Prairie ecologist Steve Banovetz from Natural Resouces Consulting visited the prairie restoration project this week and the report was very encouraging. He used words like "fantastic" and "unbelievable" to describe the health of the native species coming up through last year's dead grass. Nearly every plant we looked at is some type of flower. Obviously some areas are better than others but this year we are all expecting something spectacular. This will be the first year that we do no prescribed mowing so the growth should be a lot higher and thicker than in previous years.
The ditch banks are doing OK. The ditches at the north entry look better than those at the south. We have made the decision to keep the southern ditch banks mowed and let the ones near the north entry grow out a bit and see how they look.
There was also plenty of conversation about the dryness of the retention basins in the prairie. While they are certainly oversized and never have been very full, they have become a lot drier in the last year or two. Our theory is that, as the swales and ditches get more vegetated the runoff into the basins decreases. Of course, this is the point of using vegetated ditches so all seems to be working well.
I will post Steve's report when it becomes available.
Rob
Prairie Check Up Looks Good
May 16, 2008 by Red Wing LandComments
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