Restoration Research Trail

This trail was the most interesting because you could see how the different techniques affected the land, and even how big of a differnence what season the technique applied can make. Mowing is one technique that is used to simulate the natural grazing that would occur with livestock or wild animals on the land. The grazing frequency determines the height of the grass, the more frequent the mowing the shorter the grass. Fire is also used, the fire burns the lower branches on the mature trees, and kills the smaller trees. This opens up the canopy which allows more low plants to grow. Also there are net areas that contain grasshoppers that allow the researchers to study the effects of the grasshopper in a controlled area with a controlled number. The bottom left picture is the same method, but the left side was during the fall, and the right side was during the winter.

The restored savanna was lacking many of the insects that were on the savanna trail, also the plants in the restored savanna where less diverse due to the mangement techniques that are applied (I think). The landscape was pretty much the same, I really did not notice a differnce, I am sure that a trained eye would be able to tell the difference.
Here are pictures of the different methods used on the resoration trail, the pictures.