Field Notes Friday: 2/9/24
Posted on February 9, 2024
Land stewardship doesn’t stop in the winter! So, what’s the crew been up to?
Since late November, our stewardship team has been working with volunteers, the Pokagon Band, and the SX x SW Corner CISMA to control a total of seven highly dense acres of invasives at Nokmes Creek Preserve, one of our limited-access properties in New Buffalo. This week, our crew finished up the work at Nokmes Creek with a good ol' fashioned brush pile burn.
Left to right: before, during, and after burning the brush piles.
That’s right, those heaping brush piles shown above are composed entirely of invasives such as the infamous multiflora rose, bush honeysuckle, buckthorn, and more. Now, the crew has moved on to tackling another big batch of invasives at Castle Keep Preserve. They've only been out to Castle Keep a couple of times, but they've already controlled 8 acres. While the invasives present at Castle Keep are much larger, they’re far less dense, so we’re happy to report that things are moving more quickly over there!
Left image- Alex, COL's Stewardship Field Supervisor, wielding the brush cutter. Right image- Applying herbicide to a fresh-cut stump. You can see why we wear gloves!
All of this work was made possible by the Sustain Our Great Lakes (SOGL) grant, which COL and two of our partners, the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians and Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy, received from the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation back in October 2022. The purpose of the grant is to fund work aimed at reducing the spread of invasive plant species and improving degraded plant and wildlife habitat throughout the Galien River watershed. Stay tuned for more updates!
