Category Archives: Woods

Virginia Bluebells

Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica) It’s a perfect Spring day here today. We took a picnic lunch into the Eastern Valley. Around us we saw hundreds of Virginia Bluebells. I took the picture above of a clump of them in front … Continue reading

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Tree Clearing Continues

Matt Barnes and Duncan Foss cutting, piling and burning trees. Matt & Duncan work full time for the PGT. This winter they have spent a lot of time clearing the down trees along the forested edge of the Dog Leg … Continue reading

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Posted in Trees & shrubs, Uncategorized, Woods | Leave a comment

Smoothing Ground the Cedar Way

The speed of creating an opening and sculpting the edge between the woods and prairie was amazing! In just a few days, David Perrey removed trees and placed them for Bill Wilson to trim and haul away. A few scattered … Continue reading

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Prescription for Health: Burning Woods and Prairie

The weather was perfect, so Matt Barnes gathered a crew to carefully burn our prairies and woods on Wednesday and Friday this week. The weather has been so wet this year that we couldn’t burn in late August or September … Continue reading

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Why Burn Forests?

For those of us who grew up with Smokey Bear saying “Only you can prevent forest fires,” and frightened by the horrific blazes in the Disney movie, Bambi, it’s a big leap to embrace the idea of using fire to … Continue reading

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Sculpting a New Woods Edge

I’ve always appreciated the art of sculpture, but it’s usually creating a thing of appealing form that stands by itself. This past weekend, David Perrey used a highlift (which is like a bulldozer but can raise its front end up … Continue reading

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Revealing Big Trees

They’re gems in the woods—big trees resting hidden by scores of skinny ones. Our goal is to strip away the younger plants and reveal those awe-inspiring oaks and others and give them a chance to get even more majestic. It’s … Continue reading

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Don’t Fence Us In

Creating a gracefully curving, “natural” looking landscape takes some heavy-duty whacking of trees. Yesterday Henry and I walked around the south prairie area (called Tallgrass prairie and Dropseed areas on our website tour map area), to figure out which trees … Continue reading

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Posted in Habitats, Land management, Prairie, Woods | Tagged , | 1 Comment