Twisted Oak Savanna – 2018

[To see photos and stories of the savanna in other years, see the links on the main Twisted Oak Savanna page.]

We did our usual spring mowing in all the savanna areas. And we spent a few weeks in late fall making a new path through the north end of the savanna.

4/12/2018

5/2/2018 This is the new part of the savanna – the area we cleared in late fall 2017.

5/2/2018 Mike moved a lot of the fallen logs from this area, to give the prairie a chance to come back.

5/15/2018

5/31/2018 The area that was cleared last winter – Ragwort Opening in the foreground, savanna beyond.

5/31/2018 Balsam Ragwort and Spreading Dogbane coming up at the edges of Ragwort Opening

Balsam Ragwort

5/31/2018 Looking from Ragwort Opening back into the older cleared part of the savanna

6/4/2018 Newly cleared savanna

8/25/2018 Ragwort Opening

10/12/2018

10/12/2018 We’ve never liked the path through this end of the savanna. It was steeply sloped, so it was scary to drive on, and the tractor would slide, especially in wet weather, and leave big scars. So we decided to make a new path on the flat top of the ridge, through a new section of overgrown savanna. This photo shows the older cleared part of the savanna, with the old path on the right side of the photo, curving back through the trees.

10/21/2018 This is the entrance to the savanna from Buffalo Ridge Prairie, before we started cutting the new path. The old path is on the right. The new path will go to the left.

10/21/2018 We cleared out fallen logs and small trees, and then Mike mowed through to make the path.

10/21/2018 The beginning of the new path

10/22/2018 Making more progress

10/23/2018

10/25/2018 Coming out the other side of the woods

10/27/2018 The path is finished. Now we need to to clear between the old and new paths, and to cut and treat buckthorn that has gotten established east of the new path.