A Tallgrass Legacy

April Bur Oak: "When school children vote on a state bird, flower, or tree, they are not making a decision; they are merely ratifying history. Thus history made bur oak the characteristic tree of southern Wisconsin when the prairie grasses first gained possession of the region. Bur oak is the only tree that can stand up to a prairie fire and live."

It is April now and the feel and smell of springtime is in the air. The crews continue to herbicide the cool season invasives including garlic mustard and reed canary grass. For garlic mustard, they will start hand pulling and mowing it from late April into May. Clearing work is being completed using chainsaws to remove buckthorn and honeysuckle, as the Bobcat's equipment is too heavily built for the thawing lands.

During this past winter season and into the spring, native seed was being installed in the prairies and woodlands. The crews are preparing for the installation of coir logs for erosion control along streams, creeks, and detention ponds. Materials are being ordered and heading out the door and into the ground to be readied for the native plants. This will help keep the shoreline soils in place and reduce erosion, and thereby create habitat and beauty.

April is prime time for the prescribed burn season. There is a very small window of time for prescribed burns. We have to wait until the ground is not too wet and finish before the earth gets too green. Permits and plans are in place, fire departments are called, and notification letters are distributed to those who live adjacent to the burn site. The managers have determined how many crew members for each burn will be needed, equipment is ordered, and every other conversation has to do with the weather. How wet will it be, which way is the wind blowing, and how conducive is the weather to burning the site?

Photo by Jordan Rowe, Tallgrass Restoration

All through the month of April, just about everyone at Tallgrass will be out burning. Administrative, management, operations, and ground crews are ready to suit up on a moment's notice to help burn. As a Tallgrass employee, if you would like to be part of this, you are given the opportunity to attend the training needed for knowledge and safety of prescribed burns. The crews and managers work long days and weekends in order to provide this service to our clients within this small window of time. They do, however, absolutely love it. You can see and feel the excitement. They are like little kids jumping up and down, impatient to get started, and completely and totally exhausted after the long day of hard, yet satisfying work.

Our sales and communication manager is still on the marketing circuit, taking the marketing booth and materials to a round of workshops, seminars, and trade shows in both Illinois and Wisconsin. Materials are handed out, contacts are made, and prizes are given away. When they get back to the office, names go on database lists and follow-up calls are initiated. The sales teams then move on to the next show and evaluate what materials will be needed and prepared. Each place we go is unique and requires that extra effort to be relevant to the attendees.

The seasonal hiring begins as staffing needs and training are determined for the busy spring and summer seasons. Operations is gearing up for a very busy season getting the equipment repaired, safety inspections done, and providing the training of new employees in truck and trailer safety, plant identification, and on the new herbicide corral that they created this past winter. The new storage area and procedures will allow Tallgrass to increase its safety mechanisms, as well as reducing waste and costs for this part of our program.

There are several families of deer in our lot out back. They are running and foraging in the open space between Tallgrass and the Motorola campus. You can sit in the back on the picnic bench and talk to clients and colleagues, or even proofread, but mostly it inspires me to write. There is an ancient Native American proverb that states: "Treat the earth well, it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children." I remember this proverb while watching our deer run and play through the tall grasses.

The front yard prairie is beginning to turn green, and the migrating birds are returning. Staff has seen redwing blackbirds, robins, chipping sparrows and goldfinches that use the prairie for food. The trees are budding and the hibernating urban animals are starting to emerge. Squirrels, chipmunks, and a raccoon or two are showing up and foraging for food. The front yard prairie has a new sign going up, Conservation @ Home from the Conservation Foundation. This program recognizes our property for its environmentally-friendly landscape. We will add this to the front yard prairie's honors of being a Monarch Way Station (www.monarchwatch.org), a Certified Bird and Butterfly Sanctuary from the Illinois Audubon Society (www.ilaudubon.org), and a Certified Wildlife Habitat from the National Wildlife Federation (www.nwf.org). We will start seeing the butterflies and hummingbirds soon. In years past, we have seen monarchs, tiger swallowtails, and painted ladies.

Panted

A Painted Lady, photo by Mark Micek, Tallgrass Restoration

There are also signs of spring at our Wisconsin office. The first calls of the sandhill cranes were heard, and red-winged blackbirds have arrived to claim nest sites. Frogs are starting to emerge and call. The bluebird and wood duck boxes were recently cleaned and are ready for birds to claim them. We are expecting the purple martins to return soon, and once they are spotted, we will open up their houses. Opening the houses too soon will attract unwanted guests such as the house sparrow or European starling. We are eagerly waiting with binoculars in hand for other grassland birds, particularly the meadowlark.

Photo by Jordan Rowe, Tallgrass Restoration

May Back from the Argentine: "When dandelions have set the mark in May on Wisconsin pastures, it is time to listen for the final proof of spring. Sit down on a tussock, cock your ears at the sky, dial out the bedlam of meadowlarks and redwings, and soon you may hear it: the flight-song of the upland plover, just now back from Argentine."

May sees the end of the cool season invasive weed control projects. The crews continue with planting of trees, shrubs, and native seed. The hand pulling and mowing of garlic mustard will continue through the month before the plant goes to seed. It is getting too green to continue burning, so equipment and personal protective equipment are switched into installation mode. The crews clean up from the burn season by burning brushpiles and sowing native seed in scarred areas. There is also an increase in streambank erosion control installations at this time of the year.

Photo by Tallgrass Restoration staff

Although a busy and hardworking time of year, May brings in the season for the installation of live herbaceous plants. Now comes the all out push to get the plants and seed in the ground before the summer heat and lack of rain puts a stop to it.

Outreach to organizations is an ongoing activity. Tallgrass staff sits on committees for local not-for-profits, ecosystem partnerships, land trusts, park districts, and watershed groups with whom we share expertise and also learn from their processes too. Some places you will find us include Chicago Wilderness Corporate Council, the Lower and Upper Des Plaines and Fox River Ecosystem Partnerships, Flint Creek Watershed Partnership, the Environmental Education Association of Illinois, The Prairie Enthusiasts, and many others. We are working to be known, that is true. These activities are also about giving back, creating partnerships, and giving our employees a chance to participate in local and regional processes that are important and address Tallgrass' vision and mission for the stewardship of nature.

The front yard prairie is blooming and you can feel that any day now the blooms will open on the Virginia bluebells, white trillium, and spiderwort. The birds are more plentiful, and the neighbors stop on their walks to enjoy the prairie as it moves through its seasonal changes. A bird nesting box the Schaumburg office received from the Wisconsin office is put up. It is pretty cool, as it has a clear back and suction cups that stick it to the window. Hopefully, we can witness the nesting of a bird or two over the seasons. With any luck, the Wisconsin office will have a pair of ospreys begin to build their nest on the manmade platform. If nature can bring peace and good health, our prairies brings us contentment, conversation, and even promotes team building. You just seem to be in a better mood, once you've watched it for awhile or walked through it.

White Trillium, photo by Doug DeWitt, Tallgrass Restoration

June "I sit in happy meditation on my rock, pondering, while my line dries again, upon the ways of trout and men. How like fish we are: ready, nay, eager, to seize upon whatever new thing some wind of circumstance shakes down upon the river of time! And how we rue our haste, finding the gilded morsel to contain a hook. Even so, I think there is some virtue in eagerness, whether its object prove true or false."

In June, the weather is getting warmer and drier as we move towards summer. The crews are finishing up tree and shrub installations while continuing with live plant installs. It is the beginning of the season to mow fields for invasive weed control. Native seed installation is slowing down while the coir logs continue to heal erosion and stabilize shorelines. The crews will begin the stewardship visits for clients. Generally, each site will receive three or four visits to ensure the invasives are removed, monitor for plant health, and ongoing care of the sites.

Photo by Tallgrass Restoration staff

June also brings an end to the second quarter of the fiscal year. Project ecologists are busy managing crews and projects while an evaluation takes place in-house: How did we do the first half of the year? What is forecasted and coming up in the fall? Employee training is switched to ensure everyone has herbicide licenses and are ready to begin the stewardship of our clients' lands and projects. Safety meetings cover information on ticks and mosquitoes, heat stroke, and other topics to ensure the safety of our employees during this very hot and humid time.

Spiderwort, photo by Doug DeWitt, Tallgrass Restoration

Summer family vacations will also begin this month. Working at your job and serving as back up for those on vacation increase some of our workloads while we look forward to taking some time off ourselves. But the office never misses a beat. Phones are covered, mail continues to be distributed, and of course, the ever important payroll never misses a step. The bonding and insurance needs for the bids are designated out and any deliveries that come in are received and stored. The project managers and crews pitch in where needed to get the installs and stewardship visits completed on time and efficiently. Teamwork; communication and collaboration not only serve the clients best, but also the staff. If everyone pitches in, you are not overwhelmed your first day back from vacation.

At the Wisconsin office, baby ducks are making their appearances in the numerous ponds that dot the property. In the nest boxes, wood duck and hooded merganser babies tumble out and make their way towards the water to join the mallards and blue-winged teals.

There are new blooms weekly in our front yard prairie. The colors are gorgeous and we all take time out for a "wildlife moment." Someone yells "Hummingbird, hummingbird," and we all go to the window and enjoy the show. What bird is that? What plant is that one with the white blooms? Is it the prairie dropseed that smells so good when you walk outside the front entrance? This camaraderie makes us smile, and relieves some pressure for the moment. It reminds us why we do what we do, and that we are glad to be partners in this crazy seasonal land business.

To be continued this summer. . .