Author: Justin Heslinga, Stewardship Director

Taking on Oak Wilt

If you have recently hiked through Saul Lake Bog Nature Preserve, you may have noticed that some of the trees bear blue or red markings.  If you guessed that those markings denote trees that will be removed, you are right. Unfortunately, oak wilt has been discovered on the preserve and has already killed dozens of oaks. The disease will continue to spread without action, and that

4 Eerie parasitic plants and where to find them

Happy Halloween! It’s that special time of year when we spend unusual amounts of time thinking about ghosts, goblins, skeletons, spiders, and creepy things in general.  We here at the Land Conservancy are no exception: Lately I’ve been thinking about parasites.  What’s a parasite, exactly?  In short, it’s a creature that lives on or in another organism, on which it feeds.  Lampreys, leeches,

Habitat Profile: Oak Savanna

Oak savannas (sometimes called oak barrens or oak openings) are transitional habitats between tallgrass prairies and oak forests. They tend to be very diverse because they contain both forest and prairie species. Oak savannas are maintained by periodic fire, which encourages oak regeneration but keeps

Overcoming Oak Wilt

It was confirmed: oak wilt had claimed the lives almost all the red and black oaks across this section of woods. Oak wilt is a disease caused by the non-native fungus Ceratocystis fagacearum, and is lethal to oak trees. But as devastating as oak wilt

A Day on the Burn Crew

Long before the state of Michigan was made up of a patchwork of geometric farm fields, sprawling cities, meandering highways, and stretches of forest, the state was made up mostly of a dynamic mixture of three landscapes--prairie, oak savanna, and oak forest. Those habitats shifted

Planting a Prairie

Restoring Land, Restoring Hope. On Black Friday, 23 people came out to Saul Lake Bog Nature Preserve and planted a prairie. While the rest of America was out fighting crowds, standing in line, and getting into altercations over parking spots, 23 people were outside, breathing fresh

The Surprising Legacy of Suzie

As a young boy I lived in central Illinois, a region better known for its endless seas of windswept corn than any magnificent natural wonders. So I was lucky, perhaps, that my parents’ house backed up to one of the largest oak forests in the

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