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The Prairie Bluff Chapter has its roots in the Wisconsin Prairie Enthusiasts (WPE), a non-profit, prairie-oriented group formed in the Monroe, WI area around 1986. About the same time a twin organization formed in southwestern Wisconsin, called the Southwest Wisconsin Prairie Enthusiasts. The friends & members of these groups overlapped, and they each worked to protect prairie remnants in their respective areas. The organizations held a united, honorary banquet each year.
WPE was composed of regular folks throughout the community. The newsletter for WPE was published at Applied Ecological Services, Inc., an environmental consulting firm whose owner, Steve Apfelbaum, was a founding member and contributor to WPE. In those days many of the active members were employees of AES. When business at AES began to accelerate, work obligations consumed the volunteers' time until WPE entered a state of accidental slumber. In 1993 the Southwest Wisconsin Prairie Enthusiasts took the lead. They reorganized into The Prairie Enthusiasts. WPE reconstituted to become a local chapter of The Prairie Enthusiasts under name "Prairie Bluff Chapter". (This is also the time the Empire Sauk Chapter came into being.) Our official chapter 'germination' was therefore on Sunday, February 14, 1993. We continue to serve an area along Wisconsin's southern border composed of Rock, Green, and Lafayette counties. We are one of at least nine chapters of TPE in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Minnesota. |
| Most of the land in the Prairie Bluff area (Rock, Green, and Lafayette counties) was glaciated around 10,000 years ago. The crushing movement of the ice sheets and the eventual flowage of glacial melt-waters is what created the familiar landform that we have today. The terrain is generally flat to rolling and undulates leisurely over many miles from about 700' to about 1050' above sea level. Broad fertile plains are creased by relatively slow moving steams. Owing partly to this smoothed-out topography, the region was assimilated into agriculture and development immediately upon European advent (once the native people were removed) c. 1840. Most of the original prairie, savanna, and woodland communities were wiped out within a few decades. The name Prairie Bluff was chosen because the prairie remnants we search for and admire are often found clinging to untillable, rocky bluffs; though bluff may be an optimistic a word for such a placid topography. |
| The climate of southern Wisconsin is temperate. The mean temperature in July is 73 °F; in January it is 19 °F. Our agricultural (corn, soybeans, dairy) growing season is around 175 days (last frost to first frost, April 22 to October 8). The native flora blooms a few weeks before and sometimes after this. Average precipitation is 35 inches per year with 29 inches falling as snow. |
| The Prairie Bluff Chapter meets each 1st. Tuesday of the month at 7 p.m. We convene at locations predetermined by our members. (current schedule) Meetings are always open to the public. On average 15 faithful attend. Sometimes we have potlucks, cookouts, or educational presentations. PBC attempts to keep proceedings simple; we prefer no boards or subcommittees. Any member attending the meeting may vote. Our chapter membership includes approximately 100 subscribers. |
| Elections are held each February. The following volunteers endured chapter office in 2004: | ||||||||||||||||
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The Parsnip Predator is a narrow-bladed specialty shovel designed and produced by our chapter.
The Predator has a 5-inch wide blade that allows selective excision of the obnoxious alien wild parsnip (Pastinaca sativa) by isolating and severing the root several inches below ground.
The blade and D-handle are at right angles to each other, providing for more ergonomic use. The tip of the blade is notched to aid in centering on the root.
Member Julia O'Reilly skillfully coordinated the manufacture and sales of the Predator for the last few years. Unfortunately she has moved. Nick Faessler presently manages our affairs with this popular device.
Learn more about the Parsnip Predator. |
| Our regular activities include landowner contact, public presentations and education, and land stewardship. In spring we are very busy burning prairies - those we own, and those owned by our friends. The burn list always exceeds the number of sites we can service. The following is a list of some of our projects in alphabetical order. |
| The University of Wisconsin owns a 40-acre block of uncut cathedral-like sugar maple and red oak along Oliver Rd. in rural Green County. The block is ungrazed and little disturbed and is kept as a research and scientific area by the University. Abraham's Woods is fortuitously surrounded on three sides by private woodlands that raise the effective habitat to 100 acres. Despite being outside our chosen prairie habitat, our chapter assists in springtime with the garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) removal conducted by the UW Arboretum. Garlic mustard is a hyper-aggressive alien plant. Our chief organizer is local resident and long-time vice chair John Ochsner, who assists Arboretum ecologist Mark Leach. |
| Briggs is a 24-acre parcel of wet prairie and wetland (with artesian springs) on the west side of Brostuen Rd. in rural Rock County. The site is about 7 miles west of the city of Beloit. Briggs was purchased from the Reorganized Church of Later Day Saints in 1994 by the Natural Land Institute of Rockford, Illinois. The buy was assisted through cooperative fund raising by the Prairie Bluff Chapter and a big grant from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Briggs was transferred to TPE in 1996. The site is presently marked by a 4' x 4' signboard. We routinely burn Briggs Wetland, and skirmish the invasive aliens like buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica) and Canada thistle (Circium arvense). We have about 4 acres of tilled field we are planting to prairie on the south side. |
| GladVaun is an 80-acre, tall grass mesic prairie planting begun about 1998 on the retired family farm of chapter member Joel Peterson. It is located a few miles east of Evansville, WI. Volunteers from PBC ignite the incendiary parcels semi-annually in order to promote the growth of the native species. |
| The University of Wisconsin owns a 40-acre block of uncut cathedral-like sugar maple and red oak along Oliver Rd. in rural Green County. The block is ungrazed and little disturbed and is kept as a research and scientific area by the University. Abraham's Woods is fortuitously surrounded on three sides by private woodlands that raise the effective habitat to 100 acres. Despite being outside our chosen prairie habitat, our chapter assists in springtime with the garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) removal conducted by the UW Arboretum. Garlic mustard is a hyper-aggressive alien plant. Our chief organizer is local resident and long-time vice chair John Ochsner, who assists Arboretum ecologist Mark Leach. |
| Greens Prairie Cemetery is about an acre of pre-1900 tombstones in a tall grass prairie remnant in NW rural Green County. The cemetery is along Postville Rd. in York Township. Vice-president John Ochsner and helpers have burned the site annually for the last 8 years. We burn late in the season to stunt the voluminous European flora (especially the daylily Hemerocallis fulva). |
| Honey Creek Park is on the far west side of the city of Monroe (along 4th Avenue West). The park is in the floodplain of the urbanized tributary, Honey Creek. In 1988 Prairie Enthusiasts Kay Barry & husband George initiated a prairie planting that eventually encompassed about 6 acres. In the beginning it was called the Kiwanis Prairie (due to a donation) but since then it has been renamed in honor of the Barrys. The prairie has 35 native species now well established and grows 6-8 ft. tall. Kay and George, eighty-year old energy bundles that they are, continue as our main stewards organizing outings, pulling invasive weeds, collecting seeds, and working with the City to reclaim the western margin recently disrupted by sewer line construction. |
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Iltis Savanna is a 22-acre parcel on the south side of CTY F in Sylvester Township, rural Green County. The Savanna is next to Muralt Bluff Prairie -State Natural Area, |
| Our corporate representative Nick Faessler has worked with the family of Ross Meinert to manage this back-corner 3-acre dry remnant in rural northern Rock Grove Township, Stephenson County, IL. Nick and associates have burned the remnant for at least a decade. During midsummers 2003 & 2004 Nick organized and led wildly popular field trips to the pale purple coneflower (Echinacea pallida) studded field. Nick has recently gained USF&WL financial assistance to remove brush and trees from the overgrown ravine. |
| Lincoln School Prairie is a 30 x 200 ft. mesic (medium soil moisture) planting near Lincoln School in the City of Monroe. Teachers Jean Blum and Donna Bahler, both Prairie Bluff members, initiated the prairie in 1992. The site has been burned and expanded by the Prairie Bluff Chapter over the years. Donna Bahler led Lincoln School undergraduates in planting compass plant (Silphium laciniatum) at the prairie in 2003. In 2004 there are concerns that the site may be run over by a road right-of-way. The Prairie Bluff Chapter is circulating a petition to save the planting. |
| Butenhoff Prairie is a 19.5-acre broad-back hill in rural Green County. The dry prairie is located roughly 1/3 mile north of the intersection CTY FF and Ladwig Rd. The Green County Conservation League purchased the hill from Harrison and Marion Butenhoff in 1988. Butenhoff Prairie has been burned on several occasions, usually with help from The Prairie Enthusiasts. Gary Felder and friends have cut brush and introduced several rare plants such as wild quinine (Parthenium integrifolium) and purple coneflower (Echinacea pallida). (Gary is president of GCCL, and a former president of the Wisconsin Prairie Enthusiasts). The Prairie Enthusiasts is currently raising funds to buy the remnant from GCCL. |