Narrows Prairie 2012

[To see photos and stories of this prairie in other years, go to the links on the main Narrows Prairie page.]

8/20/2012   We finally finished our deal with Dave Thompson – a land trade so we could get a path around the top of our land.  So now we have a path from Western Prairie to the Narrows Prairie.  This is the path – with Dave’s land on the left, and our woods on the right.

 

8/20/2012  The Narrows Prairie, looking west to the beginning of the new path.  There are still aspen sprouts coming up – this is the part of the prairie that had the thicket of sprouts a few years ago.

 

8/20/2012   Looking east from the new path.

 

I found a new plant growing in the prairie – not one I planted.  I’m pretty sure it’s Prairie Blazing Star (Liatris pycnostachya).    I’ve never seen this species nearby, and it’s not listed as being found in Buffalo County.  The seed must have come in with some of the seeds I purchased, or it was carried in by a bird or an animal.

 

9/10/2012  Mowing

 

9/10/2012  This year, Mike tried to only mow the places where there were aspen sprouts.  Since there aren’t nearly as many as there have been in the past, we got an irregularly mowed area – patches that are mowed, mixed with patches that aren’t mowed.  The newest idea in prairie management is ‘patchy management’ – doing different things in different areas – so this seems like a good thing.

 

9/10/2012   I’m interested to see what happens to these patches next year.  I’m wondering if different birds will use the patches that were mowed.  Or if different flowers will bloom there.

 

9/10/2012

 

October 2012 – one of Mike’s iPhone photos