Welcome to our little prairie restoration project.
These 20 acres, located just outside of Manchester, Michigan, were once part of a larger parcel (40 acres?) used as a lumber mill. We have not done much more study into the history of the land than that, but we have reason to believe that the land has never been farmed.		We haven't spotted either of these guys (for sure), but the cat certainly has never dragged in anything resembling the monster on the bottom. Both are Michigan moles.
Our best guess is that the 3 acres of 'old field' (the light yellow/green area of the map on the left) might have been seeded for grazing many years ago, but that's probably it. Of course almost all of the really larger, older trees have been chopped down, except a few in the southwest corner of the property.
We are hoping that this is the case, and that by beginning an annual schedule of field burning we can tip the ecological scales in favor of native grasses and forbs and choke out most of the non-native species.
This web site contains information on our plans and progress, plants indentified in various sections of the resoration, links to related web sites, and , of course, contact information for getting in touch with us.