We get so busy doing conservation that we often don’t report out on the work we accomplish. Or we create a dry report and wonder if anyone reads it. I was recently involved with a brush mowing project where we cleared a lot of habitat. I wanted to try to explain why we mowing a lot of brush, planting seed, and using prescribed fire. I decided to use Adobe Spark to produce a report on the work. The link is here: https://spark.adobe.com/page/tJeXFdSRLvy2s/
Presentation can be made with other software such as ArcGIS StoryMaps or Power Point. They all charge a fee.
A lot of the work we do in grassland restoration takes time to explain. Visual aids help us bridge a gap.
grassland restoration network 
I like the newer type presentation.
Like Power Point, this software can also be a time sink. At some point you have to stop editing.
Bill and All, We love our Goldenrod here in S.W. Ohio, but Tall Goldenrod (Solidago altissima) or it’s close cousin Canada Goldenrod (Solidago canadenisis) can and do overwhelm many of our natural or restored Prairies, crowding out almost everything else at times. Is this a problem in other states? Has anyone found an effective control method? We have seen some success using weed wipers at carefully timed applications, but golly that is tedious work! Any tricks would be appreciated.
I really enjoy this Blog Site !
On Thu, May 28, 2020 at 4:09 AM grassland restoration network wrote:
> Grassland Restoration Network. Blog published by Bill Kleiman posted: “We > get so busy doing conservation that we often don’t report out on the work > we accomplish. Or we create a dry report and wonder if anyone reads it. I > was recently involved with a brush mowing project where we cleared a lot of > habitat. I wanted to try ” >
Terry, I am glad you enjoy the blog. Hearing that folks read the blog is what motivates me to keep it going.
The weedy goldenrods are an issue for many natural areas. Around here, I find those weedy species increase when they have little competition. They might increase greatly in an area that I boomed sprayed for some other weed. They might get thick in part of a row crop field let fallow. Or they increase at times in CRP brome fields. These are simple and low diversity places with open niche to exploit.
We tend to not manage against goldenrod with herbicides. Occasionally we mow them in full flower, perhaps more because we find them ugly.
Our prairie plantings generally are seeded heavy and with diversity. We tend to not have large amounts of weedy goldenrods. Our remnants also don’t allow much weedy goldenrod. I expect a prairie planting that was seeded too light will leave a lot of space for species like weedy goldenrod.
Very well done report! I’m sure it will be more likely to have been read than a word doc with half (or less) as many photos. The time sink you suggest was hopefully well worth the people you were targeting to educate on the process. Know your blog readers enjoyed it!