Now is the perfect time to begin planning for your on site prairie restoration as Spring comes upon us, and we’re all tucked away safely in our warm homes. You’ve been thinking, planning, dreaming, and scheming about that prairie restoration you’ve been meaning to get started. Call or email Midwest Prairies today so we can schedule a meeting to hear about your hopes, plans and dreams for your property.
On site prairie restoration work typically begins in early months of April, May and June. Most prairie restorations are much more about restoring land back to ecological health vs. recreating a facsimile of a landscape of the past. Today the object of restoration is to maximize the health of the land and making a big difference for future generations.
NATIVE AMERICAN LAND MANAGEMENT
Conservationists have long understood that Native Americans burned the landscape to keep brush down, to revitalize the plant populations and for herding animals. A newly emerging body of archaeological evidence informs us that Native Americans practiced widespread land management on a scale previously unimagined.
There is a profound satisfaction knowing we are continuing to care for the land with respect in a manner similar to what Native Americans did for centuries.
A healthy landscape has a rich variety of many different species of native grasses, sedges, wildflowers, shrubs and trees of varying sizes. A healthy landscape in turn attracts many different kinds of insects, butterflies, pollinators of all sorts, birds, small and large, mammals, frogs, snakes, salamanders, and larger animals, fox, deer. Healthy landscapes become vibrant safe places of all the plants, animals, insects and birds to stick around and raise their families. Food, shelter and hiding places are all there for the animals to feel safe.
A healthy landscape enriches the soils under the land. It also helps cleans water that flows over and across and into the land. A healthy landscape becomes an epicenter of good things that happen, just like the domino effect.
One of the (my favorite) best parts of doing prairie restoration is talking with new customers and hearing their hopes, dreams, and aspirations for their land. Also listening to them tell what they know of the history of their land. There is a deep joy that comes from knowing how happy our work on their land makes our customers.
Restoring the habitats and ecosystems of southern Wisconsin
We work with private land owners, park districts, state agencies, and others who wish to bring about a land restoration and enhance the environment.