What a Difference a Year Makes!
Article by Rob Schubert, Empire-Sauk Chapter Land Manager and Site Steward
June 2, 2026
Volunteer winter work party group. Photo by Rob Shubert.
Progress at Giordano Oak Barrens and Sand Prairie has been fantastic! We’ve been able to affect more than 14.5 acres of intensive tree and brush removal since efforts at the 40-acre site in Columbia County began in January 2025. Not many of those can be counted as “completed acres,” but we have been able to accomplish a lot of the work required to restore this site.
The effort has come from multiple sources. Empire-Sauk Chapter land management staff have been crucial. Volunteer interest and turnout have been consistently growing over the past two years, with a small but dedicated group of locals now actively involved. Engaging partners has resulted in much more progress than what otherwise could have been accomplished. And, in addition to all of this, there is some degree of luck.
The first big push came with help from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services (USFWS).
Brendan Woodall, formerly of USFWS, and I developed a suitable scope of work. We were limited by which methods could be implemented on the site. We also needed to make fast progress to build success and justify project costs. We determined that using hydraulic tree shears would be the best approach; they would allow us to impact a large area, make a clear and dramatic shift in the natural community, minimize impact to sensitive features and limit the initial follow up required.
We were able to hire a contractor to remove cedar and pine on approximately eight acres using $10,000 of available funding. This work was conducted expertly by Keith Baker of WiseAxe, LLC. Using a mini excavator and hydraulic shears, Keith was able to cut off cedars and pines at ground level, thus opening the most intact sand prairie in a way that did not result in soil disturbance or cause significant resprouting of hardwood species. Trees that were too large in diameter to remove, he de-limbed and sheared where he could reach, sometimes 20 feet up the trunk, leaving the spires which now add a bit of whimsy to the site.
Keith is an amazing equipment operator, and I wish I had been able to spend more time watching him at his craft. Unfortunately, I had to head down to Missouri for a training. While I was away, Evan Nelson helped oversee the work on my behalf. This wouldn’t be the last time Evan’s involvement proved important.
After Keith finished his work, there were brush piles everywhere. These piles needed to be consolidated and moved. Without snow on the ground and the ability to burn, the work was even harder. Evan spent multiple days moving material with his tractor. Bo Hendrickson (formerly with USFWS) also came down and spent a day moving material with a skid steer.
Without this help, we would not have been able to get all the material moved and minimize burn scars. I’d been adding about three new plant species to the inventory list each time I visited the site. Knowing there was still a lot to be discovered and that these newly observed populations were small and scattered across the site, I needed to avoid accidentally extirpating species.
Removing cedars from the most extant prairie and sand blows was the main priority. Eliminating the threat of encroachment and intensive follow-up maintenance was another major concern.
Black locust occupied three main areas when the property was acquired. Two of the areas occupy the most degraded, lowest priority areas; the third was immediately adjacent to the sand prairie.
Shala and Rob felling pines. Photo by Luke DeBiasio.
The clone was spreading. About 2.5 acres of black locust needed to be removed, and quickly! The area was also strategically important to be able to plan burn units and reintroduce prescribed fire to the site.
Black locust is notoriously difficult to control. It’s a clonal species that spreads via roots and can persistently re-sprout following removal efforts. Effective control requires, in part, specialized herbicide, which is both expensive and very capable of causing undesirable impacts to other legume species, such as lead plant and goat’s rue, especially in sandy soils.
Foliar spraying of black locust resprouts for years on end was not a viable option.
To avoid chasing black locust indefinitely, we needed to get the entire clone cut in a single dormant season. The former stand was approximately 2.5 acres. With 100 to 200 trees per acre, we were going to need to cut some trees.
Luckily for us, Evan Nelson lives just down the road. Evan owns Good Oak Ecological Services and brings the full complement of skills, equipment and knowledge it takes to implement ecological restoration and land management.
Evan brought two of his staff to join James Haas (former Chapter Crew Leader) and me, and we spent a day cutting black locust and piling and burning material. With four of us cutting trees and Evan on the tractor, we punched a big hole in the stand that day.
Most of the material that Evan and Bo moved off the sand prairie got piled and burned in the area where the black locust was being removed. Thus, we were able to achieve two tasks at once.
Before land stewardship by Eric Preston.
After stewardship by Eric Preston.
We did not get the entire area cut in one day. We spent several more days felling trees, joined by volunteers who helped burn material. When we couldn’t burn piles due to a lack of snow, we staged cut material to be moved later.
Progress was slow without equipment. The area beneath the black locust was dense with other invasive brush like honeysuckle and buckthorn, and the densely crowded stand meant other trees like black cherry and black oak had to come out as well. And we certainly couldn’t leave the mulberry and hybrid elm.
One day, after a work party, I was alone at the site. I looked up to see a stranger had walked onto the property. He had a disgusted look on his face as he surveyed the downed trees and scattered piles of crowns.
“Are you gonna burn all this up?” he asked. “Most of it,” I replied.
He wanted the black locust and whatever other hardwood was there. I wanted to see the material put to good use and needed help getting everything out of my work area.
Jeff offered to use his tractor and trailer to remove the material, so we scheduled a day. I would fell the trees, and he would pull them out.
I showed up early to find a 60 hp tractor with a logging winch sitting at the gate. This was not what I was expecting. When he showed up with a super duty truck pulling a hydraulic dump trailer, I realized he was serious.
It was late winter by then, with conditions warm enough to thaw the still frozen ground in the forecast. We had one final day to get the cutting done. It was hard work, but with Jeff pulling out trees and no one in my felling zone, I was able to finish cutting the last black locust out of the stand.
With the final trees out, I surveyed the trees that had been felled, cut to length, and lined up, the trailer loaded, and staged logs ready for when the trailer returned empty.
Pleased with things, I looked around and said, “Not a bad day for two old guys.”
Things took a pause for a while. In the seasonal rhythm of land management, all efforts went towards burn season.
The black locust stayed on my mind. I was expecting the worst. I started seeing it come up in other areas, but I wasn’t seeing it yet at the Giordano site. I just wanted to know how bad it was going to be.
Once it did eventually come up, the deer started hammering it! I was thinking about how to get it mowed to keep it from getting too tall to foliar spray. The deer were doing this for me.
Guy (Chapter Land Management staff) and I spent a day in July spot spraying locust sprouts. All told, things were much better than expected, with re-sprouts coming entirely from remaining root stock and not from cut stumps.
When James, Luke (Chapter Assistant Land Manager) and I returned in August for a follow up application, things were looking good. Our previous application had been effective, and we treated the black locusts we missed in the densest areas and along the periphery of the clone.
Things again took a pause. The seasonal rhythm took us through seed collection and fall burning, until we again began removing trees and brush to open the lost prairie and savanna.
We had more help this time. Shala (former Chapter Land Management staff) had temporarily joined our team. Shala and I had worked together in the past doing for-profit restoration work, and she understands the production mentality that comes from doing this for a living.
Good Oak Crew cutting black locust. Photo by Rob Schubert.
We were also better organized. John Exo and Kevin McKown (Chaper members and volunteers) agreed to continue to help lead work parties. With the ability of The Prairie Enthusiasts staff to do the most difficult tree removal and holding multiple work parties a month, we were getting a lot done.
The progress has been fantastic. As Luke said, “It seems as though every time more progress was made, another interested volunteer took notice of the work being done and wanted to help.” Soon we had an almost regular crowd who would join for our workdays.
Again, we had a lot of help from Jeff and Evan. Jeff helped move and consolidate the trees we felled into burnable piles. Evan donated some of his staff’s time and equipment, allowing us to finally remove the last pines and cedars from one of the sand blows. Then he spent a few more days over the weekend moving material with his tractor and burning piles to help us prep a burn unit for this fall.
At this point, we took a pause. It’s important sometimes to stop and reflect, to appreciate things, to not have an adversarial relationship with the land. With goals accomplished and winter dwindling, we move into the next phase of the seasonal rhythm.
In all my years managing restoration projects, I’ve never had to do so much work with so few resources as I have with Giordano Oak Barrens and Sand Prairie. What we’ve been able to accomplish really has been remarkable. What I’ve described is just some of the work that has been done. There has been invasive control and other work that just doesn’t fit neatly into a single chronologic narrative. There has been survey work of various taxa; herptiles, flora, insects, birds and bats. Others have volunteered time to do the annual site monitoring, take drone imagery to document progress, manage hunting permits, collect seed, mow trails and post boundary signs; the list goes on.
And that’s what it takes. No individual has the skills and capacity to manage a restoration project; it takes a team.
This article appeared in the Summer 2026 edition of The Prairie Promoter, a publication of news, art and writing from The Prairie Enthusiasts community. Explore the full collection and learn how to submit your work here.
About The Prairie Enthusiasts
The Prairie Enthusiasts is an accredited land trust that seeks to ensure the perpetuation and recovery of prairie, oak savanna, and other fire-dependent ecosystems of the Upper Midwest through protection, management, restoration, and education. In doing so, they strive to work openly and cooperatively with private landowners and other private and public conservation groups. Their management and stewardship centers on high-quality remnants, which contain nearly all the components of endangered prairie communities.