This area was indeed a remnant! The land was cliff-like; it looked as if it were a huge set of three steps that lead to a small lake. The rocks on the ground made it evident that the area was a native prairie. It looked as though the area may have been flat once upon a time, but was scooped up to contribute to the road we were standing on. This small region had a few Sweet Clovers and Wild Roses. We even spotted a patch of Poison Ivy (yikes!). There was plenty of Kentucky Bluegrass, a few trees around, and birds singing in the distance. Though I couldn’t spot it, Will & Abby saw the stem of a nearby E. angustifolia a few meters away. Hopefully, there will be some seedlings to look forward to at Woody’s!

The Riley remnant is composed of two halves, one north of mellow lane and the other south. The two halves are quite a bit different for being separated by only a few meters. The northern half falls on the side of a hill that was most likely never plowed. The hillside is filled with the non-native Kentucky Blue Grass, with a few patches of another non-native: Brome. The most abundant flower was the wild rose, and amongst the grasses many soon to be flowering Purple coneflowers were apparent. Moving across the road to the southern half the dominant grass becomes Brome. There is wild rose here but not as much. There are a few tall grasses; the dead stalks from last year are visible. There is a path through the middle that is often driven over to get to an agricultural field about 100 meters south of the remnant. This southern half was probably scraped and used to create the road that now divides the remnant. There are several Purple coneflowers in the ditch surrounded by invasive sweet clover which has a tall yellow flower and is the most abundant flower in this half. From these first few minutes spent at the riley remnant it is evident that this site will soon be filled with Echinacea flowers. What a wonderful sight to see!

On our bikes, Amy and I crested the hill on Dairy Drive and received a view of the fields below. Somewhere below us would be the Nessman study site. We biked along the road to find the study site and ran into a dairy farm with very cute cows. After some deliberation and consultation of the map, we turned around and arrived at the Nessman Study Site. As Amy looked out over the study site straining her eyes for an Echinacea angustfolia, she noted the large amount of brome present next to the road. She then looked into the field beyond where she observed a distinct line between the brome and another field. Amy said that it is likely that there has been some sort of grazing or agriculture on that field because of the uniform height of grasses and other plants in that area. Out in the field Amy was brokenhearted when she realized that we could only identify invasive plants such as dandelions and Poa. Although there was mostly invasives in the field we could hear and see many birds in the surrounding area. A small bumblebee even joined us as we observed the large field. With her knowledge of geology and construction processes Amy determined that the ditch was caused by the building of the road and that the field had been smoothed out from the undulations of a prairie by agriculture. We then began to ride back and started to see more native species such as the prairie rose which lifted our spirits.

My first impression of this area was to wonder if it was actually a prairie remnant at all. All I could see was a ditch with lots of brome and Poa. There was a fence about 10 or 15 meters away from the tracks, beyond which the ground dipped down considerably. This seems to indicate that the area beyond the fence is an old field that has sunk due to plowing and soil erosion. Other than its higher surface, the only thing that immediately suggested to me that this site was a prairie was a couple of Rosa arkansana plants. The most common plants, however, were definitely brome, Poa, and wild parsnip. After a bit more observation, I noticed a couple more native plants: veiny pea and a Solidago species. There were a couple of trees growing in the area, a cottonwood and a juniper. Additionally, there were two large downed trees that looked like they had been lying there at least a year. I wonder if they fell due to a natural occurrence such as a windstorm, or if people cut them down as a management strategy. I thought that because it’s next to a railroad, it’s possible that this is native prairie, burned occasionally due to sparks from a passing train. However, the predominance of weedy, non-native plants and the lack of insect pollinators or other animals led me to think that this is a degraded site. I saw no Echinacea plants there. Although the area was larger than BTG, it still seemed small, perhaps too small for a reproducing population.

6/18/2015 –10 am

As I walked up to Loeffler’s Corner, I approached from the north, over the small hill created by the train tracks. At first glance, the southwest corner looked like any random piece of uncultivated land in the area. The brome and Poa were most visible from the 55, as the edges of the road were higher than surrounding land. There was a relatively short downward slope away from the road that gave way to a nice patch of prairie remnant. Walking closer to the edge of the remnant it became clear that the brome only dominated the raised edges of the road. In the depressed flatter area there was a diversity of species, some of which were prairie natives. First, I noticed the pink-hued prairie rose rising out of the assorted grasses, signaling the potential for other native plants. There is an old barbed wire fence about 20m from the road, parallel to the 55, that might create a boundary, but I decide to explore both sides of the fence anyway. There are a few trees a bit down Sandy Hill Rd, south of the 55, and one tree in the area between the fence and the 55, but very few trees overall. I begin to notice tall grass stems from the last summer season, and wonder which native grasses they might represent. I don’t wee any Echinacea angustifolia between the 55 and the fence, but I do see some porcupine grass, some yellow flower that looks to be from the Asteraceae family, a clover that may be native, and a few lead plants. I begin to look closer at the grasses and notice Dicanthelium and some bunches of grass that I assume are native. Overall, the area is slightly sloped and hilly. Moving south down Sandy Hill Rd, I notice brome and Poa are generally less visible away from the roadsides. I can see some patches of goldenrod, and in the distance some flowering wild parsnip. I look closer as I step into the remnant, and I see some echinacea plants! I move back to the road and start thinking about the potential history of this plot. Because I see less brome and Poa away from the roadside, I assume the area may have burned at some point in the recent past. I also wonder if the area was ever plowed. In general the area seems more hilly than most fields and I see some rocks which indicate that the area may not be a former field. In an attempt to asses the overall size of the remnant I move up the hill, southward down Sandy Hill Rd, just past a small crop of trees. From this vantage, I notice there is a clear southern boundary to this remnant. Beyond the trees is what appears to be an old field densely covered with alfalfa, brome and sweet clover. I see almost no evidence of native plants this far south. Therefore, this remnant is significantly larger than Bill Tom’s Gate but definitely much smaller than Staffenson Prairie Preserve. It looks to me like Loeffler’s Corner is a promising prairie remnant tucked between the railroad tracks and an old field.