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As if we didn’t already hear it in the disquieting spaces between morning bird songs, feel it in our eternally stifled urges to press lips to cool stream, suffer it in our eyes weary of so many impervious shades of gray, and fear it as the fruits no longer form in the garden...
Just in case we have become numb to such things, the UN crunched masses of data to punch the point home, and document millions of extinctions.
Would I have the wealth and power of the few, I’d put it to the many healings. But maybe it’s better as grassroots anyway, which here in the Midwest is prairie grass roots. The great tall grasses that once hid a man on a horse are now gone but for islands of less than 1%. The mystical between-the-worlds parks of prairie and forest, the savannas make up less than 0.01% of their original extent! In scientific terms: itty bitty patches!
In 1991 I found the land I had been searching for: a dead end road, woods to wander through for hours, a house beat up enough to afford, and the decision sealer - one tiny remnant savanna, an 8,000 year old seed hidden in plain sight. It was unplowed, lightly grazed – similar enough to the historic interface with bison and elk. There used to be one on every south and west facing steep slope, of which there are many in the Driftless. Now few remain, as the fire and browsers no longer eat the woody species. Disappearing are the pasque flowers, puccoons, lead plants, Hill’s thistle….and my favorite – the dancing bur oaks.
That tiny patch of diverse grasses and wildflowers remained in 1991, along with a few oaks. The rest of the savanna oaks were suppressed in dense growth of cedars, and the understory devoid of prairie plants. With the help of dedicated state employees and dear friends I began what could be done: save the natural heritage held in one bluff of savanna.
Over the years I have gotten grants and help from several government agencies, the WI Department of Natural Resources, the USFWS, and NRCS. This year we received funds to do another phase of the restoration, cutting out the buckthorn and brush, returning fire to the slopes. Now, for the first time in decades the thick oak limbs sway with the wind, the pasque flowers again greet the spring, and copper grasses shine in the fall.
Yet, there is more to be done and the cost of the fire to restore the savanna and also the adjacent CRP prairie restoration has been a stretch for an ecologist’s income (another topic!).
Hence my request - this year I am short on funds to cover some of the restoration costs, like controlled burning. Some of the funds I can access to help with the restoration, require me to pay upfront for the work, match funds with time or supplies and get reimbursed later. So, I am reaching out for a bit of help in order for us to continue work of stewarding this now respectable and beautiful patch of savanna. My fund raising goal is $5,000. This would cover the expenses for this year and hopefully have some left to put in a savings account for the savanna that can be used to help with the next steps going forward. My plan is to put 40 acres into conservation easement and I am looking into that this summer.
Any amount you can contribute will help! One tangible piece of earth will sing and dance for you, and maybe if enough of us heal these bits, someday we can head down the hill and drink from the creek together.
Cynthia Lane,
Land Steward
Just in case we have become numb to such things, the UN crunched masses of data to punch the point home, and document millions of extinctions.
Would I have the wealth and power of the few, I’d put it to the many healings. But maybe it’s better as grassroots anyway, which here in the Midwest is prairie grass roots. The great tall grasses that once hid a man on a horse are now gone but for islands of less than 1%. The mystical between-the-worlds parks of prairie and forest, the savannas make up less than 0.01% of their original extent! In scientific terms: itty bitty patches!
In 1991 I found the land I had been searching for: a dead end road, woods to wander through for hours, a house beat up enough to afford, and the decision sealer - one tiny remnant savanna, an 8,000 year old seed hidden in plain sight. It was unplowed, lightly grazed – similar enough to the historic interface with bison and elk. There used to be one on every south and west facing steep slope, of which there are many in the Driftless. Now few remain, as the fire and browsers no longer eat the woody species. Disappearing are the pasque flowers, puccoons, lead plants, Hill’s thistle….and my favorite – the dancing bur oaks.
That tiny patch of diverse grasses and wildflowers remained in 1991, along with a few oaks. The rest of the savanna oaks were suppressed in dense growth of cedars, and the understory devoid of prairie plants. With the help of dedicated state employees and dear friends I began what could be done: save the natural heritage held in one bluff of savanna.
Over the years I have gotten grants and help from several government agencies, the WI Department of Natural Resources, the USFWS, and NRCS. This year we received funds to do another phase of the restoration, cutting out the buckthorn and brush, returning fire to the slopes. Now, for the first time in decades the thick oak limbs sway with the wind, the pasque flowers again greet the spring, and copper grasses shine in the fall.
Yet, there is more to be done and the cost of the fire to restore the savanna and also the adjacent CRP prairie restoration has been a stretch for an ecologist’s income (another topic!).
Hence my request - this year I am short on funds to cover some of the restoration costs, like controlled burning. Some of the funds I can access to help with the restoration, require me to pay upfront for the work, match funds with time or supplies and get reimbursed later. So, I am reaching out for a bit of help in order for us to continue work of stewarding this now respectable and beautiful patch of savanna. My fund raising goal is $5,000. This would cover the expenses for this year and hopefully have some left to put in a savings account for the savanna that can be used to help with the next steps going forward. My plan is to put 40 acres into conservation easement and I am looking into that this summer.
Any amount you can contribute will help! One tangible piece of earth will sing and dance for you, and maybe if enough of us heal these bits, someday we can head down the hill and drink from the creek together.
Cynthia Lane,
Land Steward