Trees, Trees, and More Trees!
Posted on May 14, 2021
Image at left: mapping the new trees at Chris Thompson Memorial Preserve
More cool stuff is happening at Chris Thompson Memorial Preserve! After we conducted the prescribed burn as a part of the prairie restoration there in early April, we've been busy planting trees as we work on the forest restoration process. Side note: look at all the vegetation coming back, just one month post-burn!
In fact, this week we planted 2,500 trees, consisting of 21 species, at three different preserves: Chris Thompson Memorial Preserve, Leonard Wildlife Preserve, and the Merritt/Younger Family Preserves. These trees are helping revegetate old agricultural fields at the Memorial and Leonard Preserves, and are filling in gaps from previous logging activity at Merritt/Younger.
The planting was funded by The Wildlife Society through their Climate Adaptation grant. The goal of the grant, and our project, is to plant trees that should be well adapted to future climate conditions in this area, thus providing sustainable wildlife habitat. We have lots more restoration projects and recreational improvements to come this year at all of these preserves, and at our new Sugarwood Forest Preserve! Stay tuned!