Summer Property Tour 3: Caroline Beckett and Frank Sandner

We steward our 66-acre property that supports oak woodland, prairie, and a pasture-to-prairie conversion. We’ve been working with the WI DNR to establish pollinator- and wildlife-friendly prairie areas as well as converting our woods to habitat for woodland critters and plants. Burning, brush clearing and some carefully-applied spraying and mowing are on-going techniques. Each year brings new surprises! Perhaps of interest to our tour attendees is a wooded section of mostly buckthorn that we cleared this spring. Half of the work was done by machines—a woods mower on a bobcat—and half by a crew armed with chainsaws and sprayers. We look forward to seeing what this area is like in August!