Observations at Landfill

The Landfill sites are a pair of hills separated by a small gully.

Landfill West was not burned this spring. When walking around the site, there was lots of duff and old plant material, making the soil difficult to see. In general, plants were around knee-height or higher. Bromegrass was abundant and flowering. The woody plants in Landfill West were green and lush, showing no signs of fire damage. Echinacea plants on this site were about 4-6 inches tall and it seemed like most of the ones we came across were not flowering.

Landfill East was burned this year. The burn line was very clear between the two sites. The previous year’s duff had been burned away and the soil was easy to see. It sounded crunchy to walk on. Plants were shorter than Landfill West, more around the middle of the calf. It was very easy to spot stipa everywhere, and much of it was flowering. The Echinacea plants on the east site were taller than the west plants, probably closer to 8-10 inches tall and a lot more of the ones we identified were flowering. 

Here are some of the flowering Echinacea Allie and I noticed at the East Landfill site!

Below is a look at the hillside of East Landfill. You can see some of the characteristics of this site are the grove of trees on the south end and a fence that runs along the north and south sides.