Team echinacea has completed the survey of flowering plants at our largest remnant and restored prairie sites, collecting data on their geospatial locations, number of normal and other heads (gone, duds, vertical developments, even a few mowed), and the tag number for each plant that assigns its identity. We visited 17 large sites, finding nearly 400 flowering plants!
Seeing new corners of Grant and Douglas counties as we drive to the sites is always a fun time, along with all the creature encounters. Pictured are curious cows along the road and one of many katydids, not pictured are a couple corn spiders and a bird’s nest!
After finishing surveying at these large sites and as we were to begin the process of total demo, we ran into a bit of an issue with our flag situation. Since total demo uses 5 flags (pink, blue, orange, red, and yellow), and white and neon flags also had been designated with a role, we were in need of a flag color for plants demoed and not surved. After much discussion and a unanimous group vote, we are happy to unveil our new flag color combo: red + blue. Here’s a chart that explains the situation (see if you can decipher it):
Now the team continues to visit smaller sites, revisiting past flowering plants and collecting demographic information. More updates to come!
Leave a Reply