyond.

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6/3/2014   This is just above the house, along the path up the hill.  This slope should all be prairie and savanna – it faces south and there are prairie plants under the trees.  I’m slowly clearing it both from the bottom and from the top, but it’s very slow.  This is the bottom of the slope.

6-3-14 1 path up the hill

 

6/3/2014  East-facing side of the point – the first spring after clearing

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6/3/2014  Savanna flowers

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6/4/2014  West-facing slope of the point – Wild Columbine

6-4-14 4 west slope

 

6/4/2014   Balsam Ragwort

6-4-14 5 ragwort

 

6/4/2014  Savanna

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7/2/2014  The point with Harebell and Prairie Coreopsis

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7/10/2014  Prairie Coreopsis

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8/15/2014   Another  project I did was to pull Queen Anne’s Lace.   It’s a weed that I’ll probably never get rid of, but it’s a distraction from the natives that are starting to come back – it makes them much harder to see.  This was taken before I started.

8-15-14 1 before weeding

 

8/16/2014  And this is after weeding it.

8-16-14 1 after weeding

 

8/16/2014  Savanna

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8/16/2014  Savanna looking out toward the point

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8/16/2014  Ragwort Opening

8-16-14 4 ragwort opening

 

8/16/2014  Last year’s savanna clearing project

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8/25/2014  Last year’s savanna clearing

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8/25/2014  Path looking in to the savanna

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8/26/2014   View from the point

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8/27/2014   Clearing by the path at the bottom of the hill

8-27-14 1 path up the hill

 

8/27/2014  West facing slope – this shows the big raspberry patch which has covered the brush pile I made when I was clearing the hill.  8-27-14 3

 

8/27/2014  Sand Cherry – a small native shrub that I’ve never found on our land before

8-27-14 2 sand cherry

 

8/27/2014  East-facing slope of the point

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8/27/2014  West-facing slope

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8/27/2014  Savanna project

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9/6/2014  We used the weed-whacker to cut some of the sumac and raspberries that were encroaching on the prairie.  This was taken before we started.

9-6-14 1 before

 

9/6/2014  And this is the same place after cutting

9-6-14 1 after

 

9/6/2014   Another of the areas where we cut sumac – before

9-6-14 2 before

 

9/6/2014  and after

9-6-14 2 after

 

9/21/2014   West slope of the point

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10/5/2014  We decided to start clearing the east side of the path.  This is before we started.

10-5-14 1 before clearing

 

10/5/2014  Before we started – looking from the other direction – toward the point

10-5-14 2 before clearing

 

10/5/2014  In progress – lots of cut brush, and a few of the piles

10-5-14 3 in progress

 

10/10/2014   After cutting a big part of the savanna on the right – with lots of brush piles

10-10-14 1 in progress

 

10/16/2014  After removing brush piles

10-16-14 1 in progress

 

10/20/2014  Last year’s savanna project

 

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10/31/2014  Last year’s savanna project, with this year’s project behind and to the left

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11/12/2014  The end of clearing projects for this year.

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