Black Earth Rettenmund Prairie web site updated

In addition to Pleasant Valley Conservancy, Kathie and I (together with Willis Brown) are the stewards of Black Earth Rettenmund Prairie, a Prairie Enthusiasts (TPE) site. This small but high-quality prairie is quite well known and folks come from all over to see it. The wood lily bloom each year in the middle of June is famous, but the prairie is fine anytime of the year.

The web site of this prairie is hosted on the pages of the Empire-Sauk Chapter of TPE, which I also manage. Web sites tend to get moldy after a while and need help. Today I spent quite a while updating the BE site. Among other things, I added a new map which brings things up to date. (The Gateway Prairie, one of our better successes, is shown for the first time.)

Although a lot of the changes were cosmetic, the whole site was restructured to make it easier to follow. Also, I updated all the stewardship material, since there had been quite a few changes. If you haven't accessed this web site in a while, you might find it interesting to read again now.

One stewardship job we are making great progress is sumac control. We have hopes that with consistent attention over the next two or three years we will have it eradicated. In mid October, I used GPS to locate all the remaining sumac clones (the red leaves in the fall make the plants easy to spot). Using GIS, I generated a new map showing the locations of the 16 sumac clones I found. Rex, who we hired for this job, basal barked every stem of every clone.

We undoubtedly missed some stems, but we'll be back next year (and the year after, etc.) to get them.