Free the baby oaks!

The Americorps NCCC crew has been hard at work these last few weeks, and no synonym of the word miraculous would be applicable to the amount of work that has been done. We've been systematically going into the degraded prairie and savanna remnants on bluffs above Long Creek and removing Eastern redcedar, honey locust, prickly ash, multiflora rose, and honeysuckle.

Here's an image of a little baby bur oak tree (red arrow) on the side of a prairie remnant that has been completely outcompeted by a honey locust (black arrow), which is being cut down.

In the next picture, Brooke, the Americorps NCCC crew leader, is standing with the baby oak, now bathed in sunshine!

The crew has all headed home for Thanksgiving, but we'll be back at it next week!

Autumn & Americorps have arrived

After a flourish of autumnal splendor, almost all of the leaves have fallen and the blustery days of late fall have arrived. The vast acreage of woodlands in the Whiterock Valley are the best kept secret of western Iowa autumn. The abundance of oaks (black, white, red, and bur) in the valley make for a scene of crimson, golden, and tangerine. Here's a picture of the valley from last week, looking over into South Whiterock: the oaks leave are ablaze with color and after they've fallen, they'll be ablaze with prescribed fire! Sign up to come help us on burns starting next week.


It isn't just the woodlands that show off the vibrant colors of fall, the prairie remnants also show off the splendor of scenescing plant parts. At right, the changes in coloration of prairie dropseed and little bluestem are as brilliant as the woodlands October transformation!
We've been hard at work harvesting prairie seed to add to pastures and prairie reconstructions on the property, although the last few days of wind and rain have caused many seeds to drop. Now all there is to do is enjoy the beauty!


This autumn also means the arrival of Whiterock Conservancy's first ever Americorps NCCC crew. The crew, composed of 7 volunteers from 7 different states, has come to Iowa to work first on flood recovery and now on environmental conservation projects. They spent the first two weeks of this spike project near Iowa City, working on savanna and prairie restoration projects for Johnson County Heritage Trust, and will spend the next 6 weeks working at Whiterock Conservancy and for Polk County Soil and Water Conservation District doing restoration projects in rural uplands and urban watersheds.
This crew knows how to work, and have been diligently bagging prairie seed and chain-sawing honeysuckles for the last few days. We are so very excited to have them here! Check out the before and after of one day of work--you can see the amazing difference of this degraded woodland. After we finish removing the invasive honeysuckles and barberry, we'll conduct a prescribed fire on this piece of land and be well on our way to savanna restoration!

For a living example of the oak savanna work that Whiterock Conservany is doing, check out the woodland south of the pond at the Home Farm/Headquarters--you'll be amazed!