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Nachusa Grasslands

Restoration Technician Crew 2019

6/9/2019

1 Comment

 
​​By Riley Nylin
​Nachusa Grasslands Restoration Technician
Picture
2019 Restoration Crew
​Spring showers have brought the May flowers, as well as very cold and damp conditions this year. With the invasive species and the native plants beginning to appear all at the same time, the 2019 crew has been quite busy. Because many plants have appeared later this year as a result of the weather conditions, the crew has had to work extra hard to ensure that each seed gets picked and each weed continues to get sprayed.
Picture
Weed sweep preparation
​As the summer continues, the crew is hopeful for drier conditions, so that they can continue with typical restoration activities. For the remainder of June and July the crew will focus heavily on controlling invasive species through spading and spraying, so that they do not force out the beautiful native plants. The crew has already begun to tackle the sweet clover, king devil, and bird’s foot trefoil. While this is going on, seed collection has also slowly begun. Although it will not be in full swing until August, collection of plants such as pussytoes and prairie phlox is already in progress.
Picture
Seed collection
​Once the crew has hand-picked almost 275 species of seed and placed them in barrels to dry, there will be well over two tons of seed that will need to be dried, milled, and mixed. The crew will then get the honor of producing their very own planting for the year. This year the planting is a 63-acre lot that was previously used as agricultural land. At the end of this process the 2019 crew will have covered a lot of ground in weed sweeps, seed collection, and new prairie!

Meet the Crew

Picture
​Nathaniel Weickert hails from Rockford, Illinois. He received his B.S. in biological sciences from Northern Illinois University. He has been a member of the crew here at Nachusa since 2017 and is currently Nachusa’s first McComick fellow. Nathaniel will be pursuing a Graduate degree beginning in the fall, but until then is excited to be continuing working and learning at Nachusa Grasslands.
Picture
​Amanda Contreras is the assistant crew leader for the 2019 summer season. She is from Aurora, Illinois and graduated with a B.S. in biology from Aurora University. She enjoys the hard work that she gets to put into restoration and hopes to continue in a career within this field. In Amanda’s free time, you will usually find her behind a Neil Gaiman book.
Picture
Tyler Pellegrini lives in Dekalb, Illinois and graduated from Northern Illinois University with a B.S. in ecological studies. Tyler enjoys working with prescribed burns and would enjoy a career in this field following his work at Nachusa. He recently finished EMT basic training and became a dad to a baby girl. In his free time, he enjoys canoeing and watching wildland fire videos.
Picture
​Anna Scheidel is from Westmont, Illinois and earned her B.S. in biology from Benedictine University in 2017. She is currently working on her MS in Conservation Biology at Illinois State University, studying root hemiparasitic plants in prairies.  She is using her spare time to work on her field research at Nachusa. Anna hopes to build on her plant identification skills and further her knowledge of prairie restoration.
Picture
​Riley Nylin is from Long Grove, Iowa and graduated from Iowa State University in May 2019 with a B.S. in agricultural & biological systems management and technology, as well as agronomy. While attending ISU she worked for the Monarch Working Group performing telemetry with monarchs, and she also worked for the Iowa Limnology Lab performing water sampling of over 130 of Iowa’s public lakes. Through these internships she found a passion for conservation work, which is what brought her to Nachusa.
Picture
Jenny Chlipala is from Lyons, Illinois and graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a B.S. in natural resources and environmental sciences. It was at her local prairie, Wolf Road Prairie, that Jenny found her passion for prairie restoration, wildlife management, and invasive species work. She hopes to share the passion and enthusiasm she has seen from her peers and professors with others and continue her work in restoration ecology. In her free time, she enjoys reading, watching movies, and traveling.
1 Comment
James McGee
6/9/2019 10:10:08 pm

I met Anna at the last Grassland Restoration Network workshop. I hope she shares some photos of those beautiful hemiparasitic plants she is studying.

It is nice to see someone from Iowa working at Nachusa. I like Iowa. I wish they still had more of their prairies.

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    Blog Coordinator

    Dee Hudson
    I am a nature photographer, a freelance graphic designer, and steward at Nachusa's Thelma Carpenter Prairie. I have taken photos for Nachusa since 2012.

    Editor

    James Higby
    I have been a high school French teacher, registered piano technician, and librarian. In retirement I am a volunteer historian at Lee County Historical and Genealogical Society. 

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© 2020 FRIENDS OF NACHUSA GRASSLANDS
  • Home
  • About Friends
    • Mission and Leadership
    • Endowments
    • Newsletters >
      • PrairiE–Update (email)
      • A Prairie Calling (print and digital)
    • Friends Annual Reports
  • Plan Your Visit
    • Hours & Parking
    • Directions and Map
    • 2020 Autumn on the Prairie – On Your Own
    • Visitor Center
    • Hiking >
      • Hiking Guidelines
      • Hiking Destinations
      • Stone Barn Savanna Tour
      • Visitor Center Trail
      • Scavenger Hunt
    • Bison Viewing
    • What's In Bloom?
    • Autumn on the Prairie Festival 2020 Cancelled
    • Public Tours 2020 Cancelled
    • Pet Policy
    • Things to Do
    • Places to Eat and Stay
    • Local Sites to Visit and Explore
  • Donate
  • Calendar
  • Volunteer
    • Volunteer Opportunities
    • Thursday and Saturday Workdays
    • Workdays – November to February
    • Workday Email List
  • Stewardship
    • Nachusa Stewardship
    • Restorations
    • Planting Histories >
      • Stewardship Unit Planting Histories
      • Planting Histories in Chronological Order
    • Stewards and Staff
    • Groups and Committees
    • Available Units
    • Controlled Burns
    • Prescribed Fire Recruitment
    • Stewardship Resources >
      • Weekly Top Picks
      • Invasive Plant Management
      • Invasive Identification
      • Monitoring
      • Links & Resources
  • Science
    • Science at Nachusa Grasslands
    • Potential Research Topics
    • Science Grants >
      • Science Grants 2021
      • Science Grants 2020
      • Science Grants 2019
      • Science Grants 2018
      • Science Grants 2017
      • Science Grants 2016
      • Science Grants 2015
      • Science Grants 2014
      • Science Grants 2013/2012/2011
    • Science Symposium Abstracts >
      • Science Symposium Abstracts 2019
      • Science Symposium Abstracts 2018
      • Science Symposium Abstracts 2017
      • Science Symposium Abstracts 2016
    • Scientific Publications
    • Testimonials >
      • Dr. Holly Jones
      • Dr. Nick Barber
      • Kimberly Elsenbroek
    • Science Videos
    • Calling Frog Monitoring
    • RiverWatch
  • About Nachusa
    • General Info
    • Prairie Smoke Annual Reports
    • Plant Inventory >
      • Common Names
      • Genus Species
    • Animal Inventory >
      • Amphibians
      • Birds
      • Bison Bison >
        • Bison
        • Bison Babies Broadcast Videos
      • Dragonflies & Damselflies
      • Fish
      • Insects
      • Mammals
      • Other Arthropods
      • Reptiles
    • History
    • Jobs
    • Hunting
    • Geology >
      • Geology Part 1
      • Geology Part 2
      • Geology Part 3
    • 30th Anniversary Memories
    • Websites of Interest
  • BLOG AND MEDIA
    • Nachusa Blog
    • In The News
    • Photo Gallery >
      • Spring Photos
      • Summer Photos
      • Autumn Photos
      • Winter Photos
      • Visitor Photos
    • Submit Your Photos
  • Contact Us / FAQs