![Reaction to Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources State Natural Area [SNA] Strategy](https://theprairieenthusiasts.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/sna_reaction_pics.png)
by The Prairie Enthusiasts | Dec 7, 2021 | News
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources recently published A State Natural Area [SNA] Strategy(. Here I discuss one aspect of the Strategy that I applaud—the development of a formal procedure for SNA withdrawal. This is something that the conservation community needs to be talking about more. Challenges facing natural areas are increasing and changing, and some have already lost the characteristics that first merited their designation. Climate change is exerting pressure on natural communities, but passive neglect is a clear, if not dominant problem for natural communities that are fire-dependent. Frequently burned and otherwise well-stewarded sites are holding up quite well despite our present climate already departing significantly from what it was 200 years ago. Ignoring degradation of sites suffering from fire exclusion and general lack of stewardship only misleads the public and misrepresents what natural areas are. Our SNAs should be the places where we take ourselves and others on pilgrimage to receive inspiration that our best prairies, savannas, woodlands, forests, and wetlands freely give. This is fundamental to why many of us who work and/or volunteer in conservation do what we do. That inspiration has the power to compel others to join us in having a more reciprocal relationship to the land.
Franklin Savanna SNA in Milwaukee County is a good example of a site that could be considered for withdrawal. It was designated based on a regionally unique opportunity to restore mesic oak savanna that still had some persistent prairie- and savanna-associated species. However, little has been done to restore the savanna, and it continues to deteriorate. Most of its acreage presently consists of dense buckthorn under declining bur oaks with sparse ground layer vegetation dominated by weedy species. There is no fire. Franklin Savanna is certainly not a place I would take someone to show them mesic savanna. Tragically, there is not such a place in southern Wisconsin.
Franklin Savanna SNA (left) in Milwaukee County is a good example of a site that could be considered for withdrawal. Pleasant Valley Conservancy (center) and Black Earth Rettenmund (right) are examples of well-stewarded sites whose condition is being maintained – Photos by Dan Carter
There are other SNAs that might one day soon be considered for withdrawal, though their cases are generally less extreme. I am most familiar with SNAs near where I live southeastern Wisconsin. Karcher Springs and New Munster Bog Island SNAs (2) still retain a lot of their native biodiversity but they will continue to deteriorate without increased sustained stewardship. Cudahy Woods remains diverse for its urban location, but emerald ash borer has cut a swath right through the heart of it, and invasive species are proliferating at the expense of a rich spring flora. These places could lose much of what made them exceptional, at least regionally, within a decade or two.
None of this is to say that sites should be abandoned, even if some ultimately have SNA designations withdrawn. This is especially true where resources could be put into action. Franklin Savanna could be a very fine mesic savanna in thirty years’ time. If it were, mesic savanna inspiration would no longer require a road trip down to the Chicago suburbs. Bringing that inspiration closer to more people in the Milwaukee area would be a worthy effort that would extend beyond the site itself.
It hurts to recognize that we are still losing even legally protected natural areas when we’ve already lost so much. Acknowledging this can be downright politically fraught, so I’ll reiterate my applause of the Strategy for putting words on paper.
One group that gives us hope is the newly-formed Friends of Illinois Nature Preserves – read all about them here, and on Stephen Packard’s blog, Strategies for Stewards: from woods to prairies.
Dan Carter, Landowner Services Coordinator
[1] https://widnr.widen.net/s/zjhgzqvqdr/nh0401_lowres
[2] The island is noted for its yellow birch in a southerly location, but arguably what is more notable about it is that it also supports a unique example southern-dry mesic forest, which unlike most southern dry-mesic forests in its region doesn’t appear to simply be the result of hickory and black cherry colonizing oak savanna or oak woodland, and which unlike most upland sites in its region is minimally impacted by a history of continuous cattle grazing.
by The Prairie Enthusiasts | Nov 11, 2021 | News
Lonetree Farm, in rural Stockton, Illinois, gets busy this time of year with NIPE’s prairie seed mixes. Staff and volunteers spend hours picking native plant seeds from area prairies and savannas, separating seeds from the rest of the plant, drying seeds, and then sorting into their proper mixes for seeding and overseeding elsewhere.
Earlier this fall, NIPE received two and a half large lawn bags of common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) to help with these efforts. This is the milkweed that is so important to the Monarch butterfly life cycle. To use the seed in NIPE’s prairie seed mixes, it must be removed from the pods and de-fluffed. Paid staff and volunteers spent a total of 55 hours at Lonetree cleaning three wheelbarrows full of pods. The result was a little over eight pounds of clean seed.
(Photos of the Asclepias de-fluffing project: from wheelbarrows full of seed pods to de-fluffing to clean seed. Photos by Rickie Rachuy.)
In late September, NIPE’s Jim and Rickie Rachuy gave members of the Lake Carroll (Illinois) Prairie Club a tour of the rare plant gardens at Lonetree Farm. The tour also included time spent in the seed shed and greenhouse (currently housing more prairie plant seeds awaiting milling and bagging). Club members were allowed to process a few of their own collected seeds on the hammer mill in the seed shed.
In the Rare Plant Gardens at Lonetree Farm (photo by Pam Richards)
Working the Hammer Mill (photo by Pam Richards)
by The Prairie Enthusiasts | Nov 11, 2021 | News
Moely Prairie has had a presence on Instagram (@moelyprairie) and Facebook (For the Love of Moely Prairie) for the last several years, and during that time, my fellow volunteers and I have connected with many nature lovers around the world. One follower who I have come to know quite well is Stefan van Norden, the producer of a podcast called Nature Revisited. Earlier this spring, he asked if I would be open to doing a podcast about Moely Prairie. At first, I was a bit hesitant; my family and I have only been doing prairie restoration for about 5 years, and although we have certainly learned a lot about prairies in that time, we still don’t feel like we qualify as “experts” to speak with authority about prairie restoration.
Stefan explained that he was delighted by the photos on our Instagram page depicting our daily discoveries and was intrigued by our restoration efforts on this true remnant prairie. Sensing my hesitancy, he suggested that we forego the traditional podcast interview and instead create an episode that highlights the voices of the land owners, educators, students, conservation experts, and volunteers who appreciate, study, and work to restore Moely Prairie. Stefan’s excitement and vision made it an easy challenge to accept.
Over the summer, I conducted several on-site interviews. Barbara Moely, who owns the land with her sons and who donated the conservation easement that protects Moely Prairie in perpetuity, recorded her testimony from her home in California. My husband, Rick, went to work crafting a poetic narrative to highlight some of the natural and cultural history of the land, including the “where” and the “what” that make remnant prairies like Moely Prairie so special.
Week by week, I would send our audio files to Stefan, who wove parts of them into Rick’s narrative, and music created by Ben Cosgrove. We were given permission to use the song, “Cairn” from Ben’s most recent album, The Trouble with Wilderness. When I first heard the song, it immediately conjured pictures in my mind of Moely Prairie in its many seasons. We all agreed it would be the perfect accompaniment to the voices of Moely Prairie.
We are delighted with the final results and hope you, too, have a chance to listen. Find the podcast by subscribing to Nature Revisited on your favorite podcast streaming platform, on the Nature Revisited YouTube page, or at their website. As of this writing, the Moely Prairie episode has reached more listeners in the first 24 hours than any other podcast Stefan has produced. It’s a wonderful testament to the love people have for Moely Prairie and for all prairies in general.
by The Prairie Enthusiasts | Aug 31, 2021 | News
Learning about how to protect turtle nests. (Photo by Martha Querin-Schultz)
The Southwest Chapter of The Prairie Enthusiasts held a Wisconsin turtle workshop on Saturday, June 26, 2021, at Jack Kussmaul’s beautiful home near Woodman, Wisconsin.
“Taking Time for Turtles” was conducted by Dr. Rebecca Christoffel who is co-director of Turtles for Tomorrow, a non-profit organization devoted to protecting Wisconsin turtles.
Our enthusiastic group of 18 learned all about Wisconsin’s turtles from Dr. Christoffel, including who they are, how to identify them, where they’re found, and how they are managed and conserved. The group spent the morning in the classroom, learning about Wisconsin’s turtles and how to identify them including some practice identifications. Wisconsin has eleven turtle species. Ten are aquatic or semi-aquatic and one is strictly terrestrial (land dwelling).
Host Jack Kussmaul, along with guest speaker, Dr. Rebecca Christoffel, co-director of Turtles for Tomorrow). (Photo by Martha Querin-Schultz)
In the afternoon after lunch, we went to Jack’s amazing property which is along the Wisconsin River, searching for turtles and signs of turtles, and we learned what we can do to protect turtle nests found on our properties.
While we were out walking, a couple of wild turtles came right up on to Jack’s property to lay eggs. We also were able to get up close and personal with Dr. Christoffel’s “Ambassador Turtles” that she uses in her teachings. The group had the chance to meet and hold two of the endangered and threatened turtle species in Wisconsin, the wood turtle and ornate box turtle.
Thank you to Jack Kussmaul for hosting and thank you, Dr. Christoffel, for teaching us so much!
Article by Martha Querin-Schultz
by The Prairie Enthusiasts | Aug 31, 2021 | News
Some attendees trying to determine a species of native bumblebee (Photo & article by Susan Lipnick)
On June 27, biologist Bev Paulan treated Northwest Illinois Prairie Enthusiasts members and guests to the presentation “Native Plants Need Native Pollinators” at The Prairie Enthusiasts Hanley Savanna in rural Hanover, Illinois. The event, originally scheduled for late June 2020 but postponed because of COVID, was well worth the wait.
Topics included the following:
– Some history as to how native plants and native pollinators have adapted to each other and how the decline of one is contributing to the decline of the other in various areas of the world;
– The kinds of local native plant pollinators, which include bumblebees, wasps, flies, butterflies, moths, beetles, and birds. In other areas, bats and people are important pollinators;
– The needs of local native pollinators, including specific food and water sources, appropriate nesting sites, and overwintering sites;
– The dangers certain retail plants present to native pollinators, including cultivars or hybrids of native plants, nonnative plants, pesticides bred into GMO-modified plants;
– Problems resulting from efforts to boost populations of the nonnative honey bee; and
– Efforts home gardeners and prairie enthusiasts alike can take to boost populations of native plants. Bev also provided a list of “superfood” native forbs as well as the top five native tree species that support 90% of our local butterflies and moths. You can find This triptych of useful information on NIPE’s Facebook page, July 1, 2021 post.
After the presentation, attendees took the opportunity to ask questions and explored the prairies, trying to identify native pollinators on native plants.
Biologist Bev Paulan, presenter. (Photo by Susan Lipnick)
by The Prairie Enthusiasts | Jul 28, 2021 | News
“Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go.” William Feather
People who are passionate about prairie restoration are a rare breed. However, as the number of these prairie warriors grow, so too will the numbers of successfully grown rare and endangered plants in our states. We recently heard about some tiny successes with rare plants on a small farm in Illinois that are huge reasons for celebration.
Wood Lily blooming – Photo by Rickie Rachuy
Where others might plant a seed and just move on if a plant didn’t grow, prairie enthusiasts often find the most rare or endangered plants and work for years to get just a single bloom on one plant. It is this grit and determination that will, over time, make an incredible difference in ecosystems across the upper Midwest.
One such story is unfolding in Stockton, Illinois. NIPEs Rickie Rachuy is thrilled to share some exciting success stories in the rare plants garden at Lonetree Farm.
Hill’s Thistle – Photo by Rickie Rachuy
– The first blooms on Asclepias purpurascens, started from seed in 2015
– The first seedlings of Gentianella quinquefolia after three years of trying to get wild-harvested seed to germinate
– The first flowers on Lilium philadelphicum (wood lily) from seed donated by Kathie Brock after the initial seedlings were uprooted by raccoons in 2017
– The first flowers on Circium hillii (Hill’s thistle) from seed donated by Tom Mitchell in 2019
– Several healthy Clematis pitcherii plants from cuttings taken from the only known plant in northwest Illinois
– One seedling of Clematis occidentalis, from Prairie Moon seed started Feb. 1, 2020
Karen Reed, newest addition to the NIPE team, and garden/seed shed helper. (Photo by Rickie Rachuy)
Thank you for sharing this great news, Rickie. While to the general population, these may appear to be little events, in the world of prairie restoration, these are some moments to truly treasure and celebrate. We can’t wait to have an update a year from now to hear how things are going.
Do you have some success stories you would like to share? Please send those to ksolverson@theprairieenthusiasts.org for possible inclusion in one of our future newsletters.
