Bill Kleiman started this blogsite in 2013. In 2024 I welcome Juli Mason and Mike Saxton as co-administrators of this Grassland Restoration Network (GRN) blog. Juli’s day job is Director of Conservation Programs with the Forest Preserves of Will County, Illinois. Mike is the Executive Director of the Friends of Nachusa Grasslands. Juli, Mike and Bill encourage others to contribute blog posts. By sharing lessons learned we help advance our field. Whether you work in the Midwest, Great Plains or perhaps the Southeast or some other continent- share your lessons with us.
Top reasons to write a blog post:
- It is easy and fun to do
- It is free
- Your ideas are stored with tags on the blog-site so they are easily found on web searches
- You can include links in your post to longer reports or articles
How to offer a blogpost for us to publish.
Typically, people have an idea of something they have learned that they think others will appreciate. It does not need to be earth shattering, unique, or perfectly formed. If you read some of the blog posts you will see they can be long or short, technical or simple. The longer you get, the more words you use, the more likely people won’t finish reading it. In these cases, you might add a link to go to for supporting information.
I typically start by opening a text document and writing my thoughts. I usually have a few to several photos that I know will help illustrate my point. I will drop my photos into the text document so I know where they go.
Read the text a few times to see if you are making your points succinctly. The blogsite can put captions under the photos too.
Email one of the editors. Send them both your text document with its photo imbedded, but also attach the photos to the email. If the photos are only in the text document, we have to extract them as a .jpg and then import them into the blogsite format.
Questions? Ask one of us.
What is the Grassland Restoration Network?
The Grassland Restoration Network (GRN) is a loose affiliation of projects and project staff engaged in the restoration of diverse native grassland communities. The Network was formed in 2003 by The Nature Conservancy but its members represent a wide variety of organizations, government agencies, and private landowners. There are three major objectives of the Grassland Restoration Network:
- Facilitate communication and cross-site learning among large-scale grassland restoration sites.
- Identify and close critical knowledge gaps regarding grassland restoration and measures of restoration success.
- Foster a “grassland restoration culture” that increases the quantity and quality of grassland restoration.
The Network sponsors annual workshops, generally in the summer or early fall, at which participants meet at a restoration site, tour nearby restoration projects, and discuss topics such as seed harvest and planting methods, plant propagation techniques, invasive species challenges, ideas for long-term prairie management, evaluation of restoration success, and research needs and results.
grassland restoration network 
Can someone direct me to some published literature on the efficacy (or lack thereof) of importation of topsoil (A horizon) for restoration of native vegetation? TIA
Is anyone from Quad City area interested in gathering occasionally to share information on restoration work?
Is anyone from Quad City area interested in gathering occasionally to share information on restoration work?
I have an idea for a post on GRN if there is someone who can address this issue. The issue is, what is the best strategy for addressing the situation where aggressive, tall natives such as Eutrochium purpureum or Agastache spp. are seeded in and quickly become dominant in an oak woodland or savanna? A similar prairie scenario may occur with Arnoglossum atriplicifolium. Do we mow or cut them back and seed in shorter stature species? Also, going forward, I presume these species should not be included in seed mixes?
Hi Pete, that sounds like a good topic! Would you be willing to write a short article with a few photos? That will get the comment section and discussion flowing!
Enjoying your site.
i did some tests on areas in my 3yr old EQIP planting with spring clethodim to knock back the cool season grass (blue mostly), i really liked the results. I would like to spray the full 5 acres this next spring, but i am concerned about the impact to the pollinators. Literature says “practically nontoxic to birds and honeybees”. Your thoughts/experience?
NE Wisconsin
If someone wanted to get involved with this network, how would they go about doing that?
You could click on the “follow this blog” and then you would hear about our annual workshops, and other ideas.
hey, I’m in north Alabama but kayak and hike a lot. Is there any way for me to help spread seeds when I see clearings. I’d love to be sent some sends to spread anywhere honestly if that’s possible.
Seeds are powerful things, both good and bad. Seeds should not be spread from places more than say an hours drive away. And seed should not be planted without a landowner’s permission. The safest seed movement would be small amounts from healthy looking native populations to plant nearby in degraded places. You want to move native plants, not invasive plants that you mis-identified. You want to do good, not harm.
We have a similar issue with Solidago Canadensis in our Lake County Illinois preserve. Last year we scythed large circles in an oak savanna to give other plants a chance. Monitoring is ongoing.