WEBVTT


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Ray Schulenberg: Thank all of you for coming. Uhm, of course I have stage fright right now— [audience laughs] [inaudible] So please bear with me— [inaudible] 

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[static from the speakers, audience rumbling]

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So many classes. [audience laughing]

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Okay. I hope you won’t mind if I read my comments tonight. I found that if I talk ad lib I tend to go on and on indefinitely.

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I have no intention of amusing or entertaining you tonight. Nor am I trying to impress you with lofty philosophical thoughts.

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Uh the praise that Dr. Hall has given me was “excessive.” I am grateful to him, but uh it kind of embarrasses me. [audience laughs]

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[audience laughs]

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I’ve got to get over that and go on. [audience laughs]

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All I will try to do is summarize The Morton Arboretum’s effort at prairie restoration 

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starting with a background of the early presence of prairie on the

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Arboretum grounds, and the history of appreciation of

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prairie and involvement with prairie by Arboretum personnel

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since the early years of the institution. I do not pretend to

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speak with authority. And I don't claim to be uhm a prairie expert

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or that prairie is my field. And I'm certainly not a guru. Uhm I made

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the speaker's podium on this occasion only because I'm handy

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at pulling weeds. [audience laughs] During the restoration project I was able to tell the prairie plants from the weeds, and I was both willing and able to

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remove the weeds from among the prairie plants. Otherwise, the project would have failed. [audience laughs] I know there

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are a number of you in the audience tonight, to whom I'm very

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grateful for your presence here, who helped with that

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weeding project. And you know what it's all about. Bless you

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for coming. It's great to see you. Tonight's the program is all

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audio, no video. I'm not using slides because I find that

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speakers tend to let their subject matter be dictated by

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available slides. And I was concerned that this narrative

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would be less well balanced if it was limited by slides that I

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had. This history is as factual as I can make it without

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exhaustive research, and where the view of the historical

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data may be inaccurate, because of faulty memory on my part or

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because I failed to learn the facts correctly in the first place. [audience laughs] Also be

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aware that an element of subjectivity or personal bias

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creeps into any historical narrative. And that my perception of

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events, however honest, may differ from another person's perception of

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the same events. We all just folks. [audience laughs] Okay. When The Morton Arboretum

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officially began its life as a foundation in 1922, 65 years ago, the

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floristic condition of the land was much different than

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what it is now. I am speaking of the 1500 acres that make up the

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present Arboretum, even though only a small part of that acreage

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was dedicated as Arboretum at that time. I can certainly remember

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some of the things, mainly what has happened since I came 

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here in 1955, 32 years ago. Uh but we can draw conclusions about



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the earlier years from early photographs, and especially from

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the Inventory of Spontaneous Flora compiled by Henry

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Teuscher in 1925. Mr Teuscher had studied in the

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Munich Garden in Berlin [inaudible] Germany, which was a pioneer in the

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reconstruction of plant communities, or formations as they called them, from

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all over the temperate world, as outdoor living exhibits on its grounds. As The Morton

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Arboretum’s botanist, Teuscher compiled a systematic list of the Arboretum’s flora, and

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he had it printed and distributed it as an offerata. That is he, offered in

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four languages, to send seeds and other propagules of any of these plants 

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to our sister institutions all over the world.

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What interests us especially is that he included the habitat for each


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species. And he noted prairie, dry prairie, moist prairie, uhm and so on, showing

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his grasp of the prairie biome was close to what we understand today.

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It is due to Mr. Teusch’s records that we can appreciate the diversity of

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vascular plants that were here in the 1920s and regret the

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losses that occurred after that. A large number of plant species that

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were then still growing on the grounds have been locally [extravasated?]

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during the arboretum year. Now, this is something that goes

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on all over the world today. And uh it's remarkable that even

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under the very benign conditions of The Morton Arboretum, the

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benevolent maintenance regimen, even here, this uh


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replacement of the native by the exotic has been going on. Of

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course the Arboretum land had been settled as early as 1832, 90

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years before the Arboretum was founded, and also the prairie had been

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plowed, much of the timber cut down, and the rest of the land pastured

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before Mr. Morton bought the land. But even so, the aspect of the 

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landscape and the content of the vegetation remain much more

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native and natural in 1922 than it is today. Deliberate

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changes of the landscape since 1922 include road building with removal of vegetation, [inaudible] resulting in weed invasion— [inaudible]. 

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Other changes include clearing away [inaudible] vegetation 

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for parking lots and building and for planting new landscapes



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in the collection. The Arboretum’s landscape policy from the earliest

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years was to arrange the landscape and collections in a

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naturalistic fashion, uhm as perceived by the planner. That did not imply any effort

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to preserve or simulate or reconstruct native communities,

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which is a concept understood and valued by only a few people

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in those days. 

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The basic pattern was the grouping of planted woody plants 

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in an eclipse of Eurasian meadow which could include also those

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sturdy natives that can compete with the Eurasians and survive in the

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light and not require fire. These meadows were mowed at varying intervals. 




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Those mowed most often were lawn-like while at the other

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extreme, those mowed only once a year tend to be 


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more diverse, but with the constant danger of becoming thickets of woody invaders.

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That pattern of maintenance still exists at the Arboretum but

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the percentage of native plants has gradually decreased.  

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The reasons for this include the things that I mentioned before, plus the

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compacting of the soil by tractor-mounted mowers, and 

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by tracks of other vehicles often when the soil is 

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too wet and the continual accumulation of mowing debris from [inaudible] mowers. Along with this is the widespread

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reduction regionally of natural populations of native from which


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reseeding could occur. So even though our habitat is uh favorable

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to native plants, once they're gone, it's hard for them to

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come back because there's no seed source nearby. And [inaudible] this is 

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the introduction of more and worse, exotic weeds, garlic mustard being a prime example of this.

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Losses have also occurred in our woodlands,

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especially relevant to us is the fact that the areas that were once 

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savannah have been heavily invaded in recent decades by

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old world trees and shrubs, especially buckthorns, honeysuckles,

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viburnums and [inaudible]. In what had been savannah, these

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invaders have developed ugly, hitherto unknown pseudo communities that

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are impenetrable and shut out any native flora.  These unspeakable jungles 

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reached the state where their development cannot be reversed

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by fire but only by sharp-edged tools, such as saw [inaudible]

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plus a lot of human exertion plus herbicides followed by reintroduction of

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natives and then diligent weeding. These processes are going on now in uh Slusser land at the west

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end of the Arboretum and I’ll have the positive side of that dimension later. The point I am trying

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to make here is that even in a place with so— [inaudible] 

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management regimen as the Arboretum there has been a replacement of native vegetation with weedy

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old world vegetation.  The only place in the Arboretum where there was 

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survival of anything that could be considered a prairie community was at

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the northeast corner next to the land leased to the University of Illinois. 

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This prairie land was still in good condition in 1954, kept that way

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by being mowed once a year with a  [inaudible]  mower and the

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hay removed. This is the same procedure that has maintained prairie in parts of

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Kansas and Nebraska. Our prairie remnant was always under potential threat of

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becoming woodland because it lies in the northeast of a

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large forested tract, but it was still rich enough in plant species and prairie-like 

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aspect to be used as a living teaching laboratory in the 1940s

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and 50s by Mrs. May Thielgaard Watts. She created an illustrated

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guide to the part of the Arboretum containing the prairie. It was called

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The Forest Nature Trail. And she taught many people to appreciate the prairie

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by means of the leaflet and by leading walks on the

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trail and by classroom activities and by field trips to

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other remnant prairies. How many people here tonight studied under Mrs.

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Watts and learned first about prairie from her? Thank you. Okay. She was a wonderful person 

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as we all recall. Uhm. Let’s see, where was I? Uhm her emphasis on prairie was not a cult but rather it was in

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rational balance with her teaching about all the other uhm

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local plant communities. During her years here, a number of Mrs. Watts’ students 

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began to cultivate prairie plants in their

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gardens and some even undertook small scale restorations on their

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own properties. Going back a few years now, Mr. Teuscher did not remain

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long on the Arboretum staff, and his replacement was Mr. E. Lowell Kammerer,



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who was a landscape architect. Mr. Kammerer had a

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great appreciation for plants as materials for cultivation in

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gardens and landscapes. His appreciation extended to

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wildflowers and other plants of the woods and prairie and he gave new recognition

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to the landscape potential of the natives in his popular writing, up to the time

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of his untimely death in 1966. He recognized the value of the

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Arboretum’s prairie remnant as a reservoir of potential

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ornamentals.

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Unfortunately, the degradation of this rim accelerated

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sharply about 1954. At that time, Commonwealth Edison acquired a 200

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foot right of way across parts of the Arboretum and in

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directing its huge power transmission towers and stringing

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wire, they did considerable damage to the prairie, practically all of

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which was on their right of way. Around the same time, the use of

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the sickle bar mower in the prairie here with removal of the hay was

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discontinued. And this led to a build up a dead plant litter on the

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ground, which is deadly to the prairie plants and confusing to weed.

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Nevertheless, the area was still recognizable as prairie as late

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as 1964. A little later, I’ll tell you  what happened that year. I'm not

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following a sequence in a strictly chronological order. I’m 

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following little threads for a way, and then going back and



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picking up another thread and weaving them together. And I

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hope that I won’t confuse you hopelessly. Meanwhile, the next event in

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Arboretum history that concerns us tonight took place in

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1962. It was a purchase of some 55 acres of land at the

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West End, extending the Arboretum boundary west to Leask Lane.

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The Board of Trustees bought this land from Mr. Tom Slusser, 

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an elderly retired attorney who resided there with his wife in

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a tiny old house far back from the road. At that time Mr Slusser retained for his own use a

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home site with substantial acreage. And also the Southwest acreage, the far

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southwest corner of the Arboretum.  And we'll mention those later when we finally

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purchased them. The trustees wanted this new land both as a

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buffer zone, and as a land pact home site for the director and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Godshalk.

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At the same time, the Chairperson of the

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Board of Trustees, Mrs. Suzette Morton Davidson, bought a portion of the Slusser land as a

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home site for herself. These home sites were in wooded areas

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close to the Arboretum’s previous west boundary, where Evergreen

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Drive now is. These home sites were naturally for private use and were not open to the 

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Arboretum’s public. However, this left some 30 acres of non-wooded old farm land 

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without any foreseeable need in the Arboretum’s plans for woody plant

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collections or for landscape [inaudible]. Mr. Godshalk 

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thought of this acreage as a teaching area for Arboretum


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classes or other groups with Arboretum guides. As you mentioned

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that although Mrs. Watts had suffered a stroke in 59 and 

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had retired, the natural history and ecology emphasis in

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the Arboretum’s educational program continued. That was her strong

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point ecology as opposed to, say, taxonomy or horticulture or dendrology.

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As most of you know, this, this uh trend still continues 

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to this day. Mr. Goldshalk’s plan was to let this open land 

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be as natural as possible with native vegetation encouraged. In

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fact, he decided that it would be worthwhile to try to

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reestablish prairie in those open fields. Some of these fields were badly eroded

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and some had been in corn as recently as a year before. Mr.

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Godshalk first mentioned this plan to me on September 6 of 1962,

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just a little over a quarter of a century ago. It happened early enough in the 

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season, so that seeds could be gathered for the next spring

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planting.  He had showed me the new land acquisition and told me that my

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new title, starting the first of the year, would be Curator of Native Plants.  At

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that time, as Dr. Hall said, I had been on the Arboretum’s payroll over

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seven years as Assistant Propagator, helping Propagator, Roy Nordine, 

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and then hired in 1955 to help with a major renewal of woody plant collections. 

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I am throwing this in although it has no connection to prairie, just to give

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some of you who are Arboretum people a little more historic background. Uhm. Following the Arboretum’s acquisition


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of the Johnson land in the northeast corner, that’s the Willow Collection, the Lacy 

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land in the southeast corner, that’s the new Shrub Collection and Street Trees Collection, the Jones land which was wooded on the East Side.

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At about the same time, the Morton farm operation

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called Lisle Farms was terminated releasing much Morton land for 

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dedication to Arboretum use. And therefore, the southward 

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extension of the Juniper and Spruce and Yew and Pine Collections 

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plus the Prunus and the new Crabapple Collections. My job had been to help Roy Nordine

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raise plants for these new collections, plus supply any other needs

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Did I lose my power here? Can you still hear me? [Schulenberg clears throat]

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My job had been to help Roy Nordine raise plants for these new collections plus supply any other 


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needs for existing collections as requested by curators Walter Eickhorst and Lowell Kammerer

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and landscaping needs such as the boxwoods, in [inaudible]

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and [inaudible] around the Hedge Garden. By fall of 1962 these developments were far enough along that my

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services in woody plant propagation were less urgently

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needed. And Mr. Godshalk asked me to continue helping Roy 

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coordinate this in addition to working with the prairie.  A fine young understudy named Joe Bores was

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already available to help us in our needs also. In fall of 1962, that's where we are

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now, Mr. Godshalk and I surveyed six contour lines south

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of the creek in the Slusser land and one contour line north of [inaudible] creek.  Our hope was that

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if we plowed strips along these lines, and we planted prairie along them, the prairie would spread into

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into the old farm land between them, and the whole acreage would become prairie.

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That was wishful thinking. [audience laughs] We also planned a sand prairie community along the hills in the southeast. And for this purpose,

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we had topsoil excavated, and of course you have a hauled in [inaudible], followed

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by loads of peat sand. And that real estate our concept was to try

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restoration of a series of herbaceous communities in our 

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region, including sand prairie. We later calmed down a little bit

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we decided that we would be doing well enough if we could just get 

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a plain old mesic prairie going. At this point, I learned about grass and discussed

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the rationale of prairie restoration in an arboretum setting. An

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arboretum is generally understood to be a place where trees and


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other root plants are grown for scientific, educational or aesthetic purposes.

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A prairie, which is a community consisting almost entirely of

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herbaceous plants, as opposed to woody, does not come within the

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parameters of an arboretum at all. However, most arboretum

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historically have softened their straight-laced woody plant image by

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some ornamental packages of flowers grown with natural

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stands of wildflowers. As we know the earliest planners of The Morton Arboretum, Ossian Cole Simonds and 

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Clarence Godshalk were landscape-oriented and included

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herbaceous

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perennials in their aesthetic visions of the Arboretum. 



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Our first Botanist, Henry Teuscher, as I mentioned, was interested in the entire flora.

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Mr. Kammerer thought in terms of the total landscape.

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Herbaceous plants, especially natives, included and the same aesthetic ideals motivate the

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Arboretum’s present Landscape Architect, Mr. Tony Tyznik, who is responsible for these

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magnificent [inaudible] and other plant arrangements you’ll see in the building tonight. Meanwhile,

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the University of Wisconsin, as early as 1935, had boldly

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launched on an independent course of development for their

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Arboretum.  Rather than aiming for a collection of specimens of

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woody plants, Aldo Leopold’s aim was a collection of native plant communities of Dane

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County, Wisconsin, including, of course, prairie. This— [indaudible] established a precedent, 



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if The Morton Arboretum needed a precedent in order to

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take a new position. Actually, Mr. Morton is often quoted as

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having said, “The Morton Arboretum is a ginkgo and a ginkgo it shall remain”.

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By this, he presumably meant that this foundation was unique and not obliged
to follow any prescribed rules. Certainly, Mrs. Jean Morton Cudahy, who succeeded her father, Joy Morton, as

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Chairperson of the Board of Trustees,  

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broke new ground when she placed the

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Arboretum’s educational program under Mrs. Watts, an ecologist as we mentioned before, rather than a dendrologist or a [inaudlbe] plant taxonomist.

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It was Mrs. Watts’ emphasis on the local ecology, of which prairie is a main component, 

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that most strongly affected [inaudible]. [inaudble] the prairie idea in the mind of The Morton Arboretum’s public and staff.

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It is by no means necessary to assume that Mr. Godshalk agonized over the

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precedents or rationale when he decided to have a grassland

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restoration here. I wonder if Mr. Godshalk is here tonight? [Schulenberg briefly pauses] Many of the enterprises—
It would be interesting to have comments from Mr Godshalk if he were here. If some of the rest of you catch errors in what I am saying I would appreciate your direction if I am in danger of misleading folks in any serious way.

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Anyhow, many of the enterprises I have seen undertaken here in my 32 years on the payroll have been even farther out than the prairie.

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and were initiated on [inaudible] and sometimes with [inaudible] just as casually.

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Be that as it may, as I said before, in the fall of 1962

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Mr. Godshalk and I surveyed contour lines along which slips were then plowed to be ready for the first prairie planting the next spring.

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That same fall with all of your help [inaudible], I began collecting 

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seeds of many prairie plant species in remnant prairies nearby. We

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collected what we could in the remnant in the Arboretum itself and other nearby



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prairies, such as the Vermont Cemetery, 31st and Wolf, Oak Lawn, Peacock Prairie and various railroad rights of way. At Oak Lawn, the prairie 

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was extensive at that time and still [inaudible]. But it 

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was already being invaded for housing. And that fall of 1962

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Arboretum workers actually salvaged some sods there where

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bulldozing was underway, and hence [inaudible] into the newly plowed one acre strip north of the creek. Salvaging

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00:21:27.000 --> 00:21:29.370
sods is not a method I recommend for prairie restoration,

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00:21:29.760 --> 00:21:34.000
because remnant prairies usually contains Kentucky Bluegrass and other weedy plants

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which survived the transplanting better than the prairie species do.

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Still, this expedient may save precious genes, and also

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introduce micro organisms that belong in the prairie and would otherwise not


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appear in the restoration. In regard to seed collecting I should mention that one of

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my jobs as assistant [ropagator was, even at that time, to handle

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the Arboretum's Seed Exchange Program for my boss, Roy Nordine. This

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00:22:03.150 --> 00:22:06.390
is the free distribution of seeds to our sister institutions,

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00:22:06.600 --> 00:22:08.850
Arboreta and botanic gardens, all over the north temperate zone. 

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I’m bringing in some of these other threads of

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arboreta activity to show their relationship to the prairie

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project. It was not an isolated phenomenon, but it tied in with other things we were doing.

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We would collect and clean seeds, most of them from wild

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populations, both woody and herbaceous, following the tradition set by Mr. Teuscher, and

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then we would compile and print a list of seeds and mail it to the 

288
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other institutions, they would mail us their requests, and we

289
00:22:36.720 --> 00:22:43.590
mail the seeds to them—, [inaudible] and they did the same for us, of course. So it was not really a departure for us 

290
00:22:43.590 --> 00:22:48.000
to collect and clean extra quantities of prairie seeds for our own

291
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restoration project. The fruits of most prairie plants are dry with [inaudible]

292
00:22:54.060 --> 00:22:58.530
seeds. So cleaning the seeds consists of running the crude [inaudible]

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00:22:59.250 --> 00:23:02.940
as collected in the fields, through a series of screens with

294
00:23:02.940 --> 00:23:07.080
various mesh sizes to separate the seeds from the stem

295
00:23:07.080 --> 00:23:12.750
parts, [inaudible], leaves and depth. Proceedings around commercial

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series that were the mass production needed for prairie

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Restoration, our Arboretum [inaudible] built big beautiful nesting squares screens, which


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really made it a fast and efficient operation. Before I tell you how the seeds were further 

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processed and used in the restoration effort. I was trying

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to determine the kind of grassland we wanted to reconstruct. Basically, we wanted to 

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establish in the Slusser land

302
00:23:39.120 --> 00:23:43.170
the kind of prairie that had covered similar land in DuPage County before settlement. Tall

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grass, black soil prairie that produced this wonderful [inaudible] belt soil.

304
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We did not want to display grass and types of regions further

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away such as western short grass prairie. We did reach for more

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diversity by trying to have a Chicago region sand prairie, but even

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that was a mistake. We based our restoration goal on prairie remnants

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which we knew nearby, having read species presence lists on

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many sites, and having made notes on the community structure, what grows with what.

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For reference and comparison we studied Dr. [inaudible] in Wisconsin, and other

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publications of Dr. [inaudible], and other literature, but most of our

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decisions were based on our own local field observations. We

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looked at our restoration work which contained about 140 species of local prairie plants.

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Now, getting back to how we used the seeds that we had collected and cleaned. We followed 

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two basic procedures. Method one, growing seedlings in the greenhouse and 

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transplanting them by hand, one by one, in the restoration

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plots. And method two,  

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sowing seeds directly in the soil of the restoration site. There were


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a number of variations within both those methods. Previous research had shown that seeds of  

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00:25:04.200 --> 00:25:08.940
most prairie plants germinate best if they had spent at least a part of

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00:25:08.940 --> 00:25:14.070
the winter in a cool, damp condition. That is moist but not wet and the

322
00:25:14.070 --> 00:25:17.190
temperature is just above freezing. Two months of this

323
00:25:17.190 --> 00:25:20.850
treatment is enough for most species. These conditions caused

324
00:25:20.880 --> 00:25:24.630
chemical changes to take place in the embryo of the seed, enabling

325
00:25:24.630 --> 00:25:29.550
it to break dormancy, that is to germinate and become seedlings. This— [inaudible] 

326
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woody plants in the north temperate zone, so this is not new. [inaudible]

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[inaudible] process stratifying the seeds. We gave

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our seeds this treatment, regardless of which of the two

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methods we were then using the next spring. And we kept each

330
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kind of seed separate through this process. If any of you have

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00:25:52.710 --> 00:26:00.330
questions, if I use terms here that confuse you, I think I can handle a question here and still finish in a

332
00:26:00.390 --> 00:26:12.270
reasonable time. I am trying to keep the language uhm vernacular. [inaudible]

333
00:26:14.700 --> 00:26:18.690
But that may be some terms that are unfamiliar so please speak up.  Uhm when using method one, we utilized the Arboretum’s greenhouse facilities

334
00:26:18.690 --> 00:26:22.470
including potting matches, cold storage rooms, blast soil bins,

335
00:26:22.470 --> 00:26:26.580
and so on. And adapting old familiar procedures

336
00:26:26.640 --> 00:26:30.930
and materials to a new project. [inaudible] these into those

337
00:26:30.990 --> 00:26:34.860
of the woody plant propagation routine. It was it was peaceful

338
00:26:34.860 --> 00:26:39.270
coexistence. We had no trouble doing both things in the


339
00:26:39.270 --> 00:26:44.190
greenhouse facility there. We sowed the seed, each species separately,

340
00:26:44.250 --> 00:26:48.480
in shallow wooden boxes called flats and set them on benches in

341
00:26:48.480 --> 00:26:52.500
the greenhouse about the first of April. As soon as the little seedings were big

342
00:26:52.500 --> 00:26:55.980
enough, we carefully removed them from the seed flats, one by one, and planted 

343
00:26:56.130 --> 00:26:59.790
them in individual wood veneer plant bands. Which— [inaudlbe}

344
00:27:00.120 --> 00:27:05.160
These bands came collapsed like

345
00:27:05.160 --> 00:27:11.070
that when we bought them. Uhm but for years, they opened up like that, forming cubes,

346
00:27:11.070 --> 00:27:15.600
opened at the top and opened at the bottom to be filled with soil. Then uhm

347
00:27:19.470 --> 00:27:25.050
after we had transplanted these little batches, little bands, we let them grow until

348
00:27:25.050 --> 00:27:29.520
the middle of May, when the danger of killing frost is usually past. We

349
00:27:29.520 --> 00:27:33.120
begin transplanting these banded seedings which are now much bigger,

350
00:27:33.360 --> 00:27:37.170
to their permanent home in the restoration plots. Up to this

351
00:27:37.170 --> 00:27:40.140
time, we had kept each species separate but just before 

352
00:27:40.140 --> 00:27:43.830
transplanting, we mix several species together in another

353
00:27:43.830 --> 00:27:47.370
flat, so that the blending would have diversity, something like

354
00:27:47.370 --> 00:27:53.190
that of a natural grassland. And Bobby and Bill and [inaudible], you can remember we called those 

355
00:27:54.630 --> 00:28:02.010
surprise packages. [audience laughter] We had our own little language of terms that we used in

356
00:28:02.010 --> 00:28:05.430
activity on the prairie, because there just didn't seem to be enough

357
00:28:05.460 --> 00:28:10.320
words that fitted what we were doing. The first year, 1963,

358
00:28:10.320 --> 00:28:14.010
I hauled all these flats of mixed seedings

359
00:28:14.550 --> 00:28:23.940
to the Slusser land in my own Volkswagen Bug. [audience laughs] But starting in 1964 the Arboretum allocated a Ford pickup for seasonal use in the prairie


360
00:28:23.940 --> 00:28:29.430
that facilitated our activities very much. It was necessary to use sterilized soil

361
00:28:29.520 --> 00:28:33.030
in the flats in which we raised the growing seedlings. Otherwise, the

362
00:28:33.750 --> 00:28:36.690
little seedlings would have been overwhelmed by weeds in the greenhouse already.

363
00:28:37.620 --> 00:28:40.890
Because just about any soil contains huge quantities

364
00:28:40.890 --> 00:28:45.660
of weed seeds. With the pickup, we could load up with good field soil from

365
00:28:45.660 --> 00:28:49.200
other Eurasian sod and haul it to the steam sterilizing bin 

366
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behind the greenhouse and treat it with temperatures high

367
00:28:52.710 --> 00:28:56.970
enough to kill weed seeds. Then with wheelbarrows we hauled the clean soil

368
00:28:57.450 --> 00:29:02.310
to the green house [inaudible] for use. This talk contains a lot of reminiscence 

369
00:29:02.310 --> 00:29:04.050
but old gages are permitted [audience laughter] [inaudible]

370
00:29:09.810 --> 00:29:16.260
[inaudible] We didn't have any way of sterilizing the

371
00:29:16.260 --> 00:29:21.360
ground in the restoration plots out in the field, the ground in which we would transplant the seedlings.  

372
00:29:21.570 --> 00:29:25.320
Heat treatment was out of the question and 

373
00:29:25.320 --> 00:29:29.010
chemical herbicides would be risky for the prairie seedlings. So

374
00:29:29.010 --> 00:29:32.760
what we did was have the field plowed the previous fall, as I

375
00:29:32.760 --> 00:29:37.080
just mentioned, and disked in both fall and spring to kill 

376
00:29:37.080 --> 00:29:41.550
successive waves of weed seedlings. Then just before we transplanted any 

377
00:29:41.550 --> 00:29:46.860
given patch, that is just before we transplanted seedings in any given patch, we

378
00:29:46.860 --> 00:29:51.840
rototilled and hand raked the soil to make it smooth. And on the surface at

379
00:29:51.840 --> 00:29:56.310
least, weed free. We knew that that wasn’t the end of our weed seeds down


380
00:29:56.310 --> 00:29:59.730
in that soil, which would give us trouble later. We'll talk about that

381
00:29:59.730 --> 00:30:05.250
later. Then we hand planted the prairie seedlings in their

382
00:30:05.250 --> 00:30:09.210
bottomless bands about one per square foot. In the first year

383
00:30:09.210 --> 00:30:12.360
of the restoration, years of the restoration, we planted in a

384
00:30:12.360 --> 00:30:16.350
randomized, irregular non pattern, two workers wielding

385
00:30:16.350 --> 00:30:20.460
trowels while kneeling on a long plank, working backwards on

386
00:30:20.460 --> 00:30:24.240
along the contour [inaudible]. One of the guys who did that for me is here this very night. One of the

387
00:30:24.240 --> 00:30:29.550
very first guys. There were no water lines to the

388
00:30:29.550 --> 00:30:32.280
restoration plots for a sprinkler system or other

389
00:30:32.280 --> 00:30:35.610
irrigation. So if the soil was very moist on a given day, we could get by 

390
00:30:35.610 --> 00:30:38.580
packing the random seedlings

391
00:30:38.580 --> 00:30:42.270
firmly into their holes and packed down so their roots would stay

392
00:30:42.270 --> 00:30:46.500
moist by contact with the soil in hole. But if the ground was

393
00:30:46.500 --> 00:30:49.530
dry or crowded or powdery, especially on hot, 

394
00:30:49.530 --> 00:30:52.650
windy days, we would haul water to the field in five gallon cans 

395
00:30:52.650 --> 00:30:57.210
and pour a little water into each hole with a long spouted watering can 

396
00:30:57.210 --> 00:31:01.650
just before putting the bands back into the hole. So with

397
00:31:01.650 --> 00:31:04.050
such precautions the mortality rate of seedlings

398
00:31:04.050 --> 00:31:07.920
was very low, and some years we've managed as many as 60,000 seedlings. 

399
00:31:13.380 --> 00:31:19.470
We made that little gesture many times. After any given strip had been planted, it was just a matter of a

400
00:31:19.470 --> 00:31:22.740
few weeks before it had to be weeded. Because even though the

401
00:31:22.740 --> 00:31:26.910
soil had been tilled several times, and several waves of weed seedlings 


402
00:31:26.940 --> 00:31:30.630
had been killed, there was still an enormous reservoir of weed

403
00:31:30.630 --> 00:31:34.290
seeds in the ground. So we had to remove nearly every square

404
00:31:34.290 --> 00:31:37.980
inch of soil between the plant seedlings with a razor sharp blade of a hoe

405
00:31:38.910 --> 00:31:42.960
to destroy these weeds. In most areas, it was necessary to hoe

406
00:31:42.960 --> 00:31:46.710
twice during the first growing season. And then again once the

407
00:31:46.710 --> 00:31:50.370
following spring, only then were the prairie plants strong

408
00:31:50.370 --> 00:31:53.610
enough to be able to hold their own in competition with weeds.

409
00:31:54.900 --> 00:31:58.950
With the prairie seedlings planted in a randomized manner to achieve a

410
00:31:58.950 --> 00:32:03.360
natural look, it was tedious to hoe between them. Often weeds were so

411
00:32:03.360 --> 00:32:06.330
close to the prairie plants that we couldn't safely get them with the

412
00:32:06.330 --> 00:32:13.020
hoe. And we would have to use the shears or linoleum knife.  If we had had the schwebel

413
00:32:13.020 --> 00:32:17.550
that wonderful tool that we get from Smith & Hawken, our job 

414
00:32:17.550 --> 00:32:20.370
would have been much easier. It's just a shame that

415
00:32:20.370 --> 00:32:23.130
that hadn't been invented yet or at least we didn't know about

416
00:32:23.130 --> 00:32:29.520
it. I’m going into great detail about weeding because there may be folks in

417
00:32:29.520 --> 00:32:36.090
the audience who are considering a prairie planting [inaudible] and who don't realize

418
00:32:36.990 --> 00:32:41.460
the threat posed by weeds. I have seen far too many so called prairie plantings end up

419
00:32:41.460 --> 00:32:45.600
as weed patches. Our battle with weeds gave rise to a number of

420
00:32:45.600 --> 00:32:52.740
Proverbs, 
"Hatred of weeds is the beginning of wisdom." [audience laughter]
The weeds [inaudible] are always with us."

421
00:32:52.740 --> 00:32:58.020
Weeds are [inaudible'.
"Never underestimate the power of the

422
00:32:58.020 --> 00:33:20.280
weeds."
These immortal lines have since become household cliches throughout the English speaking world. [audience laughter] [inaudible]

423
00:33:20.280 --> 00:33:25.470
[audience laughter] Because of the tediousness of doing manual planting, we started in 1967

424
00:33:25.770 --> 00:33:29.580
to use a specially designed planting board skillfully crafted

425
00:33:29.580 --> 00:33:33.150
by Arboretum shop mechanics. I don't remember who designed that. Do you remember 

426
00:33:33.750 --> 00:33:46.920
[unidentified voice]. You guys, thank you, it was beautiful. This was much more efficient for the planting process itself and also gave a

427
00:33:46.920 --> 00:33:51.990
clear pattern that made hoeing later a piece of cake.  

428
00:33:51.990 --> 00:33:58.440
But the artificial pattern of plant distribution created by this manner of planting remained 

429
00:33:58.470 --> 00:34:01.980
recognizable years later, especially after a [inaudible]

430
00:34:01.980 --> 00:34:04.830
[inaudible] you can see those great roads, if you

431
00:34:04.830 --> 00:34:09.900
look carefully. [inaudible] vegetation is burned off with just a little

432
00:34:09.900 --> 00:34:14.640
[inaudible] name. For the [inaudible], planting, and weeding operations,

433
00:34:14.640 --> 00:34:18.420
I was unable to do all the work myself. There was no organized

434
00:34:18.420 --> 00:34:22.260
volunteer program at that time, that being much later. And the

435
00:34:22.260 --> 00:34:24.960
number of people interested in prairie at that time was very

436
00:34:24.960 --> 00:34:28.800
small. I remember gratefully the unpaid work that brought that to

437
00:34:28.800 --> 00:34:33.840
students [inaudible]. And I— just any number of people that I would really

438
00:34:33.840 --> 00:34:38.070
like to mention tonight for our wonderful work and help they

439
00:34:38.070 --> 00:34:43.530
gave me but there uhm isn't time and and I'd be sure the leave some out

440
00:34:43.530 --> 00:34:48.420
[inaudible] would have arrived today so I'm not going

441
00:34:48.420 --> 00:34:53.400
to mention any names. Nowadays I look at troops of eager volunteers working

442
00:34:53.400 --> 00:35:07.050
in Chicago region prairies say "where were you when I needed you?" [audience laughter] But of course most of them hadn't been born. [audience laughs] [inaudible]


443
00:35:07.050 --> 00:35:12.450
The Arboretum hired seasonal help for the prairie project, just as the did for grounds maintenance, mostly High School and

444
00:35:12.450 --> 00:35:17.430
[inaudible], more mostly college students during their

445
00:35:17.430 --> 00:35:20.670
school vacation. It was necessary to teach these folks to

446
00:35:20.670 --> 00:35:23.760
distinguish between the prairie plants and weeds that came up around them,

447
00:35:23.790 --> 00:35:28.230
hundreds of species all told. And to teach them to take

448
00:35:28.230 --> 00:35:30.780
appropriate action instantly and constantly.

449
00:35:31.380 --> 00:35:35.310
Therefore, I gave each new helper a crash course in a fire taxonomy

450
00:35:35.490 --> 00:35:39.630
using lists, color slides, flashcards and constant quizzing

451
00:35:39.870 --> 00:35:42.390
as we work shoulder to shoulder [inaudible] the restoration plot.

452
00:35:42.390 --> 00:35:47.490
I should mention here that the color slides in many cases,

453
00:35:47.490 --> 00:35:52.440
were gifts from members of the nature study and camera clubs of The Morton Arboretum.

454
00:35:52.440 --> 00:35:57.360
And there's a nice gentleman named Frank [inaudible]

455
00:35:58.050 --> 00:36:05.010
members [inaudible], who gave us lots of slides and [inaudible] and

456
00:36:05.010 --> 00:36:10.800
others so that we have volunteer offerings in many ways.

457
00:36:12.930 --> 00:36:16.320
The students had to learn the scientific name, common name, and family.

458
00:36:16.320 --> 00:36:21.690
But above all [inaudible] recognition of all the plants at all stages

459
00:36:21.750 --> 00:36:26.250
of development, especially in the small young stages. 

460
00:36:27.060 --> 00:36:29.850
Even the scribes and the Pharisees in 

461
00:36:29.850 --> 00:36:31.950
[inaudible] [audience laughter] [inaudible]

462
00:36:46.500 --> 00:36:54.810
—some people stayed only a few days. [audience laughter] Others stayed all summer and even came back year after year. Last

463
00:36:54.810 --> 00:37:07.530
year [inaudible] I know that for many of those that did stay on were permanently traumatized by the experience and will never be the same. [audience laughter]



464
00:37:07.530 --> 00:37:16.020
Still some of them seemed to be very happy, useful lads. [audience laughter] 
The number of helpers varied but usually two, three, or four.

465
00:37:16.020 --> 00:37:19.680
The work was hard and working conditions
miserable, with heat, humidity,

466
00:37:19.740 --> 00:37:24.030
mosquitoes and gnats, biting flies,
dirt and sweat and stinging

467
00:37:24.030 --> 00:37:30.120
sweat bees, no shade, and low wages.

468
00:37:30.120 --> 00:37:36.300
In addition to method 1, the seeding transplant method, we also used already
in 1963, a second method,

469
00:37:36.300 --> 00:37:41.850
direct seed in the field. The soil was prepared just as for
translating, that the seed was

470
00:37:41.850 --> 00:37:45.900
scattered directly on the soil
surface as went along [inaudible].

471
00:37:45.900 --> 00:37:49.620
The seeds of many species in large
quantities, having been given a


472
00:37:49.620 --> 00:37:54.090
cool, damp treatment, were mixed
together in a wash tub. At this

473
00:37:54.090 --> 00:37:57.960
time vermiculite was mixed with
the seed mixture. It is a

474
00:37:57.960 --> 00:38:01.350
lightweight, sparkling mineral
highly visible where scattered, so

475
00:38:01.350 --> 00:38:04.860
we can see where we have been
and avoid missing spots. And

476
00:38:04.860 --> 00:38:09.090
also avoid waste of seed by
overseeing. After scattering the

477
00:38:09.090 --> 00:38:13.110
mixture, we raked it by hand and
rolled them with a man powered

478
00:38:13.170 --> 00:38:18.270
lawnmower, and even at best
others [inaudible]. [audience laughter]

479
00:38:20.820 --> 00:38:25.830
Even at best this method is wasteful of seed, because
a lot of seed doesn't get covered equally enough




480
00:38:26.580 --> 00:38:30.000
if at all, while some gets very
[inaudible]. I remember there were

481
00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:34.740
all kinds of [inaudible] birds and other
beasties around to eat up the seed that

482
00:38:34.740 --> 00:38:38.970
didn't get covered. We didn't
mind that too much and we liked their company.

483
00:38:41.040 --> 00:38:44.640
Also, if there is extended drought and heat
after seeding, a high percentage of

484
00:38:44.640 --> 00:38:48.750
the embryos will die. Still, this
method leads to the most

485
00:38:48.750 --> 00:38:51.900
naturalistic of prairie
restorations with a dense, thick

486
00:38:52.290 --> 00:38:56.460
community of great diversity.
The plants competing so intensely

487
00:38:56.700 --> 00:38:59.550
that they do not grow to
excessive size and is often




488
00:38:59.550 --> 00:39:03.420
the case with transplanted seedlings.
The disadvantage of this method

489
00:39:03.480 --> 00:39:06.900
is that the weed seedlings would
come up with or before the

490
00:39:06.900 --> 00:39:11.760
prairie seedlings are intricately
intermingled with the prairie plants. And they have

491
00:39:11.760 --> 00:39:16.170
to be removed one by one by
hand-held shears or linoleum knife

492
00:39:16.170 --> 00:39:20.130
by most conscientious and
botanically astute workers. This

493
00:39:20.130 --> 00:39:28.230
weeding was done by two people
squatting on a plank with a tub between them to put the weeds in.

494
00:39:28.290 --> 00:39:31.380
We found that the best pairing was achieved by
broadcasting seeds around the

495
00:39:31.380 --> 00:39:35.430
12th of May. Seeding early in the
spring would only result in weed




496
00:39:35.430 --> 00:39:39.360
patches because a lot of weeds
germinate in cool soil before the

497
00:39:39.360 --> 00:39:43.740
warmer season [inaudible]. Sometimes for one
reason or another, we had to

498
00:39:43.740 --> 00:39:48.240
hold the seed in cold storage and sow it
later. We once seeded as late

499
00:39:48.240 --> 00:39:51.660
as the first day of August. But
the late seedings tended to be

500
00:39:51.660 --> 00:39:55.620
poor in species especially
[inaudible] with sometimes on a

501
00:39:55.620 --> 00:40:00.390
warm season grasses coming out.
Late seeding is justified and I

502
00:40:00.390 --> 00:40:04.530
think this needs more research
and experimentation maybe it's

503
00:40:04.530 --> 00:40:09.630
been done by a worker since my time.
Late seeding is justified it if




504
00:40:09.630 --> 00:40:13.860
it contains freshly collected seeds of
spring flowering plants, such as [inaudible]

505
00:40:13.860 --> 00:40:19.290
, Allyn Root, porcupine grass
and various [inaudible]. We made two

506
00:40:19.290 --> 00:40:22.470
efforts in later years to reduce
weed competition in direct seeding 

507
00:40:22.470 --> 00:40:27.510
by sowing a nurse crop, that is
a plant seeded along with the prairie

508
00:40:27.690 --> 00:40:30.030
with the hope that it would
compete successfully with the

509
00:40:30.030 --> 00:40:35.730
weeds and yet not kill out the prairie plants 
by competing with them. Obviously this means

510
00:40:35.730 --> 00:40:39.780
driving a very precarious
balance. And one time we use

511
00:40:39.780 --> 00:40:43.410
Canada wild rye, it grew so
[inaudible] that we had to cut it

512
00:40:43.410 --> 00:40:48.600
down with the scythe and then haul it away,
a very laborious job. It did keep the weeds in check

513
00:40:48.780 --> 00:40:51.990
and were removed in time, it
did allow for prairie plants to survive.

514
00:40:52.860 --> 00:40:56.430
Although it is a perennial, it
gradually died out as we had hoped

515
00:40:56.730 --> 00:41:02.280
as higher quality prairie plants
developed in the following years. 

516
00:41:02.280 --> 00:41:06.090
[inaudible] we used oats, and old world extreme
annual grass as an Earth ground,

517
00:41:06.150 --> 00:41:09.660
it did a good job. And I think
we would have used it again had we not been

518
00:41:09.660 --> 00:41:15.570
not been winding down the project at that time.
Another variation in direct seeding was

519
00:41:15.570 --> 00:41:19.260
to sow the mixed seed in rows 
as you would plant carrots in your garden

520
00:41:19.620 --> 00:41:23.400
[inaudible]
[inaudible] to guide the rows


521
00:41:23.400 --> 00:41:26.550
spacing them 18 inches apart. This
made it possible to hoe the

522
00:41:26.550 --> 00:41:30.570
weeds between the rows of prairie plants
when they came up. It worked quite well

523
00:41:30.840 --> 00:41:34.140
and 10 years later, it was hard
to see that there had never been

524
00:41:34.140 --> 00:41:34.650
rows.

525
00:41:40.110 --> 00:41:48.990
[inaudible] The prairie plants had filled in between the rows
I'm not saying the prairie plants all died but they— [inaudible] 

526
00:41:48.990 --> 00:41:53.370
In the last years of the project, the Arboretum 
brought us a nesbit seed drill, a

527
00:41:53.370 --> 00:41:57.450
machine pulled behind a tractor
that puts the seed in the ground in several

528
00:41:57.450 --> 00:42:01.230
rows, covering a broad swath on
each pass and [inaudible] 

529
00:42:01.230 --> 00:42:04.830
over. This drill was designed
[inaudible] of seed

530
00:42:04.830 --> 00:42:07.830
have been and have been
successfully used for years in

531
00:42:07.830 --> 00:42:12.690
the western states. [inaudible]
our plantings were too late in

532
00:42:12.690 --> 00:42:16.410
the season, both years that we
used it, and were not successful,

533
00:42:16.770 --> 00:42:21.480
not very successful that there
was prairie there but it wasn't good. The reason for this

534
00:42:21.510 --> 00:42:24.750
is I have absolutely no
mechanical ability, and

535
00:42:24.810 --> 00:42:28.590
therefore I was dependent on others
to do the job and spring is a 

536
00:42:28.590 --> 00:42:33.360
desperately busy time for the
Arboretum's workers and their team.

537
00:42:33.360 --> 00:42:36.330
In both cases the seeding was done in 
dry soil and was followed by 


538
00:42:36.330 --> 00:42:41.550
over a month of drought. That
[inaudible] The drill is a beautiful 

539
00:42:41.550 --> 00:42:45.990
machine for this purpose
[inaudible] and is being used by 

540
00:42:46.050 --> 00:42:50.400
other workers in the field to
this day. In the later years

541
00:42:50.430 --> 00:42:54.300
about the 1971 we also
experimented with variations on

542
00:42:54.300 --> 00:42:58.530
the transplant pattern.
For instance we planted mixed seed

543
00:42:58.740 --> 00:43:02.550
[inaudible]
cast off little [inaudible] 

544
00:43:02.550 --> 00:43:05.880
[inaudible],
[inaudible]

545
00:43:05.880 --> 00:43:08.820
together for a major transplant
and then the restoration I


546
00:43:08.820 --> 00:43:14.130
recommend that method to other workers. A specical
group of prairie are the

547
00:43:14.130 --> 00:43:18.810
Legumes members of the P— [inaudible]
family, they only have nodules

548
00:43:18.810 --> 00:43:23.040
on the roots, worn by bacteria of
the genus rhizobia, which lived

549
00:43:23.040 --> 00:43:26.760
in a symbiotic relationship with
the clovers. It hasn't been

550
00:43:26.760 --> 00:43:30.180
known by farmers for a long
time, and they often inoculate

551
00:43:30.180 --> 00:43:33.660
their legume seeds such as
alfalfa before planting the

552
00:43:33.660 --> 00:43:37.920
seed, that is they infect the
seed with the bacteria. We did

553
00:43:37.920 --> 00:43:42.600
this to [inaudible] such as
Wild Indigo and prairie clover. We




554
00:43:42.600 --> 00:43:46.560
needed special strains of
rhizobia for these species, and

555
00:43:46.560 --> 00:43:50.310
we received it free of charge [inaudible]
We introduced

556
00:43:50.790 --> 00:43:54.840
[inaudible] species into bands where
mixed where prairie plants were already

557
00:43:54.840 --> 00:44:00.780
growing.
[inaudible]

558
00:44:00.780 --> 00:44:04.530
[inaudible] operation were usually not
evident for years, that by May

559
00:44:04.530 --> 00:44:08.430
of this year in 1987, our prairie
was yellow [inaudible]

560
00:44:08.430 --> 00:44:12.630
[inaudible] Some of those I think
were also planted by our friend

561
00:44:12.630 --> 00:44:16.890
John [inaudible], who introduced the
seed directly into the prairie.




562
00:44:18.300 --> 00:44:22.470
It is nevertheless true that the
Arboretum's prairie, like most

563
00:44:22.470 --> 00:44:26.730
restorations is poor in spreading
flowering plants. That is a

564
00:44:26.730 --> 00:44:32.130
confession that I have to make in all honesty.
In contrast to a virgin prairie,

565
00:44:32.160 --> 00:44:36.810
which is a marvelous carpet of
flowers around the 24th of May, as

566
00:44:36.810 --> 00:44:40.770
[inaudible] and so on.

567
00:44:40.770 --> 00:44:44.070
We did it with all [inaudible] shooting star and 
blue eyed grass, but yellow

568
00:44:44.070 --> 00:44:47.580
star grass is almost lacking as
is for a cocoon. [unidentified sound followed by audio cutting out]

569
00:44:52.860 --> 00:44:57.150
[inaudible] are scarce
though they're increasing. The


570
00:44:57.150 --> 00:44:59.910
reasons for the scarcity of
seed species in the restoration

571
00:44:59.910 --> 00:45:05.340
are that the plants are small 
and go to seed early. At a time when

572
00:45:05.340 --> 00:45:08.310
our seeds are growing, the 
plants are concealed by taller

573
00:45:08.310 --> 00:45:12.270
prairie plants. Also that season,
we are always too busy with 

574
00:45:12.330 --> 00:45:17.130
planting and weeding and we can't make time
for the tedious search for seeds.

575
00:45:17.130 --> 00:45:20.310
[inaudible]

576
00:45:20.310 --> 00:45:26.070
[inaudible] and they lose out. 

577
00:45:26.070 --> 00:45:30.330
[inaudible] their seeds are abundant and
easily gathered out of a season


578
00:45:30.840 --> 00:45:34.770
when we are not so busy. That is
why most restorations look quite

579
00:45:34.770 --> 00:45:38.250
natural starting in late June,
but in spring are mostly just

580
00:45:38.280 --> 00:45:42.840
green. We also have very poor luck with
with [inaudible]. And for that

581
00:45:42.840 --> 00:45:48.870
I don't have an explanation. And as we mentioned before, for
each new prairie planting had to be

582
00:45:48.870 --> 00:45:52.950
weeded through the first
growing season and usually one

583
00:45:52.950 --> 00:45:55.950
weeding was needed early in the
second growing season as well.

584
00:45:56.310 --> 00:46:00.450
After that, the third time's
[inaudible], very close to unity

585
00:46:00.450 --> 00:46:05.010
which is able to prevent the successful
growth of most weed species. By




586
00:46:05.010 --> 00:46:08.760
the end of the second growing
season, the planting [inaudible]

587
00:46:08.760 --> 00:46:15.390
sustain fire, ah that magic word fire. And that is
a turning point. Once the prairie

588
00:46:15.390 --> 00:46:20.250
can be burned, it is very safe from weeds. The
most effective season for

589
00:46:20.250 --> 00:46:24.660
burning a new restoration is
late March. By that time the grass

590
00:46:24.660 --> 00:46:27.300
leaves are curled in such a way
as to provide the most

591
00:46:27.300 --> 00:46:31.680
combustible fuel. Also the prairie 
plants which are almost all long

592
00:46:31.680 --> 00:46:35.550
live perennials are still
dormant, and so they're not

593
00:46:35.550 --> 00:46:39.450
being harmed by the fire. Also,
any weeds present are already


594
00:46:39.450 --> 00:46:44.190
active in growing and are being
devastated by the fire. Even if

595
00:46:44.190 --> 00:46:47.220
there were no weeds present,
fire would be necessary because

596
00:46:47.220 --> 00:46:51.030
the prairie plants would be killed
out by the thick mat form by their

597
00:46:51.030 --> 00:46:54.750
own dead bodies of previous
seasons. We experimented with

598
00:46:54.750 --> 00:46:58.230
that in portions of our
reservation [inaudible] unburn

599
00:46:58.470 --> 00:47:02.250
for two or three years, and
found that this invites invasion

600
00:47:02.250 --> 00:47:06.420
by weeds, including weed trees
and shrubs. We have found that an

601
00:47:06.420 --> 00:47:10.260
occasional lapse of a year and a
half with fire in late fall is



602
00:47:10.260 --> 00:47:15.480
a desirable and [inaudible] variation
in the fire regiment. We're betting

603
00:47:15.480 --> 00:47:20.400
[inaudible] strip
about 12 feet wide next to the

604
00:47:20.400 --> 00:47:24.060
boundary of fences. This was
getting mowed and therefore

605
00:47:24.060 --> 00:47:29.760
consisted of old world [inaudible].
This green strip noncombustible

606
00:47:29.820 --> 00:47:33.690
served as an access road and
also as a firebreak to keep our

607
00:47:33.690 --> 00:47:37.170
fires from getting into
neighboring properties. I

608
00:47:37.170 --> 00:47:40.650
mentioned earlier that we first
hope that narrow strips of prairie

609
00:47:40.650 --> 00:47:43.740
planted along contour lines
would spread and eventually


610
00:47:43.740 --> 00:47:48.060
fill the land between them
with prairie. It didn't take long to

611
00:47:48.060 --> 00:47:51.030
see that this was wishful
thinking, we soon realized that

612
00:47:51.030 --> 00:47:54.510
these narrow strips far from being
the cutting edge from prairie

613
00:47:54.510 --> 00:47:58.260
invasion, we're [inaudible]
vulnerable to being overwhelmed

614
00:47:58.260 --> 00:48:02.970
by weeds. We saw that our best bet
was to establish solid blocks of

615
00:48:02.970 --> 00:48:07.110
prairie. However, the contour
strips were already planted and we

616
00:48:07.140 --> 00:48:11.790
didn't want to destroy them,
or start from scratch, so we started filling in between

617
00:48:11.790 --> 00:48:15.330
them with patches that were
accessible and manageable in the


618
00:48:15.330 --> 00:48:20.040
struggle against weeds. This led to
the [inaudible] pattern that is

619
00:48:20.040 --> 00:48:24.750
visible on aerial photographs of
our restoration, though it is not

620
00:48:24.750 --> 00:48:29.280
very evident as to the hiker in the
prairie. Actually, the

621
00:48:29.280 --> 00:48:34.920
variability in the planting may
give a little bit of diversity

622
00:48:34.920 --> 00:48:40.500
and perhaps variety that is
present to the to the hiker

623
00:48:40.500 --> 00:48:41.340
we would like to think.

624
00:48:42.269 --> 00:48:43.229
[inaudible]

625
00:48:44.460 --> 00:48:50.850
[inaudible] But we did
do that that planting in little patches

626
00:48:50.850 --> 00:48:54.810
in an irregular pattern rather
than just sweeping across as a

627
00:48:54.810 --> 00:48:59.340
farmer would acre after acre.
One of the reasons for that was

628
00:48:59.340 --> 00:49:03.420
that there were still rows of
trees growing along the fence

629
00:49:03.420 --> 00:49:08.520
rows. And uhm when we got to the
place where we needed that land,

630
00:49:08.520 --> 00:49:11.400
we would have our crews come out
and bulldoze those trees down.

631
00:49:11.700 --> 00:49:16.650
It was quite a different
prospect out there at that time

632
00:49:16.680 --> 00:49:23.190
from what it is now which is a rather
uniform, massive prairie.

633
00:49:23.190 --> 00:49:26.940
One feature that is noticeable and noticed
in our prairie, there's an overabundance

634
00:49:26.940 --> 00:49:31.290
of prairie drop seed in some patches.
Some [inaudible], that




635
00:49:31.290 --> 00:49:34.980
results from a freakish accident
in propagation. [inaudible]

636
00:49:34.980 --> 00:49:37.890
One spring we were raising a lot of drop
seed seedlings in the greenhouse

637
00:49:37.890 --> 00:49:41.670
plus [inaudible] to go with them. 
Then one day, the greenhouse

638
00:49:41.670 --> 00:49:46.110
people sprayed the weeds around 
the greenhouse with [inaudible]. The

639
00:49:46.140 --> 00:49:48.990
fumes drifted through the
greenhouse and killed 

640
00:49:48.990 --> 00:49:53.400
nearly every [inaudible]
The [inaudible] did not affect the drop seed,

641
00:49:53.400 --> 00:49:57.510
which is a grass. So that here
we have little to plant but drop seed.

642
00:49:58.140 --> 00:50:03.840
We wouldn't throw it away so we planted it without
its normal neighbors. So now we see some



643
00:50:04.290 --> 00:50:07.830
patches are almost pure
drop seed out there. Most people like

644
00:50:08.070 --> 00:50:12.000
prairie drop seed so they don't complain. 
We earlier mentioned the

645
00:50:12.000 --> 00:50:16.410
remnant prairie at the 
Arboretum's east end. This remnant was

646
00:50:16.410 --> 00:50:23.130
mostly on a 200 foot right of way owned by
Commonwealth Edison, and in 1964, North Illinois Gas

647
00:50:23.370 --> 00:50:27.450
obtained the right to lay gas pipeline
on that right of way. When we

648
00:50:27.450 --> 00:50:30.180
learned that's where the pipe
would go, we removed the

649
00:50:30.180 --> 00:50:37.770
best of the prairie as sods. I think that's when
[inaudible] came to work for me [inaudible]. When we learned just where

650
00:50:37.770 --> 00:50:42.930
the pipe would go, we removed the best
of the prairie as sods, digging it deeply


651
00:50:42.930 --> 00:50:47.430
with spades to get as much root as we
could, and we hauled two big trailer loads

652
00:50:47.430 --> 00:50:53.880
back up trailer loads of sod to the restoration site.
And we planted them there [inaudible]

653
00:50:53.880 --> 00:50:57.930
salvage operation. We hoped
though, that Northern Illinois

654
00:50:57.930 --> 00:51:01.290
Gas would do a little damage
beyond the actual pipe again.

655
00:51:01.620 --> 00:51:04.860
Well, we soon have reason to be
glad that we would salvage what

656
00:51:04.860 --> 00:51:08.700
we did, because Northern
Illinois gas [inaudible] it's whole 

657
00:51:09.000 --> 00:51:13.710
80 foot wide strip,
which was mostly the surviving prairie.

658
00:51:13.710 --> 00:51:19.830
And like the good conservationists they are they
seeded it [inaudible]. It actually [inaudible] the weeds




659
00:51:20.520 --> 00:51:24.150
and although my boys tried hard to rehabilitate what
was left of the prairie there, 

660
our efforts were futile and in
my opinion the area will never be prairie again.

661
00:51:32.700 --> 00:51:37.620
In 1966 Mr. Godshalk retired as Director and became Director Emeritus.
He is now I believe 91

662
00:51:37.620 --> 00:51:43.590
years old, 91 years young [inaudible]. And
he and Mrs. Godshalk still live

663
00:51:43.590 --> 00:51:46.680
in the house the Arboretum built for them
in the woods near the prairie restoration. 

664
00:51:47.130 --> 00:51:51.690
The successor to Mr. Godshalk as
Director is Dr. Marion T. Hall.

665
00:51:51.690 --> 00:51:59.820
Who introduced me tonight, too kindly,
who came here in fall of 1966 [inaudible]. Two years

666
00:51:59.820 --> 00:52:04.440
later, Dr. Hall, wisely perceiving that the prairie
project is not a permanent full




667
00:52:04.440 --> 00:52:09.360
time job, and that it could soon
begin to wind down, appointed me to a new staff

668
00:52:09.360 --> 00:52:13.740
position, Curator of the Herbarium.
The understanding was of course that

669
00:52:13.740 --> 00:52:16.500
along with the Herbarium  work
I could continue to look

670
00:52:16.500 --> 00:52:21.420
after the prairie, as long as
necessary. Our Herbarium, a collection of

671
00:52:21.420 --> 00:52:25.860
pressed, dry plant specimens glued
to large sheets of paper, had up to 

672
00:52:25.860 --> 00:52:30.090
that time been housed in [inaudible] 
herbarium cabinets in a room

673
00:52:30.090 --> 00:52:33.510
that has been converted to three
rooms, a library office. Can

674
00:52:33.510 --> 00:52:38.040
you picture that? That used to be
the Herbarium. And it was handsomely


675
00:52:38.040 --> 00:52:44.730
designed, probably by
Mrs. Cudahy or someone [inaudible]

676
00:52:44.730 --> 00:52:51.120
and served in its time. At the end
of 68, as the new library was

677
00:52:51.120 --> 00:52:55.710
developing, the Herbarium specimens were moved to
the basement room under the

678
00:52:55.710 --> 00:53:01.020
Cudahy Auditorium. And [inaudible]
modern herbarium cabinets were

679
00:53:01.020 --> 00:53:05.280
installed there to house the
specimens. However, the prairie

680
00:53:05.280 --> 00:53:09.870
project still had a ways to go
because the 1968 Mr. Slusser

681
00:53:09.870 --> 00:53:14.430
sold the Arboretum the 10 acre
plot of land in our south west corner,

682
00:53:14.670 --> 00:53:19.440
[inaudible] on Leask road and our
south boundary. West of the fence



683
00:53:19.470 --> 00:53:24.150
where the old burr oak stands,you can picture that.
It's a 10 acre block there.

684
00:53:24.540 --> 00:53:28.470
That fence had been our boundary
since 1962. But now it was

685
00:53:28.470 --> 00:53:36.330
removed. And a fence was built over at Leask Lane.
There was no logical use for these 10 

686
00:53:36.330 --> 00:53:39.030
buffer acres other than to make
them part of the prairie

687
00:53:39.030 --> 00:53:42.570
restoration. So during the next
few years, we worked at prairie-izing

688
00:53:42.570 --> 00:53:44.970

this plot. [inaudible]

689
00:53:47.400 --> 00:53:53.790
[inaudible] catch on. [inaudible]
Prairie-izing this plot while winding down the project.

690
00:53:54.510 --> 00:54:00.510
We had the [inaudible]
[inaudible]

691
00:54:00.510 --> 00:54:06.990
[inaudible] of 68. [inaudible] summer of 69.

692
00:54:06.990 --> 00:54:10.620
In early 69 we began to reorganize Herbarium specimens
in their new home and initiated a basic program of Herbarium

693
00:54:10.620 --> 00:54:14.760
acquisition, namely, to voucher
all the verified kinds of

694
00:54:14.760 --> 00:54:18.450
woody plants in the Arboretum's
living collections, and to voucher

695
00:54:18.450 --> 00:54:21.630
county records of all the
spontaneous flora of the 

696
00:54:21.630 --> 00:54:25.620
Chicago region in support of
Floyd Swink's book "Plants

697
00:54:25.620 --> 00:54:28.980
of the Chicago Region". Since I still have to
spend much of my weekend in

698
00:54:28.980 --> 00:54:33.810
restoration, the Arboretum hired
[inaudible] in 1969 as

699
00:54:33.810 --> 00:54:37.680
Herbarium Assistant to do the day
to day work of Herbarium care.



700
00:54:38.160 --> 00:54:43.260
During those years, as Curator of Herbarium,
I was able to resume active

701
00:54:43.260 --> 00:54:46.440
involvement with the woody plant 
collections, vouchering and helping

702
compile first, a ring
binder catalog and then the hand

703
00:54:50.280 --> 00:54:54.240
list and developing a course, I
don't generally weed plants for

704
00:54:54.240 --> 00:54:57.360
The Morton Arboretum. A number of
you have suffered through that [inaudible] [audience laughter]

705
00:55:00.000 --> 00:55:04.770
It was in 1970 and 71, that we used the
nesbit drill in trying to

706
00:55:04.770 --> 00:55:11.340
cover the the new Slusser acreage, that
newly acquired 10 acres.

707
00:55:11.340 --> 00:55:14.910
[inaudible] so we enriched the west part of it,
which is rather noticeable from Leask Lane

708
00:55:14.910 --> 00:55:18.870
[inaudible] by [inaudible]
seedlings [inaudible] drilled

709
00:55:18.870 --> 00:55:23.160
roads. Recognizing that this was
[inaudible] we called this area

710
00:55:23.160 --> 00:55:26.520
our [inaudible] after
the notorious incident in

711
00:55:26.520 --> 00:55:30.990
Russian history. In 1970
at the request of Dick

712
00:55:30.990 --> 00:55:34.860
Watson we added a small
demonstration prairie north

713
00:55:34.860 --> 00:55:38.640
of Thorhilll Drive, in
what has come to be called [inaudible] meadow.


714
00:55:38.640 --> 00:55:42.600
This is for use of and used by groups of
children with Arboretum guides.

715
00:55:42.870 --> 00:55:45.750
Many of you probably don't know
about that. It's just a little


716
00:55:46.890 --> 00:55:55.500
sample easily accessible from Thornhill.
That was the year when, I see all

717
00:55:55.500 --> 00:55:58.230
three of the guys that worked on
it that summer are here tonight.

718
00:55:58.770 --> 00:56:01.680
Thank you for coming and thank
you for your work that summer.

719
00:56:01.740 --> 00:56:08.670
That was a hot [inaudible]. After 1970
the prairie restoration required

720
00:56:09.000 --> 00:56:13.020
relatively little of my time being that
[inaudible] mostly by the annual fire.

721
00:56:13.230 --> 00:56:17.040
However, each spring, we continued to hire
two summer workers to 

722
00:56:17.040 --> 00:56:21.600
control any threat of weed invasion
and serve as guides and guards

723
00:56:21.600 --> 00:56:25.080
to the prairie. Each spring I
gave these young people a three


724
00:56:25.080 --> 00:56:28.200
week series of training sessions
 in plant recognition [inaudible]

725
00:56:28.200 --> 00:56:31.920
minimum of field supervision.
This practice continued through

726
00:56:31.920 --> 00:56:36.870
the spring of 79. In 1977 the Arboretum

727
00:56:36.870 --> 00:56:40.590
experienced major administration,
administrative reorganization,

728
00:56:40.680 --> 00:56:44.070
the Herbarium was placed in a
Research Program, and on the

729
00:56:44.070 --> 00:56:49.260
first of August, following
retirement of Mr. Walter Eickhorst, Dr. Hall appointed me as

730
00:56:49.260 --> 00:56:55.620
Curator of Plant Collections. Dr.
Bill Hess [inaudible] Curator of Herbarium.

731
00:56:55.620 --> 00:56:59.580
My new job consisted of caring for
and continuing the development

732
00:56:59.610 --> 00:57:03.930
of the Arboretum's outdoor
collections of living woody plants.

733
00:57:03.930 --> 00:57:07.890
This job proved to be so demanding
that by 1979 I

734
00:57:07.890 --> 00:57:11.670
felt that I could no longer
devote any time to the prairie

735
00:57:11.670 --> 00:57:15.300
and I asked to be relieved of this
responsibility. Therefore, that

736
00:57:15.300 --> 00:57:18.990
spring when I [inaudible] Jane
[inaudible] Dave [inaudible]

737
00:57:19.020 --> 00:57:22.980
for prairie work, Pat Armstrong, our
education staff, took the training too

738
00:57:22.980 --> 00:57:26.640
and so did two
volunteers, Barbara Rutherford

739
00:57:26.640 --> 00:57:30.780
and Tom Pierce. From that time
on, no more prairie workers were

740
00:57:30.780 --> 00:57:34.740
hired, Pat and volunteers were ready
to shoulder all the prairie


741
00:57:34.740 --> 00:57:39.090
responsibilities. I turned all
my notes, maps, lists, and other

742
00:57:39.090 --> 00:57:42.990
prairie documents over to Pat.
Pat did an outstanding job of

743
00:57:42.990 --> 00:57:46.230
instructing additional
volunteers and supervising and

744
00:57:46.230 --> 00:57:49.830
inspiring their activities. She
not only talked to them about plants,

745
00:57:49.950 --> 00:57:53.040
prairie versus weeds, and the
techniques of weed control, but

746
00:57:53.040 --> 00:57:57.180
also transfered her appreciation
of prairie as an ecosystem and

747
00:57:57.180 --> 00:58:01.170
historical and aesthetic credits.
One of the finest contributions the

748
00:58:01.170 --> 00:58:04.890
volunteers made was a concrete
block path in the upper prairie,

749
00:58:05.130 --> 00:58:08.310
which they installed so
carefully, that the prairie was not harmed,

750
00:58:08.730 --> 00:58:12.510
that was almost miraculous job.
I don't know how many of you

751
00:58:12.630 --> 00:58:15.600
here tonight worked on that, but
I certainly appreciate what you

752
00:58:15.600 --> 00:58:24.420
did. Previously, [inaudible] walkers would tend to
step off the path and onto [inaudible] and vulnerable plants.

753
00:58:25.650 --> 00:58:31.080
With the path [inaudible] any
number of people can walk in

754
00:58:31.080 --> 00:58:35.490
single file any day of the year
with no threat to the plants. A

755
00:58:35.490 --> 00:58:38.460
quarter of a century has
[inaudible] wisdom Mr. Godshalk's 

756
00:58:38.460 --> 00:58:42.690
decision to have the restoration
where it is. It's close enough to

757
00:58:42.690 --> 00:58:46.590
Parking 25 so that any able bodied
person can walk there.

758
00:58:46.710 --> 00:58:52.170
And yet remote enough that only
truly interested people will make the effort.

759
00:58:52.200 --> 00:58:56.040
Thus, this vulnerable grassland has
been spared the harmful effects

760
00:58:56.040 --> 00:59:00.150
of overuse that would occur
if it were too accessible to the

761
00:59:00.450 --> 00:59:05.790
uninterested public. This is very significant
because a trampled prairie goes

762
00:59:05.790 --> 00:59:11.370
pieces very fast. You'd think that
it could stand buffalo it could stand

763
00:59:11.370 --> 00:59:18.810
folks, but that isn't necessarily true. [audience laughter]
Pat Armstrong and the volunteers also undertook 

764
00:59:18.810 --> 00:59:22.530
research projects to monitor
changes taking place in species


765
00:59:22.530 --> 00:59:25.950
composition, they raised and planted
specimens of scarce prairie

766
00:59:25.950 --> 00:59:30.270
plants [inaudible], 
cleared away woody plants in some places

767
00:59:30.390 --> 00:59:33.810
and sowed prairie seeds, increasing
the acreage of the native grassland.

768
00:59:35.250 --> 00:59:44.160
Independent volunteers have made
their contributions over the years. 
To name just a few, Bob Betz [inaudible]
John and [inaudible] Kohout [inaudible]

769
00:59:47.790 --> 00:59:56.910
introducing boundaries
and caring for [inaudible] areas of the restoration.

770
00:59:56.910 --> 01:00:06.390
In 1986 and with Pat no longer with us
the Arboretum Administration had to reassess the 
goal of our prairie restoration, its use and its care.
The documentary records I previously 

771
01:00:07.650 --> 01:00:10.980
turned over to Pat were now turned over to the
research department. Craig

772
01:00:10.980 --> 01:00:13.830
Johnson of our staff who
had for years been a dedicated 

773
01:00:13.830 --> 01:00:16.830
volunteer in the care and
interpretation of the prairie,

774
01:00:17.220 --> 01:00:23.010
accepted the unofficial role, or maybe its official now
of Coordinator of the Restoration. How official is it? 
[unidenified voice answers] "It works either way". [audience laughter]

775
01:00:23.730 --> 01:00:36.510
[Ray Schulenberg resumes] And the duties are to
make sure that any research uses

776
01:00:36.510 --> 01:00:39.960
the area will be consistent with
preserving what we've achieved

777
01:00:39.960 --> 01:00:44.730
so far. The last few years have
seen gratifying progress and

778
01:00:44.730 --> 01:00:48.990
restoration of the Slusser land,
chiefly by extended use of fire

779
01:00:49.050 --> 01:00:52.620
and removal of woody plants
that [inaudible]. This has been done both

780
01:00:52.620 --> 01:00:56.730
by volunteers and by Arboretum
personnel. The results are the 

781
01:00:56.730 --> 01:01:01.260
spread of prairie species into
old farm land, where we have never

782
01:01:01.260 --> 01:01:05.130
got around to planting prairie at all.
This prairie invasion

783
01:01:05.250 --> 01:01:09.240
represents [inaudible]
nudged in the right direction by

784
01:01:09.240 --> 01:01:14.340
fire and the abundant supply of
prairie seeds, wind blown from nearby

785
01:01:14.430 --> 01:01:18.720
successfully restored acres of
prairie. Thus finally, we are seeing

786
01:01:18.720 --> 01:01:21.420
a reversal of the [inaudible] I
described at the beginning of

787
01:01:21.420 --> 01:01:25.560
this talk, perhaps in too much
detail. The native species in

788
01:01:25.560 --> 01:01:29.640
this case our finally regaining lost ground
and replacing old world weeds.


789
01:01:29.640 --> 01:01:35.040
Now that's very gratifying to
see. The northwest portion of the

790
01:01:35.040 --> 01:01:38.100
Slusser acreage was purchased
by the Arboretum through

791
01:01:38.100 --> 01:01:42.030
Mr. Slusser's estate after his death.
This includes a beautiful wooded

792
01:01:42.030 --> 01:01:45.270
site surrounding the stately old
house where Dr. and Mrs. Hall

793
01:01:45.270 --> 01:01:49.530
now live live plus many acres of
farmland extending west to

794
01:01:49.650 --> 01:01:55.200
Leask Road, Leask Lane. This open land is now
being heavily invaded by a native

795
01:01:55.500 --> 01:02:00.240
prairie species encouraged by fire. Over
the years, I've heard comments to

796
01:02:00.240 --> 01:02:02.940
the effect that The Morton
Arboretum's prairie restoration was

797
01:02:02.940 --> 01:02:07.800
very expensive, that it cost a lot.
And that undoubtedly is true. No

798
01:02:07.800 --> 01:02:11.700
doubt, it costs a lot more than
most individuals could afford,

799
01:02:11.970 --> 01:02:18.720
and that most institutions could
afford. Although, and although

800
01:02:18.720 --> 01:02:21.840
it is true that the quantity of
Arboretum resources invested in

801
01:02:21.840 --> 01:02:25.170
the project was substantial, it
was never more than a small

802
01:02:25.170 --> 01:02:29.250
percentage of the institution's
total budget for any year, even

803
01:02:29.250 --> 01:02:33.420
during the years 1963 through 70 
when the project was most

804
01:02:33.420 --> 01:02:38.220
active. And what's important, 
[inaudible]

805
01:02:38.220 --> 01:02:41.790
[inaudible] first stage the restoration are properly
done, the subsequent maintenance

806
01:02:41.790 --> 01:02:48.090
requirement acre for acre is
among the lowest of any part of the Arboretum. Paradoxically,

807
01:02:48.090 --> 01:02:53.760
although we think of woody plants, especially trees, as being
long lived, and self reliant,

808
01:02:54.000 --> 01:02:57.420
and although the fragrances of 
herbaceous vegetation 

809
01:02:57.420 --> 01:03:04.620
[inaudible] the prairie community is much
longer [inaudible] is more nearly self

810
01:03:04.620 --> 01:03:08.910
maintained than any of the
Arboretum woody landscape plantings, or

811
01:03:08.910 --> 01:03:17.010
woody landscape collections. [inaudible] As to the value
of our restoration, its worth to

812
01:03:17.010 --> 01:03:20.670
the institution, to public,
or to the planet we live on,


813
01:03:21.420 --> 01:03:24.480
there's no need for me to
comment on that. We're [inaudible].

814
01:03:25.290 --> 01:03:28.380
Many of those people who have
opinions,[inaudible]

815
01:03:28.380 --> 01:03:31.590
[inaudible] the prairie project was just one of
several jobs assigned to me

816
01:03:31.710 --> 01:03:33.660
during the 32 years I worked
here.

817
01:03:34.170 --> 01:03:38.190
I gave it all I had. And then no
more and no less than I gave to

818
01:03:38.190 --> 01:03:42.390
all the other assignments
I accepted before and after the prairie. I

819
01:03:42.390 --> 01:03:45.420
hope that my exertions in all
of these jobs helped advance

820
01:03:45.420 --> 01:03:49.740
the goals Mr. Morton had set
for his Arboretum. I feel that his


821
01:03:49.740 --> 01:03:54.630
goals were in the best interests
of our kind of group. I also think

822
01:03:54.630 --> 01:03:57.720
that no other employment could
I have had the privilege of

823
01:03:57.720 --> 01:04:00.750
rendering more service to
environmental causes that I believe in. 

824
01:04:00.750 --> 01:04:06.540
For all of this I am grateful to 
the Arboretum. I am grateful to all people in the

825
01:04:06.540 --> 01:04:09.270
audience and elsewhere,
including those who have passed

826
01:04:09.270 --> 01:04:13.530
on, who have helped in the past both with physical
efforts and even moral support.

827
01:04:15.120 --> 01:04:32.430
And I thank all of you for being with us tonight. [audience applauds]

New unidentified voice speaking:
I don't really need to say much 

828
01:04:32.430 --> 01:04:43.290
beacause it's all been said, but we
did have a few little things to do before we have our reception.


829
01:04:43.290 --> 01:04:47.580
At the reception, you can ask Ray, any
number of questions that he's

830
01:04:47.790 --> 01:04:57.120
willing to answer. The Morton
Arboretum query is outstanding

831
01:04:57.120 --> 01:05:04.920
for its time in the Midwest that I think you know,
without me saying all of the

832
01:05:05.640 --> 01:05:09.000
scientists who are involved with
the prairie would agree with that.

833
01:05:09.930 --> 01:05:13.560
And the [inaudible] of
University of Wisconsin

834
01:05:13.560 --> 01:05:19.620
Arboretum are [inaudible] outstanding prairies.
Ray Schulenberg was instrumental

835
01:05:19.620 --> 01:05:25.950
in planning, seed gathering, plant
propagation, planting, worker

836
01:05:25.950 --> 01:05:29.460
volunteer instruction and
management of the restored prairie,

837
01:05:29.880 --> 01:05:34.830
and training the people who
succeeded him. Ray is recognized

838
01:05:34.830 --> 01:05:38.910
regionally as a pioneer in
developing the sciences of native plant

839
01:05:38.910 --> 01:05:44.550
restoration and management. Praise,
approval, public support, an

840
01:05:44.550 --> 01:05:48.030
affirmation of the Arboretum
have been increased by the

841
01:05:48.030 --> 01:05:57.480
building of our first native plant community [pause] prairie.
Because of that, the the

842
01:05:57.480 --> 01:06:03.150
people involved in this project,
the leaders involved in this

843
01:06:03.150 --> 01:06:09.270
project and the trustees and The
Morton Arboretum, Suzette Morton

844
01:06:09.270 --> 01:06:14.910
Davidson have named this
area prairie The Schulenberg Prairie
of The Morton Arboretum. [audience cheers and applauds].


845
01:06:53.100 --> 01:07:00.240
It's a very emotional experience for
all of us [inaudible]. Of course, nothing

846
01:07:01.410 --> 01:07:06.540
[inaudible] from the presentation that Ray made
no one anywhere ever

847
01:07:06.540 --> 01:07:12.960
deserves what happened anymore than he.
I'd like to say that Mrs.

848
01:07:12.960 --> 01:07:17.910
Davidson wrote a letter. We
talked to her on the telephone,

849
01:07:17.910 --> 01:07:21.900
but she wrote a letter later. I
know this may be slightly

850
01:07:21.900 --> 01:07:28.920
embarrassing Ray but I have to read what
she said in her letter when she

851
01:07:30.090 --> 01:07:36.510
was very happy to have the prairie named the
Schulenberg Prairie. She said in her letter, and I quote
"It

852
01:07:37.650 --> 01:07:42.270
is hard to realize that Ray, who will
always seem to me one of our

853
01:07:42.270 --> 01:07:42.870
youngest, handsome-ist, and most [inaudible] staff [audience laughter]
could be retiring" [audience laughter]

854
01:07:55.470 --> 01:07:58.500
And you know what a [inaudible] she
is. So I think that that's very true Ray.

855
01:07:59.040 --> 01:08:09.390
In the prairie, there is
a trail head, that one reaches

856
01:08:09.450 --> 01:08:14.040
near the big burr oak as you
approach the prairie from

857
01:08:14.040 --> 01:08:19.080
Parking Lot 25. And there will
be a sign there, that says "The Schulenberg Prairie of The Morton Arboretum".

858
01:08:19.080 --> 01:08:24.390
And on Leask Lane there is another sign that also says "The Schulenberg Prairie of The Morton Arboretum". 


859
01:08:25.650 --> 01:08:29.940
So you folks

860
01:08:29.940 --> 01:08:34.290
will see those signs, which were
just recently installed by Tony

861
01:08:34.290 --> 01:08:38.970
Tyznik. And he designed them and
had them built and installed them

862
01:08:38.970 --> 01:08:43.620
himself. How many had worked
very closely with Ray, and

863
01:08:43.920 --> 01:08:48.960
through the years and all most
of these jobs, and so they're

864
01:08:48.960 --> 01:08:53.460
very good friends and that was a
fine thing. I just want to

865
01:08:53.460 --> 01:09:01.410
mention what Tony did in this respect. He
also got together a set of

866
01:09:01.860 --> 01:09:06.780
letters from all of the people
involved in the prairie work that

867
01:09:06.780 --> 01:09:13.350
he could find. And this is a
book which we are giving you tonight.

868
01:09:13.350 --> 01:09:20.340
The book says "To Ray Schulenberg
on the 25th anniversary of The

869
01:09:20.340 --> 01:09:24.150
Morton Arboretum Prairie
Restoration Project, September




870
01:09:24.150 --> 01:09:35.160
1987." And it starts with the
pictures of prairie plants, and

871
01:09:35.160 --> 01:09:39.720
then it ends up with the letters
from various friends and

872
01:09:40.020 --> 01:09:41.700
colleagues of Ray Schulenberg. Ray.[audience claps]

873
01:10:00.000 --> 01:10:04.260
I would like to see all of you who
possibly can sign the guest book

874
01:10:04.320 --> 01:10:09.390
because that likewise is [inaudible] gift 
to Ray and I think it would be appreciated by him

875
01:10:09.390 --> 01:10:19.560
[inaudible] 
And now we can proceed to the reception

876
01:10:19.980 --> 01:10:20.700
down the hall in the Founder's Room. Thank you very much. [audience claps]