Author Archives: Grassland Restoration Network blog

About Grassland Restoration Network blog

Bill Kleiman, Julianne Mason, and Mike Saxton publish this blog. Bill's daytime job is director of Nachusa Grasslands with The Nature Conservancy. Julianne works for the Forest Preserve District of Will County. Mike Saxton works for the Missouri Botanical Garden at their Shaw Nature Reserve. We are looking for guest authors on various topics of grassland habitat restoration. Contact us with your ideas.

A Study on Controlling Bush Honeysuckle

By Kaleb Baker Amur honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii) is an invasive shrub that flourishes along forest edges and in open woodlands. Amur honeysuckle shades out native flora with its early leaf-out and prolonged leaf retention, and when left uncontrolled, can produce … Continue reading

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GRN Workshop at Nachusa Grasslands September 10 &11, 2024

By Bill Kleiman Registration will open in June. Here is a quick update. We would start the workshop mid-morning September 10 and end mid-afternoon on the 11th. We have limited space so we may not be able to accept all … Continue reading

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Piston pump vs centrifugal for prescribed fires: JD-9 nozzle, hose, characteristics

by Bill Kleiman This post is for those who spray water on prescribed fires. On our piston pump units we often use the above JD-9 Green Guard nozzle. We like it because it is easy to hold, especially while driving … Continue reading

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Live Fire Trainings

We are resending this as there was a glitch in the first broadcast. Mike Saxton is the Manager of Ecological Restoration and Land Stewardship at Shaw Nature Reserve – a division of the Missouri Botanical Garden – Gray Summit, MO. … Continue reading

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Crafting Wetlands—2023 Crew Planting

Written by Jacob Churulo, Nachusa Grasslands Resident Fellow Every year, Nachusa’s crew plantings embody our long-standing commitment to restoring high quality prairie habitat. In 2023, the combined seed picking efforts of the summer and fall restoration crews culminated into this … Continue reading

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Rx fire pumper units and tenders

by Bill Kleiman As this is spring fire season in northern Illinois I thought I would highlight past posts I have done that show lessons learned about slip on pumper units and water tenders. 

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Land Abandonment, Succession and Restoration: The Wolf Run Grasslands Restoration Project at the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Shaw Nature Reserve.

by Mike Saxton and Calvin Maginel This article was originally posted in https://mbgecologicalrestoration.wordpress.com/2023/12/19/land-abandonment-succession-and-restoration-the-wolf-run-grassland-restoration-project-at-the-missouri-botanical-gardens-shaw-nature-reserve/ Since 1950, over 1-billon acres of agricultural land have been abandoned worldwide. In certain landscape contexts, passive recovery of high levels of native biodiversity in abandoned fields … Continue reading

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Grass-Specific Herbicide Treatment on Heavily Grass-Dominated Prairies

By Alex Conley and Dr. Andrew Kaul, Missouri Botanical Garden’s Shaw Nature Reserve Shaw Nature Reserve (SNR) is a division of the Missouri Botanical Garden, located 35 miles west of St. Louis and containing roughly 300 acres of restored tallgrass … Continue reading

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Protecting oaks with fire and from fire

By Bill Kleiman Oak species in our area thrive in landscapes with frequent fire. White oak, bur oak, black, Hills oak…. In full sun, bur oaks will grow like this one above with characteristic outspreading limbs. Fires bring sunlight. Oaks love sunlight. … Continue reading

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Northern Illinois Native Seed Phenophases

By Matt Hokanson Have you ever discovered a population of rare native plants gorgeously in bloom and think to yourself “I must come back and collect seed from these plants to restore their population elsewhere”? Summer rolls on, life gets … Continue reading

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