The Prairie Enthusiasts has just acquired an outstanding prairie site in Christiana Township, near Cambridge, Wisconsin, in eastern Dane County. This 40-acre site, to be called the Reiner-Smith Drumlin Prairie, contains drumlin hills formed by the passing of the last glacier over 11,000 years ago. It also has original prairie sod with native wildflowers and grasses that once covered much of southern Wisconsin prior to European settlement in the 1840s.
The dry and dry-mesic prairie remnants (13 acres) within the new preserve are fine examples of native plant communities that once dominated southern Wisconsin, but are now rare to find in their original states. The preserve harbors over 100 native prairie plant species, including stunning displays of cylindrical blazingstar, rough blazingstar and bird's-foot violet, a healthy population of the federally-threatened prairie bush- clover, and, in a few locations, species typical of very rare mesic prairie, species such as prairie lily, rattlesnake master, rosinweed, and compass plant. In addition, the preserve is home to eight species of prairie-dependent leafhoppers, including Memnonia panzeri which is a State Species of Greatest Conservation Need that feeds exclusively upon prairie dropseed (Sporobolis heterlepis). The site, all in grass cover, also supports grassland bird species that have been in severe decline over the past 40 years or more, species such as eastern meadowlark, bobolink, and grasshopper sparrow.
The purchase was made possible in part with a grant from the US Fish & Wildlife Service for permanent protection of critical habitat for Endangered/Threatened species. The grant covered ¾ of the purchase price. The Prairie Enthusiasts is pursuing grants and donations to cover the remaining expense.
The Empire-Sauk Chapter of the Prairie Enthusiasts and its volunteers have been managing and restoring the site for the past 12 years. This acquisition now provides permanent protection.
Reiner-Smith Drumlin Prairie will be open to the public for hiking, bird-watching, and other low impact outdoor activities. Guided hikes have been, and will continue to be, periodically offered to the public. Plans are under way with the WI Department of Natural Resources to dedicate the preserve as a State Natural Area.
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Protection & Inventory
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After many years of work, our Chapter’s partnership with the Natural Heritage Land Trust, Wisconsin DNR Natural Areas and State Stewardship programs, and Dane County Parks resulted in acquisition of 100 acres, adjacent to Westport Drumlin State Natural Area north of Madison. This includes Koltes Prairie, which our chapter has been managing for 18 years.
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Assisted the WI DOT in acquiring 40 acres of degraded wetland and upland remnant prairie adjacent to TPE’s Mounds View Grassland preserve in eastern Iowa County. Acquired for wetland mitigation, DOT will transfer the property to TPE for restoration and management purposes.
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Negotiated for permanent protection of three sites in Dane County, and volunteers visited and inventoried several other sites.
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Continued negotiations to protect 300 acres of prairie, grassland, and savanna in eastern Iowa Co.
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Continued our involvement with the Sauk Prairie Conservation Alliance to foster prairie and savanna restoration on the former Badger Army Ammunition Plant (7,300 acres),
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Remained active in the Military Ridge Prairie Heritage Area (MRPHA) Cooperative, located on the Iowa/Dane County line.
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Carried out monitoring of four conservation easements held by TPE .
Land Management
The Empire-Sauk Chapter actively managed 31 sites that include remnant prairie, oak savanna, oak woodland, and grassland bird habitat totaling 1,400 acres.
- Fifteen of these sites (1,050 acres) are TPE preserves permanently protected by title or easement.
- We have formal written agreements and management plans in place on seven others.
- We have informal management agreements with the owners of nine other properties.
- We continue to assist Dane County Parks with the management of the sand prairie and oak barrens at Walking Iron County Park.
A combination of 138 volunteers, seven paid summer interns, a staff restoration ecologist, and several contractors, funded primarily by grants, contributed to our Chapter’s land management activities in 2010. Volunteers donated 4,367 hours to prescribed burns, weed control, tree and brush removal, seed collecting, cleaning and planting, fencing & improvements, general maintenance and planning, and rare species monitoring & biological inventory. Our volunteers:
- Rebuilt the old milk house and put final touches on the renovations and improvements to the barn at Schurch-Thomson Prairie. The barn and former milk house is the base of operations for our Mounds View Grassland and are now fully functional for our land management purposes.
- Completed 62 prescribed burns across 23 sites for a total of 584 acres.
- Cleared approximately 25 acres of trees and brush,
- Collected and cleaned 758 pounds of prairie and savanna seed from nearly 200 species.
- Planted seed across 110 acres.
- Controlled invasive weeds across 500 acres.
Wisconsin DNR grants facilitated the hiring of a regal fritillary butterfly survey coordinator, helped establish a stream monitoring program for the cold water stream at TPE’s Mounds View Grassland, and funded an intern to write a restoration plan for the stream (to be completed in 2011).
The Empire-Sauk Chapter’s land management and restoration efforts benefited immensely from grants totaling $44,900 in 2010.
- US Fish & Wildlife Service ARRA grant ($22,223),
- Alliant Energy via The Nature Conservancy ($10,000),
- WI DNR State Wildlife Grant ($6,850), WI DNR Citizen Based Monitoring Grant ($3,687),
- WI DNR Aquatic Invasive Species grant program ($1,693),
- WI DNR River Planning Grant ($919), and the USDA-NRCS Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program ($444).
- We also received support from the Savanna Oak Foundation ($42,900) for management work at Black Earth Rettenmund Prairie and Pleasant Valley Conservancy.
Combined, this generous funding resulted in significant brush and tree removal, weed control, seed planting, and monitoring work on over a dozen projects in 2010. We are most grateful for the help.
The Empire-Sauk Chapter added $4,500 worth of equipment to our inventory, including
- A new 6-ft rotary brush-hog mower,
- Metal storage cabinets,
- A 30-gal air compressor with 16 attachments,
- A floor jack, a bench grinder, a welder, and numerous hand tools
- Stream monitoring instruments.
Much of the equipment was donated. Thank you donors.
Education & Outreach
The Empire-Sauk Chapter continues our mission to bring prairie to the people through field trips, public events, community outreach, and hands-on management. In 2010, we
- Led 22 guided hikes on a variety of prairies, savanna, and oak woodlands.
- Maintained a page on the TPE website about our activities and the preserves we manage.
- Hired a part-time volunteer coordinator to help us engage people in healing the land through management and restoration on our preserves.
- Provided hands-on education and experience to seven college age student interns over the summer.
- Staffed a TPE display at the WHA-TV Garden Expo in Madison, at Eagle Watching Days in Sauk City, at the Farmers Market on the capitol square in Madison, and at two volunteer fairs.
- Our joint outreach work with partners in the Military Ridge Prairie Heritage Area resulted in articles in local newspapers, and the printing of a nature calendar for landowners.
- Gave technical assistance to the prairie restoration project at Huegel Elementary School in Madison,
- Once again burned the West Middleton Elementary School prairie restoration while students and faculty observed how it is done and learned why it is needed.
- Helped at Moely Prairie in Sauk Co. at a field day for Sauk Prairie school students.
- Gave presentations on prairie and savanna ecology and conservation to local groups.
- Gave multiple tours of Pleasant Valley Conservancy to university, high school, and adult educations groups. The great website maintained by Savanna Oak Foundation about this preserve resulted in the site receiving much attention from artists and nature lovers in 2010.
Leadership in TPE
In 2010, members of the Empire-Sauk Chapter served as TPE Secretary, on the Board of Directors, as trustees of the TPE Land Management Endowment, and on various TPE Committees.
Our Goal
To protect and heal endangered, fire-dependant ecosystems of the upper Midwest. This includes natural communities such as prairies, sedge meadows, oak savannas, and oak woodlands, and the rare and declining species they support. |
