To see photos and stories of this prairie in other years, go to the links on the main Big View Prairie page.]
We did a lot of work on Big View Prairie this year – on the main remnant, the savanna below, the savanna above it, and on Corner View Prairie – the small remnant just to the west of the main prairie.
In January and February Erik and Beth from Kule Region Forestry worked for several weeks clearing small trees and brush from the savanna below the prairie remnant. They did a wonderful job – they finished clearing nearly the whole width of the savanna so it’s now very open with scattered oak trees.
1/30/2022 Beth and Erik working on the savanna
1/30/2022
2/6/2022 Cleared savanna
2/6/2022 Cleared savanna with the uncleared part on the left
3/15/2022 More of their work areas with burn scars. These scars will stay open for a few years, but eventually they’ll fill in.
3/15/2022 This is a depression in the hillside that was mostly brush before they cleared it.
5/19/2022 Spring view of the cleared savanna – looking down the valley.
5/19/2022
I did my usual garlic mustard control work in May, and removed burdock in August – mostly in the upper savanna.
At the end of August we did some work on Corner View Prairie – the first in a long time.
8/22/2022 Corner View Prairie after I’d done just a little clearing in the center of the photo. The prairie had become overgrown with sumac, gray dogwood, and Queen Anne’s Lace.
8/22/2022 More of the sumac on Corner View Prairie
9/1/2022 Now the sumac is gone – at least from the center of the prairie. The edges still need work. I also pulled Queen Anne’s Lace and cut and treated Gray Dogwood, honeysuckle and buckthorn.
10/25/2022 View down the valley
In October we tried cutting some of the brush that had grown up just above Pine Point Prairie – where the pines used to be. It was just too difficult for us – it would have taken us weeks to finish. So we asked Erik (Kule Region Forestry) to come with his mulching machine. He came for several days and mulched (cut down and shredded) all the brush that had grown back in that area, all the old pine stumps, and also the very thick brush in the western end of the old pine plantation. And he drove the mulcher up into the western part of the savanna, as far as he could go. Now that end of the savanna is much more open too. I have seeds ready to plant in the newly cleared areas once winter comes.
10/29/2022 This was once a pine plantation. Erik was able to mulch the old stumps so now we’ll be able to maintain the prairie that I’ve planted.
10/28/2022 The was an area of thick brush that grew up where the pine plantation had been. Erik and his mulching machine are working on the last bit of the brushy jungle.
10/28/2022
10/29/2022 The mulched strip below the savanna
Also in October, Mike and I cleared out the fallen trees and brush from the savanna above Big View remnant. Now we can walk there, and it will be much easier to do my burdock and garlic mustard projects. And we cut and treated most of the sumac clone that had been taking over the main part of the remnant.
10/25/2022 The upper savanna before we started work.
10/29/2022 Mike and the tractor hauling away piles of fallen logs and brush
10/29/2022 A much more open and accessible savanna
10/30/2022 We’ll continue to mow this path through the upper savanna so we can get in to work and check to see how it’s recovering.
10/31/2022 This is the view looking from the upper savanna out over the remnant prairie and down the valley. We decided we should cut and treat the sumac clone that was taking over the prairie.
10/31/2022 Sumac at the top of the prairie – the thickest part of the clone
11/2/2022 The sumac was spreading from the top, down into the open prairie.
11/6/2022 Mike after cutting and treating a lot of sumac
11/2/2022 The view down the valley
11/6/2022 We finished cutting most of the sumac – there’s still some on the edges that will have to wait until next year. Some of the cut sumac is in piles, waiting to be hauled away the next time Mike drives the tractor out here. Some I threw down the hill to the area where Erik and Beth will be burning brush piles later in the winter.
12/18/2022
