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- Blowing Against the Wind?
- Photo of the Week – May 16, 2013
- Join Us For The Platte River Prairies Field Day: July 12, 2013
- Keeping a Low Profile in the Spring
- Photo of the Week – May 9, 2013
- A Prickly Confrontation
- Photo of the Week – May 2, 2013
- Capturing Post-Wildfire Recovery Through Timelapse Photography
- A Dandy Little Predator
- A Prairie Ecologist’s Perspective on Arbor Day
- Photo of the Week – April 25, 2013
- Tuning Into Fire Frequency
- Photo of the Week – April 18, 2013
- The Annual Grassland Restoration Network Workshop – Coming to A Prairie Near You (If You’re Near Columbia, Missouri)
- A Weekend Walk in the Woods
- Photo of the Week – April 11, 2013
- An Ill Wind…
- Is Poison Hemlock Repelled By Plant Diversity? Early Results Say Yes
- Photo of the Week – April 5, 2013
- Why A Warming Climate Is Making This Spring So Cold (… and Last Spring So Warm)
Tag Archives: grazing
Lessons From a Project to Improve Prairie Quality – Part 1: Patch-Burn Grazing, Plant Diversity, and Butterflies
We recently completed a large multi-year restoration and management project at our Platte River Prairies. Our specific objectives were to improve habitat quality for various at-risk prairie species and evaluate the impacts of our management on at-risk butterflies – particularly … Continue reading
Posted in Prairie Animals, Prairie Insects, Prairie Management, Prairie Natural History, Prairie Photography, Prairie Plants, Prairie Restoration/Reconstruction
Tagged at-risk species, burning, butterflies, conservation, conservation grazing, conservative plants, fire, floristic quality, grassland, grassland management, grazing, grazing impacts on prairie, grazing prairie, habitat quality, land management, lessons learned, nebraska, patch-burn grazing, platte river, platte river prairies, pollinators, prairie, prairie management, prairie restoration, prescribed fire, regal fritillary, research, state wildlife grant, stewardship, the nature conservancy
13 Comments
Dealing With a Pervasive Invasive – Kentucky Bluegrass in Prairies
Many of the prairies we manage have pretty degraded plant communities, characterized by low plant diversity and dominance by a few grass species – including the invasive Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis). Our primary objective for these prairies is to increase plant diversity, … Continue reading
Posted in Prairie Management, Prairie Plants, Prairie Restoration/Reconstruction
Tagged blanket, bluegrass blanket, control, controlled burns, grassland, grazing, how to control kentucky bluegrass, invasive grass, invasive species, kentucky bluegrass, measuring success, plant diversity, platte river prairies, prairie, prairie management, prescribed fire, rangeland, suppression
34 Comments
Sunflowers: Staring Me Right in the Face
It’s awfully frustrating when I fail to solve a puzzle - especially when all the information I need is right in front of me. As an ecologist, I’m supposed to be good at this sort of thing. Ecologists, after all, study the interactions … Continue reading
Posted in General, Prairie Management, Prairie Plants, Prairie Restoration/Reconstruction
Tagged annual sunflower, controlled burn, garden sunflower, grassland, grazing, helianthus annuus, nebraska, patch-burn grazing, platte river, prairie, prescribed fire, response to fire, response to grazing
3 Comments
Looking for Ecological Impacts? Urine Luck!
I came across a copy of one of my all-time favorite research articles the other day. The paper tells a great story about the kinds of complex interactions that occur between the biotic and abiotic components of an ecosystem, including … Continue reading
Posted in General, Prairie Management, Prairie Natural History
Tagged bison, cattle, effects, effects of urine, grazing, livestock, plant community, prairie, prairie ecology, prairie management, urine
10 Comments
Sweet Clover: Ugly but Harmless? Or Dangerous Invasive Species?
Why is sweet clover the target of aggressive control by some prairie managers and largely ignored by others? After talking to a number of people across the Midwest and Great Plains, I think there are a couple of things happening. … Continue reading
Grandpa’s “Accidental” Prairie Restoration Project
In the late 1950’s, my grandfather bought a quarter section of farmland just southwest of Stockham, Nebraska. At the time, all but about 26 acres of that 160 acre land parcel was in row crops. The unfarmed areas (the steepest … Continue reading
Report from the 2011 Grassland Restoration Network – Part 2: Grassland Birds
The Grassland Restoration Network’s 2011 annual meeting was at The Nature Conservancy’s Kankakee Sands prairie/wetland restoration site in Indiana. This year, we focused more than usual on creating habitat for various animal taxa, and I previously reported on the herpetology … Continue reading
Posted in General, Prairie Management, Prairie Natural History, Prairie Photography, Prairie Plants, Prairie Restoration/Reconstruction
Tagged bobolink, dickcissel, grasshopper sparrow, grassland birds, grazing, habitat, henslow's sparrow, indiana, kankakee sands, management, prairie birds, prairie reconstruction, prairie restoration, prescribed fire, upland sandpiper, wetland
14 Comments
Are Botanists Ruining Prairies?
No, I’m not saying they do. I’m merely conducting a thought exercise, and inviting you to come along for the ride. …No, really – some of my best friends are botanists! And I’m pretty sure they have a good … Continue reading
Posted in General, Prairie Insects, Prairie Management, Prairie Natural History, Prairie Photography, Prairie Plants, Prairie Restoration/Reconstruction
Tagged botanists, conservation success, conservative plants, floristic quality, grassland, grazing, prairie conservation, prairie management, prairie restoration, summer fire
26 Comments
Photo of the Week – June 17, 2011
I just returned from a trip to The Nature Conservancy’s Broken Kettle Grasslands in Iowa. Scott Moats, who has managed the preserve for 15 years, is one of my favorite people to work with. His ability to interact with people - especially his neighbors … Continue reading
