We’ll start by visiting a “baby” prairie, established just this last year, across the commons from the institute. Then we’ll head just down the road to the Danky-Schelshorn Prairie. Until 2003, this land was under agricultural cultivation, but Jim and Christine decided to turn it back into a prairie habitat. The Danky-Schelshorn Prairie was established after Christine took a workshop at the UW Arboretum. Through their friendship with Steve Glass, they accelerated the restoration work and today have a quite mature prairie to share with others. In 2019, they donated the prairie to the Historic Cooksville Trust and, in conjunction with the Low Technology Institute in Cooksville, are hosting this annual public event.
Christine and Jim will be on hand to talk about the history and maintenance of the prairie, as well as answering questions about our solar installation. Follow them on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danky_schelshorn_prairie/
Workshop Details
In this workshop, we’ll spend time on the prairie collecting seeds and exploring prairie ecology. You’ll learn to collect seeds from various species and will go home with your own samples!
Please wear clothing appropriate for the weather and activity: mask, close-toed shoes, gloves, long shirt and pants, etc. Please bring your own beverage and snack. We will be outside, but in case of inclement weather, the rain date will be Sunday, October 8. Please bring along hand pruners or clippers if you have them (we’ll have some on hand, too).
The workshop will start at the Cooksville Community Center (11204 N. Church Street, Evansville, WI 53536) and then move to the Danky-Schelshorn Prairie (261 Wisconsin 138, Stoughton, Wisconsin) (25 min south of Madison) on October 7, from 1:00–3:00(ish) p.m. It is free, but please RSVP by sending an email to info@lowtechinstitute.org. Space is limited and we will keep a waiting list. Also, participants must fill out this liability waiver. Your RSVP is only complete when the waiver is filled out.
Donations are always welcome to help defray the cost of LTI’s workshops and programming. We are a member-supported organization. You may also support the prairie directly by donating to the Historic Cooksville Trust.
∇ COVID-19 CONSIDERATIONS ∇
Due to the ongoing pandemic, we will be taking precautions against spreading the virus among ourselves.
Please do not attend an event if you:
- Have tested positive for COVID in the last 5 days.
- Have been a close exposure to a known COVID case in the last 5 days and have not tested negative in the last 24 hours.
- Have had any of the typical symptoms (fever, coughing, etc.) in the last 5 days and have not tested negative in the last 24 hours.
We depend on all participants adhering to these restrictions so that we can continue to hold safe events.
Instructor
Stephen Glass is a certified ecological restoration practitioner at the Restoration Ecology Lab and coauthor of the textbook Introduction to Restoration Ecology. He led the development of the UW-Arboretum’s long-term restoration master plan. Much of his work is centered on developing methods to remove invasive species from native habitats and restored areas. He is a certified fire-management burner and is especially interested in the challenge of restoring disturbed lands in urban environments.
Resources
Here are some links that may be worth reading through from the Tall Grass Prairie Center.