The March Hare: Winter 2007 Issue 51

Planning and Village Design • Ten Years On • Caterpillar • Preparedness • Juan's Bio • Nature Corner • Dancing Letters

Nature Corner

By Rachel

Our land experienced a radical new look this summer. Much of it has been enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) since we purchased it. CRP takes highly erodable land out of production and pays landowners to put it in some form of cover to protect the soil and provide wildlife habitat. Most of the 200 acres we have enrolled are designated as grassland. Well, we received a special offer from the government: we would be allowed to extend our contract for 4 more years, but only if our grasslands were free of woody and invasive plants. With the exception of our approximately 20 acres of prairie restoration and the fields I did my thesis research in, the rest of the land has been untouched for 9-19 years and had plenty of both. We were told we'd have to mow it all to be allowed to extend the contract on our land. So we hired some neighbors and turned it all into a facsimile of a golf course.

It was tough to see the wild unruliness mowed down. But every change means there are new opportunities. What plans should we make for our CRP grasslands for the next four years? We don't know whether we'll have another opportunity to reenroll after that and we may have complete control of our land after. Or we may have to bend to government guidelines for another ten years afterwards to receive their financial assistance. Should we keep it as "clean" as possible so that it is prepared for future cultivation or re-enrollment? Should we attempt to convert it to native prairie habitat? Or should we allow succession to creep its way forward through the fields, creating a diversity of plant and animal life?

We did choose not to mow all the grasslands. There were a few areas where the trees had gotten a stronghold and we thought it better to remove the land from the program and allow them to continue to grow. In particular, we decided to allow "Mullein Hill" to keep its trees and begin its long trek towards being our first upland woodlands. Now we need to decide how to manage that. Do we plant trees? What are our goals?

In general our goal has been to manage primarily for ecosystem health. That means trying to encourage something similar to pre-settlement habitat with an eye towards diversity and controlling erosion. Unlike most of our neighbors, recreational or economic uses are secondary.

Our latest interaction with the government has been to enroll some of our bottomland in a slightly different CRP program. This program tries to protect creeks from erosion and sedimentation by helping landowners plant a buffer in trees. We are enrolling several acres which are within 180 feet of the creek on the east side in the program. The first 50 feet will be protected in perpetuity as a buffer. The outer rows of trees will be planted in a mix of maples and nut and fruit bearers. We can only plant wild varieties, but once the contract has expired in ten years, we can graft cultivars onto them. The rows will also be spaced to allow for future alley cropping (agriculture).

We have another potential plan for our land in the works, also with government support. "Dead Car Draw" is a branch of our creek that has several big headcuts (steep drop offs from erosion). The Soil and Water Conservation District would help us pay for a 400' long, 110' wide dam that would result in a 1.5-acre, 13-16 foot deep pond. While the pond would keep the headcuts from working their way up the hill, the concentration of water from the drain pipe would not necessarily reduce overall erosion— but it would provide a nice big swimming pond. This is just one of the questions we will be wrestling with at the retreat.

At this point, we make our plans for our land piecemeal, as needed. But I hope that we someday put together a more holistic plan that allows us to more effectively manage our land for ecosystem health and human utility.

Planning and Village Design • Ten Years On • Caterpillar • Preparedness • Juan's Bio • Nature Corner • Dancing Letters