Driftless Prairies is restoring and managing native ecosystems for biodiversity. Our practices and techniques are driven by this tenet. We’ve done a deep dive researching various aspects to overcome the fallacies of dogma and also “just because”–because understanding the processes of our fabulous ecosystems brings us joy. We often find the information is controversial and there’s no one right answer – no surprise since it’s nature. Nonetheless, digging into the research and combining the field studies with the biological science has been hugely rewarding.

The more knowledge we gain, the more creative we are, ensuring our management  meets our goals and is successful. We’re able to design combinations of techniques that reduce collateral damage and undesired results. Oh yes, we’ve made mistakes for sure! Researching and understanding the biological explanation for certain management techniques, lead to better balancing of the trade offs. Land must be managed so we must expect trade offs, mitigating these to encourage biodiversity is our intention.

Our hope by sharing this time-consuming research and biological explanations is that it will enhance your restoration journey. Maybe pique your creativity and you’ll share your innovations with us!

Enjoy these images of our land…