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

I did a lot of work this year on the east and west facing slopes of the point.  It was all hand work – cutting brush and treating the stumps with roundup.

2/23/2008  The west-facing slope

3/27/2008   view of Center Valley from the point

4/13/2008   The west opening – an overgrown remnant that connects with the savanna area on the top of the point that we’ve been mowing and hand clearing.  This top area is pretty clear of brush now, and I’ve started girdling the birches.

4/13/2008   A view of the lower part of the west opening – lots of birches to work on, and sumac to cut.

4/13/2008   This is the aspen woods on top of the point, along the east side of the path.    I girdled the aspens several years ago, and they’re all dying and falling down now.

4/13/2008  The tangle of dead aspen logs on the ground

5/26/2008  The prairie point and view of Center Valley

6/6/2008  The nicest surprise in the mowed savanna this year was Balsam Ragwort.

6/7/2008  Balsam Ragwort (Packera paupercula)

7/13/2008  Prairie Coreopsis grows in the steep sunny spots on the point.

8/16/2008  We didn’t mow the savanna area this year.  It’s still pretty weedy – lots of Queen Anne’s Lace, and the bushes (honeysuckle and prickly ash) that we cut but didn’t treat are coming back.  I pulled most of the Queen Anne’s Lace and recut and treated some of the bushes.

8/23/2008  Tall Thistle – a native thistle that grows in shady places

9/11/2008   The white flowers are White Snakeroot (Eupatorium rugosum).

9/11/2008  the path with dead aspen and lots of brush

9/11/2008   The prairie remnant – looking south toward the point

9/11/2008   This is the point – the dry goat prairie – with Gray Goldenrod, Prairie Dropseed, and Asters

10/9/2008

10/12/2008   These are places on the prairie point that have much brush to clear.

10/12/2008  More brush

10/16/2008  This is the steep west slope of the point.  I’ve been working hard on clearing it because the ground layer of plants are all prairie.  It’s very steep, so I do most of the cutting on my knees.

10/16/2008  The same slope – a little more cleared out

10/23/2008  A Hill’s Oak on the top of the point

10/23/2008   This is looking down the steep west slope from the top.  I’ve cleared most of the brush on this part of the hill.  I threw the cut brush down the hill, and made a huge brush pile at the bottom.

10/23/2008  This is another part of the same slope – with a thicket of prickly ash below the birches.