Author Archives: Grassland Restoration Network blog

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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.

The Timing of Prairie Seeding Matters!

Posted on January 23, 2020 by Grassland Restoration Network blog

By Julianne Mason, Restoration Program Coordinator, Forest Preserve District of Will County Here is a strong visual example of how the timing of prairie seeding matters.  A former agricultural field in Will County, Illinois was seeded with rather diverse mixes … Continue reading →

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Seed Hammer Mill

Posted on January 16, 2020 by Grassland Restoration Network blog

By Bill Kleiman, Nachusa Grasslands TNC Updated April 2025 This is a hammer mill used to break apart seed heads of all sorts of native seeds.The mill is under the red housing which has spinning hammers inside.   A mill is … Continue reading →

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UTV tanks for prescribed fire

Posted on January 9, 2020 by Grassland Restoration Network blog

By Bill Kleiman, Nachusa Grasslands, TNC UTV skid unit tanks:  The best part of a Utility Vehicle is its mobility on prescribed fires.  50 to 70 gallons of water is plenty to carry on a UTV.   At 70 gallons your … Continue reading →

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Fire, Rubus and Geranium

Posted on December 26, 2019 by Grassland Restoration Network blog

By Bill Kleiman In a closed canopy oak woods we have been doing annual fire for a long time.  The Rubus allegheniensis, common blackberry is slowly fading in stature and density, while the wild geranium, G maculatum, has become abundant.  … Continue reading →

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Wild Parsnip. Is it invasive or just a weed?

Posted on December 19, 2019 by Grassland Restoration Network blog

By Bill Kleiman, The Nature Conservancy at Nachusa Grasslands Pastinaca sativa, wild parsnip lives two years, with flower and seed set on year two. Every June you will find us mowing it somewhere on the preserve, as this is when … Continue reading →

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Prescribed fire pumper units

Posted on December 12, 2019 by Grassland Restoration Network blog

by Bill Kleiman, The Nature Conservancy, Nachusa Grasslands At Nachusa Grasslands we use several vehicle mounted water sprayers on our fires.  We call them “pumper units”.  Photo above is a crew about to start their test ignition.   You don’t see … Continue reading →

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The Way of the Warrior Sedges

Posted on December 5, 2019 by Grassland Restoration Network blog

By Kevin Scheiwiller of Citizens for Conservation As many practitioners know, wetlands can be one of the most frustrating and resource demanding areas to restore. Countless wetland plantings have shown a large flush in native diversity in the first few … Continue reading →

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Planting prairie #97 with the full monty

Posted on November 28, 2019 by Grassland Restoration Network blog

By Bill Kleiman, The Nature Conservancy The photo above is from this season of  a 2010 planting, our 97th at Nachusa Grasslands.  There is a lot of gayfeather and white indigo. Harder to see are the thimbleweed, coreopsis, lupine, various … Continue reading →

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Propagating false toadflax, Comandra umbellata

Posted on November 21, 2019 by Grassland Restoration Network blog

by Bernie Buchholz, Steward at Nachusa Grasslands Bastard toad flax (Comandra umbellata) is a hemi-parasitic plant prominent in most of the remnant prairies at Nachusa Grasslands.  It is known to lightly parasitize most all of its neighbors.  Despite collecting thousands … Continue reading →

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Baseline vegetation survey linked to photos

Posted on November 14, 2019 by Grassland Restoration Network blog

By Bill Kleiman For a recently protected tract I developed a baseline vegetation protocol that seems doable, statistically sound, understandable, and visual. First I created numbered sequential random points.  There is a way to get GIS to randomize these points … Continue reading →

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