Instead of oohing and aahing over the flora and fauna as usual, I thought
I'd give you an update on the land management work we're doing at Dancing
Rabbit. This winter I solicited some targeted donations and found a part-time
work-exchanger to help make some of our ideas a reality.
And the spring
was busy! We attempted to burn a small (acre or so) patch of land to
practice our controlled burn skills and start another little piece of our
land on the path to restored prairie. Our small team went out equipped with
buckets of water and shovels. It was under control until almost the end
and thenŠ it
wasn't anymore. We called for local reinforcements and the volunteer fire department,
and everyone enjoyed the opportunity to play with fire and the big trucks and
hoses. No harm was done. When the field stopped smoking we took some of the
odds and ends of seed we'd bought for other projects or hand-collected, and
spread
it over the field. It usually takes at least a year or two before you can really
see those slow growing prairie plants, but I'm hopeful. We picked that field
because it already had some pretty nice remnant species.
I've been trying to
put together a long-term plan for restoring our grassland to prairie.
Luckily former intern Elizabeth (a.k.a. Mukluk) contacted us and
asked whether she could write a restoration plan for Dancing Rabbit for one
of her University classes. We worked together to get the information she
needed and she delivered a well thought-out plan. I can't wait to implement
it.
Erosion is a big problem on Dancing Rabbit land. All the streams around
here were straightened, and the faster-running water erodes the banks
and cuts
deep falls in the gullies. This has been intensified by our highly erodable
soils
and the clearing of the trees along the creek. We have already taken two
steps to ameliorate this problem. Willows have the amazing ability to make
roots
on any part of the plant. I salvaged a bunch of thin willow trees from
a project we were doing at my job with the Missouri Department of Conservation.
We cut
them into 2-foot lengths, sharpened one end, and then we pounded all 150
of them
almost all the way into the ground in eroding areas. Hopefully they will
grow into trees whose roots will hold the soil. I've already seen many
with
leaves
on them. The little branches from the tops of the trees we tied together
into bundles called wattles and anchored them across gullies, so they will
grow
into a little wall of water-slowing willows.
We also ordered 375 native
trees from the state nursery and planted them on our bottomland to widen
the band of trees around the creek. With the
roots holding
the soil and the trees sucking up water, we hope to slow down the flow
during heavy rains. We picked a beautiful early spring afternoon to plant,
mulch,
and install guards for the trees. Then we planted a cover crop in between
the
trees
to fix nitrogen for them and stave off the choking grasses.
An injured redtail hawk encountered on a haybale
All this habitat restoration
work is great, but it's hard to tell how it is affecting the wildlife.
That's why I initiated a bird monitoring
route.
I walk
a route
twice a month that includes ten locations spread out all over our
land. At each point, I stop for five minutes and record all the birds I
see and hear.
I am
also doing a vegetation survey at all ten points three times each
growing
season. With this data we should be able to get a sense of how the
flora and fauna
of Dancing Rabbit are changing over the coming decades. It's also
a great opportunity to get other people exploring the land and learning
about
the wildlife.
I'm also keeping a list of all plants, birds, and mammals
that have been seen on our land. This gives us a snapshot of how we're
doing, and will
be helpful
for making decisions in the future. The inventory is dovetailing
nicely with a little side project I am doing. There is a great
reference called "Flora
of Missouri" that was published in the sixties. It is a guide
to all plants that occur in the state and what counties they have
been found in. It is currently
being revised, and because our county has rarely been studied it
is very underrepresented. I contacted the editor and offered to
collect plants to verify that they occur
here. He enthusiastically accepted my offer and I worked with a
professor at local Truman State University to turn it into an independent
study
project. So
I'm collecting plants, mostly at Dancing Rabbit, to increase public
knowledge of plant distribution and our knowledge of our land as
well.
Whew! If that isn't enough, I got accepted into the Master's
degree program in Biology at Truman State University and have
designed my thesis research
to involve
land on and near Dancing Rabbit. I'm studying the effect of burning
versus mowing on land that is in CRP, the government land set
aside program.
I will be measuring
the abundance of grassland birds and their nests, and the predation
on real and artificial nests. It's going to keep me busy for
this and the
next two
summers.
But I still hope to devote a fair amount of time to improving
the land.
In fact, I have some pretty cool projects planned. Laura is the
work exchanger I mentioned earlier. We will be building the
first trail
through Dancing
Rabbit land, following a route similar to that used for the
bird census. We've already
built our first bridge across the creek, to discourage people
from clambering up and down the banks and destabilizing them.
After
the birds finish
nesting, we'll be mowing a few fields to keep the trees and
shrubs from invading
into the grasslands. We hope to organize a big stream clean
up day. And in the
fall we'll seed some of the eroding areas with switchgrass,
a native grass that
has strong roots to hold soil. Plus, whatever else we can manage
to get done working
a few days a week. Wish us luck!
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