Unit A: Corner Lot Prairie (remnant)

Spring 2006: Once an open site, this prairie remnant reverted to a woodland over the past 30 years from being abandoned as farmland in the early 1970's.  In the spring of 2006, the corner lot is cleared by the land owner to build a house and septic field, however the site turns out to be unsuitable for development and is abandoned.

2006-2009: The abandoned lot sits fallow for a few years while invasive brush and weeds take root on the site.  Silt fencing and garbage remain from when the site was slated for development.

Winter 2009-2010: Lots of reed canary grass has developed along the western property line from years of neglect while invasive brush creeps in from the property to the south.

Spring 2010: The property is acquired and the first controlled burn is conducted on the site in March of 2010.

Spring 2010: Our first spring burn was a good one.  Years of built up fuel helped to topkill shrubs and invasive brambles and clear the ground which stimulated the existing seedbank.



Spring 2010: The old ditch along the west property line is re-routed to channel water toward the middle of the site.  This helps to slow down the rainwater runoff coming from the roadway which allows sediment from the water to deposit in the prairie and not flow into the sensitive wetlands that are located south of this site.



Spring 2010: Newly re-routed ditch slows and disperses water evenly over the wet/mesic area of the site allowing native prairie plants to filter out sediment and pollutants from the road runoff before entering the wetlands.

Summer 2010: Invasive Canada Thistle and Goldenrod dominate the site in mid-summer while Culver's Root, Thimbleweed, Pasture Thistle, Joe-Pye Weed, Boneset, Sawtooth Sunflower, Blue-Joint Grass and several native sedges are exposed and encouraged to flower and set seed for the first time in several decades.

Summer 2010: The pride and joy of the corner lot prairie; Culver's Root with a C-Value of 8 out of 10 which classifies this plant in the nice and rare category.  This is the only known occurance of this plant in the area.



Fall 2010: A firebreak trail is installed along the south boundary of the property allowing us to better access the site for future controlled burning and invasive brush control.

Fall 2010: Invasive brush is cut and piled along the south end of the site.

Fall 2010: The "Bridge to Nowhere" is built from a used telephone pole and recycled deck boards.

Winter 2010-2011: Lots of snow fell that winter.

Winter 2010-2011: Exposed groundwater in the wet/mesic area of the corner lot prairie.

Spring 2011: Early spring burns were patchy and incomplete leaving lots of fire protected microsites for insects.

Spring 2011: Bridge is finished and white cedar trees are planted.

Summer 2011: Sawtooth Sunflowers growing in the wet/mesic part of the site.

Summer 2011: Woodland Sunflowers dominate the northern, dry end of the site.

Summer 2011: Corner lot prairie in August.

Summer 2011: Trees in the northwest corner of the site are protected from fire to grow and provide screening to the residence next door and include Black Walnut, Pignut Hickory, White and Black Oak with an understory of gray dogwood and staghorn sumac.  Several White Pine trees were also planted along the west property line.

Spring 2012: Unusually warm spring weather gave us our hottest burns ever which did extensive damage to the invasive woody plants that still exist on site.



Spring 2012: New burn crew members work to protect White Pine seedlings from the fire.

Spring 2012: Extensive interseeding of native wildflower and grass species after our controlled burns.

Spring 2012: Patches of Reed Canary Grass are sprayed with glyphosate to help reduce the abundance of this exotic in the prairie

Summer 2012: Nice development of Big Bluestem along shoulder

Fall 2012: Wildflower diversity developing nicely along the north side of the prairie

Fall 2012: Nice fall colors in the prairie.  New England Aster and Big Bluestem
have established nicely along the restored road shoulder areas