When to manage against an invasive plant

Posted on June 4, 2020 by Grassland Restoration Network blog

Because one project is spraying invasive birdsfoot trefoil does that mean I should too?

How to approach this question for birdsfoot trefoil, or any invasive plant.

First gather information about an assumed invasive plant.  Look up websites, talk to managers you know, consult people with a history on the site.  For birdsfoot trefoil, Lotus corniculatus, you will likely find experts/botanists/natural areas managers consider it to be invasive.  They may not know what to do about it.  It has kept me humble.

But should you manage against it at your particular site?

First, study a map of your site that shows where any remnant habitats are located, where the habitat restorations are.  Note the good quality from the poor quality sections.

Then map the occurrences of the invasive plant across your site.  Below is a 2006 map from Nachusa.

Does the plant occur everywhere?  Does it occur on just the very poor restorations, or the old pasture with no native plants?  Or is it on the best part of the remnant habitats, or just on the degraded edges of the remnant?

Consider what harm you might do by working against the weed.  A quality remnant already saturated with an invasive plant may  be a case of leaving the weed alone.

On our Big Jump unit we have birdsfoot trefoil that is very thick and all across the remnant prairie.  Decades back trefoil seed was broadcast over that prairie to make a better pasture. To try to spray out the trefoil would leave little else in the way of forbs.  Trefoil produces lots of seed that stays in the soil a long time. Trefoil requires decades of annual visits to spray plants.  Our resources are limited.   So for this unit we want to contain the spread, leave the trefoil on the remnant, and instead spray trefoil in the adjacent ruderal areas.  We also spray any trefoil that occurs on our fire breaks or stewardship lanes so we don’t move the seed around on our equipment.

Below: The trefoil in the adjacent fallow field that had about four species of plants:  brome grass, timothy, weedy goldenrod, and lots of the yellow trefoil.  We used less than 1% Milestone herbicide (1 oz per gallon) as it works on the germinating seeds too.  This was not hard to do.  We could do this every few years.

On another large unit we have owned a long time we have been carefully backpack spot spraying trefoil from a remnant, and we have been spot spraying in restorations that are adjacent. This effort has been a 27 year long practice with multiple visits every year.  A labor of love.

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Using cool image software to summarize a restoration project

Posted on May 28, 2020 by Grassland Restoration Network blog

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.

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Tender Truck for Rx Fire

Posted on May 21, 2020 by Grassland Restoration Network blog

By Bill Kleiman, Nachusa Grasslands, The Nature Conservancy

If you manage grasslands you likely also do prescribed fire. I have been posting fire and fire equipment articles with the GRN because I also provide content for the Illinois Prescribed Fire Council website….where you can find the extended version of this post and other fire equipment reviews.

https://www.illinoisprescribedfirecouncil.org/uploads/1/0/5/8/105892833/tender_enduraplas_2022.pdf

A water tender is used to fill up the other pumper units being used on prescribed fires.  Water tenders need to hold and pump a lot of water.  They also are the place you put all those tools and supplies you don’t need in every vehicle.

We purchased an Enduraplas brand 300 gallon skid unit.  This post summarizes how we set up our tender truck using this new unit.

Bolting the skid to the truck bed:

Our truck is a stainless steel dump truck.  It has no tie down points for using straps to hold the skid tank in place.  I am reluctant to use straps anyway as they can be precarious, allowing the tank to slide about the bed and frequently being inadequate of a hold down.

Instead, we looked for a way to drill through the stainless bed and bolt the skid frame down.  We ended up concluding that the dump truck bed had frame members in the way of a simple straight bolt through the tender skid frame.  We were going to need metal fabrication.  We took the truck and tender skid to Bellini Welding in Dixon Illinois.  Their staff Tim McBride spent a day mounting the skid to the truck.  Below photo is the metal L channel that was added with photo below that finished mount.

Brian Bellini – who can fabricate anything, and with flair.

Tim McBride

Below are the baffle balls we purchased and dropped inside the tank.  They took all the slosh out of the tank when the truck moves.

Below is a type of tail gate we fashioned to keep stuff from falling out.

This tender skid unit uses a 5hp motor turning a centrifugal pump that can theoretically pump 120 gallons per minute.  I tested the flow rate that comes out of the 100 feet of ¾’ hose at a mere 13 gpm.  This flow rate is too low for a tender.

Below shows the solution as a plumbed bypass of the hose reel and a wide hose. The output is now a massive 73 gallons per minute.  The line fits in the pallet fork frame for storage.  The hose reel line still works too.

Thank you to volunteer maintenance tech Paul Mellen for working with me to get this tender set up.

Again, more details on tender here: https://www.illinoisprescribedfirecouncil.org/uploads/1/0/5/8/105892833/tender_enduraplas_2022.pdf

April 2025 shows how we load the tender for the fire day.
This is a new version of a tender tailer.
Paul Mellen plumbing up the tender.. The design is simple, low cost, and reliable.
This is about the same set up with an unbaffled 400 gallon tank.

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Leafy Spurge (Euphorbia esula L.)

Posted on May 14, 2020 by Grassland Restoration Network blog

By Eric Hoff and Haley Bloomquist, The Nature Conservancy, Brown Ranch, North Dakota.

Leafy spurge is native to Eurasia and thought to have been brought to the upper Midwest in the late 1800’s.  A very aggressive plant, Leafy Spurge spreads through rhizomes as well as seeds.  Exploding seed pods have been shown to spread seed up to 20 feet from the parent plant!  Seeds are also viable in the soil for as long as 10 years.

Here at Brown Ranch in North Dakota, Leafy Spurge is found from the top of our sandhills right down to the very edge of the wetlands/ sedge meadow.  It does not like to be submerged in water or heavily saturated soils but can withstand a short duration of inundation.

Leafy spurge can flower in the spring and fall. The control of Leafy Spurge is very difficult because of its extensive root system, which can be up to 26ft in depth, as well as the longevity of the seeds.  There are many integrated pest management tools to control Leafy Spurge which include chemical, mechanical, and biological methods. The most common and effective herbicides to combat Leafy Spurge include Tordon, Plateau, 2,4-D, and Facet.  At Brown Ranch we have found Plateau and Facet are the most effective at controlling Leafy Spurge.  Plateau is hard on forbs and caution must be used in areas where the water table is or can be at or near the soil surface.  Facet is not as hard on forbs, is equally or more effective, but costs almost twice as much as Plateau.  As with many herbicides, care should also be taken when applying Facet to areas where the water table is at or near the surface.

Another option for control is mechanical treatment.  Land managers have successfully used weed whips for smaller areas and large tractor mounted mowers to control the plant by keeping it from setting seed.  Mechanical treatment is often followed by an herbicide treatment later in the summer or fall.

A third option for control is utilizing biocontrol agents such as the flea beetle. Flea Beetles have been found to be very cost effective in places where the beetles can over winter.  Here in the Sheyenne Delta, the soils are often too sandy for the beetles to establish their larvae in the root system to survive during the winter months.  Other biocontrol agents include livestock.  While Leafy Spurge can be toxic to cattle and horses, these species are best used to remove desirable vegetation prior to chemical application.  This helps increase chemical reception of the intended target.  Unlike cattle, goats and sheep can graze Leafy Spurge without worry of toxicity and provide effective control by reducing the vigor of the plant and preventing it from setting seed early in the season.

One last tool that may be utilized is prescribed fire.  Leafy Spurge responds well to fire, so why would it be a useful tool?  At Brown Ranch we use fire to delay the onset of seed, thus extending our pre-seed spraying season.  Because leafy spurge responds well to fire, it grows with vigor, which often means it is one of the first plants to emerge and one of the tallest, making it an easy target for chemical application.  Because it is actively growing, that chemical is readily adsorbed and translocated to meristematic tissues.

If unmanaged, Leafy Spurge can out compete native vegetation and can become a monoculture (see photos below of managed vs. unmanaged). The good news is, with dedication, good timing and integrated pest management practices you can control Leafy Spurge and have healthy diverse prairies!

Above is prairie managed for Leafy Spurge

Above is unmanaged for leafy spurge

NEWS: Due to Covid 19 crisis we are postponing the GRN workshop of this August to next August, 2021 in Barrington, Illinois.

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THE 1-2 PUNCH

Posted on May 7, 2020 by Grassland Restoration Network blog

By Bryon Walters, Illinois Natural Area Improvements

Spring is a great time to go after all those exotic and invasive basal rosettes that like to pop up early.

This mix will be very effective towards a wide array of broadleaf annuals, bi-annuals and perennial species. Some of the suspects I encounter in north central Illinois include these:

Garlic mustard

Garlic mustard 4 hours later

Poison hemlock

Poison hemlock 4 days later

Dames rocket

Wild parsnip

Catnip

Burdock

Cut leaved teasel

So what is the 1-2 Punch? It is one of the safest and most selective herbicide mixes that you can use.

Write this recipe down and save it with your other favorites! It’s very easy to remember.

1% 2,4-D + 2% Triclopyr, (Garlon, Element and other proprietary names), Surfactant and Dye.

I prefer to fill up 15 gallon drums of this mix in my shop and then head out for the day. I rarely, if ever, carry concentrated jugs of herbicides in my truck. I don’t want to be responsible for cleaning up a chemical spill mess involving concentrated chemicals. Fortunately, it has never happened to me.

Don’t forget the Surfactant! It is the most important ingredient in the mix. Surfactants are stickers that help spread out the herbicide and adhere to the waxy leaf surfaces. I can usually tell if a surfactant wasn’t used by an applicator when I see the vegetation that was sprayed. Usually, there are a few symptomatic leaves but the bulk of the plant looks unaffected. So how much Surfactant do you add?

Remember 1-2 Punch, thus ½ % Surfactant.

Here is how much product I use in 15 gallons. 20 ounces 2,4-D, 40 ounces of Triclopyr and 8 ounces of Surfactant. I put a squeeze of blue dye in the drum lastly.

Lastly, it’s important to know the difference between Amine and Ester formulations. You can cause real problems if you are unsure of the differences.

Amine is the WATER based formulation of the concentrated chemical. Amine is the most commonly obtained and used formulation. Garlon 3A, in which the A designates Amine. It has 3 pounds of a.i., active ingredient, in a gallon. This mix will have a distinct smell and lasts for a day, but it is not bothersome. If you are spraying large volumes of this mix I would advise wearing a face mask. This mix is a general broadleaf control and usually does not effect grasses or sedges, although sometimes small sensitive grasses will turn yellow when sprayed. Use Amine in late Spring and continue with it all Summer. Do not use Ester mixes at these times of the year. I will explain shortly.

Ester is the OIL based formulation of the concentrated chemical. Think Garlon 4E, in which E designates Ester. It has 4 pounds of a.i., active ingredient, in a gallon. This 1-2 mix will form a milky solution. This mix has a much stronger smell, which sometimes lasts for two days when a larger volume is sprayed. You may need to put up a sign to notify the public of chemicals in use. This again is a general broadleaf mix but can cause more yellowing of small sensitive new growth grasses or sedges. Use sparingly as you would do with a glyphosate mix. It is often called LV, Low Volatility, but in truth it is very volatile. Volatility is the ability of the chemical to vaporize and drift away from your target plants. Ester should never be used when the temperatures exceed 70 degrees F. It will adversely effect and even kill desirable plants nearby. It has been known to kill an entire Bald faced Hornets nest. That occurred when a 100 gallon tank load was sprayed in an area when the temps were in the mid 70’s.

I use Ester formulations in early Spring and then again in the Fall. The oil base is very effective on plants during these cooler environmental conditions. If you think you will forget that you have Ester formulations in your sprayers and containers, and you don’t use markers to write this down, then please do not even purchase or mix Ester formulations. Besides, Ester 2,4-D is not readily available.

Use Caution and Care when you are using any chemical products. Adjust your nozzle to a narrow spot stream as shown in one of the photos. Although you can spray and kill Multi-flora Rose and Japanese Barberry with this mix, avoid spraying shrubs because this milder solution will not be effective enough for them. The 1-2 Punch is a general broadleaf mix. Remember, in your I.P.M., the use of chemicals are the last resort to controlling vegetation. Be safe out there.

 EASY HOMEMADE 1-2 PUNCH

3 gallon Backpack mix = 4 ounces 2,4-D + 8 ounces.  TRICLOPYR +  2 ounces Surfactant

15 gallon Drum mix =   20 ounces 2,4-D + 40 ounces TRICLOPYR +  8 ounces Surfactant

25 gallon Tank mix =    32 ounces 2,4-D + 64 ounces TRICLOPYR + 14 ounces Surfactant

NEWS: Due to Covid 19 crisis we are postponing the GRN workshop of this August to next August, 2021 in Barrington, Illinois.

 

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Herbicide Treatments to Reed Canary Grass, Clethodim vs. Glyphosate

Posted on April 30, 2020 by Grassland Restoration Network blog

Subtitle:  We need to focus on winning the war and not just the battle

By:  Julianne Mason, Restoration Program Coordinator, Forest Preserve District of Will County

April 21, 2020

Like all invasive species, reed canary grass is a formidable opponent.  It is aggressive, robust, produces tons of seed, spreads rhizomatously, and can form monocultures in many wetland community types.  Even during these shelter-at-home days, we have been able to do solo work to treat reed canary grass in high priority areas.  Our current work restrictions have highlighted the need to be both strategic and effective in our treatment actions.

Several years ago, I put in some test plots to compare the longer-term effectiveness of treating reed canary grass with glyphosate, a non-selective herbicide, compared to treating it with clethodim, a grass-specific herbicide.  I used 2% AquaNeat (glyphosate product) with 0.4% Pen-A-Trate II, which is our normal nonionic surfactant.  For the grass-specific herbicide treatments, I used 1.5% Volunteer (clethodim product) with 1.5% Powerhouse, which has ammonium sulfate (AMS) incorporated in the surfactant.  Adding AMS, a fertilizer, to the herbicide solution is suggested on the clethodim label.  Unfortunately, clethodim is not approved for use over water; there is no aquatic-approved, grass-specific herbicide.  The clethodim treatments were made when the treatment areas were fairly dry and no standing water was present.  Plots were sprayed in the late fall, early spring, or late spring in 2017 and 2018.

Photo 1 caption: Reed canary grass plants were treated with clethodim or glyphosate herbicide and marked with pin flags which were color coded to the treatment type.  In this plot, the clethodim treatment was pretty effective since no flowering reed canary grass heads are visible in the July photo.

Not surprisingly, the reed canary grass that was treated with glyphosate died quickly.  However, glyphosate is a non-selective chemical, and there were dead zones resulting from overspray during the treatments.  This was especially significant for the late spring treatments. The reed canary grass was big and tall when it was sprayed, resulting in a lot of herbicide spray used and a lot of overspray death.

Photo 2 caption:  Reed canary grass that was sprayed with glyphosate died quickly.  The quick kill was gratifying, but note the dead zones from the non-selective chemical’s overspray.

The dead zones were less obvious but still present during the late fall treatments, which were made after many other species had gone dormant, and during the early spring treatments, which had less overspray because the plants were treated when still small.  The dead zones were mostly colonized by reed canary grass seedlings, which is not surprising. There must be a lot of reed canary grass seed in the seedbank under reed canary grass plants.  Within two years, the reed canary grass stand that was treated with glyphosate during the late spring had returned to a robust reed canary grass stand.  If you had seen the end result, you would not have believed that the reed canary grass had been sprayed with herbicide and killed just two years prior.

Photo 3 caption:  By the second year after treatment, the area treated with glyphosate had returned to a reed canary grass stand.

In contrast, the reed canary grass plants that were treated with clethodim took many weeks to months to turn yellow and senesce.  All of them looked sick and none of them flowered, but they didn’t look especially dead after treatment.  Even a year or two after treatment, many of them had resprouted weakly and were not fully dead, just severely stunted.  However, the other plants in the area that had been previously suppressed by the reed canary grass, like sedges and wetland forbs, were unaffected by the herbicide treatment and had greatly increased in vigor and cover.  Two years after the initial herbicide treatment with clethodim, the treated area had recovered the native cover and diversity of a sedge meadow.

Photo 4 caption:  In the clethodim treatment plots, reed canary grass was killed or significantly reduced.  Sedges and forbs were unaffected by the herbicide treatment and greatly increased in vigor and cover.

Overall, the best results in this study were: 1) treated in the late fall with 2% glyphosate, when the reed canary grass was still slightly green but almost all the other vegetation was dormant, and/or 2) treated with 1.5% clethodim in the fall or early spring, with a follow-up treatment to missed individuals and ones that did not fully die.

Photo 5 caption:  Reed canary grass was treated with clethodim herbicide, and a sedge-dominated community remained two years after the treatment.

Although following up with multiple treatments of clethodim may seem like more work, I think it is worthwhile and actually less work in the end because it allows the native sedges and forbs to flourish.  In many of our natural areas, and especially immediately under invasive plants, the seed bank may not be our friend.  It may have seeds of more invasive plants instead of native species.  Creating “holes” in the vegetation with non-selective chemical use can just make space for more invasive plant recruitment, spray and repeat, spray and repeat.  To break out of that cycle, an end game is to facilitate renewed dominance of the native matrix, which seems to happen better and more quickly when a grass-specific herbicide is used to treat the reed canary grass.

Photo 6 caption:  Comparison of two adjacent plots where the reed canary grass was treated with clethodim and glyphosate herbicide, viewed two years after the treatment.

NEWS: Due to Covid 19 crisis we are postponing the GRN workshop of this August to next August, 2021 in Barrington, Illinois.

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Brush mowing

Posted on April 12, 2020 by Grassland Restoration Network blog

By Bill Kleiman

The Middle Rock Conservation Partners have had a long winter and early spring of brush mowing.   MRCP purchased this large brush mower in early winter and have been working to keep the machine going.

Above is the Fecon FTX200 being moved to the site.

The MRCP Hill tract is very dense with box elder and honeysuckle. The brush is being mowed, than planted with prairie seed harvested with a combine.   Then they plan to backpack treat resprouts and keep up the prescribed fire over the years.  Remember prescribed fire?

This is what the view is at times from the cab.  The reverse screen shows the thinned area.

Before shot with a bur oak just a bit left of center.  Photo below is a after photo with panorama view.

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25 Drums, 1 Applicator, 1 Sprayer & 1 Winter

Posted on March 26, 2020 by Grassland Restoration Network blog

By Bryon Walters, conservation contractor

This past Winter I have applied 375 gallons of a 20% solution of Triclopyr 4 mixed with basal oil in 10 different natural areas. All of it, 2 ½ gallons at a time on my back. That’s 150 backpack sprayer loads.

It was all sprayed through one Birchmeier sprayer and without any leaks or breakdowns at all.

How does that happen? By taking good care of my equipment.

I purchased a new sprayer last fall. I have many sizes of Birchmeier’s, depending on the products that I’m spraying. For basal bark work, which is somewhat slow going, I use the smallest size sprayer that they make, which is the Flox 10, (2 ½ gallon.) I spray 2-4 loads a day. After taking it out of the box, I set up my iPad on my workbench and followed along a great U-Tube video demonstrating how to disassemble the sprayer. Since it was new and there was no chemical residue in it yet, I felt that was as good time as any time to learn how to take apart the sprayer. I have done it in the past several times, but never on a new sprayer. I hit the Pause button a couple of times until I could see every small o-ring and gasket described in the video. I added a small quantity of my Super Lube on a few parts. After reassembling it, I took it all apart again, this time without the video. Piece of cake.

I use dedicated sprayers with labels on them, meaning this sprayer will never spray anything but Triclopyr 4 with basal oil. No cross contamination, needless triple rinsing and over use of my sprayers. I always have the parts blowup chart and a small baggie of extra parts in my truck at all times. Usually I break them out to fix someone else’s sprayer on the tailgate.

Now that the dormant basal sprayer season is over, I clean it all up. Put a gallon or so of warm soapy water in the tank, swish it around a few times, unscrew the brass adjustable nozzle, pump it up and spray the mixed solution into an empty jug. Repeat one more time or as many times needed so that nothing but a soapy solution comes out. Put the nozzle in the white strainer basket and rinse under warm water. Same for the lid. When finished, put some Super Lube on the lid gasket. If the lid gasket is really loose, warped or won’t reseat into the lid, discard it and replace with a new gasket. Put Super Lube on the new gasket. If your lid leaks during usage, the gasket is faulty. The tighter you close the lid, the more damage is being done to the gasket. I then take apart the sprayer and replace some of the o-rings and gaskets. Clean the white check valve. Tighten, but not overly, the hose connectors, outside brass tank valve, etc. When finished, put the sprayer into a tote or on a flat surface with the lid off. Let it dry out a week or so then put the lid back on when you walk past it. This maintenance work will go along way in helping you get your stewardship work done and less time in the field fixing leaks.

Now the fun part. How many exotic and mesic trees did I treat this winter with 150 back pack loads?

I tallied what I was able to spray in a typical area by counting and listing sizes sprayed with one load.

I spray the lower 6” of the trunk all the way around.

 

1st Typical 2 ½ gallon load sprayed:

25- Multi-flora Rose, 5-12 canes each plant

10-Japanese Barberry, 10-15 stems each plant

30-Honeysuckle shrubs of various sizes, small to mega large

15-Common Buckthorn trees

30-Glossy Buckthorn shrubs

 

2nd Typical 2 ½ gallon load sprayed:

32-1-3” DBH Exotic / Mesic trees

28-4-6” DBH Exotic / Mesic trees

16-7-12”DBH Exotic / Mesic trees

4-13-18”DBH Exotic / Mesic trees

 

I estimate that I sprayed about 50 of the 1st Typical loads and 100 of the 2nd Typical loads.

So in summary, the 375 gallons sprayed this many.

 

1,250- Multi-flora Rose

500- Japanese Barberry

1,500- Honeysuckle shrubs

750- Common Buckthorn

1,500- Glossy Buckthorn

3,200- 1-2” DBH Exotic / Mesic trees

2,800- 4-6” DBH Exotic / Mesic trees

1,600- 7-12”DBH Exotic / Mesic trees

400- 13-18” DBH Exotic / Mesic trees

TOTAL OF: 5,500 Shrubs and Buckthorns, 8,000 Exotic and Mesic trees.

 

Not bad for a winters worth of work. Did I mention, not a drop of chemical leaking on my back, on the ground or anywhere else. I am and have been convinced for many years that this type of solo stewardship work is highly effective, cost efficient, quiet, clean, (no CO2 chain saw emissions) and much easier than a winter of chain saw work. Triclopyr 4 with basal oil costs about $35.00 a gallon. So a 15 gallon drum costs about $525.00 and this lot of 25 drums cost about $13,125.00. There is and always will be a need for chain saw work, but there is no way you will get these kind of control numbers chain sawing as compared to basal bark spraying by one individual worker. The shrubs and trees that I sprayed will all be dead by the end of July.

Finally, what to do with all those empty jugs and drums. I triple rinse the chemical jugs and pour the rinse-ate into an empty jug. Mark RINSE-ATE and date on the jug. I have 10 or so jugs. I will pour them into an empty 15 gallon drum and add the first Crossbow mix into that drum of rinse-ate later this Spring. The rinse-ate will all be gone by June. The drums are a little harder to deal with. I drill a hole in them to positively drain them. 25 “empty” drums yielded a gallon of product. If I was a real hero, I would triple rinse the 25 empty drums and drain them into an empty drum. I’m not that kind of hero! My recycle center takes the jugs and drums after I drain out all of the product that I can. It would be nice to return them to the dealers to reuse. We use to do that in the 90’s. Save a few good ones to store other chemical mixes in them. Mark on the drum what’s in there and date it. Use caution with all herbicides and take pride in your work!

 

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Remote Automated Weather Station

Posted on March 5, 2020 by Grassland Restoration Network blog

By Dale Maxson, Eastern Iowa Land Steward – TNC

With many facets of land stewardship, our daily course of action revolves around weather and our ability to understand its patterns and influence on the world around us.  This is especially true when it comes to wildland fire, both prescribed and wild.  Down in the Land of the Swamp White Oak in southeast Iowa we recently installed a Remote Automated Weather Station (RAWS) to help us track these environmental factors that influence our work.  These stations are significantly more robust than the typical home weather station you might pick up at the farm store.  In 1975 the US Forest Service began investigating automated weather stations to replace the manual measurements that rangers and firefighters across the US were collecting in order to support fire danger ratings.  By 1978, they had finalized a general design for these automated weather stations.  They were, and continue to be, required to collect a minimum set of data including precipitation, wind speed & direction, air temperature, relative humidity, battery voltage (remember, these are remote stations so they are typically solar powered and require a battery backup), solar radiation, and universal coordinated time (coordinated through GPS readings).  The data are collected, stored on a local datalogger, and transmitted on an hourly basis to a Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES).  That information is shared through a network, and used by NOAA scientists to help inform fire weather forecasts across the country.  Like with most things fire or federal, there is a thick manual outlining the standards for these stations.  These stations are completely automated; no wifi or power feed needed.

The user has a few options for tapping in to the data.  They can download directly from the USB port on the datalogger, connect to the online RAWS network through MesoWest or for specially equipped stations they can tune in to the robot-voiced text-to-speech function on a designated radio frequency, allowing for real-time weather updates without having a human assigned to constantly take weather observations.  Unlike seasonal hires, the RAWS station doesn’t mind if it is cold or raining, and never asks about overtime pay.  The platform for RAWS allows for a wide array of customization.  For ours, we wanted to add sensors to gauge 10 hour fuel moisture and temperature (helpful when considering prescribed fire objectives like woody debris consumption) , as well as soil temperature and moisture at 10cm and 60cm below soil surface.  The additional sensors were essentially plug and play.  Using the MesoWest website https://mesowest.utah.edu you can filter weather stations by RAWS network for a geographic region, producing an interactive map like this:

Alternately, you can navigate directly to a known weather station to view more in-depth data.  The Cedar River TNC SWAMP station can be found here.   Does everybody need a RAWS at their site?  No!  Take a look at the map on MesoWest.  There are clearly gaps in the network, and there are some great land stewards continuing to do great work in those gaps.  For most situations, the farm store weather station, handheld weather meter like a Kestrel, or an old-school belt weather kit will give you good data to work with.  We are beginning long-term monitoring at our preserve, and the RAWS setup made sense for our specific objectives.  Consider your objectives and build your data accordingly.

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Save the date: 2020 Grassland Restoration Network Workshop

Posted on February 27, 2020 by Grassland Restoration Network blog

The Barrington area, located in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, is home to large expanses of natural areas fragmented by urban sprawl. The Barrington Greenway Initiative is comprised of multiple conservation organizations , is working to restore and and works to restore and connect these isolated grasslands to a functioning ecosystem. Come learn from some of the oldest restorations in the Chicago Wilderness region.

August 20121  DUE TO COVID CRISIS THIS WORKSHOP WILL BE HELD IN 2021!

Details on registration to come

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