Practices

The first study to compare the performance of different types of green roofs has been completed by the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at The University of Texas at Austin. The study shows that green roofs work best using many species of grasses and forbs (rather than a few succulents) and that not all types of implementations are equally effective.

Organic farming and eating locally make intuitive sense. But does conventional wisdom hold up to the science? As is often the case, reality turns out to be more nuanced than the latest cultural trends.

In mid-May, the Centers for Disease Control confirmed sylvatic plague in black-tailed prairie dog colonies in the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands in South Dakota. As of late June, about 9,000 acres of prairie dog habitat have been infected.

To help increase survival during this outbreak, biologists are vaccinating wild black-footed ferrets. The vaccine was developed for humans and is being modified for animals at the USGS National Wildlife Health Center (NWHC) in Madison, Wisconsin.

To date, conservation strategies for migratory species have failed to take into account how migratory animals are spatially connected between different regions...bringing into question the utility and efficiency of current conservation efforts.

"There must be some force behind conservation more universal than profit, less awkward than government ... something that reaches onto all time and place where men live on the lands ... A voluntary decency in land use exercised by every citizen and landowner out of a sense of love and obligation to that great biota we call America. This is the meaning of conservation ..." Aldo Leopold

There is a 15 acre pine plantation at Hanley Savanna which, for several years, we have been trying to remove so we can restore this area. At best we have been able to sell a few trees. Good News!

We have now found two loggers who can help. This spring, one has taken red pine for lumber and, in August, another will come and remove the remainder for pulp. If all goes well, we should be able to seed the site to prairie in the fall of 2009.

There are a large number of ways to measure biodiversity and species status. Looking simply at the number of genera which are imperiled the hotspots are Indonesia, South Africa, and the United States.

A collection of books, articles, and references on restoration ecology as it pertains to prairie, savanna, and sedge meadow ecosystems.