Big View Prairie
This is one of our largest remnant bluff prairies – about 4 acres. It's on our western bluff on a steep south-facing slope. It has our best view of the surrounding country - we can see about 4 miles down the valley, looking over farms and wooded hills.
I love the changing scene at different times of year.
This is the view in the fall of 2007.
And in February of 2009
This is a view of the bluff from below, with Big View Prairie at the top behind the trees.
Along the top edge the prairie is separated from the fields by a narrow band of woods with large, old burr oaks, and smaller elms, birches and aspen.
On the east the prairie ends where the land slopes down steeply to the east and changes to dense oak woods. In this picture Big View Prairie is at the top of the hill on the left and the oak woods are on the right.
To the west of the prairie is a birch and oak woods, also south-facing. I think before the birches grew up, this area was oak savanna. Autumn Coral Root grows under the trees.
Here's a summer view, looking up the hill and toward the west end of the prairie.
This part of the prairie has many prairie plants.
Lead Plant
Western Sunflower and Big Bluestem
Great Plains Ladies Tresses - an native orchid that grows in dry prairies
The lower part of Big View Prairie is very steep, with large rocks and open sandy areas but shaded by aspens, birches and shrubs.
Below this is an oak woods overgrown with Tartarian Honeysuckle and below that is an area that used to be planted with Red and White Pine. We logged the pines in 2002.
This shows the view of the valley before the logging - with the pines.
And this is looking down the same slope after the pines were cut.
Here's a list of the species I’ve found in the prairie.
Achillea millefolium
Amorpha canescens
Andropogon gerardii
Anemone cylindrica
Antennaria neglecta
Antennaria plataginifolia
Arabis lyrata
Aster ericoides
Aster laevis
Aster oblongifolius
Aster oolentangiensis
Aster sericeus
Bouteloua curtipendula
Campanula rotundifolia
Castilleja sessiliflora
Cirsium discolor
Comandra umbellata
Coreopsis palmata
Dalea purpurea
Hedeoma hispida
Helianthus occidentalis
Linum sulcatum
Lithospermum canescens
Lithospermum incisum
Lobelia spicata
Monarda fistulosa
Schizachyrium scoparium
Senecio paupercula
Sisyrinchium campestre
Solidago nemoralis
Solidago rigida
Spiranthes magnicamporum
Sporobolus heterolepis
Tradescantia ohienses
Viola pedata
Zigadenus elegans
The main weed problems are Yellow and White Sweet Clover, some pasture grasses like Smooth Brome, and aspen and birch trees which are invading the bluff area from both the top and bottom of the slope. Eventually I hope to clear out the invading trees from on the slope below, and between the remnant and Western Prairie to the north.