[To see photos and stories of this prairie in other years, go to the links on the main Indian Grass Point page.]
This year we did projects in several different places on the point.
We cleared brush on the lowest part of the point near Western Road – some work in the spring, some in the fall. I planted more Wood Lily plugs, most of them on the tip of the point and on the east-facing slope. I cut and treated sumac on the most open part of the point, and cut and treated brush on both the east and west-facing slopes. I cut and treated woody stems on the flat top of the point and down into the small remnant on the west-facing slope.
In late fall we cut brush and trees to open up the northern edge of the point, working our way down the west-facing slope. We made lots of progress – that area is very open now. But there’s still a thick growth of honeysuckle and other shrubs on the lower slope.
1/31/2020
1/31/2020 A view of the point from Radio Road – looking east at the west-facing slope.
1/31/2020
3/1/2020 Up the path toward the point
3/17/2020 East-facing hillside just below the prairie. I cut and treated brambles and other brush, but there’s a lot left.
3/17/2020
3/21/2020 We made steps in the path up to the point. We need to finish this project – the steps help prevent erosion, and make it much easier to walk.
4/1/2020 Black Oak on the top of the point after spring mowing
4/1/2020 Clearing the lowest part of the point, just above Western Road.
4/4/2020 It’s much more open now, but there’s a thicket of honeysuckles left.
4/5/2020
5/4/2020 Clearing work along Western Road showing the open area with the thicket of honeysuckles beyond.
5/16/2020 Wood Betony blooming along the path
5/16/2020 Cleared area near Western Road with Wood Betony
5/24/2020 Yellow Star-grass along the path
5/29/2020 Top of the point with Hoary Puccoon
6/1/2020 East facing slope of the point with Balsam Ragwort
6/1/2020
6/22/2020 Along Western Road
6/27/2020 East slope with Harebells
7/16/2020 Prairie Coreopsis
7/21/2020 East-facing slope – before pulling Sweet Clover.
7/22/2020
7/24/2020 West-facing slope. This bottom area was a pile of cut brambles (from when I first cleared this hillside) for a long time. It’s still quite shaded from below and has brush that needs to be cut, but prairie plants are starting to come back.
7/22/2020 This is a flat area on top of the point – west side of the path – that has many prairie plants, but also Queen Anne’s Lace, sumac, Prickly Ash and Honeysuckle.
8/10/2020 I spent several weeks here, cutting and treating brush and pulling Queen Anne’s Lace.
8/24/2020 The other side of the path – I had cleared this last year.
8/25/2020 West side of the path partly cleared
9/23/2020
9/28/2020 Looking north toward the bench and the Black Oak
9/29/2020 October Lady’s Tresses – I found numerous plants while working in the flat area west of the path.
10/2/2020 Flat area west of the path after clearing
10/9/2020 East-facing savanna hillside
11/5/2020 Clearing on the top, and working our way down the west-facing hillside. Most of what we were clearing was buckthorn, honeysuckle and brambles.
11/5 – 11/9/2020 Before and after work on this west-facing hillside
11/7/2020 top area that we had cleared in 2019
11/7/2020
11/7/2020 East-facing slope at lower edge of the open prairie.
11/7/2020 East-facing slope below the open prairie
11/19/2020 Top clearing project with piles
11/21/2020
11/26/2020 More sumac cutting on the point
12/8/2020 No snow until very late in December, so I worked more on the project next to Western Road. I was able to remove all of the honeysuckle thicket, and we cut some of the small trees.
12/9/2020 From Western Road – no more honeysuckle
12/26/2020