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- Photo of the Week – May 23, 2013
- 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
Tag Archives: invasive species
Blowing Against the Wind?
As I mentioned last week, I recently spent a couple days helping our land manager, Nelson Winkel, pull garlic mustard at our Rulo Bluffs Preserve in southeast Nebraska. The invasive species has just started to invade our property within the last several years. We’ve heard … Continue reading
Posted in Prairie Animals, Prairie Insects, Prairie Management, Prairie Natural History, Prairie Photography, Prairie Plants
Tagged biocontrol, burning, control, controlled burning, garlic mustard, herbicide, invasive species, oak hickory woodland, oak woodland, prescribed fire, rulo bluffs preserve, weed, weed control, woods
18 Comments
Killing Small Trees in Prairies – A Helpful Tool
One of the greatest challenges of prairie management, especially in small eastern prairies, is managing the invasion of small deciduous trees. Most prairie species (plant and animal alike) thrive best in open treeless habitats. Encroaching trees can fragment large prairies into smaller pieces, … Continue reading
Posted in Prairie Management, Prairie Plants, Prairie Restoration/Reconstruction
Tagged controlling trees, grassland, how to control invasive trees, how to kill trees, how to kill trees in prairie, invasive species, invasive trees, prairie, prairie management, range management, suppressing trees, trees in prairies, woody plants
20 Comments
Wildfire Recovery at The Niobrara Valley Preserve – Asking The Big Questions
Most of you are familiar with the wildfire that affected our Niobrara Valley Preserve this summer. Well, we’re still trying to regain our footing after that event. A great deal of time and money has already been spent on rebuilding … Continue reading
Posted in Prairie Management, Prairie Natural History, Prairie Photography, Prairie Plants
Tagged 2012, documentation, eastern red cedar, erosion, evaluation, invasive species, monitoring, nebraska, niobrara valley preserve, ponderosa pine, recovery, research, research questions, seed bank, soil erosion, wildfire
22 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
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
Purist or Pragmatist? Identifying and Addressing Non-Native vs. Invasive Species in Prairies.
Recently, there has been a lot of consternation and confusion among biologists and the public about invasive species. Much of the confusion comes from misusing the term “invasive species”, and particularly the practice of using the terms “non-native (or exotic) … Continue reading
Posted in General, Prairie Management, Prairie Natural History, Prairie Plants
Tagged confusion, crown vetch, ecological resilience, goatsbeard, grassland, invasive or not?, invasive species, non-native species, prairie, priority, purist, salsify, salt cedar, southwestern willow flycatcher, species diversity, sweet clover, tragopogon
12 Comments
Butterflies on Noxious Weeds
As I mentioned in my last post, regal fritillaries are out in high numbers in our Platte River Prairies. We’re watching – among other things – what plant species they’re using for nectaring, and are interested to see if that … Continue reading
Photo of the Week – April 21, 2011
Spring is the time for early wildflowers, cool rain showers, and northward-migrating birds. It’s also the time during which smooth brome and other invasive cool-season grasses get their annual jump on the competition. Suppressing invasive grasses and allowing native grasses and forbs … Continue reading
Aiding and Abetting Invasive Species
HAPPY (?) NATIONAL INVASIVE SPECIES AWARENESS WEEK It’s bad enough that invasive species are taking over our prairies and other natural areas. Why do we insist on helping them do it? When my dad was in high school in the … Continue reading
Posted in General, Prairie Management, Prairie Natural History, Prairie Plants
Tagged birdsfoot trefoil, grassland, invasive species, leafy spurge, noxious weed, nursery, plant materials center, prairie, roundup ready bentgrass, roundup ready bluegrass, russian olive, sericea lespdeza, shasta daisy, siberian elm, smooth brome, trees, weeds, wildflowers
16 Comments
