Site: Railroad Crossing (RRX)

Site observations by Grace K., Aaron, and Brittany

This site was a small prairie remnant on the upwards slope on a roadside ditch. The opposite of the road was a large field of predominantly bean crops, while the remnant side was only agriculturally disturbed far up over the slope. Our immediate impression of the site was a clear distinction between the downhill slope of the ditch by the road, and the remnant on the upwards side. Along the roadside and down the roadside slope of the ditch, there was a large community of forbs and non-native plants. This included large quantities of brome and cool season grasses, as well as clover, alfalfa, and roses. However, the prairie remnant contained mostly warm season grasses and echinacea seedlings, and there was significantly more exposed ground. This created a visual juxtaposition between thicker and greener vegetation on the left side, with slightly sparser vegetation with more ground and dead growth on the right. This dead growth led us to believe the site has not been burned this past season. Once the ditch flattened out at the top, the brome reestablished.

We hypothesized that the steep upwards slope of this section of the ditch made it untenable for plowing, and it was left undisturbed as the surrounding land was developed for agriculture. We also hypothesized that the increased disturbance immediately along the road may also benefit the growth of clover and forbs.

Site: Loeffler’s Corner West (LCW)

Site observations by Grace K., Aaron, and Brittany

This site is a remnant of the prairie, found on the corner of two roads. Both sides of the road were nonagricultural sites. There were signs of terraforming on the land. A clear distinction of plant life between the ditch and prairie remnant was clear. Much of the ditch on the road side was populated with tall brome grass, with some native grasses in the mix. The landscape of the site was steep and near a lake, making it unfit for cattle grazing and agricultural needs. The site was populated with many warm season grasses like porcupine and big blue. As well, was a significant amount of dried out plant life suggesting that there was not a control burn recently.

We hypothesized that due to the steep nature of the land and the wetland surroundings, it allowed for the land to be untouched by farmers and cattle alike. We also hypothesized that due to the artificial terraforming to build the nearby road, it allowed for non-native species of plant to populate the roadside of the ditch.

Sites: EELR, KJ

Observers: MD, CLM, GGL

We visited the sites East Elk Lake Road and KJ’s . Both sites were small, bordering on either mowed private property or agricultural fields. We hypothesize that neither site has been burned recently, because there was remnants of old plant matter and the presence of fairly large trees and scrubs. For legumes, there was veiny peas, but no clover. For cold grass, there was brome and porcupine grass, and for warm, there was big blue grass. Otherwise, there were yellow asters and prairie roses.

KJ’s was extremely small, wedged between the road and the tree line, and was probably too small the ever consider planting. There was also a large animal den/hole and turkeys near the road at KJ’s. We also found an old flag at KJ’s, possibly demarking an old transect. In terms of legumes, we found clover, veiny pea, and alfalfa. For cold growing grass, there was lots of brome on the roadsides. However, there was not a lot of big blue grass for warm growing grass. There was also poison ivy, prairie roses, milkweed, and thistle.

EELR had many round bulbs on the plant matter, we hypothesize that these are wasp galls of some sort. EELR was much larger, with a higher diversity of plants, and likely was preserved because it was too steep to plow. Between the two sites, there was a fair number of trees, many of them pine, especially at KJ’s. There was evidence of significant animal activity, including a section of flattened grass where an animal, probably a deer, bedded down for the night, bordering on one of the segments at EELR.