

October 14, 2020 Blog Environment
As the climate changes, our land management challenges change. We only have to look at the raging western wildfires see one kind of change. And, experts tell us that we can expect more because the trees are dry, not just the forest floor. These are disasters of unprecedented scale. For landowners, managing landscapes as the climate changes brings its own challenges including the expansion of invasive species. It’s not just farmers, it’s single family homes, landscapes in multi-family complexes and government-managed lands everywhere. In this case, the tree was native, but spreading like a weed.
I wrote this piece for Beginning Farmer which talks about some of the hard choices I had to make and that many more of us have or will be making. Read more here.
April 25 2023 Blog Environment
Some scientists estimate that native grasslands have declined by as much as 99 percent. By some estimates, this resulted in three billion fewer birds on the landscape than 50 years ago. This has harmed both the eastern meadowlark and the bobwhite which are both found on Coal Creek.
April 20 2023 Blog Environment
Historically, open savannas and woodlands were largely maintained by periodic fire, which served to remove dense blankets of accumulated leaf litter from the ground and promote the growth of fire-adapted trees, such as shortleaf pine. Due to the loss of periodic fire, it is estimated that at least 90% of shortleaf pine-oak savanna has been lost.