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A Landowner's Guide to Tallgrass Prairie and Savanna Management in Ontario

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A Landowner's Guide to Tallgrass Prairie and Savanna Management in Ontario A Landowner’s Guide to Tallgrass Prairie and Savanna Management in Ontario Tallgrass Ontario Author: Cathy Quinlan, B.Sc., M.A. Financial Contributors This publication has been produced with generous Acknowledgements support from: The author would like to thank the following people • The Donner Canadian Foundation who provided valuable advice and assistance in the • Endangered Species Recovery Fund k r F development and review of this guide: a W m e W d l a r o T b The Donner d m e y • Ken Browne, Friends of Sharon Creek r S e t a s i d g Graham Buck, n • Brant Stewardship Network Canadian e a R P F 6 8 • Todd Farrell, Nature Conservancy of Canada, W 9 W Foundation 1 R Ontario Region © • Dave Heaman, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources • Mathis Natvik, Orford Ridges Native Plants • Allan Woodliffe, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources Environment Environnement Canada Canada Graphic Design: Dool Art + Design ISBN: 0-9736739-0-7 Printed in Canada Cover Photos: Clockwise from top right: Herbicide treatment, City of Toronto Urban Forestry Prescribed Burn, Cathy Quinlan Seeding, Eleanor Heagy Ojibway Prairie, Paul Pratt Back Cover: Tallgrass Ontario Illustration by Judie Shore Reproduction, Copies and Citation Reproduction and transmittal of this publication will be allowed with permission from Tallgrass Ontario Copies of this guide are available from: Tallgrass Ontario 120 Main Street, Ridgetown, ON N0P 2C0 Phone: (519) 674-1543 or (519) 873-4631 e-mail [email protected] This guide can also be downloaded from the Tallgrass Ontario website at www.tallgrassontario.org Please cite this publication as: Tallgrass Ontario, 2005. A Landowner’s Guide to Tallgrass Prairie and Savanna Management in Ontario. Author: Cathy Quinlan. 35pp + Appendices. A LANDOWNER’S GUIDE TO TALLGRASS PRAIRIE AND SAVANNA MANAGEMENT IN ONTARIO i Table of Contents Author & Acknowledgments inside front cover Controlling Problem Plants .......................................... 17 Invasive Plants ...................................................................... 17 Table of Contents ....................................................................... i Control Methods ................................................................ 20 Licenses ..................................................................................... 20 Chapter 1. This Guide and You ................................. 1 Removing planted or encroaching trees ............. 21 Who is this guide for? ......................................................... 1 Phragmites - A Special Concern .............................. 21 Why was this guide produced? ..................................... 1 Interseeding and Planting ............................................. 24 Chapter 2. The Tallgrass Prairie & Savanna Obtaining Native Stock .................................................. 24 Ecosystem ........................................................................................ 2 Interseeding ............................................................................. 24 What is a tallgrass prairie? What is a How and when to interseed ........................................ 25 savanna? ....................................................................................... 2 Planting Plugs and Potted Plants ............................. 26 Plant characteristics .............................................................. 2 Enlarging your remnant ................................................ 26 Meadows versus Prairies ................................................... 3 Prairie and Savanna in Ontario ................................... 4 Restoration of Natural Drainage .................................. 27 Why is it important to protect remnants? ........... 4 Removing buried tiles ...................................................... 27 Open drains ........................................................................... 27 Chapter 3. Getting to Know Prairie Plants .................................................................................................... 5 Chapter 5. Economic Ventures and Grasses ........................................................................................... 5 Human Use Issues ................................................................. 28 Wildfl owers ................................................................................ 7 Hunting .................................................................................... 28 Trees ................................................................................................. 7 Selling Seed ............................................................................. 28 Shrubs ............................................................................................ 7 Honey Production ............................................................. 28 Getting help with inventory ........................................ 10 ATV’s and Trespass Issues ............................................. 28 Assessing site health through FQI ............................10 Sites to visit .............................................................................. 10 Chapter 6. Protection & Conservation Options ............................................................................................ 30 Chapter 4. Management Techniques ............... 11 Conservation Easements and Agreements ......... 30 The need for management ........................................... 11 Leasing ....................................................................................... 30 Planning ahead ..................................................................... 11 Sale ................................................................................................ 30 Donation .................................................................................. 31 Fire and Prescribed Burns Fire and the prairie ...................................................... 12 Bibliography ............................................................................... 32 How does fi re help prairie? ..................................... 12 Plant Identifi cation Guides .......................................... 33 Prescribed burns ............................................................. 13 Burning frequency ....................................................... 14 Helpful Organizations ........................................................ 34 Time of year to burn ................................................... 14 Glossary of Terms ................................................................... 35 Livestock Grazing .......................................................... 15 Historical grazing ........................................................... 15 Appendix ....................................................................................... 36 Grazing Ontario Prairies Today ........................... 15 Cow and goat grazing in Manitoba .................. 16 Mowing and Haying ................................................... 16 How often should I mow and hay? ................... 16 When to mow .................................................................. 16 A LANDOWNER’S GUIDE TO TALLGRASS PRAIRIE AND SAVANNA MANAGEMENT IN ONTARIO 1 Chapter 1. Restoration is a young science as humans have This Guide and You only recently realized the need to preserve and restore natural landscapes and plant communities. Many prairie managers are still learning from their own experiences and the experiences of others. This Who is this Guide For? guide describes several management and restoration techniques that landowners can experiment with This guide is for Ontario landowners whose themselves and share with others. property contains native tallgrass prairie or savanna. Where the issues are complex, this guide directs Many landowners are unfamiliar with these rare and you to other places and people that can help. You important grassland communities and less familiar decide what is practical for you given your time, with how to manage and restore them. This guide experience and resources. This guide will not make answers some basic questions about tallgrass, it’s you an expert in prairie management, but it will get management and uses. Restoration and management you started and answer many of your questions. activities are powerful ways to learn more about the ecosystem and your relationship with it. As an owner of a remnant tallgrass prairie or savanna, you are part of a small but important group helping to conserve a rare piece of Ontario’s natural heritage. Tallgrass habitats are owned by a wide range of landowners including farmers, railroad corporations, municipalities, government agencies, clubs, rural non-farm residents, First Nation communities, golf courses and the Crown. Why was this Guide Produced? Tallgrass Ontario has prepared this guide to assist landowners with basic prairie and savanna management and restoration techniques. Without some management, these lands can convert to thickets and woodlands and the specialized prairie plants and animals that evolved over centuries will be gone forever. The vast majority of native grassland has been lost; only 3% of the original tallgrass prairie and savanna in Ontario remains today. When the native tallgrass communities go, gone is the gene pool of plants that survive in our extreme climate. Gone too is the home of songbirds, insects and wild animals. The natural disturbances that once maintained tallgrass habitats such as wildfi
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