Report on Empire-Sauk
Chapter Accomplishments in 2007
Protection & Inventory Chapter
volunteers made first-time contact with owners of a prairie remnant
in Dane County and an oak barrens in Columbia County. With the
help of a WI DNR State Wildlife Grant, The Prairie Enthusiasts
(TPE) staff visited and inventoried several remnants within our
chapter’s area of activity in southwest Dane and southeast Iowa
Counties.
In 2007, with the help of major grants from Wisconsin’s
Nelsen-Knowles State Stewardship Fund and the Dane County Conservation
Fund, contributions from individuals, and assistance from The
Nature Conservancy staff, the Empire-Sauk chapter facilitated
TPE’s purchase of six preserves totaling 662 acres in Dane, Sauk,
and Iowa Counties. We also facilitated TPE’s acquisition of three
conservation easements covering 230 acres in Dane and Iowa Counties,
and the purchase by TPE of a 144-acre addition to the The Nature
Conservancy’s (TNC) Spring Green Preserve in Sauk County, which
TPE then transferred to TNC. The Empire-Sauk Chapter also facilitated
the transfer of title Black Earth Rettenmund Prairie, which is
also a State Natural Area, from TNC to TPE for protection and
management. In addition, TPE’s Pleasant Valley Conservancy was
designated as a State Natural Area in 2007.
We continued negotiations to protect 330 acres of
prairie, grassland, and savanna in eastern Iowa Co., and we began
negotiations to protect several more sites located across four
counties. We continued a partnership with the Natural Heritage
Land Trust, WI DNR Natural Areas Program, and Dane County Parks
in negotiating the protection of approximately 100 acres north
of Madison which contains high quality remnants of prairie. We
continued our involvement with the Sauk Prairie Conservation Alliance
to foster prairie and savanna restoration of the former Badger
Army Ammunition Plant (7,300 acres), and we continued as a very
active partner in the Military Ridge Prairie Heritage Area Cooperative,
which is located on the Iowa/Dane County line.
Land Management In 2007 the Empire-Sauk
Chapter was active in managing 30 sites, which support remnant
prairie, grassland bird habitat, and oak savanna, totaling approximately
1,200 acres. We hold title or easements on 11 of the sites. On
11 others, we have informal management agreements with the owners.
On the remaining 8, we have formal written agreements and management
plans in place. The latter include ongoing agreements at TNC’s
23-acre Schluckebier Prairie Preserve (Sauk Co.), and their 3-acre
Gasser Sand Barren (Sauk Co.). We also assisted Dane County Parks
with management of their sand prairie and oak barrens at Walking
Iron Park. We completed management plans for 3 sites in 2007.
Our land management activities carried out by volunteers
in 2007, included tree & brush removal (32% of time), prescribed
burns (22%), weed control (17%), seed collecting, cleaning, and
planting (16%), fencing & improvements (5%), seed orchard
establishment & maintenance (2%), rare species monitoring
(0.5%), equipment maintenance (2%), and planning (2%). In total,
148 volunteers put in 2,686 hrs on non-fire management activities.
The prescribed burns were done by 60 volunteers putting in 775
hours on 40 burns across 20 properties for a total of 250 acres.
The Bluff Lands Project (see below) also conducted another 15
burns totaling 240 acres.
Empire-Sauk Chapter projects benefited from several
grants made to TPE for land management/restoration work in 2007.
These were from the US Fish & Wildlife Service Private Lands
program, WI DNR State Wildlife Grants program, WI DNR Landowner
Incentive Program grants, and WI DNR Pheasant Stamp and Turkey
Stamp grants. These grants resulted in significant brush/tree
removal and weed control work being done on over a dozen of our
projects in 2007.
In 2007, the Empire-Sauk Chapter added to our equipment
inventory a used International Harvestor tractor, two used sickle
bar mowers, a used brush-hog mower, two VHF FM radios for burns,
two 4-gal back-pack herbicide sprayers, nine hand shears and clippers,
a pitch fork, a post driver, and eight 32-gal cans for seed storage.
Restoration Plantings Our chapter
collected and processed an estimated $100,000 worth of prairie
and savanna seed (116 species, 350 pounds) in 2007. We also cleaned
another $5,200 worth of seed (33 pounds) that the Southwest WI
Chapter harvested from their Hollandale seed orchard. Most of
the seed went to TPE projects, and those of our partners, in the
Military Ridge Prairie Heritage Area (Iowa-Dane Co. border). But
significant amounts also went to restoration work at our Pleasant
Valley Conservancy and Black Earth Rettenmund Prairie preserves,
and other smaller projects. We expanded our seed production orchard
at Underwood’s from 49 to 52 species, in 2007. It produced 52
pounds of seed (a $17,500 value) in 2007.
Education & Outreach Empire-Sauk
Chapter organized and led 25 guided field trips to a variety of
prairies and savanna ecosystems in southern Wisconsin. We staffed
the TPE display at the WHA-TV Garden Expo, the Sauk County Earth-Day
gathering, and the Farmers Market in downtown Madison.
Blufflands Project We continued
our partnership with the Aldo Leopold Foundation in the Blufflands
Project. This project provides private landowners with the expertise
and infrastructure necessary to sustain and expand their remnant
prairies and savannas. The project assists landowners in the stewardship
of prairie and savanna remnants along and near the Wisconsin River.
