Activities during the winter of 2005-2006:

• Planting two new prairies with seeds collected the previous fall
• Major effort to control brush invading previously restored savannas
• Use of herbicide treatment (basal bark) to eliminate undesirable woody shrubs in oak woods

Mixing seed on the concrete barn floor. At this stages, forb and grass seeds are combined. It is important that the seeds to be planted are thoroughly mixed before planting. Shovels and pitch forks are used. This is the wet-mesic seed mix to be planted a few minutes later on the Crane Prairie.

After mixing, sawdust is added as a carrier. Usually sawdust and seeds are mixed in equal volumes. Sawdust is obtained from a nearby sawmill.

Planting buckets. After the sawdust is added, the seed mixtures are placed in 5-gallon buckets for planting.

Planting is done by volunteers.

The area to be planted is measured for size using GPS. Equal areas are marked with flags and the seed mix is divided into an appropriate number of buckets.

Susan Slapnick retrieving the empty buckets as the volunteers walk back to the cabin for hot drinks. A narrow lane through this future prairie provides access to the site by the Kawasaki Mule (utility vehicle).

The Ridge Prairie was planted a week later, also on the snow. The Ridge Prairie is a former agricultural field at the top of the ridge that had been treated with glyphosate herbicide for two years (three times each year) to eliminate perennial weeds. It was planted with a dry-mesic seed mix.

When our savannas were restored, all of the invasive shrubs were cut and removed, and the cut stumps treated with herbicide to prevent resprouting. However, these shrubs are copious seed producers, so that there is a substantial "seed bank" in the soil. Annual controlled burns are not sufficient to keep new shrubs from becoming established. Within four to five years, new shrub establishment occurs, at least in some areas.

Since our restoration work began in 1998, we have had seven growing seasons for reestablishment of shrubs. Despite the fact that all of the savannas were burned annually, they have become reinfested. In winter 2005-2006 we are making a strong effort to knock back the new growth.

There is a large seed bank of buckthorn, honeysuckle, etc. and new shoots quickly appear. If there were sufficient fuel (prairie grasses, especially), fire would probably kill these new shoots and keep the shrubs in check. However, there is "not" sufficient fuel in a newly opened savanna. It takes some years for the forbs and grasses characteristic of a savanna to get established. This means that one cannot count on yearly hot burns. In the intervening years, the invasive shrubs usually return.

Brambles are another serious problem. They are present in the unrestored woods, but because of the reduced light they do not thrive. Once the savanna is opened up brambles grow rampantly and can easily choke out the ground cover. Although brambles are top-killed by burns, the extensive underground root system survives, and dormant buds quickly send up new canes. Even after successive annual burns, the brambles are not eradicated. Because of the extensive underground system of dormant buds, they get a head start over forbs and grasses, and easily take over.

Long-term control of invasive shrubs Given the above, how do we permanently eradicate invasive shrubs and brambles? Herbicide is really the only way, and the most benign approach to herbicide use is cutting in winter and immediately treating the cut stems with concentrated glyphosate. Once several killing frosts have occurred, the forbs and grasses have died back and will be unaffected by herbicide. But viable shrubs still translocate herbicide to their roots after being cut. Note however, that a fall burn cannot be done the same year. This is because the burn will top-kill the shrubs so that their cut stems will not translocate herbicide to the roots (where it does its work).

Once an area of brush has been cut, workers with herbicide spray bottles follow on and treat "every" cut stem with glyphosate (20% active ingredient). (We add a red dye in order to monitor the herbicide process.) It takes at least two herbicide operators (preferably three) to keep up with the brush cutter.

If an area is not heavily infested with brambles, and has large isolated shrubs, an area of 100 X 100 feet can be covered in several hours. More heavily infested areas take much longer because the time-consuming part of the job is the herbicide treatment. One heavily infested area of 0.3 acres took 24 person/hours to cover (one brush cutter and three herbicide operators).

It should be emphasized that cutting should not be done unless the cut stems are treated with herbicide. Cutting without treatment will only result in a worse problem, as the resprout situation the next year will be awful. Resprouted shrubs are much harder to deal with than those growing from a single trunk.

Note that only living stems need be treated. If fire has been used in previous years, many stems may be dead. Living stems can be recognized because their cut surfaces look fresh and the outer layer of their bark is green.

The oak woods on the north slope of Pleasant Valley Conservancy is not savanna, but closed-grown woods. Although this woods is in relatively good condition, there are areas with large buckthorn or honeysuckle. This winter we are attempting to deal with these invaders.

Instead of cutting and treating all of these shrubs, we are using a less invasive technique, basal bark treatment with triclopyr (Garlon 4). This is a well established procedure for killing undesirable woody vegetation. The treatment will kill the plant and it will not leaf out next spring. After several years, the roots rot out and the plant topples over. Eventually, the dead wood decays and disappears.

Basal bark treatment is a much less expensive procedure than cutting and treating. Also, one does not have the cut wood to deal with.

Garlon 4 is oil-soluble and is used in a petroleum base in a backpack sprayer. Only the root collar at the base of the shrub is sprayed.

Because the procedure is done in the winter, when all the forbs are dormant, no side effects are anticipated. Most of the Garlon remains on the shrub stem, and the small amount that reaches the soil remains near the shrub. Any residual Garlon will decompose via microbial action.

Because of the extent of the area to be treated, this work is being done by an outside contractor.