Mowing the East Basin

The East Basin is our last large area under restoration. It is a 5 acre basin with fairly steep topography (and unusual geology and soil structure) that is on the east boundary of the Conservancy. Last November a nice group of volunteers planted this area to dry mesic and wet mesic prairie. Like all new prairie plantings, success is greater if the site is mowed (at least twice) the first year. Mowing is now in progress.

The East Basin isn't your normal flat ag field which can be easily mowed. It has impressive vertical elevation changes, and also has quite a few stumps remaining from the major tree removal work that was done 2-3 years ago. Although the contractor was very careful to cut the stumps low to the ground, it is still necessary to keep a sharp lookout for impediments to the mower.

Kathie is doing all of the mowing, using our small Kubota tractor and a Land Pride brush mower operated from the power take-off and three-point hitch. We hadn't used the Land Pride for almost 5 years, so we had it thoroughly serviced first. So far, it has been working like a charm.

The vegetation being cut is primarily annuals, and the main purpose of mowing is to keep them from setting seed. Also, mowing opens up the soil so that the prairie plants can get better light. The Land Pride is adjusted to mow at a height of 8 inches so that the tiny prairie plants are mostly not mowed.

Before starting to mow, Kathie walked the site and put flags in areas where stumps or rocks might cause problems. Also, there were some areas with "good" plants, especially shooting star, that we did not want to mow, so she flagged them.

Mowing in hill country is always a challenge, since roll-over of the tractor is always a possibility. (A summer doesn't go by in this area without a report of at least one farmer death from tractor roll-over.) The steeper areas have to be mowed up and down instead of sideways, which takes a lot more time. The Kubota has a substantial roll bar, and Kathie always wears a seat belt.

Kathie mows very conservatively, and is doing a great job. So far, she has put 8 hours into this project, and is about half done. If the weather cooperates, she should be done before the end of this week.

While mowing, Kathie has also been making notes on what prairie plants are visible. These are mostly small seedlings, although a few plants such as lupine are fairly large. So far she has seen about 8 species.