Making an Impact

By Taylor on June 11, 2013 in Blog


GardnerBefore1On May 22, 2013, the INHF statewide land stewardship interns and staff worked on an INHF project site, the Gardner Property, in Boone County.The property was donated in 2010 in memory of Anna Gardner by her father JH Gardner.

The INHF land stewardship group worked to save the prairie; a remnant hill prairie encroached on by red cedar, autumn olive and honeysuckle. And Dave Marlow, Anna's widower, helped INHF with the maintenance.

“Our goal was to get rid of the trees and invasive species. They were shading the prairie and overcrowded. We wanted to let in sunlight so the prairie can do what it needs to do to survive,” said Ryan Schmidt, land stewardship assistant.

After some hard work the group made notable progress. Trees were cut down and piled on the edge of the prairie and will eventually be burned.

Thanks to Erin Van Waus, our INHF land stewardship director, you can see for yourself all they managed to accomplish!

Before                        After

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To learn more about the Gardner Property, visit the INHF website.