grassland restoration network

Our GRN meeting will be a hot one, both in content and temperature.  Those registered and attending should wear their lightest fabrics, favorite sun hat, water bottle, sun screen.  We will be in the field, but I doubt hiking too far.

We have solid attendance, and a full agenda with a bunch of the Konza experts to talk to.

See you there!

GRASSLAND RESTORATION NETWORK WORKSHOP 2017

Konza Prairie Biological Station and Long Term Ecological Research Site

Manhattan, Kansas

July 11^th

12:00 pm            The Grassland Restoration Network (Chris Helzer)

Konza Prairie Welcome Presentation (John Blair)

1:00 pm               Headquarters Area Tour (John Blair, Lydia Zeglin, and Sara Baer)

Hulbert plots

Belowground Plots

Rainfall Manipulation Plots

Irrigation Transects

3:00 pm               Refreshments and Discussion (led by Chris Helzer)

5:00-7:00 pm     Break or Konza Nature Trail (Jill Haukos and docent)

7:00 pm               Catered Dinner

8:00 pm               Keynote: Long-term effects of fire and grazing on tallgrass prairie (Jesse Nippert)

July 12^th

8:00                      Meet at Konza Conference Center

Konza Watershed Tour

Est. 8:15-8:45                   Riparian woody vegetation removal (Walter Dodds)

Est. 9:00-9:30                   Patch-burn grazing (John Briggs and KC Olson)

Est. 9:45-10:15                 Watershed plot-studies (John Blair/Lydia Zeglin)

Est. 10:30-11:00                Shrub dynamics (Jesse Nippert)

11:30 pm            Catered Lunch

1:00 pm               Overview of Restoration Research (Sara Baer)

Est. 1:45-2:15                   Tour restoration experiments

2:30 pm               Refreshments and Departing Discussion (led by Bill Kleiman)

4:00 pm               End

Join us at Konza Prairie Biological Station in Manhattan, KS for overview and field presentations on long-term plot and watershed-level studies in grassland ecology. This year’s workshop will focus how science at this National Science Foundation-funded Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) site has deepened our understanding of drivers influencing pattern and process in tallgrass prairie. Discussions will focus on how science can inform grassland restoration.

Here is the URL to the registration page for the workshop.  Space is limited so register today.  $155 includes meals.

https://www.enrole.com/ksu/jsp/session.jsp?sessionId=211807&courseId=GRASSLANDRESTORATION&categoryId=10009

Lodging is not part of the registration. There are many hotels to choose from in Manhattan, but the Hilton Garden Inn and Fairfield Inn are walking distance to the Flint Hills Discovery Center (a must see!) and downtown (Poyntz Ave.), which hosts a number of restaurants and the Tallgrass Brewing Company.  There are a few beds or rooms available at Konza. Bill Kleiman is the person to email if you want of those, bkleiman@tnc.org

The meeting will begin at 12 pm on Tuesday, July 11^th.

DIRECTIONS: From I-70, you can exit Hwy 177 N, then take a left on McDowell Creek Rd., just before the bridge over the KS River. Alternatively, you can take the McDowell Creek Rd. exit off of I-70 (west of Hwy 177). Turn onto Konza Prairie Lane (there is a sign for the Konza Prairie Biological Station). Follow the gravel road into the Biological Station and continue until you see a large stone house on the right. We will meet in the conference center, which is a renovated stone barn just across the road from the stone house. Parking is available behind the conference center or behind the lab buildings in front of the conference center.

Map: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Konza+Prairie+Biological+Station/@39.1068765,-96.6091402,15z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0xc6aebaa3a23af35a!8m2!3d39.1068765!4d-96.6091402

Learn more about the Konza Prairie Biological Station: http://kpbs.konza.k-state.edu/

Learn more about the Konza Prairie Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Site:  https://lternet.edu/sites/knz

Tentative GRN Agenda

July 11^th

Arrive already having eaten lunch because next meal is dinner.

12-5 pm

Welcome presentation – Konza LTER (John Blair)

Walking field tour

Hulbert plots

Belowground Plots (Lydia Zeglin)

Rainfall Manipulation Plots and Irrigation Transects (John Blair)

Refreshments and Discussion (led by Chris Helzer)

5 pm Break/Konza Nature Trail hike

7:00 pm Catered dinner

8:00 pm Keynote: Long-term effects of fire and grazing on tallgrass prairie (Jesse Nippert)

July 12^th

8-11 am

Morning watershed tour

Patch-burn grazing (Tony Joern)

Riparian woody vegetation removal (Walter Dodds)

Shrub dynamics (Jesse Nippert)

Watershed Plot-studies (Melinda Smith graduate students)

NEON site (?)

12 pm Catered lunch

1 pm      Short overview of restoration research (Sara Baer)

Visit Restoration plots

2 pm      Refreshments and Departing Discussion (led by Bill Kleiman)

3:30 pm Everybody heads home

Sorry, we meant registration to be open by now but are having some registration/administrative hangups. Any day now registration will open.

This early spring has us doing prescribed fire and the winter work of mowing brush.  Below is a before and after of some brush mowing I did yesterday.  The light brush is invasive bush honeysuckle thickets, with hundreds of waist high shrubs I was mowing down.  I am also mowing down left over stumps from tree thinning in some of these logged areas.

The fallen tree is a girdled hackberry that died several years back and fell over this year.  I could have left it sit and rot but with all the invasive shrubs in the area I felt I better mulch it up some.  The remainder can be stacked with a grapple after some chainsaw cuts.

The Terex P110 has a Fecon flail style brush mower on it.  These tools are expensive, but contractors are out there who would be happy to pay your site a visit.

Save the Date!

Grassland Restoration Network Workshop

July 11-12, 2017

Join us at Konza Prairie Biological Station in Manhattan, KS for overview and field presentations on long-term plot and watershed-level studies in grassland ecology. This year’s workshop will focus how science at this National Science Foundation-funded Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) site has deepened our understanding of drivers influencing pattern and process in tallgrass prairie. Discussions will focus on how science can inform grassland restoration.

Details and registration information coming in April 2017

My comments on mowing honeysuckle are similar to fire.  You can’t kill honeysuckle roots by mowing it.  But you can reduce a huge shrub to a tiny re-sprouting shrub that can then be easily treated with herbicide. Mowing down the tall shrubs also stops them from producing fruits and hence seeds, and gives needed sunlight to other plants you are encouraging.  So mowing is great but follow up will eventually be needed.

When we encounter those big thickets of brush our first step is often to brush mow it with our tracked skid loader.  After mowing, the problem area is open and easier to manage.  Light can get to the ground, air can flow through the habitat working to reverse mesophication (increased shade and moisture changing the composition of the habitat to species liking those conditions).  Fire should be able to carry across the habitat.  It may take a few years for the herbaceous layer to grow back and support fire.   Photos are before and after brush mowing.

Pulling honeysuckle from the ground.

Below is an implement I have not tried.  You attach this to your skid loader and drive up to a shrub, grab it, and pull the shrub from the ground.  I am sure this kills the shrub.  I assume also it disturbs a fair amount of ground.  Try it in ruderal areas and let us know.