Dan Carter

@prairiebotanist

Ecologist of Midwestern fire-dependent ecosystems & volunteer land steward @ Mukwonago River Oak Barrens. Opinions mine. Among them is the need to stop viewing grasslands, savannas, & woodlands through a productivist lens. Ban AI. He/Him

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Dan Carter@prairiebotanist· 5d

There are several springs like this in the fen, but the most voluminous everge from cobbles, the water having pushed out all of the sand and small pebbles.

Dan Carter@prairiebotanist· 5d

We burned this fen in February for the 1st time in memory. The footprint of flowering Parnassia glauca (grass-of-Parnassus) extends farther away from the marl/gravel flats into the sedges this year, and Rhychospora alba (white beak-rush) is blooming, which I have never detected on previous visits.

White blossom with five white green-striped petals of grass-of-Parnassus with a small blue blossom of Kalm's lobelia.

Numerous white beak-rush growing among other sedges with Ohio goldenrod in yellow bud.

Sedge meadow attendant to the fen with abundant pink blossoms spotted Joe-Pye, white umbels of cowbane, and a yellow giant sunflower.

Dan Carter@prairiebotanist· 16d

Dewpoints well into the 80s in western Iowa due in part to near peak corn evaporation. Heat indices in spots over 120, and it has two or three hours to get worse.

Dan Carter@prairiebotanist· Jun 30

Several 80F+ dewpoints in the southern half of Wisconsin today. Lisbon Mauston Airport "wins" with a dewpoint of 83F and heat index of 111F just after noon today. #Heat #Humidity #Heatwave

Dan Carter@prairiebotanist· Jun 25

Looking at some Driftless prairies today.

Dolemite outcrop with Smooth cliff-break fern with bluff prairie behind and an area of trees and a fair weather sky with puffy cumulus clouds in the background.

Wood lily on dry prairie with prairie coreopsis and an old eastern red cedar snag with a wooded bluff and fair weather sky with puffy cumulus clouds in the background.

Dan Carter@prairiebotanist· May 30

Lake Mead’s kinda low

Lake Mead’s marina sitting far below the high water line, which creates a white bathoring below a brown desert landscape.

Dan Carter@prairiebotanist· May 15

A long and hot but beautiful day on #prairie and some savanna on the bluffs above La Crosse, WI.

Primula fassettii with pink, nodding blossoms and erect developing seed capsules tucked into a little grotto weathered into a soft layer of limestone (broad sense) on a south-facing slope.

South facing prairie slope with blossoming Lithospermum canescens and sloughing chunks of hard (dolomite containing) rock and fixed pillars of stone above.

Savanna restoration (really more a reconstruction) carved out of the forest that had invaded the once savanna on the toe of the slope below a bluff prairie. Oaks are a bit tall and spindly due to past crowding. Native grasses and sedges are establishing well in the ground layer.

Absolute unit of Lithospermum incisum growing and limey, sandy colluvium in an area recently cleared of invading brush and trees.

Dan Carter@prairiebotanist· May 13

I was out working to prep the remnant prairie along the wetland edge at the Mukwonago River Oak Barrens to be in an autumn burn unit and I found Hypoxis hirsuta peaking through the thatch. I’ve looked for it four years in this spot and only now found a couple flowering plants.

Sunny yellow flower of Hypoxis. The blossom has six petals and is about half an inch across.

Area where Hypoxis is growing showing dense vegetation under a blue sky with scattered clouds.

Dan Carter@prairiebotanist· Mar 28

Full day. The Glacial Prairie Chapter of The #Prairie Enthusiasts got in its last planned burn just under the wire of the impending growing season and just in time for me to meet up with my family at the tail end of #NoKIngs in Waukesha.

View along the fire line of a prairie burn. The burn boss and an observer look on from a cultivated field with a UTV pump unit in the background. In the front foreground are flames, further back is smoke and blackened ground. All under a sunny blue sky.

Flames dance around the bases of bare bur oak trees.

Dan Carter@prairiebotanist· Mar 25

Round-lobed hepatica opened up at my place, where it has spread over a little convex area the oak litter blows off of (so it doesn't smother and often doesn't burn when I burn off the leaf litter). Wood betony is emerging, particularly in areas burned in the fall where the soil is a wee bit warmer.

Pale pink, six-petaled flowers of round-lobed hepatica flowering above last year's leaves, which have overwintered, moss, and dried blades of sedge from last year.

crimson shoots of wood betony emerging about an inch above the soil, looking like little ruffled ridicchios.

Dan Carter@prairiebotanist· Mar 20

The view in the first image was burned late last October. The view in the second image was burned in February. Both areas get burned every dormant season. Now think like an overwintering #invertebrate. The clumps are Sprengel's sedge. This is a reconstructed #oak #woodland / #savanna setting. #Fire

A ring of sprengel's sedge, with a few inges last year's dead foliage present, but it's distal tips have burned off along with oak leaf litter. The bases of the leaf blades remained green after the burn and overwinter, and new green shoots have just begun to grow. Fire did not reach the center of this clump, where some twigs and other debris remain.

This area was burned in late February, and the burn was much more complete, consuming sedge shoots down to ground level. The black is a little deceptive, because it will wash away and some debris remaining because it was moist and possibly frozen when this was burned.

Dan Carter@prairiebotanist· Mar 14

I still can't believe we're allowed to do this! Sometimes the day before a winter storm is the best. Here we're removing smothering thatch, volatilizing nitrogen away, and lofting phosphous containing particulates away from a fen-sedge meadow complex with several rare species...

Dan Carter@prairiebotanist· Mar 4

71% RH. Who cares. A little March sun and dry antecedent conditions, and praires will burn just fine. RH was actually 82% a hour before ignition!

Smoke rises from fire passing under a large bur oak matriarch (5 feet in diameter)

A burn crew member stands next to a drip torch observing the fire line and the burn-out around a dead bur oak snag in the distance.

Backing/flanking fire along the fire line with a crew member standing back and monitoring the fire break and grassy fuels on the far side of the break.

Flanking and backing fire burning into prairie with old farm structures in the background.

Dan Carter@prairiebotanist· Feb 27

We got some small burns in today. PERFECT conditions. I wish I would have had time today to set up the bigger burns (still not super big) that needs doing. It was 9F this morning, but 40F with ~45% RH this afternoon and a 5-10mph wind.

Fire backs away from a mowed burn break through low, grassy/sedgy fuels. Smoke lofts and drifts to the right. In the background a crew member smothers fire along the firebreak with a flapper. Obscured by smoke, another crew member with a backpack water can observes.

Dan Carter@prairiebotanist· Jan 31

Bringing back a savanna means getting rid of the damn planted pines & black cherries smothering the white oaks & plants beneath. It's also a good cure for cabin fever, & it feels good to work with fellow citizens to make the place where we live better. It's possible to sweat when it's ten degrees.

Burn pile of glossy buckthorn, big logs from a planted Scots pine, and black cherry burning in a wooded area with snow covering the ground.

burn pile of glossy buckthorn, big logs from a planted Scots pine, and black cherry in the foreground, tall trees and passing clouds in the background along with one of the people that was feeding this fire.

Dan Carter@prairiebotanist· Jan 23

At my location it gets this cold each winter. The warmest absolute min winter real temp I've experienced in the last 11 winters in my current location is -14F. Most have been -17F or colder. The coldest was -32F. Mornings like this ar rough, but at least it'll feel balmy when it gets back above 0F.

Screenshot of current weather conditions at the National Weather Service office located in Sullivan, WI (about 40 miles west of Milwaukee). It is -16F with a wind chill of -38F.

Dan Carter@prairiebotanist· Jan 20

May not happen. It's predicated on snowpack, but most eastern hardwoods--even those restricted to the South--can withstand brief bouts extreme cold, because it does happen. They just can't take deep ground freezes or weeks of temperatues like this.

GFS 2 meter temperature model output showing a map of the southeastern United States for the morning of January 27. Temperatures between 0 and -20F cover a broad swath from E. Texas to coastal North Carolina and southern Ohio to central Alabama.

Dan Carter@prairiebotanist· Jan 20

Maybe the faintest and lamest phone-visible pink #aurora behind the cirrus at in Dousman, WI.

Dan Carter@prairiebotanist· Jan 15

Plant your victory gardens. 1.bp.blogspot.com/-Wd7z27sbGqY...

Frame of chicken wire over an asparagus bed with a sign on a wood frame above it that reads, "This is the awning of the cage of asparagus."

Dan Carter@prairiebotanist· Dec 31

I live in a maybe, but if I think of this as though I were looking for a fresh start.

Map showing states I'd consider living in...West Coast, Upper Midwest (esp. MN), New England, New Mexico and Colorado. I'd be drawn to Iowa if it hadn't destroyed itself with its agriculture. Hardest no is Florida, but I have to admit to never having been there.

Dan Carter@prairiebotanist· Nov 20

Apparently parents in my school district are offended that red oaks are monecious--they have both male and female reproductive organs. Wishtree was assigned to all students and their families to read together. #Wishtree #bookbans #oak #Kettlemoraine #Wisconsin #Waukesha

Dear Dousman Families,

Back in September, Dousman Elementary and the PTO began communicating their interest in a one-book community read....Copies of the Wishtree were sent home ahead of time so families could decide how and when they wanted to participate. This activity was also planned alongside the school’s book fair to support a strong reading culture in the building.

We have since received concerns about the book Wishtree....

As families began reading the book, three concerns were shared with the school or via social media. The first was the way the main character, a tree, introduces itself as biologically male and female. The second was the storyline involving a religious minority family experiencing discrimination. The third was that the tree describes keeping secrets, which some families felt sent a message that was not appropriate for a school wide read.

Given the concerns that have been shared, the district is taking the time to look carefully at the book and its use in our schools. We take the concerns that families have raised seriously, and when questions arise about the appropriateness of a book or material, we use our established review process.... Wishtree will move into that formal review process. The outcome may include keeping the book with conditions, limiting its use to specific settings, or removing it as a district resource....

During the review, the book will not be used as a building wide selection....

We view this as an opportunity for the district, the school board, and our community to work together. We appreciate the feedback that families have offered. Families are an essential part of the education process and your input helps us ensure that materials are age appropriate, reflect community expectations, and support a positive learning environment.

Thank you for your continued partnership. If you have questions or would like to discuss this further, please reach out.

"As families began reading the book, three concerns were shared with the school or via social media. The first was the way the main character, a tree, introduces itself as biologically male and female. The second was the storyline involving a religious minority family experiencing discrimination. The third was that the tree describes keeping secrets, which some families felt sent a message that was not appropriate for a school wide read."

Dan Carter@prairiebotanist· Nov 17

It is the ecological and ritual season of burning. The most salubrious time to burn. Coarse stems--even seeds--stand. Terricolous lichens and bryophytes survive. Larvae rest cosy in their galls. The stage is set for next season's abundance. #Prairie #Savanna #RxFire #MukwonagoRiverOakBarrens

Bright flame in the dark of late evening creep into the wind over fallen bur oak litter and short, herbaceous plants

Flaming fronts from stripping ignitions converge at the Mukwonago River Oak Barrens on 11/13/25.

The entire foreground burned on 11/13. This shot was taken 11/17. Because this is not a productive site and it was burned last year, intensity was low, leaving even the seed heads of gray goldenrod unburned.

Dan Carter@prairiebotanist· Nov 5

Very small burns, but if we remove buckthorn (glossy and common here) and there is enough fuel to burn in fall, we do, and then we augmentively seed in late fall with species that were likely once present but extirpated by fire exclusion / shade / litter / past grazing / etc.

Volunteers supervise fire a low line of fire as it creeps through bronze, crunch black and Hill's oak leaf litter.

After the burn the ground is mostly black and bare and will be ready to receive seed, though some patches of leaf litter persisted.

Dan Carter@prairiebotanist· Oct 31

My happy place these days. Fall colors and textures. Home to many beings. #MukwonagoRiverOakBarenns #ThePrairieEnthusiasts #Savanna #Prairie

View of recovering oak barrens at the Mukwonago River Oak Barrens with soft plumes of gray goldenrod (mostly, a little tall goldenrod up front), gold and red hues of uniform bristleberry, and mahogany and russet marcescent foliage of black oaks. All under a blue sky with a few puffy cumulus and lit by the low autumn sun.

Dan Carter@prairiebotanist· Oct 28

Last Friday during a volunteer work party at the Mukwonago River Oak Barrens we found this blue spotted salamander in a piece of partially burried rotten wood. We were physically pulling invading glossy buckthorn. ...another reason why I favor slower approaches to big machines with grindy bits.

A blue spotted salamander with light blue spots over a back background resting on some moist moss on the outide of the rotten wood where it was found.

Dan Carter@prairiebotanist· Oct 24

The first hard freeze was last night. We burned some sedge meadow today.

Dan Carter@prairiebotanist· Sep 25

Ordered Symphyotrichum ericoides. Received mix of S. erioides and S. pilosum. Booooo. It's a nursury that produces excellent plants that I've had good experience with, so we'll see what they say. #nativeplants

Inflorescence of heath aster on left with small capitula with short rays and frost aster at right with larger capitula with longer rays.

Heath aster capitulum from below at left with recurved, blunt involucral bracts. Frost aster capitulum at right with pointy involucral bracts that are ascending to divergent immediately below the rays.

Dan Carter@prairiebotanist· Sep 18

A quick comment on #climate #resilient #landscapes. The #Driftless Area of Wisconsin is considered have some inbuilt resilience owing to its varied aspects, slopes, and soils. Perhaps as it warms more xerophytic vegetation (prairie, oak savanna, oak woods) on S and SW aspects can expand. 1/4

Leadplant dying its slow death in the shade under ironwood and maple colonizing a sandy and rocky south slope in Vernon County, WI. Maple leaves litter the ground, because they are being shed early in response to a dry spell. Other prairie plants in the vicinity were hoary puccoon, purple prairie clover, side-oats grama, big bluestem, and thimbleweed.

Leadplant with an ironwood trunk immediately behind it and a big, leafy Leatherwood (Dirca palustris) immediately behind that. Simply nuts. It wasn't the only leatherwood marching from what was presumably their cool, moist refuge around some rock outcrops on the steep north slope of this ridge.

Dan Carter@prairiebotanist· Sep 17

BAD photos, but first time for me coming across Bartonia virginica, here in moist, sandy area under white oak...more specifically in a little clearing among royal fern, huckleberry, velvet-leaf blueberry, a bristly dewberry. Not a common thing in SE WI.

Four-petaled flowers (just past blooming) borne oppositely along the upper portions of pale lavendar stems with very reduced leaves.

A dense patch of Bartonia that appear almost like threads rising stiffly from the earth with their now ripening ovaries held high.

Dan Carter@prairiebotanist· Sep 1

I wonder who made these galls on Symphyotrichum ericoides? #nativeplants #prairie