I’m starting to realize that I have a unique job. When asked what I do at a dinner party, I have a hard time giving a one-sentence answer that makes sense to anyone. I’ll say, “I’m a restoration ecologist”. Silence. Blank stares. By way of explanation, I usually follow with an activity that I’ve been doing recently: “lighting fires to manage prairie” or “using a chainsaw to restore oak savanna” or “driving a combine to harvest seed” or “herding bison”. At this point, my fellow dinner guests’ heads begin to nod with some understanding of what keeps me busy. I’m always left with the feeling though, that they don’t really understand why someone would partake in these activities, let alone dedicate their career to it. It is with that in mind that I thought I would share my responses to a few of the most common questions I get asked.
Many of the prairies and savannas that once covered the landscape have been reduced to a tiny fraction of their original size through the settlement and development of the St. Croix River valley. Also affected are the plants and animals that call these places home. Restoration is the process of bringing back the ecological systems of an area to provide habitat for a wide array of plants and animals. The goal of the restoration may be pre- settlement conditions (what was present on the landscape at the time of European settlement), or, given constraints on conditions, time, and funding – an equally beneficial habitat type. Both entail bringing back the structure (e.g. pockets of widely- spaced trees in an oak savanna) and the composition (e.g. native grasses and flowers in the understory) of the type of system you are trying to restore.
Most of the prairies that once occurred in this area were converted to agriculture due to the incredible richness of the soil. Due to improvements in agricultural productivity, many of these fields can now been returned to prairie without sacrificing our food production. This is done by removing the weeds, preparing the soil, and planting a prairie seed mix. These are restored prairies.
Prairie remnants are pockets of prairie that were never before farmed. They often occur in areas that are too rocky, sandy or steep for crops. These remnants are extremely important, not only as a seed source for restorations, but for understanding the composition and function of a prairie system. The Belwin Conservancy has both restored and remnant prairies on our preserve.
In the course of restoring and managing land, the use of herbicide is sometimes necessary to remove or reduce invasive plant species. At the Belwin Conservancy, we employ an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) system in our work. IPM takes a holistic approach to pest control and is generally seen as the most environmentally friendly approach. At the Belwin Conservancy we use mechanical methods of control extensively; including timed cutting and mowing, hand pulling and prescribed burns, to keep invasive species at bay. Sometimes we have to look to chemical methods of control to bolster our efforts.
The method employed often depends on the life cycle of the plant (e.g. annual weeds are much easier to manage than perennial weeds) as well as the extent of the population, terrain, etc. We do not use any herbicides in the bison grazed prairies while the bison are present just to be especially cautious. We focus on early detection and eradication of invasive plant species to avoid the use of herbicide.
Trees are one of the most majestic growth forms in the plant world and embody a sense of history and strength. We become emotion- ally attached to trees for their beauty and all of the various attributes they provide for us. In the course of restoration, however, we must consider how to manage the preserve for the greatest good of all the species that call this place home.
Take pine plantations. We have pockets of red pine plantations throughout the preserve. Most were planted in the 1940s and 1950s to stabilize soils that were too sandy or steep for farming. The straight rows of trees in these plantations betray their origins. Red pine is not native to this part of Minnesota; therefore there are very few other plants and animals here that can take advantage of them. The density of the plantings and the deep shade produced by the pine trees make these plantations virtual ecological deserts. There are very few herbs or shrubs growing on the forest floor and almost no wildlife. We harvest these pine stands and restore the area to more ecologically diverse habitat native to this region such as tallgrass prairie.
Trees are also often removed in the process of savanna restoration such as at our Lake Edith Site. Savannas have become quite rare due to the absence of fire on a landscape scale. In fact, savannas represent one of the most endangered natural communities in the entire world with less than 0.01% remaining. Many of our current woodlands are really just overgrown savannas. Where appropriate, we “daylight” the dominant trees of an oak savanna such as bur and white oak, by removing all of the other trees that have become established in the absence of fire. Often, these are disturbance-loving species such as aspen, red cedar, and box elder.
I hope that this provides some clarity to some of the “how’s” and why’s” of the restoration work we do here at Belwin Conservancy. If you have any other questions regarding restoration, or the Belwin Conservancy’s work in general, please email meadowlark@belwin.org. We hope to publish more responses to your frequently asked questions in future Meadowlark newsletters.