Annual Report of Chapter Activities in 2009
Prepared by Rich Henderson, Chapter President
Protection & Inventory
In 2009, Chapter volunteers explored land protection options with owners of three prairie remnants, one each in Dane, Iowa, and Sauk Counties. Volunteers also visited and inventoried several other sites. We also continued negotiations to protect 300 acres of prairie, grassland, and savanna in eastern Iowa Co. We maintained our partnership with the Natural Heritage Land Trust, WI DNR Natural Areas Program, and Dane County Parks in negotiating for the protection of 100 acres north of Madison, which contains high quality prairie remnants. We 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), and we remained active in the Military Ridge Prairie Heritage Area (MRPHA) Cooperative, which is located on the Iowa/Dane County line.
Lastly, for the past 8 years the Empire-Sauk Chapter, under a management agreement, was responsible for the care and management of The Nature Conservancy’s (TNC) Schluckebier Sand Prairie (22.7 acres) and Gasser Sand Barren (3 acres), in Sauk County. In 2009, TNC transferred title of the preserves to TPE.
Land Management The Empire-Sauk Chapter was active in managing 33 sites in 2009. These included remnant prairie, oak savanna, and oak woodland, and grassland bird habitat totaling 1,430 acres. Fifteen of the sites (1,050 acres) are TPE preserves permanently protected by title or easements. On 7 others, we have formal written agreements and management plans in place. On the remaining 11, we have informal management agreements with the owners. Lastly, we continued assistance to Dane County Parks on the management of sand prairie and oak barrens at Walking Iron County Park.
The Chapter’s land management activities were carried out by a combination of 185 volunteers and paid help (5 interns, an AmeriCorps person, a restoration ecologist [TPE staff], and contractors, all primarily funded by grants). The volunteers put in 5,833 hours doing prescribed burns (30% of time), tree & brush removal (19%), seed collecting, cleaning, and planting (16%), weed control (15%), fencing & improvements (10%), planning (4%), seed orchard establishment & maintenance (2%), equipment maintenance (2%), and rare species monitoring & biological inventory (1%).
We cleared nearly 50 acres of trees and brush, collected and cleaned 500 pounds of prairie and savanna seed (nearly 200 species valued at $140,000), planted seed across 115 acres, and controlled invasive weeds across 500 acres. We continued making renovations and improvements to our barn at Schurch-Thomson Prairie, which is used for land management purposes. The weather conditions in 2009 made for an active burn season. The main branch of the chapter completed 53 burns across 23 sites for a total of 416 acres. The Bluff Lands Project partnership (see below) conducted another 6 burns for an additional 450 acres. Our grand total for burns in 2009 was 866 acres.
The Chapter’s land management and restoration efforts benefited immensely from grants totaling $104,300 in 2009. These were made to TPE for management/restoration work. The grants came from the Wildlife Conservation Society ($53,800), US Fish & Wildlife Service Private Lands program ($14,100), NRCS Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program ($12,500), WI DNR Landowner Incentive Program ($11,100), WI DNR Pheasant Stamp ($7,800) and Turkey Stamp ($2,300) grants, and the WI DNR Aquatic Invasive Species grant program ($2,700). We also received $52,900 in support from the Savanna Oak Foundation for management work at Black Earth Rettenmund Prairie and Pleasant Valley Conservancy. All combined, this generous funding resulted in significant brush and tree removal, weed control, and planting work being done on over a dozen projects in 2009. We are most grateful for the help.
In 2009, the Empire-Sauk Chapter added to our inventory $16,900 worth of equipment. This included a new Land Pride seed spreader for the tractor, miscellaneous hand tools for land management work and building and equipment maintenance, and several used donated items. Donations included a 30-HP Kubota tractor and mower, a DR Field and Brush mower, a DR Converta mower, a custom made electric pump system for the slip-in unit of our Polaris 6 x 6, a portable generator, a refrigerator-freezer, a small refrigerator, and an office desk. Thank you donors.
Education & Outreach Empire-Sauk Chapter organized and led 29 guided hikes to a variety of prairies, savanna, and oak woodland ecosystems in southern Wisconsin. We staffed the TPE display at the WHA-TV Garden Expo in Madison, and gave presentations on prairie and savanna ecology and conservation to local groups. We developed new kiosks at four of our preserves, Shea Prairie, A to Z, Schurch-Thomson Prairie, and Erbe Grassland. Our joint outreach work with partners in the Military Ridge Prairie Heritage Area resulted in articles in local newspapers, the development and printing of a poster on the Grassland Birds of the Midwest, and the printing of a nature picture calendar for landowners. We also gave technical assistance to the prairie restoration project at Huegel Elementary School in Madison, and we once again burned the West Middleton Elementary school prairie restoration while all the students and faculty observed how it is done and learned why it is needed.
Blufflands Project We continued our partnership with the Aldo Leopold Foundation in the Blufflands Project. This project provides private landowners 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.
